My message today is one of appreciation for all of you who contributed to our Commencement Weekend. It was a fantastic weekend that included some special events, such as Jerome Bettis’ receiving his degree, the dedication of a bench overlooking the east side of Stayer in commemoration of late EMBA student Michael Carroll, and an inspiring address by Suni Harford, the president of UBS Asset Management. Even the weather cooperated!

We conferred degrees to 1,205 Class of 2022 graduates — 583 from the undergraduate program (22 January graduates and 561 this weekend) and 628 from the graduate programs. About 10,000 guests collectively attended the College’s commencement events.

More than 70 Mendoza faculty and staff members assisted with the planning and execution of these events, not including the associate deans, the chairs and other faculty and staff who served as emcees or other capacities. I am very, very grateful and appreciative of everyone who helped out to make this weekend a fantastic celebratory experience for our students and their families.

I especially want to recognize the members of the diploma ceremonies’ planning committees. Because we changed the way we organized the ceremonies this year — hosting six ceremonies plus three receptions instead of two ceremonies and a single reception — the committees had to start at square one in making all of the arrangements.

A huge kudos to the Student Services and Facilities and Program Operations teams, and in particular their respective leaders, Christine Gramhofer and Morgan McCoy. They and their teams planned, organized and orchestrated six diploma ceremonies with three vibrant receptions over the Saturday and Sunday of Commencement Weekend. Strong leadership is what makes the difference between a good event and a great experience, and we're blessed to have two of the strongest professionals tag-teaming one of the most visible and important moments in the student journey.

Andy Wendelborn, Samantha Crisp and Teresa True played significant roles in serving as ceremony leads for our six ceremonies. They took the lead on organizing the planning committees and led them in facilitating efforts such as ceremony check-in processes, scriptwriting, graduate lineup, logistics and so much more. Amanda Rink and Laura Glassford supported the undergraduate ceremonies as well as members of Amanda's team. Joseph Torma, Meghan Huff, Jennifer McGuire, Wendy Walker and Connie Varga were instrumental in planning the Dean’s Receptions on Saturday and Sunday at Stayer.

Thanks to all of the members of the planning committees:

Lastly, if you didn’t attend the interdisciplinary graduate ceremony, I encourage you to watch Suni Harford’s address on the theme of “world at a crossroad.” (Her talk begins at the 46:47 mark.) I’d like to share with you two brief quotes:

"Anyone can lead, and yet not everyone leads. Leadership by any other name is courage. Courage to challenge the status quo. Courage to lead by example and asking others to do only that which you would do yourself. Courage to put others on your team first. Courage to admit that you don’t know everything. (You know a lot. But you don’t know everything.) Courage to speak up if you see something that doesn’t feel right. Courage to be inclusive, to seek views other than your own; courage to share credit. Courage to be true to yourself."

"For that is what true leadership does. Sets an example. Stands up to opposition. Inspires others. And leverages individual efforts to drive impact. And that’s the point I would like to leave you with. Everyone can make an impact. You don’t need a title. You don’t need to sit at the top of an org chart. You can lead, every single day, from your first day on the job to your last. You need only decide that you are going to make an impact."

I’m thankful to all of you who have an impact on our students, the College and the University through your commitment to serve.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

During the recent Mendoza Staff Town Hall, I had the pleasure of announcing the recipients of the 2022 Mendoza Dean’s Awards for Excellence. These awards were inaugurated in 2021 as a way to highlight and reward the hard work and dedication of our staff members.

They specifically recognize staff for outstanding achievements in three ways: To elevate the work we do; to integrate efforts across teams and programs; and to cooperate with one another to achieve success. Nominations can be submitted by anyone in the College, and are reviewed by a cross-functional College committee representing different teams, roles and levels.

These are the Dean’s Awards for Excellence recipients for 2022:

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Elevation: Graduate Admissions Operations and Pipeline Teams
Award recipients: Jodie Campbell, Colleen Cota, Amy Dame, Heather DeCourval, Helen High, Kellie Rzepka, Tashia Thornton, Annette Tysver, Angela Wesley and Janel Zakrewski-Kuntz.

The award is presented to a team that identifies new opportunities for Mendoza to collectively compete in the business school landscape. These teams have shown exemplary accomplishment toward a significant achievement through innovative thinking. Their efforts differentiate the work we do through advancing the vision and mission of the College and helping others to do the same. Their accomplishments include revamping the application to make it more inclusive in assessing candidates, scheduling more than 900 interviews, processing a nearly 30% increase in applications and partnering with vendors to reduce bias through the application process.

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Integration: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grow the Good in Business Case Competition
Award recipients: Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Carol Elliott, Martin Johnson, Angela Logan, Joan McClendon, Jessica McManus Warnell, Kris Muir, Minhee Myung, Hermalena Powell, Jessica Stookey, Tahra Taylor, Wendy Walker and Brandi Wampler.

The award is presented to a cross-functional team that has worked together to accomplish a goal or complete a project that is in line with the vision, mission and priorities of the College. The team led by Kristen, Jessica and Joan collaborated over a period of months to launch this inaugural case competition, which provided our Specialized Master’s students with an educational experience that reflects challenges encountered by the broader society as well as real businesses. The competition generated community-based research for the State of Indiana and competition sponsors, provided the State with actionable steps to advance its commitment to DE&I and empowered our future leaders to make an impact in their organizations, community and the world. While there were many contributors across the College — much to my appreciation — these individuals served as part of the organizational committee in capacities that went above and beyond their day-to-day job responsibilities.

Award Recipients: Martin Johnson, who conceived and spearheaded the inaugural program outside his traditional responsibilities in Career Development; and María Stutsman y Márquez, who was pivotal in the execution of the program and the ongoing relationship with Alpha Phi Alpha.

The award is presented to a staff member (or members) who serves in a way that is respectful, fair and inclusive; benefits others; goes above and beyond his or her own personal interests; and acts altruistically for the benefit of the community. María and Martin were instrumental in establishing the College’s partnership with the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek lettered and oldest fraternity for African American men. This partnership resulted in the College’s hosting of an inaugural cohort of 11 fraternity members last fall for an immersive experience. The program created a unique and important opportunity to support the professional advancement and leadership of African American men through graduate business education and to enhance the diversity of our graduate students.

Congratulations to all of the Dean’s Award for Excellence recipients. Each individual will receive a trophy and a cash prize.

We had numerous nominees in all three award categories — all worthy of recognition. This made it difficult to choose the ultimate winners, and also speaks very strongly to the depth of commitment among our staff members at Mendoza. I’m very thankful for the talent and hard work so much in evidence every day.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn 

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a new academic program focused on the core of our mission: The Business Ethics and Society Program (BESP). This program will support teaching, research and other scholarly activities to further understanding of how business can contribute to integral human development (i.e., in such a way that the material, social and moral dimensions of people’s lives are all advanced). This includes exploring topics such as the moral purpose of business and business as a vocation.

Led by faculty director James Otteson, the John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics, the BESP was approved by the College Council in September 2021. The program’s chief aims include:

The BESP resulted from a proposal initiated in fall 2019 by Ann Tenbrunsel, Father Ollie Williams and myself for a new academic department in Mendoza that would engage Catholic social thought, provide a home for interdisciplinary research in the area of business ethics and society, and contribute to our mission to “Grow the Good in Business.”

While the proposal eventually became one for a new program instead of a new department, I am confident that the BESP will help us to advance our scholarship in business ethics and society, to coordinate our business ethics-related teaching and programming, and to create an intellectual community linking Mendoza departments as well as relevant units across the University.

The program’s goals (over the next few years) include offering an undergraduate minor and managing the College’s non-disciplinary courses in the area of business ethics and society. The BESP also will sponsor events such as conferences, lectures, guest speakers and student programming.

Perhaps the BESP’s most strategic and significant goal is the first one listed above: to attract top scholars in this space that is key to our identity as a Catholic business school. Because faculty appointments at Notre Dame must be to departments, institutes, colleges or schools, tenure-track faculty will not be appointed directly to the BESP. Rather, faculty whose primary home is the BESP will be appointed to either the Office of the Dean for non-tenure-stream faculty or with another department or school on campus in a collaborative engagement with tenure-stream faculty.

In addition to the three current tenured members of MCoB who are currently part of the BESP (Jim Otteson, Ann Tenbrunsel and Father Williams), our plans are to recruit new, additional tenure-steam faculty for the program. We recently filled one such position with the successful hire of Mary Hirshfeld, a leading scholar at the intersection of economics, theology and Catholic social thought in the context of business who will join Notre Dame on July 1. Mary was hired in collaboration with Arts & Letters’ Theology Department, where she will have her tenure home.

Current Mendoza faculty who wish to be affiliated with the program are welcome to do so voluntarily. Of course, BESP activities and events will be open to all faculty. 

The BESP’s future plans include offering undergraduate courses such as "Why Business?" and "Theology of Honorable Business" under the course designation BES starting in the 2022-23 academic year. The program also is moving forward with the development of the curricular minor to be proposed in spring 2023. Also in 2022-23, we hope to initiate another international search for at least one additional faculty appointment in the BESP.

Thanks to Jim, Ann and Father Ollie for their leadership.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn