Launched in fall 2021, the Notre Dame Business Honors Program in the Mendoza College of Business prepares students to be a “force for good in the world.” The program provides connections with business leaders as well as mentoring and tutoring sessions.
Mendoza dean Martijn Cremers and faculty director James Otteson spearhead the program. According to Otteson, the initiative was founded on three pillars: academic achievement, servant leadership and fostering the quintessential Notre Dame family.
“From the beginning, we wanted the program to reflect the educational vision of Notre Dame,” Otteson citing “enhanced challenges for our highest achieving students” and to give students in business “a sustained, serious, deep opportunity throughout their years of the program to think about what it would be like to engage in business virtuously.”
Freshman Sarah Bianchi, who is majoring in finance, explained her attraction to the program in the midst of the application process.
“Mendoza is such a big group of people that sometimes you feel like you can get lost in it a little bit,” she said, emphasizing that the program builds real community through a “distinct cohort of people.”
From weekly mass to BHP formal, the program fosters an active, supportive community of servant leaders. The enduring commitment members make to the program is best exemplified by Honors 911, a pledge to join a 24/7 support network for fellow members.
When going through the recruitment process, sophomore Olivia Cai, majoring in finance and theology, experienced the support firsthand.
“I noticed every time I sent out an email with the headline ‘BHP 911,’ someone always replied to me, so it shows how it goes beyond just your undergraduate system,” she said.
No additional courses are required toward graduation from the University for the BHP students. The courses within the program, designated as honors courses, take the place of other classes in the curriculum.
‘Corporate Governance and Catholic Social Teaching’ is one upper-level finance course the program offers. Students simultaneously read research in finance, corporate governance and papal encyclicals.
“With a course like that, you’re sharpening your finance skills, but you’re also thinking about what it means to be a good human being. If I’m developing all this knowledge and these skills, what am I doing it for?” Otteson said.
To illustrate this impact, he highlighted the journey of a student from BHP’s inaugural cohort. The student interned at Bain Capital, an investment capital, and received a return offer for a full-time job, but ultimately turned down the offer to start a non-profit.
“So he had this job that was going to pay him a lot of money and he said no to it, because he thought his calling was somewhere else,” he said.
The BHP’s mentoring program represents a real resource for students. The initiative connects students with young professionals who are willing to speak about things in life beyond coursework.
“There is something good that you are put here to create in the world. So let’s help you figure out what that is and what the right path to achieve that is.”
Cai, recently accepted as an investment banking intern at J.P. Morgan, leaned on her mentor for support after the rigorous recruitment process.
“Right now, one of the main challenges that I’m worried about in my life is that I don’t have anything to continue working towards. And my mentor, yesterday, she sat with me for over an hour helping me to figure out what I should be doing with this free time and what my purpose should be,” she said.
Alumni benefit from the community fostered by the program, remaining in touch after graduation. Whether it be as speakers or mentors, the program hopes BHP alums will return to the University and give back through engagement with current students.
“Once you’re a member of the BHP, it’s a membership for life and the BHP family is for life,” Otteson said.
BHP applications are open for current freshmen in the Mendoza College of Business until Friday. Accepted students begin in the fall of their sophomore year. For students at Notre Dame or transferring from another school who hope to join the program as sophomores, a portal opens in the fall for applications.
