Spring 2017 Noteworthy Collegewide News

Five Big Thank You’s  

Mendoza undergraduate students took time out of their busy schedules to send their appreciation to the College faculty. Hundreds signed huge “Thank You” cards — one for each of the five academic departments — which were delivered to the department chairs. The Mendoza Student Leadership Association organized the effort. Pictured above, left to right, are MSLA officers: Ben Fouch (FIN ’17), Ryan Casserly (ITM ’17), Sasha Meyer (ACCT ’18), Freddie Stavins (ACCT ’17) and Alex Barone (FIN ’19), who served as project coordinator. 

Marketing Senior Named Luce Scholar

Cassidy McDonald (MARK ’17) is one of 18 future leaders to be named a 2017-18 Luce Scholar. The Luce Scholarship is a nationally competitive fellowship program created by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974 to enhance understanding of Asia among potential leaders in American society. Luce Scholars are provided stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in Asia.

McDonald will spend the next year working as a journalist. She ultimately plans to be a reporter, telling the stories of marginalized voices as they interact with powerful policies and systems. In fall 2016, she traveled alongside columnist Nicholas Kristof to report on American poverty for The New York Times, writing about topics including alternatives to incarceration, drug problems in Native American communities, and a billionaire who is quietly donating his fortune to Oklahoma’s social programs.

Case Competition Victories

Two teams of Mendoza graduate business students took top prizes in the annual Arthur W. Page Society Case Writing Competition in Corporate Communications. The case, “Whole Foods Market, Inc: Damage Control Over Product Mislabeling (A) and (B),” took first place in the Business School category. It was submitted by ND MBA students Dylan Koehler, Dustin Schoedel and Stephanie Rearick. Third place in the same category went to “Airbnb: Scaling Safety With Rapid Growth,” which was submitted by MBA students Matthew Beck and Will Foster, along with Claire Kenney (MSM ’16).

James S. O’Rourke IV, director of the Fanning Center for Business Communication, served as faculty adviser to both teams. The objectives of the case writing competition are to introduce the practical applications of the core principles that define public relations as a critical function of management and to encourage research. Student authors of winning entries and their faculty advisers are awarded cash prizes and recognized by the nation’s leading corporate communications executives.

Arts, Blues and Other Good Deeds

Prior to 2007, Mike Mannor knew very little about Down syndrome. Then, in 2007, the John F. O’Shaughnessy Associate Professor of Family Enterprise and his wife, Kate, received the prenatal diagnosis for their daughter, Sophia.

“In the early days, I was just kind of sponging to try to learn as much as I could about what Down syndrome is and how it would affect Sophia and our family,” said Mannor. He quickly realized that strides had been made in medical treatments for physical issues and gaining access to educational opportunities.

But the researcher also realized one area receiving scant attention: cognition research to help with learning, independence and decision-making and “100 percent of those with Down need this kind of help,” said Mannor.

It dawned on him that here was an opportunity for him to make a difference. The father of five recruited two other dads, a bunch of Notre Dame MBA students and a small army of community volunteers to launch “A Night of Arts and Blues.” They rented a venue, hired a local band, brought in a local artist, and essentially had a lot of fun while raising money through ticket sales, a silent auction and donations. Now in its fifth year, the event has raised more than $200,000, which is donated directly to the LuMind Research Down Syndrome Foundation in Boston.

“I called it ‘shovel ready,’ — the millions of dollars’ worth of potential research that has been submitted in grant proposals by scientists that are not being funded right now,” Mannor said. “That’s essentially shovel-ready work we could be promoting if we just had more money.”

Onboardings

Mike Chapple (ND ’09, ’97) assumes the role of academic director of the ND Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program effective July 1. Chapple currently serves as senior director for IT service delivery for the Notre Dame Office of Information Technologies. He teaches business analytics and information security courses for Mendoza and the College of Arts and Letters.

Chapple previously served as senior adviser to the executive vice president at Notre Dame. He is a former active duty intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force, the author of 25 books and a technical editor for Information Security Magazine. He earned a bachelor’s of computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from Notre Dame. He holds an M.S. in computer science from the University of Idaho and an MBA from Auburn University.

Tracy Freymuth (ND ’94) joined Mendoza in March as director of student services for Graduate Business Programs. With more than 25 years experience in education, Freymuth most recently served as a college and career pathways specialist and instructor for the adult education program for the South Bend Community School Corporation. She also held a number of administrative roles at Ivy Tech Community College’s North Central Region, including dean of student affairs, director of financial aid, assessment coordinator and gender equity project associate.

Freymuth earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from Notre Dame and an MBA from Indiana University South Bend.

To Pool or not to Pool

Should couples keep separate bank accounts or pool their money?

Pooling works better in cutting down expenses, according to new research by Assistant Marketing Professor Emily Garbinsky. Her paper, “The Consumption Consequences of Couples Pooling Financial Resources,” co-authored with Joe J. Gladstone of the University of Cambridge, concluded spouses who pool spend less on frivolous or luxury items than spouses spending from separate accounts.

“But the mere act of pooling funds is not enough to keep people from overspending,” Garbinsky says in Financial Advisor magazine. “There has to be an active participation by both partners. You can’t have a joint account that only one person pays attention to. But if they have to justify expenditures to each other, they may spend less.”

The study received the BMO Wealth Management Best Paper Award in Consumer Finance, given by the CFP Board, The Center for Financial Planning, and the Steering Committee for the 2017 Academic Research Colloquium for Financial Planning and Related Disciplines.

Leading Edge

Notre Dame celebrated International Women’s Day 2017 by recognizing a select group of faculty members, including Associate Dean Katherine Spiess. In her profile (WomenLead2017.nd.edu), the associate finance professor reflects on her career path from majoring in biochemistry as an undergraduate, to eventually earning her Ph.D. in finance. Most importantly, she offers sage wisdom about the twisty path that life can present: “I looked for the opportunities where I could be fully committed and successful,” she says. “I’ve always found that the doors do — and will — open.”

EIL Ireland

Executive Integral Leadership (EIL), the signature leadership development certificate program created by the Stayer Center for Executive Education, is traveling to the Emerald Isle. On September 19-22, EIL will be offered at the Kylemore Abbey Global Center in the heart of Connemara in County Galway.

As with the traditional program offered to U.S. corporate directors and executives, the Irish version will offer a holistic, values-centered, inside-out approach to leadership development, and include personal coaches and a 360-feedback tool called The Leadership Circle Profile. The four-day program also will feature unique sessions, such as those focused the health and wellness aspects of leadership led by Irish sportsman Alan Kerins, who founded the Alan Kerins African Projects to work with children in Africa. 

EIL Ireland’s target enrollment is set at 24; it is open to those who currently hold positions of director or higher. mendoza.nd.edu/LeadershipKylemore