From the Dean's Desk

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

Guest Column: Craig Crossland & Rob Kelly

Craig Crossland and Rob Kelly

Craig Crossland and Rob Kelly

Monday, 20 March 2023

Hi, everyone,
We hope you had a good spring break and that you were able to take some time off to rest and recharge before diving back into the last quarter of the academic year. We're writing today with a brief update related to Commencement Weekend this year, which is scheduled for May 19-21.

See here for more information about the weekend and here for the schedule of events. A few points to note:

  • Mendoza will be hosting two diploma ceremonies this year: 1) a graduate ceremony for all graduate programs, scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday; and 2) an undergraduate ceremony for all Mendoza majors, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday. This is similar to the approach that the College employed prior to the pandemic.
  • Several departments/programs within the College are also planning to host additional events and receptions over the weekend. Information for these departmental and graduate business receptions also are included in the 2023 Schedule of Events document on the commencement.nd.edu site.
  • Dean Martijn Cremers will speak at both the undergraduate and graduate diploma ceremonies. We will not be hosting any additional outside speakers at either ceremony this year.
  • We are hoping to expand the platform parties for both ceremonies in order to allow additional faculty to participate and to be recognized on stage. More details to come closer to the event.
  • All members of the Mendoza College are also welcome and encouraged to attend the Commencement Mass (5 p.m. on Saturday) and University Commencement Ceremony (9:30 a.m. on Sunday).

Commencement Weekend is a wonderful, joyous time of year at Notre Dame. It is a celebration for all of us in our community – students, families, staff, faculty and administrators. It contributes to shaping lifelong memories and provides an invaluable opportunity for us to showcase the University to the outside world. We strongly encourage you to participate in this year's commencement events to the fullest extent possible.

Please join us in recognizing and thanking several individuals who have taken on especially onerous roles this year when it comes to the planning and delivery of commencement programming: the College Commencement Planning Committee (Amanda Rink (chair), Laura Glassford, Christine Gramhofer, Morgan McCoy, Andy Wendelborn); Department Chairs (Brad Badertscher, Shane Corwin, Rob Easley, Shankar Ganesan, Ann Tenbrunsel); and Assistant Department Chairs (Colleen Creighton, Jen Cronin, Mitch Olsen, Jason Reed, Jen Waddell).

Sincerely,

Craig Crossland
Sr. Associate Dean for Academic Programs

Rob Kelly
Sr. Director of Operations

Women's History Month

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 6 March 2023

In 2022, Notre Dame celebrated the 50th anniversary of Father Ted Hesburgh’s historic decision to admit women as undergraduates to the formerly all-male university. In the fall of 1972, the University admitted the first women: 125 first-year and more than 200 transfer students. Today, women collectively comprise about 40% of the Mendoza undergraduate program and 35% of the graduate programs.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I’m pleased to highlight the leadership and contributions of several of our faculty and staff members:
Kristen Collett-Schmitt, associate dean for innovation and diversity, has been instrumental in advancing inclusivity across the College. Two recently launched notable programs include:

ND Elevate: Women in Leadership, a pilot program conducted in partnership with ND Learning and Beacon Health Systems aimed at empowering women to take the next step in their professional journey by developing knowledge and skills relating to resilience, negotiation, presence and authenticity. The program’s online learning modules and a full-day immersion featured some of the University’s foremost women leaders and scholars, including Muffet McGraw, Ruth Riley Hunter (EMBA ’16), Carolyn Woo, Cindy Muir (Zapata), Jessica McManus Warnell, Angela Logan and Amanda McKendree.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grow the Good in Business Case Competition. Forty-five teams of Mendoza undergraduate and graduate students have registered for the second annual competition, which focuses on the problem of financial inclusion in underserved markets. The closing event, where winners will be announced, takes place at 10 a.m. on April 21 in the Stayer Center Commons A.

Kara Palmer, senior director of administration and program management, was chosen to represent Mendoza as part of the ND Women Lead feature in honor of International Women’s Day on March 8. Kara, who leads the Mendoza Staff DEI Council, has been a pioneer in gender equity in the College and across campus, serving as the leader of Thrive! Inspiring ND Women, the largest employee resource group that is focused on increasing opportunities for women to be recruited, retained and advanced as leaders at the University.

María Stutsman y Márquez, director of Graduate Recruiting & Admissions, has supported the Diversity in Leadership (DIL) initiative founded by Dr. Leon Jackson (EMBA '19). The six-month program is designed to help close gaps in educational attainment, wealth, skills and career opportunities for marginalized groups, and to provide a path to executive leadership and entrepreneurship. María also led the Solidarity Summit admissions recruitment events which provide coaching throughout the admissions process and a sponsored visit to campus to increase the interest and admission success of diverse groups. As a result of these initiatives and others, Insight into Diversity magazine presented the College with a 2023 Inspiring Programs in Business Award given as a tribute to the people and programs that encourage and inspire a new generation of people to consider careers in business. María also was recently named as the vice president of Adelante ND, an Employee Resource Group committed to diversity and inclusion and educating others about our Hispanic/Latinx heritage.

Wendy Angst, teaching professor of Management & Organization, has continued her important work facilitating experiential learning for undergraduate students to have a measurable impact on the world's most pressing problems. Providing opportunities for students to engage in projects over multiple semesters from idea, to immersion, to implementation, Wendy's first “proof of concept” is with St. Bakhita Vocational Training Center in Northern Uganda. Wendy and her students support 78 female "Innovation Scholars" to learn a vocation and receive training in computers and entrepreneurship. Through collaborative innovation, they aim to provide young women with access to education, enable sustainable operations for the school and improve the region’s economic prosperity.

Business on the Frontlines, founded by Viva Bartkus, has worked on many projects over the years related to the education and advancement of women as a way of addressing poverty and violence. An ongoing partnership with Child’s Cup Full, overseen by Kelly Rubey, focuses on creating lasting economic growth for Palestinian women by providing talented refugee and low-income artisans training and job opportunities.

Patty Brady, interim director for NDIGI, oversaw the Women’s Investing Summit ’23, a signature event for the College and the larger investment industry. As an attendee, I can tell you that the Downes Club was packed with students, faculty, staff, alumni and other guests. Now in its fifth year, WIS continues to shine a light into investment management career paths for our students and bring together some of the top experts in the field today. Tess Swain was also key in executing the event.

These are a few examples of the many women faculty and staff members across Mendoza who are significantly contributing to the success of our students, the College and the University through advancing the causes of diversity, equity and inclusion. I am deeply grateful to all.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

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