From the Dean's Desk

Guest Column: Minhee Myung

Minhee Myung

Minhee Myung

Monday, 1 May 2023
At Mendoza College of Business, like numerous educational establishments, we bear the obligation to guarantee the accessibility of our digital content and services to everyone. Embracing digital accessibility is both a legal necessity, as stipulated by laws such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and a moral duty, ensuring that all students, faculty and staff can equally access educational resources and opportunities.
For instance, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA require educational institutions to comply with specific accessibility requirements:
  • Section 508: States that electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained or used by federal agencies must be accessible to people with disabilities.
  • Title II of the ADA: Prohibits discrimination based on disability in public entities, including public colleges and universities.
  • Title III of the ADA: Extends these protections to private institutions.
Improving digital accessibility involves making websites and digital content more accessible to individuals with disabilities, enabling them to effectively interact with and access information online. This encompasses enhancements in the areas of design, development, and user experience.
Key changes include:
  • Enhanced navigation: Ensuring that users can easily navigate through the website using a keyboard, screen reader, or other assistive technologies.
  • Improved color contrast: Adjusting color combinations to meet the needs of users with low vision or color blindness.
  • Text alternatives: Providing text descriptions for images and multimedia content to assist visually impaired users.
  • Captions and transcripts: Adding captions to videos and transcripts for audio content to support deaf or hard-of-hearing users.
  • Consistent layout and design: Implementing a uniform structure and design across the website to make it more predictable and user-friendly.
  • Readable and understandable content: Ensuring that text is written in clear, concise language, and providing explanations for abbreviations, jargon, or complex terms.
Here is the timeline for our next steps:
  • Immediate: In my role as full-stack developer with Mendoza IT, I plan to persist in mastering WCAG guidelines and strive to attain the Web Accessibility Specialist certification from IAAP to enhance my expertise and better help the College with necessary changes. Concurrently, the University is working on integrating Canvas with Panorama, a platform designed to provide a comprehensive solution for creating, managing, and delivering accessible media content.
  • Short-term: Our web team will conduct a comprehensive accessibility audit of the existing websites, identifying areas that need improvement.
  • Medium-term: We will implement changes and improvements based on the audit findings.
  • Long-term: We will continue to monitor and maintain accessibility improvements, conduct periodic reviews, provide training for staff to ensure ongoing compliance with accessibility guidelines and collaborate with University MarCom and OIT to enhance accessibility initiatives, including the establishment of a Digital Accessibility Committee.
By prioritizing digital accessibility, we stand to gain in several ways:
  • Ensuring that every student can fully engage in coursework and access educational resources, resulting in increased student retention and academic success.
  • Appealing to a broader audience, including individuals with disabilities who may prefer attending a more accessible institution, which can bolster the institution's reputation and competitiveness within the higher education landscape.
  • Showcasing our dedication to diversity and inclusion, enhancing the College’s brand and attracting a varied group of students, faculty and staff.
In summary, the integration of digital accessibility, including the dedicated efforts of our web team and the planned Canvas and Panorama collaboration, is both a legal mandate, as highlighted by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, and an ethical obligation for the Mendoza College of Business. By emphasizing digital accessibility, we can guarantee equal access to educational resources and opportunities, appeal to a larger audience and demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and improve the reputation of Mendoza College of Business. Prioritizing digital accessibility will not only benefit people with disabilities but will also enhance the overall user experience for everyone.
Furthermore, it is essential to recognize the significance of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 18. This day aims to raise awareness about digital accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. By participating in and promoting this day, we can further demonstrate our dedication to fostering an inclusive digital environment and continue our efforts in ensuring that everyone has equal access to education and resources.
Lastly, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to Chris Fruehwirth and Brian Connelly for their unwavering support and commitment throughout our web improvement journey. Additionally, I want to extend my thanks to Nicole Velasquez for her incredible collaboration and forward-thinking mindset that has greatly contributed to our success.
Sincerely,
Minhee
Minhee Myung (she/her/hers) 
Full-stack Developer
Mendoza IT

Guest Column: Patty Brady

Patty Brady

Patty Brady

Monday, 17 April 2023

The vision for the Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing (NDIGI) is to be the preeminent, university-based investment management research and education program worldwide, convening ideas and people around critical industry topics. The team at NDIGI has been busy this year in pursuit of this objective. We have included a few examples below of ways we are convening people and sharing ideas. 

WIS’23: “Defining your Edge”

WIS’23 marked the fifth anniversary of the Women’s Investing Summit (WIS), an important inclusion initiative at NDIGI. WIS is a forum for female-led discussion on leadership, markets and investing. The Summit is open to all students, faculty and staff at Notre Dame, St. Mary’s and Holy Cross. This year, 425 students from six colleges across campus registered for the two-day event.

WIS’23 kicked off in the Jordan Auditorium with a panel on early-stage investing. Immediately following, NDIGI, in partnership with the Hesburgh Women of Impact, hosted a dinner for students, speakers and sponsors. Haley Scott DeMaria (ND ’95) provided the keynote and shared lessons on overcoming adversity and living a life of gratitude.
On Friday morning, 20 senior women from various leadership roles and asset classes traveled from all over the country to share career wisdom, market insights and investment ideas. Keynote speakers included Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, former Neiman Marcus CEO Karen Katz, and president and CIO of Brandywine Jenny Heller. All of the speakers have a demonstrated edge in their field and each articulated how they have built and maintained that edge over their careers.
WIS’23 was made possible through industry sponsors including Goldman Sachs, Sixth Street, William Blair, Artisan Partners, BlackRock, Jennison Associates, Norwest Equity Partners and TCW. Visit womensinvestingsummit.nd.edu for the full gallery of speaker bios and more photos.
Please Save the Date for WIS’24 on February 29-March 1!
Pre-College Program: “The Power of Investing
In July 2022, NDIGI, in partnership with the Office of Pre-College Programs, hosted 41 high school students on Notre Dame’s campus for a leadership seminar titled, “The Power Of Investing: Financial Literacy and the Power of Compound Interest.” One of the goals of the program was to broaden the reach of our educational content by connecting with diverse students earlier in their discernment process.
Carl Ackermann and Mark Dumich led instruction on investment principles such as the time value of money, personal budgeting and valuation methods. Guest lectures were provided by Mendoza’s own Wendy Angst and Kristen Collett-Schmitt. The cohort also spent a day in Chicago being exposed to various careers in financial services while visiting firms such as William Blair, Northern Trust and Baird.
Early signs of the program’s success have begun to roll in. Thirty-four of the 41 students applied to Notre Dame and 23 were recently accepted. Of those admitted, 17 students indicated finance as their preferred major. As of today, three have placed deposits to enroll at Notre Dame this fall.
The Power of Investing is a tool to attract talented and diverse students to campus. The program is designed to spark passion in the student in the hopes they seek to pursue a degree at Notre Dame and eventually a successful career in Investment Management. Our goal is to ultimately improve the composition of placement and employment ratios within the industry, which has historically been underserved by women and other minorities.
The Power of Investing will be offered again this summer from July 22 - August 2. A great deal of planning around curriculum, logistics and industry engagement is taking place this semester in preparation for another successful program.
The Business of Life
NDIGI is pleased to again be offering The Business of Life during the spring semester. Now hosting its fourth cohort of students, this extracurricular program leads a group of 20 to 25 participants through discussions across several topics, including multidisciplinary thinking, core values and career discernment.

Led by Peter Kaufman, chairman & CEO of Glenair and author of the world-famous investing book "Poor Charlie’s Almanack," the experience culminates in a trip to Glendale, California, where students visit Glenair’s manufacturing facility to see firsthand the lessons of leadership, alignment and values that are key to operating a successful business. Students in the spring ’23 cohort spent Friday, March 31, on the West Coast for this unique and distinctly Notre Dame experience.

Career Discernment
Expanding the career opportunities available to the students we serve is an important pillar of our work at NDIGI. Early exposure to a broad range of possible paths allows students to discern over time where their skill sets and passion are best aligned. Our hope is that this leads to more sustainable long-term career satisfaction and success.
During winter break, NDIGI hosted career exploration treks in Boston, New York and Silicon Valley. 42 freshmen and 54 sophomore students convened in these cities and were exposed to careers across asset classes and strategies including Private Equity, Public Equity and Venture Capital. Firms included Fidelity, Blackstone, a16z and Wellington, among many others.
Notre Dame on Wall Street 
After a three-year hiatus, the Notre Dame Wall Street Dinner resumed this month at the Midtown New York Hilton. Seven hundred alumni from across industry and asset classes convened to network with fellow alums and to hear from Notre Dame speakers including Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan, Martin J. Gillen Dean Martijn Cremers and Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman.
This group of alumni is particularly passionate about furthering student education, discernment and placement within financial services. Many of these alumni are actively engaged with NDIGI. If we can be a helpful liaison for you to this group of practitioners, please reach out to our team.
As always, thank you to the long list of faculty and staff actively contributing to our work at NDIGI. Please encourage your investment-minded students to engage with NDIGI, and continue to let us know if we can be a resource for you going forward.
In Notre Dame,
Patty Brady, Interim Managing Director
Mark Dumich, Associate Director
Tess Swain, Communications and Events Coordinator

Mendoza's Centenary Conference

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 10 April 2023
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Happy Easter! The Lord is risen, alleluia!
The week before Holy Week, we held the Mendoza Centenary Conference, part of the College’s celebration of its 100th anniversary in 2021 but postponed to this year due to COVID. The event was a great success in terms of the presentations, the attendance and the overall impact.
The theme — Growing the Good in Business for the Next 100 Years — is important for the College because it focuses our vision to the future. Through outstanding presentations by a renowned group of scholars, the attendees were challenged to think broadly and deeply about the power of ethical business to have a real impact on the human community.
Over the three-day event, we had a great turnout of 60 to 80 students, staff and faculty from across the University per individual sessions, which included presenters such as Charles Calomiris from the Finance Department at Columbia Business School, Sally Blount, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and former dean of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, Dean Sandeep Mazumber from the business school of Baylor University, and Sanda Ojiambo, assistant secretary-general of the United Nations Global Compact. We also had strong participation from Notre Dame faculty, including Nick Berente and Mary Hirschfeld.
Through all of the discussions, which were quite lively and even provocative at times, there was a predominant message: There are real problems in the world that principled business people can help solve. 
This message certainly isn’t new for us at Mendoza; it’s part of the founding dean’s charge to promote a vision of business as “service to mankind” with the goal to “advance civilization” — in charity, solidarity and with an orientation to the universal destination of goods.
Yet hearing it from such an experienced group of leaders from organizations ranging from higher ed to the UN was inspirational on a new level. 
In his talk on maintaining spiritual values in the workplace, Dean Mazumber said as people who believe we are created in the image and likeness of God, we are in turn called upon to be creators. We need to ask ourselves as a faith-centered business school, how do we enable students to be co-creators with God for good in the world?
His remarks and those of other presenters were good reminders of our distinction as a business school guided by Catholic (and ‘c’atholic) principles -- where we are guided by Catholic social thought or by small “c” catholic values, i.e., universal human principles, such as respecting the dignity of each and every person and prioritizing solidarity and the “preferential option for the poor.” What struck me was that many of these other speakers from other institutions emphasized that a key strength of Notre Dame is our distinctive, Catholic mission. 
There are many people to thank for their tremendous effort in organizing and hosting the Centenary Conference, starting with Jim Otteson who spearheaded the event. Thanks also to presenters and moderators Mary Hirschfeld, Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Ann Tenbrunsel, Nick Berente and Father Ollie Williams. The conference organizing committee included Mary Hirschfeld, Craig Iffland, Jim Otteson, Greg Robson, John Sikorski and Father Ollie, who also offered blessings for the conference and meals along with Father Henry Stephan.
The team who so ably managed all the details included Crystal Boser, Tess Geishauer and Reilly Fangman.
My deep gratitude to those above and the faculty and staff members who attended.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Guest Column: Megan Piersma

Megan Piersma

Megan Piersma

Monday, 3 April 2023

Spring greetings from the Experiential Learning (EL) team — Megan Piersma, Jim Cunningham and Ben Wilson. We’ve had an exciting year since becoming a team of three in July 2022 and we’re grateful to have this opportunity to tell you more about who we are, what we do and where we’re headed.

I (Megan) joined Mendoza in June 2022 as the director of Experiential Learning. I was drawn to the opportunity to innovate the existing experiential learning programs for graduate students and reimagine what experiential learning could be for all Mendoza students — graduate and undergraduate. And I must say this first year of work has lived up to my expectations.

I have deeply appreciated how I’ve been embraced by the Mendoza community. From a summer round of golf with Tracy Biggs and Natalie Sargent, to my first Mendoza tailgate, after-work drinks at Legends and Big Ten basketball trash talk over Slack (I’m looking at you Shane McCoy), you’ve welcomed me and made me feel at home.
You’ve also been open to new ideas and eager to co-create transformative learning experiences that challenge our students to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom, demonstrate what they’re capable of and create a vision for their future. With your help, the EL team has been able to:

  • Send more than 200 MBA students out on consulting engagements across the U.S. and around the world.
  • Run the MBA Mod-Away programs in Silicon Valley and Santiago, Chile.
  • Have all MSM students complete a consulting project with a South Bend for-profit or nonprofit organization.
  • Give 23 MSM and 15 MSA students an immersive business and cultural experience in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain.\Create a nonprofit immersion for 15 MNA students in Orange County, California.
  • And so much more!

Thank you for your collaboration and support. Experiential learning is truly a College-wide effort.

Our team is eagerly anticipating the start of the 2023-2024 school year as we will introduce a number of changes to make our team more efficient and our programming more enriching. To start, we’re recrafting Jim and Ben’s positions to better align with our new strategic direction. They will each have responsibility for a functional area of expertise that will allow our team to more effectively serve more degree programs and more students.

Jim will lead business development and project sourcing for all the project-based learning opportunities supported by our office across degree programs. In this newly defined role, he will be responsible for:

  1. Implementing a new CRM tool for EL company and individual contacts;
  2. Identifying leads in coordination with key internal partners such as Admissions, Alumni Relations, Career Development, Corporate Relations and Development;
  3. Administering and evaluating the success of digital marketing campaigns;
  4. Securing the necessary amount of domestic and international project opportunities to meet student demand;
  5. Overseeing the collection of project fees; and
  6. Stewarding our project sponsors in ways that are meaningful to them in order to encourage continued and expanded engagement with the College.

These activities will become his year-round focus and give him the opportunity to become more of a cross-functional leader within the College. This change will also leverage the sales and marketing skills he developed in his previous roles in University Annual Giving and Mendoza Career Development Employer Relations. Jim is already busy building up our experiential learning lead pipeline and I’m so grateful that he’s eagerly embraced this new way for him to contribute.

Ben will lead curriculum development, delivery and assessment. He will be responsible for:

  1. Co-creating the learning objectives and program design with the academic directors and key functional collaborators for each EL offering;
  2. Developing and implementing the evaluation and assessment tools for each program;
  3. Serving as the thought leader on how Mendoza EL programming can integrate Catholic social teaching a make explicit opportunities to Grow the Good in Business; and
  4. Overseeing the operations of EL programming including student communications and events; student registration, application and selection processes; Canvas course sites; travel, health and safety logistics; student expense and reimbursement policies and processes; and grading.

Ben has been the driving force behind so many enhancements to our student programs already this year and I’m so excited to have him unleash even more of his creativity as we launch Grow Irish Week.

What is Grow Irish Week, you ask? Well … drumroll please … Grow Irish is our new branding and framing for the artist formerly known as Interterm.
Grow Irish Week builds on the College’s imperative to Grow the Good in Business and reflects our desire to have students grow holistically:

  • As business professionals and leaders.
  • As engaged, responsible citizens.
  • And as the Irish — members of the vibrant Notre Dame alumni community.

Grow Irish Week will occur twice annually in mid-October and mid-March. As one of the signature experiences of a Mendoza education, it will feature immersive, off-campus learning programs that equip students with marketable skills, allow them to contribute to the greater good of the organizations and communities they’re serving, and connect them with the unparalleled Notre Dame alumni community for mentorship and networking opportunities that will support and sustain them throughout their careers.

Grow Irish experiences will be tailored to the unique academic and career trajectories of students within each degree program. During Fall Grow Irish Week, more emphasis will be placed on helping students discern their possible career path and gain relevant, professional experience. Programmatic options will include activities such as:

  • Skill-building courses focused on the development of practical and/or technical skills that will make students more competitive in the marketplace.
  • Consulting engagements with businesses and nonprofits that will allow students to create lasting value for an organization and its stakeholders.
  • Alumni engagement and career networking events that showcase professional opportunities in a variety of industries and functional areas.

As students near graduation, Spring Grow Irish Week will require them to navigate greater degrees of complexity in order to encourage mastery of technical skills and enhance their ability to work effectively on cross-functional teams. Whether working in an interdisciplinary team, navigating travel logistics, or communicating across geographical and cultural nuances, Spring Grow Irish will help students prepare for the next step in their career journey.

There is so much more detail we could share about Grow Irish Week, so if you’d like to do a deep dive into what Grow Irish Week will look like for MBAs, MSMs, MNAs, etc., we’d be happy to meet with you or present at one of your department or team meetings.

Thank you again to so many of you who helped us develop and refine the Grow Irish branding and the custom programming that will happen for each degree program. We believe Grow Irish Week will become a key experiential learning initiative that will allow us to continue the good work of producing Mendoza graduates who 1) possess the critical thinking skills, communication competencies and leadership abilities required in the global marketplace; 2) embody our institutional values particularly as it relates to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; and 3) demonstrate cultural humility and competence in their professional contexts and personal lives.

The passion our team brings to our work stems from our shared fundamental belief and lived truth that education changes lives. It is our great joy to know that we are directly contributing to the development of emerging adults who will go on to achieve professional successes that are defined by their personal integrity and contributions to the global community.

Thank you for sharing our enthusiasm and commitment to Mendoza students!

Megan

Megan Piersma
Director of Experiential Learning

Guest Column: Ken Kelley

Ken Kelley

Ken Kelley

Monday, 27 March 2023
How the College Council Works
In this column, I would like to provide some background on the inner workings of the Mendoza College Council — its purpose, its scope of duties, and its membership — to help those who are unfamiliar with the Council understand how many academic decisions are made. For example, whenever the College makes a major change to the curricula, adds or discontinues a program, makes new policies or procedures that impact multiple programs or departments, the College Council is the body that discusses the changes, makes recommendations for modifications, and, ultimately, makes a recommendation to the dean via vote.
Before getting to the Council itself, let me say from where it originates. In my role as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, the University’s Academic Articles are my guide for most things related to faculty affairs and governance at the University. For example, all faculty contracts say, “Your appointment to the faculty at Notre Dame is subject to the University of Notre Dame Academic Articles, including any future amendments thereto…. This appointment letter, together with the University’s Academic Articles, constitutes the entire agreement with the University of Notre Dame.”
The Articles is a living document that can be slightly modified as needed by the provost. If more than only a minor change is needed, the Academic Council, the University president, and the Board of Trustees must approve the change. Once every 10 years, the Articles are heavily scrutinized, updated as needed, and taken to the president and the Board of Trustees for approval.
The Articles are important because they “define the structure of academic governance at the University, and the participation of faculty and University administration therein, so that all who sustain the University’s academic life may unite in cooperative understanding and effort.” It is through this lens that much of my work relates. One area of academic governance is the College Council.
Each of the colleges on campus has its own college council. One important function of the Council is to help guide the College’s academic mission, which may include balancing the sometimes competing interests of academic departments, programs, and different administrators in the College and at the University. The Council is the academic voice of the faculty of the College that is meant to transcend any program or department.
Under Article V (Organization of the Faculty), the primary role of College Council is to "review the policies, practices, and procedures of the Colleges and make recommendations to the Dean of the relevant College" (Academic Articles, p. 60). In our Council meetings, minutes are taken and votes formally recorded. In general, the Council serves as an advisor to the dean so that the dean can hear from the faculty (via the Council) when making important decisions.
Some of the important decisions that the Council makes involves adding or discontinuing academic departments or establishing or discontinuing degree programs. There are also some formal University-specific activities the Council provides as well, such as forming review or search committees for the dean of the colleges on campus.
The Council elects five tenured faculty from the College and one student from the group of students on the College Council to facilitate the search or the review. (The provost may also appoint two other members.) However, most of the activities of the Council are internal to the governance of the College.
For example, the Council recently approved three new — and exciting — changes to the Undergraduate Studies program that align with the goal of the new Business Core to provide our undergrads with a flexible, customizable curriculum:
  • Impact Consulting Minor: The minor will be open to Mendoza students with the exception of those currently majoring in Management Consulting as of fall 2023. Students will work on a pressing societal problem through a multi-semester consulting engagement with domestic and international collaborators including with the goal of making a transformative, positive impact. Professor Wendy Angst was the architect for this minor, which is based on her transformative work that led to the recent What Would You Fight For? spot.
  • Accountancy/Finance Double Major (the first double-major within the College): This double major provides students with fundamental knowledge in both disciplines while allowing them to pursue special interests. The double major also broadens the range of careers available to students.
  • Accountancy/Strategic Management Double Major: Similar to the  Accountancy/Finance double major, this major provided through a collaboration with Accountancy and Management & Organization provides flexibility and an opportunity to broaden knowledge in both disciplines.
More minors and double majors will be forthcoming to be considered by the College Council.
The Council also recently unanimously approved changing the name of the Management Consulting major to Strategic Management (hence the name of the Accountancy/Strategic Management double major); however, in this case, the decision was finalized by the University’s Academic Council. The Academic Council takes the minutes and votes from the College Council into their consideration of the issue at hand. (That said, there is debate if the Academic Articles require the Academic Council to certify a major’s name change or if it is simply best to inform the University of the change through this body.)
The Council meets as needed (e.g., for program approval), when called by the provost, or if a meeting is requested by 20% of the members (via petition for a meeting). Prior to the meeting, members are asked for agenda items prior to each meeting and they also can raise topics during the proceeding as the last item of business. (Unless time runs out, which sometimes happens!)
The membership of the Council is determined per the Articles. Presently, it consists of an equal number of 10 ex officio, 10 elected members, and four elected students. The ex officio members (i.e., by the position held) named in the Articles include the dean, the associate and assistant deans, and the department chairs. Further, each department holds its own vote to elect a departmental representative by and from among the regular faculty of the department. Then, to balance the number of ex officio and elected members, there are at-large representatives elected by and from the regular faculty of the College.
The current departmental representatives as elected by their respective departments include: Fred Mittelstaedt (Accountancy), Tim Loughran (Finance), Kirsten Martin (ITAO), Adam Wowak (M&O), and Frank Germann (Marketing). Currently, the College at-large representatives are Robert Battalio, Katie Wowak, Jamie O'Brien, Margie Forster, and Corey Angst. Each year, the Council membership changes with members rotating on/off or due to administrative changes. For example, next year Frank Germann will be an ex officio member replacing Shankar Ganesan (After his ninth year as department chair!) and Marketing will soon hold an election to fill the vacancy.
The student representatives provide an important voice to the Council by sharing insights into the student experience and representing their fellow students. The students are from the MBA (the president of the MBAA), a representative of the Specialized Master’s programs (the Specialized Master's Representative Chair) and two undergraduate students — a junior and senior representative (the elected junior representative becomes the senior representative). Current representatives are: Tanique Philogene (MBA ’23), the MBA Association president; David Arndorfer (MSA ’23, BBA ’22), Specialized Master's Committee chair; Ryan Ford (BBA ’23) and Victoria Lyczak (BBA ’24).
In my role, I curate the Council agenda based on items that need to be discussed, where feedback is sought, and for agenda items submitted by the Council members. I try to run the meetings following a simplified version of Robert's Rules of Order. This approach requires motions, seconded motions and then an open vote. Usually, this approach runs smoothly, but I am a self-taught amateur parliamentarian! Though, after one especially contentious and complicated meeting, I considered taking a certification class or hiring a professional parliamentarian for the Council. (The go-to book on the topic is more than 800 pages and filled with nuance!) 
It seems no matter the time, some members cannot make the meeting due to teaching, research, or service obligations. We allow votes by proxy because of such scheduling conflicts for the members. Occasionally, this generates some concern because the absent member is not part of the discussion, which can be very robust at times. The alternative, though, is for that member's voice to not be included in the meeting. Neither solution is ideal, and I would most certainly welcome feedback regarding if we should continue the votes by proxy and share with the College Council for discussion. (I will formally seek such feedback in upcoming faculty elections, which I call for about this time each year to fill opening positions for University and College positions.)
Future agenda items will be the consideration of dual majors in Finance and Marketing and another in Accountancy and Marketing. I’m thankful for Hether Graham who helps me organize and schedule the meetings.
I hope this gives an overview of the College Council and the duties it fulfills. I invite all staff and faculty to suggest topics through any of the Council members. Further, I would be happy to chat with anyone about the Council (or the Academic Articles).
Let me take this opportunity to offer a  big thank-you to the staff and faculty of the College for the many contributions, those visible and widely known but also for the considerable behind-the-scenes work to make the Mendoza College a better Mendoza College.
Best wishes,
Ken
Ken Kelley
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research 
Edward F. Sorin Society Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations

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