Mendoza adds associate dean for undergraduate studies position

The University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business has added the position of associate dean for undergraduate studies to its leadership team, naming Jim Leady, associate teaching professor of finance, to the position as of July 1, 2019. The associate dean for undergraduate studies will oversee all aspects of the undergraduate curriculum, including review of existing programs and development of new initiatives that will expand access to business education for all students at Notre Dame. Leady will work collaboratively with Mendoza’s five academic departments and with the University’s other colleges and schools to develop integrative opportunities for undergraduates. Martijn Cremers, the Bernard J. Hank Professor of Finance who has served as Mendoza interim dean since July 1, 2018, and was recently named as the Martin J. Gillen Dean as of July 1, 2019, said the addition of the position was needed due to numerous academic developments involving the College. “Undergraduate studies at Mendoza is undergoing major changes, including transitioning from basically a three-year curriculum to a four-year curriculum, the addition of four minors open to non-business majors, and organizational changes to our Office of Undergraduate Advising, which will mean adding four additional student advisers to the office,” said Cremers. “We also plan to explore further significant innovations and enhancements of our undergraduate curriculum, and thus hope to strengthen the college’s administration of our undergraduate studies by adding an associate dean.” Cremers added, “Jim is a great choice because he is one of our star teachers in the undergraduate program and has significant experience with the undergraduate studies’ administrative processes due to his service as assistant chair of the finance department.” The new associate deanship will work in collaboration with the assistant dean for undergraduate studies, Dale Nees, whose team will continue to focus on providing advising services to the more than 2,200 business majors and incoming students who intend to study business at Notre Dame. The associate dean also will coordinate among all of the department chairs and the directors of the college’s four minor programs, including those offered to business majors in partnership with the Notre Dame IDEA Center and the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. “I am very excited about this opportunity to lead the transformation of undergraduate business education at the university,” said Leady. “We want to leverage Mendoza’s unsurpassed excellence in preparing young women and men to be leaders in business and the community to broaden opportunities for current Mendoza students and expand programs for non-business majors.” Notre Dame students enter the college of their choice beginning with their sophomore year, and Mendoza students formally declare their academic major near the end of their sophomore year. Leady, who joined Mendoza in 2006, teaches economics courses in undergraduate and graduate programs. He served as the assistant chair and director of undergraduate studies for Mendoza’s Finance Department. He also advises the Corporate Finance Club. Leady also serves as the co-chair of the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics Test Development Committee and on the leadership team for the AP Microeconomics Exam Reading. Leady taught courses in public finance, labor economics, game theory, intermediate microeconomics, and principles of economics at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Leady earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), and his master’s and Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan. He continues to serve as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve in the 766th Transportation Battalion. His most recent deployment was to Kuwait in 2015-2016. With the addition of the position, Mendoza’s leadership structure will include four associate deanships: the associate dean for undergraduate studies; associate dean for graduate programs; the associate dean for faculty and research; and the associate dean for executive education, a new position added in January.