Dear Friends,

Thank you for supporting our Christmas charity efforts! Across University Relations we have sponsored gifts 35 senior citizens in North Central Indiana through Elves for Elders. ESC has only 3 gift tags left, so grab one while they’re there! Christmas will be merrier for these men and women thanks to your generosity.

Gift deliveries will start in the middle of next week. That means you will need you to bring your wrapped gifts—tags secured to the outside—to campus this Monday, December 10^th. Please place gifts under the tree in the ESC before noon on Monday.

A reminder to those donating cookies: Please drop-off your cookies outside Eck Visitors Center on Wednesday, December 12^th between 7:45 – 8:45 A.M. Volunteers will be on hand to collect the cookies.

If you have any questions, feel free to call or email Beth Ferlic or Kris Machalleck

In gratitude,

Beth, Bob, Huyen, Jim and Kris

(ESC representatives of the UR Service Committee)

Dear Colleagues –

I am delighted to announce the promotion of Laura O’Sullivan to the expanded role of Program Director, Annual Giving Events.  Laura will report to me as a member of the Annual Giving Programs (AGP) Leadership Team.  She will have responsibility for planning and executing events in support of AGP’s strategic and tactical goals for engaging benefactors.   Events will range from intimate gatherings for high level donors to informal large gatherings for Annual Fund donors and student engagement.

Laura has done an extraordinary job leading Recognition Society events to the next level of excellence in her role as Events Coordinator.   Sorin Society members and others have raved about the improvements made in Football Weekend events in particular this year.  Perhaps more importantly, her team members and partners in executing these events both inside and outside of the University are delighted to work with her.  Laura’s strong organizational skills, relationship building, creativity and event acumen are great assets for AGP and Development as a whole.

Please join me in congratulating Laura as she takes on this important, expanded role.

In Notre Dame,

Brian Couch, Sr. Director, Annual Giving Programs

I have the sad duty to report that Don Schindler, our director of print, web and multi-media services in University Communications, will be departing soon after the new year to take a position as Vice-President of Digital Initiatives at Dairy Management, Inc.  This is a great opportunity for Don and, of course, we wish him well. His considerable talent and his wise advice have served Notre Dame well and he’ll always be part of the UC family in my mind.

Matt

Matthew V. Storin, Chief Communications Executive

It’s with a sincere sense of loss AND gratitude that I write about the news of Chas Grundy’s departure to join the OIT Team here at the University of Notre Dame to accept a PRODUCT MANAGER position.  Frankly, over the past three months much of the stuff we’ve generated out of the Marketing & Communications team would not have been possible without the skills and work ethic that Chas has displayed.  HE WILL BE MISSED — BIG TIME!

Chas starts the new gig on Monday, so please be sure to stop by and congratulate him on this new opportunity here at Notre Dame and to THANK him for being a world-class teammate to Development.

Jim Small, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications

Gifts due Monday, Dec. 10

Thank you for helping spread Christmas cheer! We have fulfilled wish lists from 35 senior citizens from REAL Services. Our division is filled with generous “elves!” Please bring gifts to campus on Monday, December 10^th before noon.  Remember to wrap your gift (or use a gift bag) and attach the tag securely and visibly to the outside of the package.  If you have questions, please contact the department representatives listed below. A special thanks to Rachel, Carol, Sharon, and Angel who stepped up to help with this project!

1)  5th Floor Grace – Rachel Hughes, Carol Bradley

2)  10th Grace – Sharon Rankert

3)  11th Floor Grace – Angel Hess

4)  405 Main Building – Roberta White

5)  Eck Center – Katie Rutledge

6) Eddy Street Commons Café – Kris Machalleck, Beth Ferlic, Huyen Nguyen

Cookies due Wednesday, Dec. 12

Thank you, volunteer bakers! We have 95 dozen cookies pledged. We know we’ll have enough to share with the four agencies.  However, anyone can still pledge or just show up with cookies next Wednesday! All donations are welcome.

Drive through Drop-Off: Volunteers will be waiting outside the Eck Visitors Center to receive your cookies on the morning of Wednesday, December 12^th.  Drivers may pull up on the south side of the building in front of the Saint André Bessette, C.S.C.  statue. Please drop-off cookies between 7:45 AM – 8:15 AM.

Drop-off Inside: Cookies will be stored in the Visitors Center near the auditorium in the southwest corner of the building. Bakers may leave their donated cookies on the back tables any time before 5:00 PM.

Tray Assembly: Several colleagues have volunteered to help plate/assemble trays of cookies for the four organizations. Everyone is welcome. We will meet in the Visitors Center around 5:00 PM.

Please email katie.rutledge@nd.edu with your cookie pledge or if you’d like to help assemble trays.

Sincere thanks from the entire UR Community Service Committee! May you have a blessed Advent and Christmas!

Brittany Bauer, Jessica Brookshire, Jill Donnelly, Beth Ferlic, Huyen Lee, Kris Machalleck, Jim Reeves, Katie Rutledge,  Bob Quakenbush, Roberta White, and Tim Sexton

Please keep Candace and Matt Davenport in your prayers as they lost Matt’s father, Coye Davenport on December 4, 2012.  Mass and Christian burial will be Thursday, December 6, 2012, in Statesville, North Carolina.

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that a new position for Administrative Assistant within the Office of Development West Region has been posted on the HR jobs site. The candidate will perform a diverse set of advanced administrative, clerical and project management duties requiring strong interpersonal, organizational, analytical and computer skills.  This role will interact with donors, alumni, benefactors and University personnel on a daily basis.  This position will report to and support two regional directors.

Specific responsibilities include:

–          Coordinating and managing schedules for two regional directors.

–          Preparing correspondence and other business documents.

–          Maintaining an organized office, including detailed files and records.

–          Daily interactions with our benefactors and donors requiring good interpersonal communication skills.

–          Serving on projects and committees, as requested.

We have identified a preferred candidate for this position.

In Notre Dame,

Kevin P. Cannon, Senior Regional Director, West Region

Stewardship Programs is happy to welcome Susan Miller to the team on a temporary basis. Starting this week, Susan will be with us until March. A Purdue graduate and owner of Creative Chameleon Writing Services in Bremen, she will be writing acknowledgments during the Christmas year-end crunch, and filling in as needed while Beth Ferlic is on leave. Beth’s first baby is expected in the new year.

Before opening her own company in 2010, Susan served as a new media manager and web content editor for MMA (now Everence Financial, Inc.) in Goshen. An accomplished writer and editor with over 25 years of professional experience, Susan wrote for Phil Vitale Publishing and is a past reporter for the South Bend Tribune.

Susan has been married for 23 years to Alan Miller, a Purdue mechanical engineer, and they enjoying traveling and hiking. In addition to writing contemporary fiction (and hoping to be published one day soon), Susan plays alto sax in local big bands, makes jewelry, and loves to bake. Please join us in welcoming Susan to Notre Dame.

Katherine Lane, Director of Stewardship Programs