Chronicle - FACULTY AND TEACHING

Innovation and Impact Beyond the Classroom

PROGRAM LIKE A CHAMPION
MSBA Belts Challenge Winner

Belts aren’t just for WWE champions.

The Master of Science in Business Analytics residential program was proud to “belt” Alex Evans (MSBA ’23) as its first programming champion of the 2022-2023 academic year. Evans won the Simulation and Optimization Challenge with the development of a text-based adventure game in R, a programming language and a software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

The programming competition began with Seth Berry’s Unstructured Data Analytics class in 2020. Soon, Mendoza professors Sharif Nijim, Martin Barron and Fred Nwanganga offered their own challenges for a more complete competition. Now, whichever MSBA student wins the most challenges throughout the year gets to hang onto the championship belt after graduation.

“The MSBA Programming Championship is a competition that lets students ‘flex’ their programming and creativity muscles,” said Berry, academic co-director of the MSBA and an associate teaching professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations. “It may have started as a one time challenge, but now the competition and the belt have become a part of the program.”

Throughout the rest of their 10-month program, the MSBA Class of 2023 had other opportunities to win programming challenges such as the Scariest Simulation and the Machine Learning Challenge. These competitions push students to utilize the various programming skills they’ve been developing in their classes.

ELEVATE, DEVELOP, EMPOWER

Associate Dean Kristen Collett-Schmitt led the charge with several other prominent Mendoza faculty and alumni to launch ND Elevate: Women in Leadership, a pilot program directly aimed at empowering women to take the next step in their professional journey by developing knowledge and skills relating to resilience, negotiation, presence and authenticity.

The program’s online learning modules and a full-day immersion featured some of the University’s foremost women leaders and scholars, including Muffet McGraw, Ruth Riley Hunter (EMBA ’16) and former Mendoza dean Carolyn Woo.

ECONOMICS CONFERENCE

Mendoza co-hosted the “Midwest Economic Theory and International Economics Meetings” with the College of Arts and Letters. Professor Jeffrey Bergstrand shared that he was proud to showcase Mendoza’s high-quality facilities to academics from around the world.

SOCIALLY VALUABLE RESEARCH

ITAO Professor Kaitlin Wowak received the 2022 Responsible Research in Management Award from the Academy of Management Fellows. Presented annually, this award recognizes and celebrates research that benefits society by producing credible and useful knowledge. 

LEARNING WITH VIRTUAL REALITY

During the spring semester, undergraduate and graduate students in Tim Hubbard’s strategic management classes received hands-on experience as CEO via high quality, enterprise-grade virtual reality headsets. The technology was funded by an award from the Office of Digital Learning.

ELEVATING FRONTLINES 

Business on the Frontlines students fanned out to Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa and Uganda in March for field work. Partner organizations received the teams’ final deliverables in April. Pictured above, Team Kyrgyzstan, along with the Aga Khan Development Network’s Accelerate Prosperity, assessed opportunities and challenges in Kyrgyzstan’s tech sector and identified gaps that entrepreneurs could fill through new business ventures or new products/services, with a particular focus on green tech.

NEW LEADERSHIP 

Craig Crossland, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs

Kristen Collett-Schmitt, Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion

Amanda McKendree, Academic Director for Undergraduate Studies

Jessica McManus Warnell, Rex and Alice A. Martin Faculty Director of the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership

COMMERCIALIZATION AWARD

M&O Professor Matt Bloom received the 2022 First Source Bank Commercialization Award as the co-founder of Ritual, a mobile platform that offers guided audio practices from leaders in science, faith and culture to help listeners feel grounded and inspired.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS

Shankar Ganesan, the John Cardinal O’Hara, C.S.C. Chair of the Marketing Department, has been recognized with two Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Marketing Association. Ganesan has garnered more than 21,000 Google scholar citations, according to the AMA.