Andrew J. McKenna Sr., a University of Notre Dame alumnus and emeritus chairman of the Board of Trustees, has made a leadership gift to his alma mater for the establishment of the Andrew J. and Joan P. McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business.

“This wonderful gift is only the latest example of the extraordinary ways in which Andy and Joan have served Notre Dame and its mission,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the University’s president. “We are deeply grateful for their tremendously generous support and, in particular, for the creation of this new center in the school named for their longtime friend, Don Keough. The legacy of the McKenna family will shape Notre Dame for generations to come.”

The McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business will be a central part of Notre Dame’s new Donald R. Keough School of Global Affairs. The first degree-granting college or school to be established at the University in almost a century, the Keough School will address global challenges through research, policy and practice; transformative education programs; and partnerships. The McKenna Center will join seven other University centers and institutes under the auspices of the Keough School – the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

“One of the original objectives of the Keough School, and one that was especially important to Don Keough as well as to Andy McKenna, was to better understand the criticality of the role of global business in the betterment of humanity,” said Thomas G. Burish, Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of Notre Dame. “Both men played leadership roles in this area in their own right. This extraordinary gift will ensure that the Keough School will be able to support many initiatives that allow faculty and students to study, conduct research on and ultimately

participate in the private sector’s role in reducing poverty and inequality. We cannot thank Andy and Joan enough for this foundational gift.”

Scott Appleby, Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School, added: “This remarkable gift will enable the Keough School to realize its goal of placing the private sector’s entrepreneurial creativity and resourceful problem-solving in the service of creating economic prosperity for people currently struggling to find their niche in the market place of goods, services and ideas. Realizing this goal is also to realize Don Keough’s vision of global businesses doing well by doing good for the poor and the aspiring middle class.”

Multi-disciplinary in scope, the McKenna Center will engage with graduate, professional and undergraduate students to promote corporate policies and practices worldwide that:

• Stimulate economic growth and develop markets in societies that struggle with poverty, underemployment and inequality.

• Build and reinforce corporate cultures characterized by integrity, responsible stewardship and environmental sustainability.

• Foster collaboration – among the private sector, government, universities and non-profit development and humanitarian organizations – to advance integral human development.

McKenna Center initiatives will include student fellowships, visiting scholars from the corporate world, internships, conferences, research and an award for commitment to human development and global business.

A 1951 Notre Dame graduate who earned a law degree from DePaul University, McKenna is chairman emeritus of McDonald’s Corporation and chairman of Schwarz Supply Source.

McKenna is a director of the Chicago Bears, McDonald’s Corporation and Ryan Specialty Group, and he previously served as chairman of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. His many civic, community and philanthropic leadership positions includes past chairman of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, The Commercial Club of Chicago, Chicago Metropolis 2010, The Civic Committee and many others. He currently serves on the previously mentioned boards as well as serving as director of Lurie Children’s Hospital, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Big Shoulders Fund, Lyric Opera, and many others.

A member of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees since 1980, McKenna served as vice chair from 1986-1992 and chair from 1992 to 2000. He holds honorary degrees from Notre Dame and St. Xavier University and was Notre Dame’s Laetare Medalist in 2000.

The University’s conference center is named McKenna Hall in recognition of the McKennas for making a generous multi-million-dollar gift for student scholarships. They are the parents of seven children, four of whom are Notre Dame graduates, 24 grandchildren (several graduates and many aspiring students) and five great grandchildren.

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From: Dennis Brown, assistant vice president for news and media relations

The William and Linda Stavropoulos Family Foundation of Midland, Michigan, has made a $10 million gift to the University of Notre Dame for the creation of a center specializing in biophysical research in the College of Science.

“The interconnectedness of biology and physics to understanding living systems is longstanding, but in recent years has become even more central to scientific research,” said Thomas G. Burish, Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of the University. “Bill and Linda’s generous and visionary gift will give us the opportunity to significantly expand our work in this arena. We are most grateful.”

Mary Galvin, William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science, added: “We deeply appreciate the generosity of Bill and Linda Stavropoulos. Their support will enable us to attract a cluster of elite research talent to significantly strengthen science and biophysics at Notre Dame. This field of knowledge is crucial as we seek to explore the physical principles of biology and make advancements in human health.”

Physics has played an important role in biological research for many years, with the most well-known example being the work of James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of the DNA double helix. The intersection of biology and physics has increased dramatically in recent years as the important questions in biology have become more fundamental in nature.

The Stavropoulos Center for Interdisciplinary Biophysics will bring to Notre Dame thought leaders focused on the connections between physics, biology and medicine who will engage with physicists, biologists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers. This group will work jointly to pursue novel approaches to cancer, stem cell biology, imaging, therapeutic development and other research topics.

Bill Stavropoulos has served on Notre Dame’s College of Science Advisory Council since 1988.

“We feel strongly about the future of science at Notre Dame,” he said, “and wanted to support this important area of research that we believe will bring the University to the forefront of biomedical research.”

Stavropoulos earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Fordham University and a doctorate in medical chemistry from the University of Washington. He began his 39-year career at The Dow Chemical Company as a research chemist and held a variety of research and management positions until becoming chief operating officer in 1992 and chief executive officer in 1995. He served as chairman and CEO from 2002 to 2004.

Stavropoulos is involved in a variety of corporate ventures. He is a trustee of the Fidelity Equity and High Income Funds Board, a director of Teradata Corp., operating adviser to Clayton, Dublier and Rice LLC, and a member of the advisory board for Metalmark Capital LLC. He is president and founder of the social enterprise the Michigan Baseball Foundation, and the Class A minor league baseball team in Midland, the Great Lake Loons. His numerous honors include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Société de Chimie Industrielle’s Palladium Medal.

Linda Stavropoulos, a former schoolteacher, serves as president of the William and Linda Stavropoulos Family Foundation, which the couple created to support efforts in health care, human services, higher education and religion. Their two children, Bill and Angela, are both Notre Dame graduates. They have six grandchildren, and reside in Naples, Florida.

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your tremendous commitment to the University, and to the Boldly Notre Dame campaign. We are in the campaign’s 4th year, and the final year of the foundational (or “quiet”) phase. We are at $2.77 billion in campaign production thanks to the incredible generosity of our benefactors.

Confidentially, we will move to the public phase of the Boldly Notre Dame campaign toward the end of this fiscal year, likely in May 2017. At that time, we will not publicly announce a campaign goal.  We would rather focus on our key initiatives and the impact our generous benefactors are already having on Notre Dame and the larger world. Our intent is to remain humble and hungry; we don’t believe a multi-billion dollar public goal announcement will be motivating for our alumni, parents and friends. We will continue to push hard internally to achieve our annual and overall campaign goals. We will also keep you informed as our public phase plans further develop. The public phase will last three years, ending in 2020.

As I shared with many of you at last week’s strategy session, our academic advancement directors and liaisons spent a great deal of time this summer revising their campaign priorities with the deans and University’s senior leaders. These updated campaign priorities can be found in the “Funding Opportunities” section of our new campaign resource center atur.nd.edu/boldly.  The site works better when using either a Chrome or Firefox browser.

Huge thanks to Brandon Tabor and Lin Wang for their work in transforming our campaign resource center. Going forward, please use ur.nd.edu/boldly to access campaign resources (e.g. funding opportunities, priority pages, presentations, campaign event talking points, print portal, etc.). We promise to keep this new site up to date, and welcome your input on ways to ensure it is most helpful for you.

Finally, the latest listing of our academic advancement directors and liaisons is available on the campaign resource center. These colleagues are invaluable resources for you as you seek information about the hundreds of campaign priorities. I encourage you to work with these team members often.

For Notre Dame,
Shannon

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our new Campaign Resource Center. I hope you find this new site to be helpful and informative. The purpose of this site is to provide you with communication tools and information so you are equipped to share the Boldly Notre Dame campaign priorities with alumni, parents and friends.

The storytelling/engagement and campaign administration teams will keep this site refreshed and meaningful for you. If you have suggestions for this site or information you would like to see, please contact Julia Sama at jkelly7@nd.edu.

As always, the academic advancement directors and liaisons are here to assist you. Please be sure to engage them as you think strategically about priority areas that might resonate with your respective benefactors.

Thank you for all you do to advance Notre Dame.

Shannon

University of Notre Dame alumnus Robert P. McGrath and his wife, Joan, have made a $15 million gift to his alma mater to endow the University’s Institute for Church Life.

“For more than 25 years, our Institute for Church Life has served as the cornerstone for Notre Dame’s service to the Church and society through outreach in theological education, research, faith formation and leadership development, and the McGraths have been integrally involved in its development and direction,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the University’s president. “Their transformative gift gives the institute the resources to teach, train and serve in even more powerful ways. We feel blessed and are eternally grateful to Bob and Joan.”

John Cavadini, the McGrath-Cavadini Director of the newly christened McGrath Institute for Church Life, added: “Thanks to the exceptional generosity of Bob and Joan McGrath, the institute is poised to become the pre-eminent source of creative Catholic content and programming for the new evangelization. Building on our legacy of connecting the Catholic intellectual life at Notre Dame to the life of the Church, the McGrath Institute for Church Life will continue to be a collaborative partner with Church leaders at all levels by providing the theological tools they need to address pressing pastoral problems.” Continue reading →

The University of Notre Dame will recognize James and Lisa McConnell in a private dedication ceremony Friday (Sept. 9) for their leadership gift to underwrite construction of the Fighting Irish rowing team’s McConnell Family Boathouse on the St. Joseph River near downtown South Bend.

“The construction of a boathouse has been a high priority — for our team and the community,” said Jack Swarbrick, vice president and James E. Rohr director of athletics. “The result is a beautiful and highly functional facility, and for that we are deeply grateful to the McConnells.” Continue reading →

The late Thomas Quinn and his wife, Diane, have made a $5 million gift to the University of Notre Dame for the construction of the second phase of Innovation Park.

The Thomas H. and Diane G. Quinn Hall for Innovation and Change will be a 40,000-square-foot, three-level facility located on a 12-acre site immediately south of the Notre Dame campus on Angela Boulevard. Construction is expected to begin late this fall or early winter. Continue reading →

Kenn and Pamela Ricci of Willoughby, Ohio, have made a $5 million gift to the University of Notre Dame for a project that will create an outdoor home for the Band of the Fighting Irish and a world-class facility for students participating in RecSports.

The facility, located adjacent to Stepan Center and to be named Ricci Family Fields, will be used by the Notre Dame marching band as a rehearsal field. The fully lit, artificial turf football field, complete with a band director’s tower, will enable the Band of the Fighting Irish to practice in the same location on a consistent basis throughout football season for the first time in its 170-year history. When not in use by the band, Ricci Family Fields, along with two additional lighted turf fields, will be used for more than 1,000 games and by 10,000 students participating in various RecSports activities annually. Continue reading →