Not only did our football team have an impressive showing this weekend, the College also got off to a great start with two kickoff events:

On Friday, Tom Mendoza delivered the first talk in the new Dean’s Speaker Series on the topic “Building a Vibrant Workplace Culture in Good Times and Bad.” Tom, who recently retired as the vice chairman of NetApp, spoke candidly about leading a company through disruptive change and the importance of building a culture of respect and transparency. I was thankful to see a full auditorium — more than 325 people attended, including faculty, staff, students and visitors. If you missed it, I encourage you to watch the video, which will be posted to the Dean’s Speaker Series website. I want to especially thank Jean Meade, who organized the event and the lunch with students that followed. There are two more talks scheduled for this fall:

• Oct. 11: Joe Ucuzoglu, CEO of Deloitte
• Nov. 22: Robert Jackson, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner

The second terrific event was the Mendoza tailgate on Saturday before the game. Our tailgates are always fun times, but the committee has gone above and beyond this year in making these memorable events. Everywhere you looked around the atrium and courtyard, people were enjoying the great food, games, special T-shirt giveaways and most importantly, a sense of community among the 1,064 students, alums, faculty, staff and friends.

I appreciate the hard work, creativity and hospitality of tailgate committee members Kelli Kilpatrick, Jim Cunningham, Nick Farmer, Joan McClendon, Joseph Torma, Sarah Carruthers (Development), Deb Coch and Jenna Schiemer, as well as of the many student workers who helped.

If you didn’t make it Saturday, you have two more chances:

Oct. 12, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (ND vs USC)
Nov. 16, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (ND vs Navy)

It’s a great privilege to host events such as these that give us a chance to learn and relate to each other beyond our daily jobs. I plan to attend all of the Dean’s Speaker Series talks and the tailgates, and hope to see you there.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Happy Labor Day! One of my favorite fall activities is to attend the Mendoza tailgates before watching the Fighting Irish kick off. They are great opportunities to enjoy good food with colleagues and the extended College community. This year, a cross-collaborative team led by Kelli Kilpatrick has taken on the responsibility of organizing the tailgates. They are working hard to make them even better experiences.

The 2019 tailgates, which are held in the Mendoza atrium and courtyard, are
scheduled for the following dates:

• Sept. 14, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (ND vs New Mexico)
• Oct. 12, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (ND vs USC)
• Nov. 16, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (ND vs Navy)

Registration deadlines are by midnight on the Wednesday before game. Click here for more information. (Children under 5 years old attend for free and do not need to be registered.)

Thanks to the tailgate committee for all of their efforts to make these into special occasions for the Mendoza family. In addition to Kelli, the committee includes Jim Cunningham, Nick Farmer, Joan McClendon, Joseph Torma, Sarah Carruthers (Development), Deb Coch and Jenna Schiemer.

I hope to see you there!

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

This past weekend, we welcomed the Class of 2023 and their parents to campus during the Notre Dame Welcome Weekend. Undergraduate Studies offered a full schedule of events for Saturday afternoon to help new students explore the majors we offer and to learn about our mission.

Just to give you an idea of our undergraduate enrollment for fall, here are the current numbers:

Many, many individuals in the College contribute to the ongoing success of our undergraduate program in providing an unmatched academic experience rooted in our mission to contribute to human flourishing through business. But I’d like to especially thank the Undergraduate Studies team, who have the additional challenge of advising 400-plus students in the coming weeks while working out temporary office space at the back of GBP.

Thank you to Jim Leady, Dale Nees, Alison Levey, Lisa Heming, Laura Glassford, Gina Schropshire, Andy Wendelborn and Amy Radvansky. We’re looking forward to a great year (and your office space should be done in September!).

Yours in Notre Dame,

Martijn

This morning, I had the privilege of welcoming the MBA Class of 2021 to Notre Dame. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our vision of business and welcome a terrific group of graduate students who are joining our community. It’s a responsibility as well, as the students have made a considerable commitment to invest money and time to come to Notre Dame to pursue their various life and career plans and aspirations.

To give you an idea of the level of activity we can expect in the coming weeks, here is an overview of our graduate enrollment. (Next week, we’ll present the undergraduate numbers.)

Of particular note: We introduced two new graduate programs this fall — the residential MS in Business Analytics and the residential Master of Nonprofit Administration. The successful rollout was due to a great amount of effort on behalf of the Graduate Business Programs and Nonprofit Professional Development teams, for which I’m most grateful.

Finally, the EMNA enrollment is the largest cohort in the 65-year history of the program, so special kudos to Angela Logan and her team — Joan McClendon, Marc Hardy, Cindy Proffitt, Kim Brumbaugh, and Christopher Ditmar.

I hope you will avail yourself of every opportunity to get to know students, regardless of their program. Greet them, answer their questions, encourage them and help them be part of the Mendoza community.

Yours in Notre Dame,

Martijn

• The principles of Catholic Social Teaching – the intrinsic dignity of every person, solidarity and subsidiarity – are universal (or “catholic” with a small “c”), oriented toward serving all people and society as well as advancing general human flourishing. 
• The mission of the University can only be accomplished in a community where everyone can contribute, i.e., within a community with genuine diversity and inclusion.
• The principles of Catholic Social Teaching have a distinctive place at Notre Dame as stated in the University’s mission statement: “As a Catholic university, one of its distinctive goals is to provide a forum where, through free inquiry and open discussion, the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect with all the forms of knowledge found in the arts, sciences, professions and every other area of human scholarship and creativity.”