From the Dean's Desk

Mission, Vision, Goals, Objectives

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 19 September 2022

 

I am glad to share with you the College’s new strategic plan, which serves to guide our decision making and outlines the College’s priorities.

In January, we began in earnest to develop our strategic plan for the next five years. Working with the University’s Office of Strategic Planning & Institutional Research, we convened a Strategic Planning Committee made up of a cross-section of Mendoza faculty and staff who were charged with drafting four items:
(i) A mission statement describing our purpose as a College;
(ii) A vision statement stating where we want to be in the future;
(iii) Our objectives for the next five years; and finally
(iv) The key results that describe the outcomes of the actions we plan to take to achieve those objectives in the near future (1 – 2 years).

Our intention throughout the process was to create a strategic plan that is guided by and in support of the larger mission, vision and goals of the University, while also providing a roadmap for our departments, staff and faculty members in setting their own objectives and key results (OKRs). We hope that the strategic plan has a practical use, helping all of us to align our efforts through the sharing of the College’s priorities.

We still have some work to do; in particular, to finalize the College’s key results (KRs) that provide specific and measurable actions to support our priorities in the year ahead. On a yearly basis, we will ask the programs and departments to align their annual strategic goals with the College’s KRs to ensure we're working together to achieve our five-year goals. We will communicate the KRs in the near future.

I have included the mission statement, the vision statement and the goals from the strategic plan below. You also can pick up a beautifully designed one-page printed version from Faculty Support, which would be fit for display in your workspaces.

MISSION: As a leading business school guided by the University's Catholic identity, the Mendoza College of Business seeks to grow the good in business to improve the human condition in an ever-changing society. Through impactful research and educational programs, we contribute to the formation of ethical business leaders who integrate the mind and the heart, and have the competence to see and the courage to act.

VISION: The Mendoza College of Business will be a premier global business school widely recognized for innovative research, rigorous educational programs and formative student experiences, all informed by our Catholic character. Mendoza will be the business school of choice for talented students, faculty and staff who are called to serve and have a desire to advance the human community through business as a force for good.

GOALS:

(i) Elevate the quality and quantity of impactful research with relevance to business and society.
(ii) Provide an unsurpassed educational experience that contributes to the formation and preparation of undergraduate students who will meaningfully contribute to the world.
(iii) Elevate our flagship MBA program while offering a strategic portfolio of specialized graduate programs that are distinctively mission-centric, are market-relevant, leverage faculty strengths and contribute to Mendoza's advancement.
(iv) Develop an innovative curriculum and formative experiences that integrate the business disciplines with the perspective of the human person, preparing students to contribute, cooperate and compete in an ever-changing society.
(v) Attract, hire, develop and retain a diverse, world-class faculty and staff who advance our mission and extend our vision.
(vi) As a community of students, faculty, staff and alumni in pursuit of excellence, cultivate an engaged, caring and inclusive culture informed by the University's Catholic mission.

Please note: Tomorrow (September 20) from 2:30-3:30 p.m, we will hold our first Business Encounters meeting for all staff in Stayer Commons A on the topic of the strategic plan. As announced earlier, the Business Encounters are optional one-hour meetings open to all Mendoza staff members with the intention of facilitating conversation on key strategic initiatives. The topic for tomorrow is the strategic plan. Please bring your questions and feedback.

I am very grateful to the members of the Mendoza Strategic Planning Committee, who devoted countless hours to creating our strategic plan: Corey Angst, Brad Badertscher, Tim Bohling, Shane Corwin, Mike Crant, Heather Denton, Hong Guo, Vamsi Krishna Kanuri, Ken Kelley, Rob Kelly, Stephannie Larocque and Kara Palmer.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Mendoza 2021-22 OKR Progress

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 12 September 2022
In this week’s column, I will be reviewing the College’s objectives we had set for the 2021-2022 academic year and share with you how we did. Next week, I will follow up with our objectives for this academic year and share with you our new strategic plan.
Last year, we identified five pillars – research, DE&I, undergraduate program, graduate programs and strategic planning – to the College’s mission to improve the human condition in an ever-changing society and formulated objectives for each of these pillars. The great progress we have made in these areas is all thanks to your hard work!
Following are highlights of some of the notable achievements of faculty, staff, programs, centers, institutes and other groups forming the Mendoza community toward each of these five pillars and objectives in the past year. A more comprehensive report (although still not inclusive of all of our activities) is available online.
Objective #1: Emphasize research excellence.
  • Launched the Ph.D. Program in Management and the Ph.D. Program in Analytics – historic firsts for the College – with four students enrolled in each program’s inaugural cohort. You can visit the brand-new Ph.D. student offices in Mendoza’s basement and read the students’ profiles here.
  • Launched the Business Ethics and Society Program (BESP) with Jim Otteson as academic director to support interdisciplinary teaching, research and other scholarly activities to further understanding of how business can contribute to integral human development.
  • Established two new research labs:
    - Human-centered Analytics Lab (HAL) with Rob Easley and Ahmed Abbasi named as co-directors.
    - Gaming Analytics (GAMA) with Nick Berente named as the director.
  • Hosted high-level academic conferences, including:
    - CARE Conference 2021: Accounting for Sustainability and Responsible Investing
    - The 41st annual Management Communication Association Conference hosted by the Fanning Center.
    - Investment Management Conference hosted by NDIGI and the Finance Department.
Objective #2: Engender a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture.
  • Appointed Kristen Collett-Schmitt as the inaugural Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion. Her role will focus on student programming and working with leaders across the College to form a more inclusive environment for our students in the College.
  • Partnered with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and with Marian University to provide leadership development programs for underrepresented people to prepare them for graduate business programs.
  • Hosted NDIGI’s fourth annual Women’s Investing Summit (WIS ’22) where 100% of the speakers were prominent female executives.
  • Dedicated efforts toward building a “culture of encounter” for faculty, staff and students through shared social events and celebrations, leadership engagement opportunities and recognitions of team and individual excellence.
Objective #3: Enhance the undergraduate curriculum.
  • Debated and decided on the new Business Core curriculum, resulting in a comprehensive revision that expands undergraduate students’ academic opportunities and provides greater flexibility in plans of study while enabling increased specialization.
  • Launched the Business Honors Program, with Jim Otteson as faculty director and Craig Iffland as program director.
  • Integrated analytics across the curriculum, implementing the new requirement of all business majors to take the new Coding Fundamentals with Python course by the end of their sophomore year.
  • Expanded the undergraduate Innovation & Design Thinking learning opportunities led by Management & Organization teaching professor Wendy Angst, offering three sections serving 100 students to teach them the fundamentals of design thinking working on an experiential learning project around community engagement in Uganda.
Objective #4: Elevate the Notre Dame MBA, Specialized Master’s and Executive Programs.
  • Established the Stayer Center as the new home location for the MBA program, adding new team rooms, renovating space for a lower-level student lounge and installing new furniture in the third-floor lounge, among other improvements.
  • Continued the focus on growing applications and enriching the class profile, and improved the student experience across their entire student journey through efforts such as increased collaboration, alignment and consistent messaging across the matrix structure. We were glad to see the improved ranking (to No. 25 from No. 36) of our MBA Program in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
  • Expanded graduate experiential learning opportunities, including hiring key positions for the Experiential Learning Program team and expanding the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program to four different MBA courses for the first time. 
  • Launched the MSBA-Sports Analytics program.
  • Created and launched a new Specialization in Ethical Leadership Program in partnership with ND Learning through Coursera.
Objective #5: Engage in strategic planning and continuous improvement.
  • Renewed our strategic plan using the University’s process, forming the Strategic Planning Committee under the leadership of Rob Kelly and Kara Palmer and in partnership with the Office of Strategic Planning (more on this next week).
  • Continued to advance the matrix organizational restructuring and staffing of functions to support the entire College, which included introducing a leadership structure to support our degree programs and restructuring staff leadership by creating a new senior director of operations position and hiring Rob Kelly. 
  • Instituted changes to our budgeting and financial planning processes, under the leadership of Tracy Biggs, to provide accurate and timely reporting, increase spending discipline and support future planning for the College’s strategic initiatives.
I hope this report gives you a better idea of the many activities, projects and programs going on in the College. I am so grateful for your contributions as individuals and teams. 
Yours in Notre Dame,
Martijn

New Faculty — Continued

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 5 September 2022
As promised in last week’s Dean’s Message, here are seven more faculty members joining us this year as new faculty or in new roles:
LAUREL MAZUR, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
Previous Position: I was a Ph.D. student at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. I also worked as both a research assistant and dissertation intern at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from 2014 to 2022.
Graduate Degree(s): M.A. in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration and an M.A. in Economics – both from University of Denver; Ph.D. in Accounting and Information Assurance from University of Maryland - College Park. 
Teaching/Research Specialty: At Mendoza, I teach the undergraduate course Data Analytics in Accounting. My research is in financial accounting, with particular emphasis on issues related to supervision, regulation and disclosure in the banking industry. 
Why did you specialize in this area? These research areas were informed and influenced by my time working in bank supervision at the Federal Reserve. I hope that this experience will allow me to ask interesting and relevant questions that have the potential for impact far beyond the banking industry.
MITCH OLSEN, Associate Teaching Professor of Marketing, Assistant Department Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Marketing Department 
Previous Position: Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Mendoza College of Business (my office is still in the same location, but since I'm new to the teaching faculty and administrative roles listed above, I look forward to using my "new faculty" designation as cover for asking lots of questions and forming new connections with even more members of our Mendoza family).
Graduate Degree(s): M.S., and Ph.D. in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Marketing strategy, with a specific focus on substantive issues that occur at the intersection of brands, retailing and innovation. 
Why did you specialize in this area? I have always loved how marketing is a dynamic field that is constantly finding new ways to better meet timeless consumer needs. At its core, marketing is about creating value for people. Doing that effectively requires empathy in the form of truly understanding a target market's wants and needs, strategically determining how you can meet some of their needs better than anybody else, and collaborating across all business domains to actually go out and deliver on that promise. 
JOHN SIKORSKI, Assistant Teaching Professor in Business Ethics and Society
Previous Position: I served the last two years as a postdoctoral teaching scholar at Mendoza, teaching Introduction to Business Ethics as well as working with the new Business Honors Program.
Graduate Degree(s): M.T.S. in Liturgical Studies and a Ph.D. in Moral Theology and Christian Ethics – both from the University of Notre Dame.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Business Ethics, Virtue Ethics, Christianity and capitalism, Catholic Social Teaching, theological anthropology, environmental ethics, and bioethics.
Why did you specialize in this area? I am convinced that many of the problems we find in culture and society stem from various misunderstandings of the human person, who ought to be the heart and center of every culture.  Developing a person-centered culture is the only adequate response to the great dignity of each human person as made in the image and likeness of God. Since business, when practiced justly, plays such a large role in furthering good in society, there is a great need for virtuous business leaders to develop themselves, their skills, and their talents to serve, and not to be served. Approaching the field of business from the perspective of both faith and reason – which are not opposed but rather complementary – and working with many wonderful students to explore these topics from the depth of the philosophical and theological traditions, leads me to have great hope that we truly can build a better culture and society, if we succeed in forming leaders who pay attention to, and even prioritize, working for the common good.
MADDY THOMPSON, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
Previous Position:  I was at the University of Michigan for both my Ph.D. and my postdoc.
Graduate Degree(s): MA in Accounting and Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
Teaching/Research Specialty: My research focuses on the intersection of public policy and accounting issues. I often say "governance and governments" as a quick summary. My specialty in teaching is financial accounting and I am teaching Corporate Financial Reporting this fall. 
Why did you specialize in this area? I'm very interested in understanding how policies play out, if policies achieve their stated goals and/or have other implications. I love that there is the potential for impact, whether that be in how policy is enacted or how organizations and individuals in positions of influence react to policy. I also love that my area of study affords me the opportunity to work with an array of co-authors from different specialties.
ANDREW WENDELBORN, Assistant Advising Professor and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies
Previous Position: I served as the Assistant Director for Advising and Administration, Mendoza Office of Undergraduate Studies. 
Degrees: B.A. in History and Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame; currently completing an Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt University.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Academic Advising and Student Support.
Why did you specialize in this area? I have served in an advising role in Mendoza for nearly nine years, first with MBA, MSA and MSM students and now with our undergraduate student population. As a Double Domer, I am committed to supporting our students and their academic endeavors so that their student experience at Notre Dame is as good as mine was – or better!
YANG YANG, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Previous Position: Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) and Kellogg School of Management. 
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Data mining/machine learning, computational social science and science of science. 
Why did you specialize in this area?  I’m interested in studying how social networks affect individuals' success. Specifically, I’ve studied the link between social network and leadership attainment, the effect of team composition on performance and innovation, and the role of media and social media in shaping public access to science.
MICHAL ZATOR, Assistant Professor of Finance
Previous Position: I was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Finance for the last two years. Before that, I completed my Ph.D. at Northwestern University.
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; and an MA in Applied Mathematics from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland.
Teaching/Research Specialty: I do research at the intersection of finance and labor economics, and I teach corporate finance.
Why did you specialize in this area? I am interested in how business decisions made by corporations and financial institutions influence the life of workers and consumers.
Again, welcome to all. I hope these brief bios will also start some conversations around the coffee machine!
Yours in Notre Dame,
Martijn

Welcome New Faculty!

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 29 August 2022
This academic year, we are welcoming 14 new faculty members to Mendoza (most of them are new to Mendoza, along with a few faculty in new roles). Because it’s a fairly long list, I will introduce half of them this week and the other half in next week’s Mendoza Exchange:
JEFF CAI, Patricia and George Scharpf Family Assistant Professor in Real Estate (ITAO)
Previous Position: I was a doctoral candidate in the Statistics and Data Science Department at the Wharton School.
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Statistics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Teaching/Research Specialty: The intersection of statistical learning and data-driven decision making. A significant thrust of my research is on network analysis, model selection and post-selection inference with interdisciplinary research in economics, finance and real estate.
Why did you specialize in this area? Back in college as a computer science major, I always wanted to interpret the machine learning black box; as a statistician/data scientist in a business school, I always aspire to apply and develop the right methodologies for better decision-making and scientific discoveries. Every dot of my past is connected and the network of dots greatly impacted me, so as other networks impact individuals, firms, and housing markets. I believe networks are powerful vehicles to help us understand the formation and impacts of the relationships in which human beings live and thrive. Therefore, I think of everything from a network perspective.
CLAIRE DONOVAN, Associate Teaching Professor of Accountancy
Previous Position: I was a senior lecturer at Saint Mary's College, teaching a variety of accounting courses. 
Graduate Degree(s): M.S. in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. 
Teaching/Research Specialty: In addition to teaching the Foundations of Accountancy course, I will also be studying ESG in order to help implement it further into the accounting curriculum. 
Why did you specialize in this area? The area of ESG is incredibly dynamic and growing quickly in the business world. I think the topic is very critical for the future of the world and to continue to grow a more prosperous society.
MARY HIRSCHFELD, Associate Professor of Business Ethics and Society
Previous Position: Associate Professor of Economics and Theology, teaching in Villanova’s humanities program.
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, Master of Theological Science, and Ph.D. in Moral Theology from the University of Notre Dame.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Bringing economics into meaningful conversation with theology.
Why did you specialize in this area? Given that I started off with a Ph.D. in economics and went on to get a Ph.D. in theology, I had to find a way to bring the two disciplines into dialogue. The results proved to be fruitful – allowing me to make sense of why economics is a valuable discipline, but also why it is subject to the kinds of critiques to which it is subject. I apply my framework to questions like economic justice, the common good and other topics that arise when theologians take up economic questions.
SUSAN KLEISER, Teaching Professor of Marketing
Previous Position: I worked at Texas Christian University (TCU) for 17 years.
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati.
Teaching/Research Specialty: My current research and teaching interests are in Marketing Research and Analytics, Consumer Behavior, and Product Management. I have researched and taught in the Digital Marketing space as well.
Why did you specialize in this area? I chose to specialize in the quantitative area of Marketing because of my longstanding interest in solving numbers-based problems and analyzing data. I have found that being able to find the marketing insights in, or tell a compelling story with, data provides such value to the numbers themselves and to the companies that rely on this information to make better marketing decisions such as “which customers should we target for our product,” or “which promotional tools should we use to reach our customers.”
ALISON LANSKI, Assistant Teaching Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Previous Position: I was most recently an Institutional Research Analyst & Consultant for ND in the Office of Strategic Planning & Institutional Research.
Graduate Degree(s): M.S. from the University of Notre Dame (ACMS with a specialization in Data Science); Ph.D. from the University of Illinois (Classical Philology); M.A. from the University of Illinois (Classics). 
Teaching/Research Specialty: Data visualization, statistical programming, pragmatics.
Why did you specialize in this area? I am fascinated by how people construct meaning and organize communication. These principles apply not only to ancient languages but also to coding, data, visualization and teaching.
SHIJIE LYU, Howard J. and Geraldine F. Korth Associate Professor of Marketing
Previous Position: I was at the University of Houston and UNC Chapel Hill.
Graduate Degree(s): Ph.D. in Business Administration from University of Southern California.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Digital marketing, online advertising, social media, digital piracy.
Why did you specialize in this area? I got interested in digital marketing because of the constantly changing landscape in this industry. I am personally interested in how to make online information more useful to consumers.
DREW MARCANTONIO, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program (M&O)
Previous Position: I was a postdoctoral research associate at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Graduate Degree(s): M.P.A. in Environmental Management, School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University at Bloomington; M.A. in Anthropology, University of Notre Dame; Ph.D. in Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Teaching/Research Specialty: Environmental management, enterprise and peacebuilding from the community level to globalized interactions.
Why did you specialize in this area? I have always been interested in human-environmental interactions. My first opportunity to work in this space was leading water and agriculture projects in a highly conflicted area of Afghanistan and I saw the power of putting sustainable livelihoods at the center of peacebuilding programming. Since then, that has been my focus: sustainably promoting the dignity of work for human and environmental flourishing.
Please join me in welcoming the new members of the Mendoza community. Stay tuned for the other seven faculty to be introduced next week. We’re very glad and grateful that they joined us, and I’m looking forward to a great year for them and all of us!
Yours in Notre Dame,
Martijn

Guest Column: Craig Crossland

Craig Crossland

Craig Crossland

Monday, 18 July 2022
Hi, Everyone,
I hope your summer is going well and that you’ve been able to take some time to rest and recharge following a very busy 2021/2022 academic year. On July 1, I stepped into the role of senior associate dean for academic programs here at Mendoza. This new role is part of the associated structural and personnel changes within the College announced in June. As part of my transition, I’ve been fortunate to have conversations with a wide range of people inside and outside of Mendoza about all of our outstanding programs, so I appreciate the invitation to contribute a guest column with some thoughts on what my role entails and what my approach will be.
First, I want to begin by thanking Dean Martijn Cremers for giving me this opportunity to serve in this new role and to work with such an outstanding group of staff, faculty and students. I’m excited to collaborate with you all to continue to enact Dean Martijn’s bold and innovative vision for our College.
I also extend my deep, abiding thanks to those who served as associate deans for our academic programs during the previous three academic years: Walt Clements (EMBA), Kristen Collett-Schmitt (Specialized Masters), Jim Leady (Undergraduate) and Mike Mannor (MBA). Finally, I want to thank in advance those members of the College with whom I will be working closely, including the staff functional leaders, academic leaders of Mendoza programs, academic leaders of department programs, Mendoza department representatives, Dean’s Office representatives and many others.
In terms of my aims and agenda for the new role, frankly, I’m still wondering about that myself to some degree. It’s going to take me more than a few weeks’ transition to determine this fully. That said, I think I’m now in a position to be able to offer some specific thoughts.
Structurally, I’ll be responsible for overseeing the Mendoza’s undergraduate and professional programs, both degree and non-degree. Thus, I see my core focus as ensuring that our programs continue to fulfill our core mission via the College’s “Three C’s” strategic framework. As Dean Martijn notes, “We are committed to our mission to Grow the Good in Business by developing leaders who contribute to human flourishing, cooperate with others in solidarity and compete toward becoming the best version of themselves through serving others.”
Our programs serve as one of the most critical engines driving this mission, manifested in the thousands of myriad individual interactions with our students that, in total, add up to a set of life-changing experiences that shape students’ personal identities for years and decades after they leave our campus. Our students place great faith in us when they entrust us with their time, energy and financial resources, and I’m honored to be working within a college and a university that are so deeply committed to repaying that faith by helping students develop into the scholars and leaders they’re capable of becoming.
In more concrete terms, my own two watchwords for the next year will be “community” and “efficiency.” In other words: 1) How can we build and further strengthen the interpersonal and inter-program connections that link all of us? and 2) How can we more effectively implement the many exciting new initiatives and changes that we’ve witnessed within College programs during the past two years?
As you all know, we’ve been dealing with a great deal of change lately. Let me be clear that I don’t think change is always, or even usually, bad; in fact, I strongly believe that many of the changes we’re all grappling with at the moment will form the bedrock of our competitive advantage as a college for decades to come.
That said, we have been dealing with a *lot* of upheaval. To take just a few examples, in the Undergraduate Studies program, we now have a completely revised the core curriculum for the first time in decades and launched an entirely new undergraduate Business Honors Program. The MBA program has been restructured around a new “pathways” approach, including novel, off-campus opportunities such as Mods-Away.
Further, we’re in the process of revamping the entire basis of leadership training for our professional students; we’re looking to substantially enhance our offerings in the area of experiential learning; we’re dealing with ongoing personnel changes and new hiring; and we’re still figuring out the best way to implement the new matrix structure within the College.
We’ve seen the introduction of several new master’s programs, and the College is experimenting with new non-degree offerings as well. Moving beyond graduate and professional programs, Mendoza is about to welcome to campus its first crop of Ph.D. students in its 100-plus-year history, and we’ve started a new Business Ethics and Society program that is designed to attract the best and brightest minds to our campus.
And, by the way, we’re doing all of this in the context of having just emerged from a generation-defining pandemic, which was amplified by our University’s courageous stance on maximizing in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible throughout. I’ve seen everyone in Mendoza perform heroic feats during the past couple of years to make all of this happen.
Is any of this inherently problematic? Certainly not. But it does mean that we now have an opportunity and an obligation to ensure that these changes in College programs are integrated as thoroughly and seamlessly as possible. Therefore, my goal for this time next year is for all of our programs to be characterized by stronger interpersonal links and for us to have moved closer to implementing many of our current changes, becoming a well-oiled machine again, and thereby providing the exceptional level of operational excellence that our students and other stakeholders have always valued at Notre Dame.
Thank you in advance for your support as I transition into this new job. Please consider this an open invitation to reach out to me at any point if you’d like to discuss anything related to my role or College programs in general.
Sincerely,
Craig
Craig Crossland
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs

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