CHRONICLE - FACULTY AND TEACHING

Innovation and Impact Beyond the Classroom

KEEPING IT IN THE ROOM

For more than a quarter century, the Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication has convened the leading professionals tasked with handling crisis communication and reputation management for global companies at the annual Conference on Corporate Communication. The two-day gathering typically held in the fall is an easy draw for the 32 corporate chief communication officers, agency chiefs and professors invited each year, thanks in part to the conference's policy for off-the-record candor. Reporters are excluded and attendees are brutally honest.

The other main draw is the curation of presenters by conference founder James O'Rourke, teaching professor in the Department of Management & Organization at the Mendoza College of Business. Since 1997, O'Rourke has invited more than 800 professionals, including nearly 250 CCOs, to share insights and experiences, sometimes while still in the thick of crisis.

Previous speakers include Domino's Tim McIntyre, who led the company through scandal after viral videos depicted employees contaminating food as a prank. Honda Motor Company's Jeffrey Smith once detailed managing the crisis response after a deadly airbag malfunction. The 2024 conference welcomed Tara Carraro of U.S. Steel Corporation, a company still embroiled in a battle between Nippon Steel, the United Steelworkers union and the United States President.

Though O'Rourke is retiring, the conference will not. He is handing over the reins to Amanda McKendree, Arthur F. and Mary J. O'Neil Director of the Fanning Center for Business Communication. "The communication and public relations profession really has nothing else like it," he said.

SUSTAINABILITY AND ACCOUNTING

The 2024 Accountability in a Sustainable World Conference, hosted by Mendoza's Center for Accounting Research and Education, convened 75 speakers and an estimated 1,200 attendees for a deep exploration of accountancy as critical to sustainability practices. The virtual event, now in its fourth year, focused on key concerns regarding assurance of a sustainable future: the changing sustainability reporting landscape, the politicization of ESG, the effects of carbon footprint information on consumer choice and thoughts from a younger generation.

A main feature of the conference is the discourse between academics and non-academics, featuring high-profile, well-informed and often provocative speakers. Thought leadership from the conference is published in the Accounting in a Sustainable World Quarterly, which is available on the CARE website.

NEW CHAIR

Corey Angst, the Jack and Joan McGraw Family Collegiate Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations, has been named chair of the ITAO Department as of July 1, 2025. Angst joined Notre Dame as an assistant professor in 2007 and was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and full professor in 2018. His research areas include the transformational effect of IT, societal impacts of technology usage and how IT creates value. Angst takes over the position from Rob Easley, who is retiring after nine years as chair.

GLOBAL RECOGNITION

Dean Shepherd, the Ray and Milann Siegfried Professor of Entrepreneurship, was awarded the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research — an award described as "entrepreneurship's equivalent to the Nobel prize." Commenting on Shepherd's nearly three-decade career, the award committee noted, "His extraordinarily broad and methodologically varied research has had a profound influence on research on several central aspects of the entrepreneurial process."

In November, Shepherd was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland, in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements and cultural and societal activities.

RISING STAR

Vamsi Kanuri, Viola D. Hank Associate Professor of Marketing, has received the 2024 Varadarajan Award for Early Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research. The award recognizes his digital marketing research on social media engagement, online channels and shipping policies. Kanuri, published in top journals and an associate editor for multiple publications, was selected based on research impact, quality, quantity and leadership.

Kanuri was also named as a concurrent associate professor in the Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations — the first concurrent professorship between academic departments within the Mendoza College of Business.

FUTURE FORWARD

Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership hosted the Future Forward forum in fall 2024 for young professionals to discuss values-driven business practices. Participants explored questions about maintaining authenticity when work conflicts with personal values and raising ethical concerns without offending leadership. The two-day event held in Chicago featured insights from faculty and business practitioners, including Betsy Besanceney from Deloitte, who emphasized bringing one's authentic self to work.