From the Dean's Desk

AACSB Visit, Ethics Week Reminder

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 5 February 2024

I want to highlight two important events happening in the College next week.

On February 11-13, the College will host a team of faculty and administrators from peer and aspirant business schools as part of our accreditation by AACSB International, a global nonprofit association that is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools offering undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. 

The College first received AACSB accreditation in 1962. The Accountancy program, which is reviewed separately, has been accredited since 1984. Since then, we have participated in a five-year “continuous improvement” peer review to extend the accreditation.

The peer-review team will be on campus to meet with our deans, chairs, senior directors, faculty and students. The review also involves the submission of an extensive continuous improvement report about the College’s activities and accomplishments, to which many of you contributed data and information. 

The report was a substantial project and I appreciate the contributions of Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Ken Kelley, Letecia McKinney, David Smiley, Diego Wang, MinHee Myung, Amanda Rink, Carol Elliott, Zara Osterman, the academic directors of all programs and others who provided information. The Accountancy report was completed by Brad Badertscher, Fred Mittelstaedt, Jim Seida and Barb Westra. Thanks also to those of you who are participating in the upcoming visit.  

Notre Dame Ethics Week also gets underway next week with the theme of “Artificial Intelligence: Its Ethical Possibilities and Problems.” This year, we are featuring an all-Mendoza lineup of faculty members who have deep knowledge and research expertise in AI. The topics address current issues around AI that are the subject of daily headlines. The talks take place from 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m. February 12-16 in Mendoza room 133. 

  • February 12 (Monday): Ahmed Abbasi, Joe and Jane Giovanini Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations; Academic Director of the Ph.D. Program in Analytics and co-director of the Human-centered Analytics Lab, “Artificial Intelligence's Major Challenge:  Striking a Balance Between Innovation and Precaution.”
  • February 13 (Tuesday): Kirsten Martin, William P. and Hazel B. White Center Professor of Technology Ethics, “Who is Responsible for Algorithmic Recommendations Online? (And Other Pesky AI Questions).”
  • February 15 (Thursday): Greg Robson, visiting assistant research professor of Business Ethics and Society, “Planning Future Economies: Can Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted?” 
  • February 16 (Friday): Nick Berente, professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations, “Artificial Intelligence's Use, Impact and Necessary Guardrails.”  

I hope you will attend as your schedule allows. My thanks especially to Ken Milani, who has faithfully organized Ethics Week which is now in its 26th year, as well as to Claire Donovan, Bob Essig and John Sikorski.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn


Research Roundup

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 29 January 2024

I’m pleased to feature five research papers written by our faculty and recently published in top-tier academic journals:

John Busenbark, Mary Jo and Richard M. Kovacevich Associate Professor of Management & Organization
Director Departure Following Political Ideology (In)congruence With an Incoming CEO (Strategic Management Journal)
Political ideologies are vital in how people craft their networks, as individuals prefer to associate with others who share their views and can possess a visceral aversion to others who do not. The researchers theorize and find that board directors with a congruent political ideology to an incoming CEO are apt to remain on the board but they are even likelier to depart their positions when they have an incongruent political persuasion with the CEO.

Zhi Da, Howard J. and Geraldine F. Korth Professor of Finance
The Information in Industry-Neutral Self-Financed Trades (Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis)

The research identifies Industry-Neutral Self-Financed Informed Trading (INSFIT) as stock trades financed by offsetting, equivalent dollar-denominated stock trades in the same industry. Approximately 37% of short-term mutual fund trading profits can be attributed to these trade pairs. Consistent with informed trading, INSFIT precedes unusually high media coverage for the underlying stocks. Both relative valuation and the hedging of industry exposure motivate INSFIT’s industry neutrality.

John Donovan, Gerspach Family Associate Professor of Accountancy
Pay for Prudence (Journal of Accounting and Economics)
The study provides evidence that prudential principles shape bankers' executive compensation (“pay for prudence” or “PfP”). The researchers conjecture that PfP incentivizes bankers to balance shareholders' preference for risk with regulators' preference for prudence. They find that PfP is positively associated with equity incentives for risk-taking but also associated with lower tail risk, fewer bad loans, and lower likelihood of regulatory downgrades. The results shed light on a new dimension of bankers' pay and suggest that PfP complements widely studied incentives for risk-taking.

Frank Germann, Viola D. Hank Associate Professor
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Empowering Female Entrepreneurs through Female Mentors (Marketing Science)
Governmental and nongovernmental organizations invest billions of dollars every year providing training programs to emerging market entrepreneurs. Many of these programs involve providing entrepreneurs with mentors. Unfortunately, the effects of these programs are often muted, or even null, for woman-owned firms. Against this backdrop, the researchers tested whether gender matching, where female entrepreneurs are randomly paired with a female mentor, could help address the gender gap. Findings from a randomized controlled field experiment with 930 Ugandan entrepreneurs show that firm sales and profits of female entrepreneurs guided by a female mentor increased by, on average, 32% and 31% compared with the control group. In contrast, female entrepreneurs guided by a male mentor did not significantly improve their performance.

Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, Greg and Patty Fox Collegiate Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Improving Drinking Water Access and Equity in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa (Production and Operations Management)
Worldwide, more than 771 million people — many in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) — lack access to clean drinking water. Using optimization, the researchers investigate where to build new water wells to reduce users’ distance to water in SSA. They model construction costs, community collaboration and groundwater distribution. The study shows that community collaboration expands the feasible space for the location of water projects, improving distance to water and social equity.

Thanks to John B., Zhi, John D., Frank and Alfonso for their contributions to advancing research.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn


Guest Column: Hal White

Hal White

Hal White

Monday, 22 January 2024

I’m excited to share a new research-based opportunity for Mendoza students in the new year — the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. But before I discuss the details of this program, I would like to provide some context for the structure of the program. 

As has been highlighted frequently by Provost McGreevy and Dean Cremers, research engagement can be a valuable part of the academic experience. It allows students to progress in their scholarly journey from being a recipient of knowledge to an active creator of knowledge. In addition to learning the research process, students engaged in research also gain a more comprehensive and contextual understanding of the field or discipline of interest. 

That said, because important problems are not necessarily neatly confined to a particular discipline, there is considerable benefit to being exposed to and incorporating more interdisciplinary perspectives. Oftentimes, as faculty researchers progress in their careers, they evolve to appreciate and even draw on theories and research methods developed and used in other disciplines. By engaging in interdisciplinary research, they can address questions in richer ways, resulting in a more robust understanding of business than would be possible with more separated, individualized research approaches. 

To provide opportunities for our ambitious undergraduate students to engage in business-related research in a collaborative and interdisciplinary way, the Mendoza College of Business has started a collegewide Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) that will have multiple goals:

  1. Broaden undergraduate students’ awareness of academic research related to business, including potential implications for business decisions and the effects on the economy as well as society as a whole. 
  2. Deeply engage students in business research, as both consumers and creators of knowledge in a structured and relevant manner. 
  3. Focus students’ attention not only on major-specific or even department-specific research areas but also on the interdisciplinary nature of research to broaden students’ perspectives and potential interests, including areas outside the College that inform business research.
  4. Provide students with a shared signature experience, where students from across Mendoza engage in lively and constructive research discussions with one another, from the interdepartmental introductory research course to the final thesis development and feedback stage.
  5. Provide a pathway for ambitious students to explore a graduate school-like experience, preparing them to be competitive in top doctoral programs. 
  6. Create a pipeline of Notre Dame undergraduate students who pursue a Ph.D. in business at top programs and are competitive as faculty candidates at Mendoza.

Before the launch of this program, we have already had some success in engaging our undergraduate students in business research. In particular, some departments have been teaching research-focused courses and some faculty have served as mentors for ambitious and research-oriented students (both Mendoza and non-Mendoza students). 

However, we hope to formalize this research engagement so that many more students become aware of the importance of research, different ways to engage in research while undergraduates and possible pathways to graduate school and research-based careers. By designing the program as a collegewide research program, we also hope to expose students to a broader set of research areas and ideas than they might have otherwise considered.  

Importantly, this program coincides nicely with the University’s new Strategic Framework by combining Goal 2 (Offer an unsurpassed undergraduate education that nurtures the formation of mind, body, and spirit) and Goal 4 (Advance human understanding through scholarship and research that seeks to heal, unify, and enlighten).

More information including curricular details about the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program is available here.

I am very grateful to Ahmed Abbasi, Brad Badertscher, Jason Colquitt, Martijn Cremers, Zhi Da, Frank Germann, Vamsi Kanuri, Ken Kelley, Cindy Muir and Adam Wowak for their helpful input and participation in the program. I would also like to extend an extra thank you to Ken Kelley for all his help with drafting the program proposal. I’m honored and excited to lead this unique new program. 

Sincerely,

Hal

Hal White, PhD, CPA (inactive)
Faculty Director of the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program
Vincent and Rose Lizzadro Professor of Accountancy
Mendoza Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP)


Spring Semester Update

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Tuesday, 16 January 2024

I hope all of you had a restful and joyous winter break. We’ve had a wonderful academic year so far and I look forward to welcoming our students back to campus as we begin the spring term. 

This also is Walk the Walk Week at Notre Dame, a weeklong series of events to help us consider how we can take an active role in making the University and the College more welcoming and inclusive. You can find more information on the Walk the Walk website. Thanks to Kristen Collett-Schmitt for organizing Mendoza’s contributions to the commemoration. (More information about upcoming WTWW events is below).

I am pleased to share the latest updates on our strategic priorities as we continue to work toward our shared vision to Grow the Good in Business.

Elevating Research Impact

Our top priority is to continue to elevate our research, including scholarship that addresses contemporary societal challenges. We have seen remarkable investment and growth in our research efforts this year and I look forward to announcing exciting research endeavors later this spring. The efforts include funding the construction of the Mendoza Behavioral Lab in a new physical space in our lower level and the establishment of the Humanitarian Operations Management Lab (HOPE) directed by ITAO’s Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez. We also will hold a second event in the University Chair Public Lecture Series this spring to recognize a faculty member for career research excellence, following this fall’s enormously successful event honoring Mike Crant. Finally, we’re excited to host the Accountancy Department’s Spring Research Conference on April 26.

Transformative Undergraduate Educational Experience

The undergraduate experience at Mendoza continues to evolve to provide students with a holistic education that goes beyond traditional business knowledge. By expanding successful initiatives such as the Business Honors Program and strategically enhancing the quality and accessibility of our majors and minors (including six double-major combinations and eight different minors), we aim to instill in our students a sense of purpose, preparing them not just for successful careers but for meaningful contributions to the world. 

In the fall, we launched the Maximizing Mendoza pilot course for first-year business students, which was a great success! Taught by Jen Washko and Andy Wendelborn, the 98 students completing the course received a better understanding of the academic options that Mendoza provides, a solid foundation on which to discern their professional goals and connections with each other and the College that may have otherwise not been possible. One student shared, “This class was an amazing way to integrate into Mendoza. There are so many incredible opportunities that I would have never been exposed to if I wasn’t in this class.” 

Our undergraduates also will have an exciting new research-based opportunity this semester as part of the launch of the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) led by Hal White, Vincent and Rose Lizzadro Professor of Accountancy. This spring, Hal will be teaching the new course, Introduction to Research Scholarship, as the first offering for URSP, which, as he describes it, takes an interdisciplinary approach to “allow students to progress in their scholarly journey from being a recipient of knowledge to an active creator of knowledge.” Hal will provide more details about this innovative program in an upcoming Mendoza Exchange column.

Graduate Program Excellence

Our flagship MBA program at Mendoza continues to distinguish itself through unique experiential learning opportunities and an unrivaled sense of community. In particular, the second annual Grow the Good Gala raised more than $17,000 to support Mercy Works, a division of Campus Ministry that helps students to connect with and serve those in need in the local community. 

During Fall Grow Irish Week, the Experiential Learning team (Lara Brian, Stephanie Drudge, Megan Piersma and Ben Wilson) developed learning opportunities for 358 students from four degree programs (MBA, MSM, MNA and MSA) serving 27 sponsor organizations in the South Bend region, across the United States and around the world. (Watch a video of a project in Mexico.) This spring, the Experiential Learning team will serve 440 students total from the MBA, MSA, MSM, MSBA and MNA programs.

Finally, we began developing our reimagined Global EMBA program for a fall 2024 launch, including creating new immersions in Singapore and Ireland. 

Innovative Curricula and Formative Experiences

Our curricula is designed to bridge the gap between business disciplines and the human perspective. By doing so, we are equipping our students with the skills and mindset to navigate the complexities of an ever-changing society. We continue to expand our distinctive portfolio of experiential learning opportunities, including for our undergraduate students. In particular, our Powerful Means Initiative recently attracted major benefaction toward its permanent endowment. PMI engages undergraduate students in design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship through efforts supporting St. Bakhita’s Vocational Training Center for young women in Kalongo, Uganda. My congratulations to Wendy Angst and her team for their remarkable work. 

Diverse and World-Class Faculty and Staff

The recruitment, development and retention of a diverse, world-class faculty and staff remain a cornerstone of our success. We are proud to have attracted exceptional talent that aligns with our mission and vision, including increasing our tenure track and research faculty and hiring new staff leaders on our graduate enrollment and marketing teams. Their contributions elevate Mendoza's standing and advance our commitment to excellence in education, research and service.

Cultivating an Engaged and Inclusive Culture

Our community continues to thrive as a close-knit group of students, faculty and staff. Grounded in the University's Catholic mission, we foster an engaged, caring and inclusive culture. Whether through embracing a “team of teams” approach for our workforce through new strategies, tools and collaborations, or by bringing the College community together by way of our signature Mendoza Rally and other events, this commitment to community strengthens our bonds, creating an environment where everyone can excel and contribute their unique perspectives to our shared mission.

As we move forward, I am confident that the collective efforts of our community will propel us to even greater heights. Together, we will continue to uphold the values that define Our Lady’s University and make a lasting impact on business and society.

Thank you for your dedication and hard work!

In Notre Dame,

Martijn


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dean Martijn Cremers

Dean Martijn Cremers

Monday, 18 December 2023

Congratulations on a successful fall semester (which has just a few hours left for those faculty pushing to get grades turned in before 3:45 p.m.!). I am deeply thankful to all of you for the effort that goes into serving our students. I hope that you get some well-deserved rest during the upcoming break.

For my Christmas message, I am borrowing the theme from Pope Francis’ Angelus address on December 3, the first Sunday of Advent. He spoke on the need to be vigilant – to look ahead with joyful anticipation and to prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus: 

“Here is a good program for Advent: to encounter Jesus coming in every brother and sister who needs us and to share with them what we can: listening, time, concrete assistance.

Dear friends, it will be good for us today to ask ourselves how we can prepare a welcoming heart for the Lord. We can do so by approaching His forgiveness, His Word, His Table, finding space for prayer, welcoming those in need. Let us cultivate His expectation without letting ourselves be distracted by so many pointless things, and without complaining all the time, but keeping our hearts alert, that is, eager for Him, awake and ready, impatient to meet Him.”

This is the kind of vigilance that leads to an attitude of hope and renewal that raises our spirits above the busyness of Christmas to the true meaning of this sacred season. 

May you be filled with the love, peace and joy of Christmas and have a very happy New Year. 

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

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