Commencement Weekend was a terrific success, thanks to so many of you. I’m sure our graduates and their families took home memories that will last their lifetimes.

Your contributions — from creating the ceremony's pageantry, organizing food and arranging beautiful decorations, to warmly welcoming our students, parents and guests — have made this important occasion truly special. Thank you all for your hard work!!!

The College awarded 573 undergraduate degrees and 535 graduate degrees. Following is a roundup of the weekend — the people who helped with the events, a breakdown of the degrees awarded and the listing of faculty awards. 

I was especially moved by the testimonial provided during the Graduate Diploma Ceremony by MBA student Kingsley Ukaulor about why he chose Notre Dame. He wrote in part:

“Notre Dame wasn’t my backup plan. It was a divine alignment… Because here, the doors don’t just open. They stay open long enough for you to find your way home. And for that, I will always find ways to give back.”

Kingsley’s words testify to the effort that you devote to serving our students all year long, and speak to our mission and the connections we build as part of the Notre Dame family.

I am also pleased to highlight that Rob Easley received the University’s Faculty Award. The Faculty Award recognizes impactful and lasting service to the University of Notre Dame as a leader among faculty colleagues. Rob was recognized as a “highly respected and trusted leader, mentor, and colleague across the Mendoza College of Business and the University, known for his collaborative spirit, deep expertise, and visionary thinking.”

As we close out the 2024-25 academic year, I am again deeply grateful for all you do. I hope the summer months ahead offer you a time of peace, restoration and renewal. 

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

MENDOZA COMMENCEMENT 2025

UNDERGRADUATE DIPLOMA CEREMONY COMMITTEE AND VOLUNTEERS: Charissa Adishian, Katherine Alan, Fernando Briones, Katie Coleman, Brian Connelly, Heather DeCourval, Philip DeJonge, Drew Espeseth, Sam Fisher, Claire Fitzgibbon, Jessica Frazier, Chris Fruehwirth, Laura Glassford, Chris Grenert, Ashley Heberling, Lisa Heming, Sarah Joyce-Baker, Rachel Karnafel, Helen Keefe, Rob Kelly, Morgan Leach, Jeremy May, Shane McCoy, Minhee Myung, Maggie Neenan-Michel, Jessica Noffsinger, Kristy Patterson, Sarah Priebe, Amy Radvansky, Amanda Rink, Gina Shropshire, Marnie Stahl, Taylor Thomas, Andrew Wendelborn, Barb Westraand Rebecca Wood.

GRADUATE DIPLOMA CEREMONY COMMITTEE AND VOLUNTEERS: Katherine Alan, Shelley Arredondo-Rice, Mary Atkins, Sarah Joyce Baker, Chase Bair, Crystal Boser, Jennifer Brewer, Kim Brumbaugh, Katie Coleman, Brian Connelly, Samantha Crisp, Heather Decorval, Philip DeJonge, Chad DeWeese, Phil Drendall, Stephanie Drudge, Brian Edlefson, Lucas Eggers, Mikale Elliott, Nadia Ewing, Claire Fitzgibbon, Quin Gallagher, Christine Gramhofer, Ron Grisoli, Dave Grundy, Kalynda Hamilton, Helen High, Meghan Huff, Rob Kelly, Cathi Kennedy, Tabitha Kingsbury, Cassie Kline, Nickolas Kubik, Tracy Kulwicki, Santhosh Lakkaraju, Emily Marrese, Shane McCoy, Lisa Michaels, Teage Minier, Zara Osterman, Megan Piersma, Tracey Plenzler, Ryan Retartha, Paige Risser, Bill Schenher, Jessica Stookey, Jessica Tezich, Joseph Torma, Teresa True, Annette Tysver, Connie Varga, Wendy Walker, Diego Wang, Ben Wilson, Rebecca Wood, Janel Zakrzewski-Kuntzand Abby Zelenka.

PROGRAMS & EVENTS: Shelley Arredondo-Rice, Meghan Huff, Jean Meade, Joseph Torma and Wendy Walker.

FACILITIES AND PROGRAM OPERATIONS: Chad DeWeese, Ron Grisoli and Dana Pierce.

VIDEO, PHOTOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL MEDIA SUPPORT: Katie Coleman, Brian Edlefson, Carol Elliott, Jessica Frazier, Teage Minier andRebecca Wood.

SWAG SALE VOLUNTEERS: Chase Bair, Fernando Briones, Javier Carrillo, Katie Coleman, Brian Connelly, Hannah Crane, Heather DeCourval, Philip DeJonge, Brian Edlefson, Carol Elliott, Jessica Frazier, Dave Grundy, Santhosh Kumar Lakkaraju, Shane McCoy, Teage Minier, Min Hee Myung, Zara Osterman, Paige Risser, Cassie Smithand Rebecca Wood.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES DEGREES AWARDED

A total of 573 undergraduates received their diplomas:

• Accountancy: 68
• Business Analytics: 114
• Finance: 304
• Management Consulting: 39
• Marketing: 47
• Strategic Management: 1

UNDERGRADUATE FACULTY TEACHING AWARDS

COLLEGE LEVEL AWARD

Joe and Gina Prochaska Family Teaching Award: Tonia Murphy

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT AWARDS

Accountancy

• James Dincolo Outstanding Undergraduate Professor Award: James O'Brien
• James Dincolo Outstanding Research Award: John Donovan 
• James Dincolo Outstanding Teaching Award: Michael Favorite 
• James Dincolo Outstanding Teaching Award: Illona Bastiaansen 
• James Dincolo Outstanding Service Award: Colleen M. Creighton
• James Dincolo Outstanding Service Award: Tim Morrison

Finance

• Outstanding Undergraduate Professor Award: Jason Reed
• Outstanding Research Award: Ben Matthies 
• Prochaska Outstanding Teaching Award: John Shim
• Department of Finance Outstanding Teaching Award: Kristen Collett-Schmitt 
• Department of Finance Faculty Service Award: Jim Leady

IT, Analytics, and Operations

• Zachary Plantz Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award: Jennifer R. Waddell
• Outstanding Research Award: Yoon Son
• Prochaska Family Teaching Award: Francis Bilson Darku 
• Outstanding Teaching Professor Award: Brandon Erlacher
• ITAO Department Faculty Service Award: Ahmed Abbasi

Management & Organization

• Outstanding Undergraduate Professor Award: Tim Balko
• M&O Distinguished Researcher Award: John Busenbark
• Prochaska Outstanding Teaching Award: Mike Mannor
• M&O Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award: Angela Logan
• M&O Faculty Service Award: Jessica McManus Warnell

Marketing

• Outstanding Undergraduate Marketing Professor: John Costello
• Outstanding Teaching Professor Award: Mitchell Olsen
• Prochaska Outstanding Teaching Award for a Tenured or Tenure-track Faculty Member: Joonhyuk Yang
• Outstanding Research Award: Yixing Chen
• Marketing Faculty Service Award: Kevin Hartman

GRADUATE PROGRAMS DEGREES AWARDED

Altogether, we awarded 535 graduate business diplomas:

• MNA: 41
• EMNA: 20
• MSM: 52
• MSBA: 69
• MSBA-SA: 25
• MSBA-Chicago: 19
• MSA: 79
• MSF: 41
• EMBA-Chicago: 22
• EMBA South Bend: 63 (*one posthumously)
• MBA: 104 (*one posthumously)

GRADUATE PROGRAM TEACHING AWARDS

• Leo Burke Outstanding Professor Award for the Chicago Executive MBA Program: John Busenbark
• Arnie Ludwig Outstanding Professor Award EMBA-South Bend: John Busenbark
• Master of Science in Business Analytics-Chicago Outstanding Professor Award: Seth Berry
• Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration Outstanding Professor Award: Kristen Collett-Schmitt
• Master of Nonprofit Administration Outstanding Professor Award: Angela Logan
• Traditional MBA Outstanding Professor Award: Walter Clements
• Master of Science in Business Analytics-Residential Outstanding Professor Award: Jeff Cai
• Master of Science in Business Analytics-Sports Analytics Outstanding Professor Award: Francis Bilson Darku
• Master of Science in Finance-Residential Outstanding Professor Award: Martin Barron
• Master of Science in Management Outstanding Professor Award: Jennifer Waddell
• James Dincolo Outstanding Professor Award: TJ Brecht

Summer Construction Updates

Under the leadership and vision of Dean Cremers, we are embarking on a bold expansion of our facilities and resources to advance the College's strategic priorities. Building the Good in Business: A New Era of Business Education at Notre Dame is an initiative comprising a series of construction projects to support the College’s mission as a leading business school guided by the University’s Catholic identity.

You may already have heard the “sounds of progress” as several construction projects are currently underway. As summer approaches, more initiatives will begin, bringing the total to 10 active construction projects. These projects will touch nearly every part of the building, from the roof and exterior masonry to multiple interior spaces. This marks the most significant construction effort at Mendoza since its original opening in 1996.

Given the scope and scale of the work planned for this summer and beyond, some disruptions will be unavoidable. We are working closely with contractors to minimize the impact, but factors such as weather and supply chain issues may affect timelines. As a result, we may not always be able to provide advance notice for all disruptions. For regular updates, please visit the Mendoza Exchange website. Urgent updates and alerts will be communicated via email.

For detailed information on logistics and affected areas, please refer to the MCoB Construction Logistics plan.

Project Highlights & Updates

Following is an overview of the active projects:

BEHAVIORAL LAB
Status: On Schedule
Expected Completion: June 2, 2025 (Move-in date)

• Final stage underway: technology and furniture installations in progress

NORTH ADDITION
Status: On Schedule
Expected Completion: August 2026

• Current Work:
  
  • Concrete footings and retaining walls to be completed by the end of June.
    
  • Dean’s suite support staff to be relocated from June 1, 2025, through June 9, 2026, to allow exterior wall connection.
    
• Next Steps:
  
  • Structural steel assembly: July–August
    
  • Basement Foundation Cutting: May 19 – June 30 (Disruptive at times)
    
    • Six openings to be cut into foundation walls to access the addition’s basement mechanical area
      
    • Temporary barriers will contain slurry from wet concrete saws
      
    • Classrooms L003, L014, L050, and L051 offline from June 5–30
      
  • Slab Pour: June 25–26
• Structural Steel & Decking: June 30 – August 13

JORDAN AUDITORIUM VIDEO WALL
Status: On Schedule
Expected Completion: August 18, 2025

• Support structure complete; DLED component installation begins May 19
  
• Calibration scheduled through August 18
  
• Auditorium will reopen in time for fall semester

132 SUITE RENOVATION
Status: Completed (Punch List Pending)
Completion Date: May 5, 2025

• Marketing & Brand Strategy Team moved in on schedule
  
• Minor remaining punch-list items being addressed

TRADING ROOM
Status: On Schedule
Expected Completion: August 18, 2025

• Demolition began May 5
  
• Temporary construction walls to be installed in atrium post-commencement

BUSINESS LIBRARY RELOCATION
Status: Planning
Expected Completion: August 2025

• Finalizing construction documents
  
• Cost estimation and scheduling underway

CLASSROOM FINISHES REFRESH
Status: Scheduled
Expected Completion: August 22, 2025

• Includes new lighting, carpet, paint, and updated horseshoe tables
  
• Phases:
  
  • Group 1 (May 12 – June 29): Classrooms 160 & 161
    
  • Group 2 (June 30 – August 22): Classrooms 122 & 133
    
• Additional classrooms will be refreshed over the next 2–3 years

MENDOZA RESTROOM RENOVATIONS
Status: Scheduled
Phased Completion:

• • Group 1 (May 19 – August 15): Lower Level & 2nd Floor
  • Group 2 (Summer 2026): Floors 1 & 3
    
    
• Updates include new fixtures, tile, lighting, and partitions

MENDOZA ROOF PROJECT
Status: Scheduled
Expected Completion: October 31, 2025

• Replacing flat roof membrane, installing green roof features, irrigation, and safety systems
  
• Slate roof repairs included
  
• The majority of the work is to be completed by August 30; plant and irrigation installation through October 31
  
• Sequenced to ensure the courtyard remains usable during home football weekends
  

See full details: Mendoza Sequence Roof Plan & Logistics.pdf

MENDOZA MASONRY REPAIRS
Status: Scheduled
Expected Completion: October 31, 2025

• Includes brick repair/replacement, cleaning, and sealing around the entire exterior of the building.​

We’re thrilled about the new and enhanced spaces and amenities these projects will bring to our students. At the same time, we understand that ongoing construction may affect your daily routine, and we’re doing everything we can to minimize the disruption. Your patience and understanding are truly appreciated as we continue Building the Good in Business.

In Notre Dame,

Ron 

Ron Grisoli
Facilities Program Director
Facilities & Program Operations​

Building Events That Reflect Our Mission

I’m pleased to introduce the Mendoza Events & Engagement Team (MEET) — a new team name and a refreshed approach to event planning and execution across the College. 

MEET reflects a renewed commitment to aligning events with Mendoza’s mission, enhancing collaboration and optimizing the use of our shared resources through a more consistent and streamlined process. We’re excited to share where we are headed next.

Events are an essential expression of our work at Mendoza. Whether it's a marquee conference, a student program celebration or a graduate student enrollment event with the purpose of showcasing the very best that Mendoza has to offer, each event is an opportunity to bring our mission to life. But to do that well, we need consistency, clarity and the right structures in place to support everyone involved in event planning — whether that’s a faculty partner, staff member or a teaching/research assistant.

Why We’re Evolving the Process

This new approach and design is intended to improve how we plan and manage events by leveraging our collective resources and designing a support structure that provides clear points of contact for hosts (faculty) requesting support, teammates (staff) who organize and manage logistics, and partners (event managers) who deliver high-impact experiences that reflect Mendoza’s brand and values.

This shift aims to cultivate consistency in our event planning processes, foster transparency through clear roadmaps and accessible resources, and deliver a greater value to all Mendoza events. 

Introducing a Tiered Approach to Event Planning

One of the key developments is a new event tier structure that provides clear guidance based on an event’s size, scope, audience and visibility. From intimate department gatherings to high-profile conferences, the tier system helps us determine the appropriate level of support, approvals and communications needed for each type of event.

What You Can Expect

MEET provides a formalized annual event planning and delivery process that includes the following:.

• An annual event planning request process that starts during the spring prior to the next academic year aligned with the College’s annual budget planning process.
• Clearly defined support structure for hosts that can manage the details, logistics and communications, keeping hosts included and informed. 
• A breakdown of event tiers and related workflows.
• The MEET website that will house event-related tools. 
• A one-page overview of our new process for quick reference.

What’s Next

We will offer in-person informational sessions for staff in the coming weeks, where you will be able to walk through the new process with the MEET team and ask questions.

With this shift, and in partnership with each of you, we will lift up the people and programs that make Mendoza distinct. Events are often the first point of contact someone has with our College. When we plan and execute them with intention, we not only reflect our values, we invite others to experience them.

In partnership,

Meghan

Meghan Huff
Assistant Director, Program & Events
Mendoza College of Business

As we reach the final week of classes, I'm pleased to highlight our faculty's impressive research achievements. Following are several notable papers recently published or forthcoming in leading academic journals that showcase our faculty's ongoing commitment to advancement in their fields.

Ben Golez, William and Cassie Daley Associate Professor of Finance
Ben Matthies, Assistant Professor of Finance
Fed Information Effects: Evidence from the Equity Term Structure (Journal of Financial Economics)
The researchers explore whether Fed interest rate decisions signal information about the state of the economy to investors. The authors use option prices to construct a short-horizon equity asset, a claim to aggregate dividends over the next six months, and study its response in a narrow window around Federal Open Market Committee announcements. They find a positive relationship between monetary policy surprises and short-horizon asset responses, revealing that short-term and long-term equity assets move in opposite directions on average following FOMC announcements. This pattern suggests that market participants interpret central bank policy decisions as conveying information about economic conditions. As a result, surprise accommodative monetary policy actions intended to stimulate economic growth may prove counterproductive if market participants interpret them as indicators of deteriorating economic conditions and curtail investment accordingly.

Vamsi Kanuri, Viola D. Hank Associate Professor of Marketing
Disentangling the Customer-level, Cross-channel Effects of Large-Order-Advantaged Online Shipping Policies (MIS Quarterly)
This study investigates the causal effects of replacing a tiered online shipping fee with a flat-rate policy at a large multichannel retailer. Applying a regression discontinuity approach to a large customer-level panel dataset, the authors find that the flat-rate policy counterintuitively led to a 23% increase in offline sales and reduced the number and share of online purchases. These outcomes are driven by two mechanisms: (a) order aggregation in the online channel and (b) longer interpurchase intervals that prompt customers to make smaller purchases in physical stores. The policy also increased total customer spend across channels. The findings have important implications for legacy retailers seeking to defend their brick-and-mortar presence against online-native competitors such as Amazon and demonstrate that shipping policies can be used strategically to stimulate cross-channel engagement.

Laurel Mazur, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
Corporate Financing Activities and Business Cycle Fluctuations (forthcoming in the Accounting Review)
While market watchers and researchers typically focus on corporate profits to gauge where the economy is heading, this study reveals another powerful predictor: how companies raise money. Using data from companies’ Statements of Cash Flows, this study tracks when businesses borrow money or sell shares to raise funds. When economic conditions weaken, companies’ financial health suffers, making lenders less willing to provide financing and raising the cost of borrowing. This forces companies to cut back on hiring, research and investment, which further weakens their financial position — a self-reinforcing cycle called the “financial accelerator.” While large, established firms can usually raise money even during economic downturns, watching how smaller and medium-sized companies raise funds proves especially revealing. By focusing on these more economically sensitive companies, the authors create a new measure that accurately forecasts economic changes up to a year ahead, outperforming traditional economic indicators in predicting both GDP growth and employment trends. This research gives economists, policymakers, and business leaders a new tool to spot early warning signs of economic changes and better prepare for economic shifts before they fully materialize. 

Shawn Qu, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Francis Bilson Darku, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Shapley-Value-Based Feature Attribution for Data Masking (forthcoming in Management Information Systems Quarterly)
As personal data becomes central to digital innovation, balancing its value with the growing risks to individual privacy is a pressing challenge for businesses and society. This study tackles the issue by introducing a novel framework that applies Shapley-value-based feature attribution to data privacy protection. Unlike traditional approaches that assess privacy risk at the dataset level, this framework evaluates the tradeoff between data utility and disclosure risk at the feature level — offering more granular, ethical decision making. Its method-agnostic design equips organizations and policymakers to unlock business values while upholding responsible data practices.

Amanda Sharkey, Coyle Associate Professor of Management & Organization
Corporate Social Responsibility at the Margin: Firms' Responses to Marginal Inclusion on the Vault 100 Law Firm Ranking (Strategic Management Journal)
This study examines how marginally ranked firms respond to the anxiety of constant external evaluation. The researchers found that such firms strategically increase their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to secure their positions, meet expectations and preemptively address criticism. Analysis of pro bono work at major U.S. law firms confirms this tendency, especially among firms with fluctuating rank positions. The findings reveal how rankings drive CSR strategies as firms attempt to balance status concerns with performance.  

Andrea Tamoni, Associate Professor of Finance
When It Rains It Pours: Cascading Uncertainty Shocks (Journal of Political Economy)
The paper investigates what happens when uncertainty shocks occur in close proximity rather than in isolation. The authors find that these back-to-back shocks inflict more economic damage than traditional models predict. Their effects are superadditive: the combined impact of two shocks exceeds the sum of each shock’s standalone effect. What drives this amplification? The answer lies in how individuals adapt their behavior when facing repeated risks. While standard economic models account for precautionary behavior under risk, this paper emphasizes that state-dependent precautionary responses — those that vary depending on prior exposure to uncertainty — only emerge in higher-order mathematical models (fourth order or higher). The authors highlight the importance of higher-order risk attitudes, particularly edginess, which corresponds to the fifth derivative of the utility function. Just as the concept of prudence (the third derivative) explains how individuals increase savings in response to risk, edginess captures how they react to a new risk when another is already present in the background. Future models of uncertainty must go beyond standard approximations and incorporate these higher-order methods to better capture how serial uncertainty shocks shape economic outcomes.

Thank you to Ben, Ben, Vamsi, Laurel, Shawn, Francis, Amanda and Andrea for your research contributions, and congratulations.

I also hope you will be able to attend the Mendoza Mission Research Awards presentation and reception on Friday, May 2. The presentation is from 3-4:30 p.m. in Mendoza 161 with the reception following in the atrium. Hope to see you there!

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Martijn Cremers
Martin J. Gillen Dean
Bernard J. Hank Professor of Finance