EDITOR'S LETTER

Hearts on Sleeves

On Feb. 1, Pope Francis spoke of the “secret of education” with Notre Dame leadership, including Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., and Father Robert Dowd, C.S.C.:

“Indeed, as Blessed Basil Moreau said, ‘Christian education is the art of helping young people to completeness.’ And not only with the head, but with three languages: the head, the heart and the hands.”

For Mendoza Dean Martijn Cremers, “head, heart and hands” perfectly describes his vision for the College as a business school renowned for “innovative research, rigorous educational programs and formative student experiences” — and something more.

The critical addendum to that description is, “all informed by our Catholic character.” There is a renewed energy at Mendoza to think deeply about what it means to be the business school for perhaps the most preeminent Catholic university in the world and how this vision can materially and spiritually affect lives for the better. 

This vision forms the basis for the dean’s five-year strategic plan, which includes elevating Mendoza’s research culture, preparing undergraduates to contribute meaningfully to the world, and elevating the MBA program to be mission- and market-centric. (You can read Mendoza’s full strategic plan at strategicframework.nd.edu.)

The strategic plan is the “what” of Mendoza’s future. In this magazine, we focused on showing the “how,” or what the plan looks like in action at Mendoza in our classrooms, our research and our community. The stories highlight progress toward the College’s goals while also illustrating how business at Notre Dame has always looked beyond the balance sheet.

On the cover, you may have noticed that the word “heart” is bigger than “head” and “hands.” To be sure, as the pope so eloquently pointed out, the three should go together. But “heart” is faith. And people and care for our environment and many other things. Heart is the thing that sets us apart from other business schools. 

In the cover story, you’ll meet a number of research faculty who are exploring ways that business can help in scenarios that, at first glance, might seem unbusinesslike — climate disasters, cancer detection, global poverty, war. Where we might watch news coverage of a devastating flood and think of the government aid needed to rebuild, their mission-focused research presents us with new ways to create solutions through business. 

In “Through the Lens,” you’ll see a photo of Aaron Simon, who runs Farm to Fork Meat Processing LLC in Jackson County, West Virginia. With business plans laid out on the hood of his truck, Aaron transformed an empty parking lot into a classroom for MBA students in Frontlines in America, who work with him on a possible solution to the food insecurity common in Appalachia. Similarly, Grow Irish, a new take on experiential learning between mods, sends hundreds of graduate business students across the globe to work on real-life problems with partners ranging from a food mart in Texas to a tech startup in Croatia.

And in the “Family” section, you’ll meet several remarkable people. Tamika Catchings, a four-time Olympic women’s basketball gold medalist, and Russell Lovell, an accountancy major who served as a pro bono civil rights lawyer for more than 50 years, both had exceptionally successful professional careers — and then went on to contribute even more.

Professor Fred Nwanganga designed a program to enlist Notre Dame students to teach middle schoolers about data science, a subject often considered daunting. Fred’s students, however, are making data science not just understandable but useful, and building bridges to career paths in the process. 

The bright thread of Mendoza’s vision to be “something more,” to train our eyes to a higher purpose, runs throughout the magazine. “Head, heart and hands” has never been a secret at Mendoza. But in a world facing historic upheavals, leading with our hearts might open pathways to some sorely needed answers. 

Carol Elliott, Executive Editor

Photo by Matt Cashore (ND '94)