From the Dean's Desk

Aug. 17 start date for grad programs

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Image
As the summer term has just started with all residential programs being taught fully online for the full term, we are planning for resuming in-person classes in the fall semester. As Father John previously announced, this is a complex operation with extensive new protocols including testing, contact tracing, social distancing, accommodations for those in high risk groups, and other measures to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff.
The undergraduate program will follow the fall schedule set by the University, with a start date of August 10, continuing without any fall break and concluding the week of Thanksgiving. The condensed schedule will allow the University to keep students on campus for the full fall semester and minimize their traveling (with heightened risk of new exposures to COVID-19). 
However, this early start presented problems for our graduate programs, several of which don’t end their summer term classes until August 14. I’m pleased to announce that provost-elect Marie Lynn Miranda approved our request for an alternate schedule for our residential graduate programs—the MBA, MSA, MSM MSBA and MNA. These programs, along with the EMNA program, will start the fall semester on August 17 and include two seven-week mods, no fall break but with a weeklong interterm. Like the undergraduate programs, we plan to conclude during the week of Thanksgiving. 
There are many details still to be worked out and determined, including the impact of the schedule changes to our executive degree programs on campus and in Chicago. We also are considering the best way to transition our faculty and staff members to working on campus. I will make further announcements as decisions are made.
I appreciate the thoughtful input provided by our associate deans, chairs, and academic and program directors as we negotiate these challenges. Although it’s been a time of uncertainty and disruption, the positive attitude across the Mendoza community has been remarkable. As always, please contact me, the associate deans, the chairs or Kara Palmer if you have any suggestions, concerns or questions.
I also encourage you to read Father John’s excellent op-ed published in The New York Times today. He describes Aristotle’s definition of courage as the mean between rashness and timidity, and reminds us: “Perhaps what we most need now, alongside science, is that kind of courage and the practical wisdom it requires.”
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Congratulations, teaching award winners!

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 18 May 2020
Teaching and research are core to our mission to develop leaders who contribute to human flourishing, cooperate with others in solidarity and who compete toward becoming the best version of themselves through serving others.
I am pleased to recognize the following Mendoza faculty members receiving 2020 teaching awards:
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognizes faculty members who have had a profound influence on undergraduate students through sustained exemplary teaching at Notre Dame. Presented by the Office of the Provost, the recipients are selected through a process that includes peer and student nominations.
The James Dincolo Outstanding Undergraduate Professor Award recognizes a faculty member from each of the five academic departments who exhibit sustained excellence in undergraduate teaching in her or his discipline.
  • Tim Hubbard, Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Organization
  • Andrew Imdieke, Assistant Professor, Department of Accountancy
  • Vamsi Kanuri, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing
  • Peter Kelly, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance
  • Daewon Sun, Professor, Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations  
Joe & Gina Prochaska Family Teaching Award recognizes outstanding achievement in preparing students to be leaders in the field of business and the recipient is selected by students.
The Management & Organization Department Faculty Service Award recognizes students and faculty who embody the spirit of Notre Dame through the provision of extraordinary and selfless service to Management Consulting students and the Mendoza community.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS 
The students from each graduate program, by vote, recognize a faculty member for his or her excellence in the classroom. 
Arnie Ludwig Outstanding Professor Award for the South Bend Executive MBA Program 
  • Walter Clements, Teaching Professor, Department of Finance and Associate Dean of Executive Education
Leo Burke Outstanding Professor Award for the Chicago Executive MBA Program 
Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration Outstanding Professor Award 
  • Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Finance and Associate Dean of Specialized Masters
MBA Outstanding Professor Award
  • Walter Clements, Teaching Professor, Department of Finance and Associate Dean of Executive Education
Master of Nonprofit Administration Outstanding Professor Award
Master of Science in Accountancy James Dincolo Outstanding Professor Award
  • Jim Seida, Associate Professor, Department of Accountancy
Master of Science in Finance Outstanding Professor Award
  • Gianna Bern, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Finance
Master of Science in Business Analytics (Chicago) Outstanding Professor Award
  • Fredrick Nwanganga, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations 
Master of Science in Business Analytics Outstanding Professor Award
  • Seth Berry, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Master of Science in Management Outstanding Professor Award
  • Kaitlin Wowak, Assistant Professor, Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Please join me in congratulating these colleagues. 
Thanks also to all of you who joined in the various virtual celebrations to congratulate our graduates. Your heartfelt congratulations and well-wishes were a wonderful gift to them.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Sharing Our Talents

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 11 May 2020
Image
Many members of our Mendoza community have stepped up in extraordinary ways to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19. Today, I want to recognize a remarkable effort to fill in some of the staffing gaps faced by programs and departments across the College due to the hiring freeze.
Thanks to a cross-collaborative effort, more than 25 staff members have been “matched” with projects in other College departments in need of additional resources. Many of them are working on multiple projects. This effort involved a process of directors and staff members working together to identify who had some additional capacity as well as the expertise or talents they could contribute. Kara Palmer also worked with the directors to determine areas where their departments could use additional help. 
The projects span the College, from Mendoza IT to Graduate Admissions and Enrollment. The contributions of these individuals will allow us to tackle key strategic priorities across the College during a time where we have limited resources. 

While the “COVID 19 Special Assignments” project is intended to be an interim solution, the effort is a testimony to the ingenuity and dedication of our staff and the Mendoza community as a whole. My thanks to Kara Palmer for leading the project and to all of you for your continued commitment to teamwork and collaboration.

Finish Strong

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 4 May 2020

The photos below depict the EMBA South Bend Class of 2020 gathering virtually to celebrate their last day of class with a Champagne toast – the end cap to 22 months of hard work. Joined by family and friends, the group decided to wear their graduation caps, as Robin Kistler said, “to represent the love, solidarity and mutual respect they have for one another and their beloved Notre Dame.”

None of us could have imagined back in January that this semester would end with a virtual ceremony to confer the degrees. Yet as I look at these images, I am once again awed and appreciative of how special our community is. Despite the challenges of these past months, here we see students, faculty and staff celebrating the years of hard work and sacrifice it takes to earn a degree from the University of Notre Dame.

As we wind down our semester, surely we will look back with remembrances of how difficult the sudden transition to online education was, how sad it was to have a campus without students, and how scary and uncertain ordinary life became. I hope you will also remember how we came together as a beautiful community to serve our students and each other, where these pictures can help us celebrate with our students their achievements that you have made possible, accomplished in the way that matters most – as a strong community.

Good luck to all with exams and grading.

In Notre Dame,
Martijn
Image

Hometown Heroes

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 27 April 2020
Image
Even though we are not together on a daily basis, there is still a lot of activity going on at Mendoza. I’ve heard so many encouraging stories about our students, faculty, staff and alums stepping up to help others, I thought I’d share a few:
Jim Spencer is part of a University cross collaborative team using 3D printers to produce plastic face shields, which have been in critically short supply for medical personnel on the COVID-19 frontlines. Jim is working with the other members of the local makerspace to produce as many parts as they can. The Mendoza Ed Tech team is also running its 3D printer to produce face shield parts. Once we began working remotely, Jim added Mendoza's printer to the printer farm at his house and is now running three printers nearly 24 hours a day. In his spare time, he’s also building more printers out of parts he’s accumulated over the years.
The EMBA-Chicago Class of 2021 raised $5,545 to donate to the Greater Chicago Food Depository to support feeding kids who normally would get many of their meals from school. This translates into 16,650 meals The cohort was less than three months into the program when we transitioned to online teaching. But they wanted to find a way to stay connected and give back. “It’s a weird time in the world, but at the same time, we all feel immense gratitude to be part of a community that we weren’t part of just months before — the Notre Dame community,” said student Kendall Raymond.
Two companies led or founded by Mendoza alums have converted their operations to produce hand sanitizer. Kem Krest CEO Amish Shah (EMBA ‘05) is working to create the chemical packaging company’s own sanitizer for public use during the current shortage. South Bend-based Indiana Whiskey, led by Charles Florance (MBA ’13) and Matt Logston (MBA ’20), shifted from producing its award-winning small-batch whiskeys to bottling the all but impossible-to-find commodity.
Ugandan priest and MBA student Father Arthur Joseph Ssembajja (MBA ’21) celebrates daily Mass in the Mendoza chapel alone as his contribution to battling the coronavirus: “I pray for God’s intervention, mercy and healing. I pray for the Church to remain an icon of hope and presence of God in the world. I pray for civil leaders to make decisions that will benefit the whole of humanity. I pray for the University of Notre Dame – administrators, staff, faculty and students that the Lord keeps us and our families safe. That a day will dawn when we get to see each other face to face again. I pray for my family in Uganda. Lastly, I pray for those on the frontline and all those suffering with the coronavirus.”
At a time when we’ve seen so much heartache and struggle on a daily basis, these stories remind me of a quote from Pope Francis’ encyclical, "Laudato Si’”: "Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start."
I’m thankful for all of you who again and again have shown yourself capable of rising above and who are already making a new start in our changed world.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Latest from the Dean