I recently was interviewed by Poets & Quants about my vision and priorities for the College. To explain my vision of business, informed by the Catholic mission of the University of Notre Dame and Mendoza, I described the three “Cs,” which you’ve probably heard me talk about before, namely that the purpose, priority and practice of business is to:
- Contribute to human flourishing,
- Cooperate in solidarity and
- Compete with excellence, both externally in the marketplace and also internally toward the best version of oneself.
As is the case with most of Catholic social teaching applied to business, this is largely catholic with a small "c," or based on the universal human values of the inherent and infinite dignity of every person, our responsibility to focus on those with the greatest needs, and the conception of what the Church calls "integral human development," i.e., where material, social and spiritual/moral development is integrated.
The P&Q article covers a number of topics. I hope you’ll find it useful in giving you some sense of how these three Cs will guide our strategic vision for the next five years. My goal is to elevate, cooperate and integrate: To elevate by offering more challenging courses; to cooperate by partnering with other departments, colleges, centers and institutes on campus (which includes providing more opportunities for non-business majors to take some business courses); and to integrate the educational experience of our students across disciplines, such as courses that teach the history of business or more courses across all business disciplines that integrate computer science / analytics, for example.
There are three areas of focus in this vision:
- Business analytics as a component integrated across all of the majors and programs, not offered just as a discrete course.
- Experiential learning, which includes expanding the opportunities for our students to participate directly in internships, consulting projects and service.
- The positive impact of business, which is what makes Mendoza distinctive. The central point of the Mendoza educational experience is that we help our students become business leaders who recognize that business can be a great force for good.
We’ve already seen a number of new programs and changes arising from this vision, such as the introduction of four new minors, the expansion of Business on the Frontlines enrollment, and the transitioning from essentially a three-year undergraduate curriculum to a four-year curriculum.
I’m thankful for the contributions of so many to our strategic vision.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn