Welcome back! I hope that last week gave you an opportunity to take a break. 

I used the time to travel to Rome, where I had the great honor of attending a special conference convened at the Vatican on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and ethics. Pope Francis has made several statements on AI, recently asking: "Does it serve to satisfy the needs of humanity, to improve the well-being and integral development of people?" Or does it, rather, "serve to enrich and increase the already high power of the few technological giants despite the dangers to humanity?" 

The pope emphasizes the need for Christian morals and ethics to be integral to the evolution of the technology. I’m thankful to our faculty members who are increasing our understanding and awareness through their important research on the many facets of ethics and AI, and I hope to connect us to the many people working on artificial intelligence that I met at the conference.

In this column, I’d like to further highlight a few developments in our Undergraduate program, in follow up to Andy Wendelborn’s September column. Specifically, I want to update you on the number of students choosing to broaden their academic experience with double majors and minors, both inside and outside the College, which was a major objective of the redesign of the business core curriculum that went into effect starting with the Class of 2026 (current juniors). 

Here is the breakdown of the primary majors of current students:

Of our sophomores and juniors, 145 students declared a second business major, with nearly 69% choosing the Accountancy/Finance combination:

To round out the picture of the diverse studies of our students: 

• 26% are enrolled in business minors.
• 34% are enrolled in a second major outside of business.
• 37% are enrolled in a minor outside of business.

These percentages will increase as current Mendoza sophomores are in the process of registering for second majors and minors in and outside of Mendoza; for example, the Marketing minor and the Finance minor have only recently become available to Mendoza students.

Considering just the last two bullet points, this means that more than 71% of Mendoza students are expanding their coursework to non-business disciplines, which speaks positively to the holistic development of our students.

In important other news pertaining to our undergraduate program, earlier this month, the University's Academic Council approved a new double major program allowing Mendoza undergraduate students to study business and computer science. In a collaboration between Mendoza and the College of Engineering, the program will provide a cohort of students with the opportunity to combine any one of the Mendoza majors with a second major in computer science. Admission to the program will be through a competitive selection process with more details to come. My thanks especially to Mike Chapple for his leadership and guidance in establishing this new opportunity for our students.

The pope’s conference on AI is a reminder of the importance of continuing to evolve and innovate within our undergraduate programs as we prepare them for a future that could be far different from the present. I’m thankful to the many of you who teach and serve as administrators and advisors in Undergraduate Studies.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

Enhancing the Student Experience: A Commitment to Community

The Graduate Enrollment team has always prided itself on ensuring a top-notch experience for prospective students throughout the application process. This summer, we deepened our commitment to enhancing the student experience by reviewing our application process with a fine-toothed comb. We looked at our competitor’s applications, examined our applicant user experience, clarified steps and removed barriers to make applying easier.

Next, we assembled a cross-functional group of Mendoza colleagues to refine our interview questions. The goal was to ensure that the information applicants share during interviews gives the admissions committee a clear understanding of their fit within our community, commitment to our mission and their goals within the program and beyond.

Speaking of interviews, applicants now have the option to interview virtually or in person. The return of in-person interviews has allowed prospective students to experience the Mendoza community firsthand before being admitted. They can schedule interviews during visits to Mendoza which are offered three days per week, or if they're on campus for a Football Friday, they can meet with us in a suite at the stadium — providing iconic views of Notre Dame before their interview.

Visiting students will also benefit from our new, dedicated parking spaces for Mendoza Graduate Admissions. With most prospective students arriving around noon, when parking can be challenging, these reserved spots reflect the Mendoza community’s thoughtful consideration of the entire student experience.

In addition to these on-campus enhancements, our recruitment team has been traveling nationwide and internationally to meet students face-to-face. It's been incredibly rewarding for our team to receive calls from students they met just a week earlier, asking questions as they work on their applications.

The enrollment team has had a busy summer and fall, all aimed at introducing students to our community. Their efforts culminated in one of our favorite days: Last Friday, we made more than 200 phone calls to newly admitted students, welcoming them to the Notre Dame family. 

The commitment and passion our team brings to their work every day was met with an outpouring of excitement and emotion from the students, ranging from tears of happiness and stunned silence to joyful shaking and at least one ecstatic scream. The energy and excitement we see from our newly admitted students is a powerful reminder of why we remain committed to providing an exceptional admissions experience for every applicant.

Go Irish!

Claire

Claire Fitzgibbon
Senior Director of Graduate Enrollment
Graduate Enrollment

I'm excited to recognize 10 faculty members for their recent achievements in publishing in top academic journals. I want to highlight the paper co-authored by Jason Colquitt and our Ph.D. in Management student, Jefferson McClain. It has been a milestone for the College to launch our first doctoral programs in Management and Analytics, and it is terrific to see one of our first-ever doctoral students publish in a top journal. Jefferson's publication, along with a previously recognized paper by Ahmed Abbasi, John Lalor and Ph.D. in Analytics candidate Kezia Oketch, are great signs that our doctoral students are off to a strong start in their research careers.

Ahmed Abbasi, Joe and Jane Giovanini Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Sriram Somanchi, Associate Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Ken Kelley, Edward F. Sorin Society Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
The Challenges of Using Large-scale Digital Experiment Platform for Scientific Discovery (Management Information Systems Quarterly) 
As demand for experiments continues to grow on digital platforms, orthogonal test planes (OTPs) have become the industry standard for managing the assignment of users to multiple concurrent experimental treatments. Despite recognizing potential confounding effects due to OTPs, firms find the benefits outweigh the costs. However, with the increased academic-industry research partnerships, where large-scale digital experiments are being used for scientific discovery, confounding and biased estimation may have profound implications. The authors use a case study conducted at a major e-commerce company to illustrate how interactions in concurrent experiments can bias treatment effects, often making them appear more positive than they are. They discuss implications for research, and more broadly, worry that confounding in scientific research due to reliance on large-scale digital experiments meant to serve a different purpose is a microcosm of a larger epistemological confounding regarding what constitutes a contribution to scientific knowledge. (Link to journal article and HAL website posting.)

Jason Colquitt, Franklin D. Schurz Professor of Management & Organization
Jefferson McClain, Ph.D. Candidate in Management
Third-Party Perceptions of Mistreatment: A Meta-Analysis and Integrative Model of Reactions to Perpetrators and Victims (Journal of Applied Psychology)
Estimates suggest that 34% of employees have experienced mistreatment at work but that 44% of employees have observed the mistreatment of others. This meta-analysis reviews the emerging literature on the effects of “third party” perceptions of mistreatment. The researchers built and tested an integrative model that captures the emotional (anger, empathy, schadenfreude) and behavioral (antisocial and prosocial behaviors) consequences of witnessing mistreatment at work. The results revealed that third parties react to mistreatment as strongly as the parties that actually experienced it.

John Donovan, Gerspach Family Associate Professor of Accountancy
Do Credit Ratings Reflect Private Information about SEC Investigations? (The Accounting Review)
This study uses a novel dataset of private SEC investigations to examine the timeliness and informativeness of rating adjustments from issuer-paid credit rating agencies (CRAs). Evidence suggests that CRAs adjust ratings downward within a quarter following the opening of an SEC investigation and these adjustments are three times larger for investigations that ultimately yield an enforcement action. These downgrades are also more informative to the stock market than other rating downgrades. 

Gregory Robson, Associate Research Professor of Business Ethics and Society
James Otteson, John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics
Freedom in Business: Elizabeth Anderson, Adam Smith, and the Effects of Dominance in Business (Philosophy of Management)
So much work done around the globe today is dehumanizing, dirty or dull. Even the most sanguine advocate of modern working conditions should be troubled by it. Building on the work of Elizabeth Anderson and Adam Smith, the authors argue that the extreme division of labor in modern economies can disrupt, and even sometimes debilitate, how workers form their moral and social sentiments. They argue that a workplace that prevents or mitigates extreme division of labor can restore to workers the respect and workplace discretion — in short, the dignity — they deserve.

Joonhyuk Yang, Assistant Professor of Marketing
Using Grocery Data for Credit Decisions (Management Science)
Many consumers across the world struggle to gain access to credit because of their lack of credit scores. The study explores the potential of grocery transaction data as a new alternative data source for evaluating consumers’ creditworthiness. The researchers illustrate both the incremental value of grocery data for credit decisions and its boundary conditions. Overall, this study highlights the potential of grocery data in enabling financial institutions to extend credit to consumers who lack traditional credit scores.

Jun Yang, Assistant Professor of Finance
Syndicated Lending, Competition and Relative Performance Evaluation (Review of Financial Studies)
Relative performance evaluation (RPE) intensifies competitive pressure by tying executive compensation to rivals' profits. Banks with RPE contracts are less willing to join loans underwritten by rivals, causing lead arrangers frequently named in RPE to hold larger loan shares, charge higher spreads and lose market share. The researchers’ results highlight the tension between the normal benefits of competition versus the need for cooperation in loan syndication. 

Zifeng Zhao, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
Anticipated Wait and its Effects on Consumer Choice, Pricing, and Assortment Management (Manufacturing and Service Operations Management)
The paper examines the effects of waiting time on consumer choice behavior and firm's pricing and assortment optimization decisions. The researchers construct a new choice model by incorporating anticipated wait into consumers' decision making, which can capture the effects of negative externality induced by the wait. They fully characterize pricing and assortment optimization under the new model and propose an efficient statistical estimation algorithm. Further, they show that the failure to take into account the effects of waiting in firms' decision making may lead to substantial losses.

Thank you to Ahmed, Sriram, Ken, Jason, Jefferson, John, Greg, Jim, Joonhyuk, Jun, and Zifeng for your research contributions.

I also want to thank the Office of Experiential and Global Learning’s Grow Irish and Meyer Business on the Frontlines teams who have an intensive week ahead. Frontlines in America teams totaling 14 students, six alumni advisors and three Mendoza faculty/staff members will be traveling to three locations: Team Homeboy Industries/Homeboy Threads (Los Angeles), Team Tribal Minds (Reno, Nevada) and Coalfield Development (West Virginia). Thank you to Kelly Rubey, Paige Risser and Jessica Parsons.

Also this week, Grow Irish is offering a wealth of opportunities for our graduate program students. Options include consulting projects with global partners in locations such as Croatia, Mexico City, Bermuda and Brazil, as well as opportunities to collaborate with local nonprofits and engage in skills and leadership development coursework. Thanks to Ben Wilson, Lara Brian, Stephanie Drudge, Drake Schrader and Gabor Holtzer for your hard work.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

A few years ago, on a Football Friday, I ran into legendary basketball player and Mendoza alumna Ruth Riley Hunter (EMBA ‘16, ND ‘01) on campus. Ruth had taken my EMBA class several years ago, and after catching up about the latest developments at Mendoza, she looked at me seriously and asked, “When is Mendoza going to create a program specifically for women? Something only Notre Dame can offer?” 

Her question left me speechless. It also sparked something inside me: an urgency to create a program that filled a crucial gap in the University’s offerings.

That spark led to the creation of ND Elevate, a professional development program launched in 2022 for aspiring leaders. The program focuses on addressing common workplace challenges, particularly those faced by women. Through a combination of online learning modules, in-person workshops with Notre Dame experts and a mentorship network, participants are empowered to develop skills in resilience, negotiation, presence and authenticity.

ND Elevate was born out of the University's “Moment to See, Courage to Act” grant initiative, which called on Notre Dame faculty to propose innovative, forward-thinking plans inspired by lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the grant, ND Elevate partnered with Beacon Health Systems, Notre Dame's Office of Human Resources and the Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership to expand leadership training beyond campus. This fall, ND Elevate is launching a new collaboration with Notre Dame Athletics to support the personal and professional development of student-athletes.

The decision to partner with ND Athletics is purposeful. Studies of Fortune 500 CEOs have shown a strong link between athletic participation and corporate leadership. While the percentage of women in corporate executive positions at publicly traded U.S. companies remains low at about 11.8%, a recent EY study found that 94% of the women in leadership positions previously played sports. 

As a College, Mendoza has embraced this partnership as part of a larger effort to raise awareness of its graduate business programs and support athletes pursuing careers in business. ND Elevate is open to junior, senior and graduate student-athletes who are non-business majors, passionate about women’s leadership and eager to grow as leaders.

From contributing research to teaching in-person sessions and mentoring participants, Mendoza faculty, staff and alumni have been integral in bringing ND Elevate to life. I especially want to thank former women’s basketball coach and Mendoza adjunct Muffet McGraw, Ruth Riley Hunter, former Mendoza dean Carolyn Woo and faculty members Cindy Muir, Jessica McManus Warnell, Angela Logan, and Amanda McKendree for their contributions to the learning modules. Additionally, I’m grateful to Hether Graham for her support during the earliest versions of ND Elevate, and to Rob Kelly, Carol Elliott and Jen Wade for their support in connecting ND Elevate with our graduate business programs through the ND Athletics partnership. A special thanks also to the faculty and staff mentors who will be guiding student-athletes this fall, including Wendy Angst, Patty Brady, Susan Kleiser, Michael Meyer, Kris Muir, Fred Nwanganga, Kelly Rubey, Chris Stevens, Jessie Watkins, Katie Wowak and Tom Gallagher. I encourage others interested in mentoring future cohorts to reach out.

Notre Dame’s mission to build a society where all can flourish aligns perfectly with ND Elevate’s goal of creating more inclusive communities where everyone can thrive. I’m incredibly proud that our University and College have embraced this vision to support aspiring leaders in such a meaningful way.

In Notre Dame,

Kristen

As previously announced, we will break ground this spring for the North Addition, providing expanded resources for serving our undergraduate students. While that is certainly the “headline news” for the College, we have been fortunate to receive several additional gifts in the past year or so totaling nearly $30 million to advance our strategic objectives.

Here is a roundup of recent gifts:

Human-centered Analytics Lab (HAL) ($10M): HAL, co-directed by Ahmed Abbasi and Ken Kelley, was launched in 2021 and is structured around a multidisciplinary topic with a distinctly Notre Dame-centric mission: to better understand the human condition in the context of the digital life of persons. In HAL’s approach, analytics has a purpose: Problems are framed, critically considered and evaluated with rigorous methods to understand the human condition. The work cuts across the disciplines of computer science, statistics and psychology resulting in a unique research perspective, one deep in methods and broad in application. 

The $10M gift that has been pledged, once in place, will help Ph.D. in Analytics students and faculty affiliated with HAL to develop scholarship in this critical, emerging area and to bring their experience and novel findings into the classroom and beyond. HAL will host interdisciplinary conferences to bring together scholars and provide a forum for research that considers the development of innovative methods and the application of advanced and non-standard methods to study HAL-related phenomena.  

Trading Room ($7M): The Trading Room will showcase our finance programs by providing a state-of-the-art learning space where students and faculty can research financial markets and investment management. To be located just inside the main entrance on the building’s east side (currently Suite 123), the room will feature a modern exterior design with a floor-to-ceiling glass-paneled front for high visibility. The interior space optimizes collaborative, project-based work, seminars and training with multiple stock tickers, large video screens displaying dynamic financial information, Bloomberg terminals and student workstations. The Trading Room will serve as a home for several key courses and clubs, and extend the footprint of the Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring semester 2025.

The artist's rendering depicts the new Mendoza Trading Room, which will shape the future of finance education at the University of Notre Dame.  (Note: This is an example, not an exact rendering.)

Powerful Means Initiative ($7M): If you haven’t watched the “What Would You Fight For?” spot featuring PMI, I encourage you to do so! The inspiring feature produced by Notre Dame showcases the important work of PMI, an immersive experiential learning program that provides Mendoza undergraduates the opportunity to engage with project partners over multiple semesters to help design, support and implement solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems. Founded and directed by Wendy Angst, the initiative is currently working in partnership with the Archdiocese of Gulu and St. Bakhita Vocational Training Center in an impoverished region in northern Uganda to ensure the girls at the school have the resources and support needed to thrive, to enable St. Bakhita's to be self-sustaining and to improve the economic prosperity of the region. The gift supports Wendy’s position as director and the initiative overall. 

Business Honors Program (BHP) Faculty Director ($3.5M) and Program Director ($3M): These two gifts will support the ongoing work of BHP, which is led by faculty director Jim Otteson and associate faculty director Jeff Burks and currently includes 208 undergraduate students. BHP takes a deeper look at the moral purpose of business and how it can contribute to human flourishing. The program offers our students a rigorous, specialized course of study with research-focused courses, as well as programming that includes opportunities for tutoring, mentorship and distinctive coursework such as “Why Business?” “Meaningful Life in Business” and the Honors Colloquium. 

Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program ($1M): The work of Frontlines is perhaps more important than ever since its founding in 2008. MBA student teams continue to work with partner organizations across the nation and the world to co-create business solutions for some of the most difficult societal problems. The gift will support program operations as Frontlines in America prepares to send teams in October to work with Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, Coalfield Development in West Virginia and Tribal Minds Inc. in Nevada. This spring, the Business on the Frontlines course plans to send teams to Uzbekistan, Uganda and Honduras, while the newest Frontlines course, Regenerating Ecologies and Economies for Livelihoods (REEL) partners with organizations in Peru, Uganda and Guatemala.

I am deeply grateful to our generous benefactors, who include alumni, parents, BAC members and friends of the College who share our vision for Mendoza’s future.  I also want to thank Lou Nanni and University Relations for their support, and especially our academic advancement director Aimee Sharpe, who has worked tirelessly to represent and promote the mission of Mendoza. Finally, I am grateful to the many faculty and staff members who lead and support the initiatives above and were critically important to securing the benefaction.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn