During our Memorial Mass on Monday, September 25th, we lit two candles, one for our beloved dead and the other for those loved one who are grieving. These two candles were placed at the Grotto this morning as a sign of our faith in the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus Christ.

-Fr Ralph

I’m excited to announce that Valerie Plinovich has been promoted into the Digital Marketing Specialist role within the Marketing Operations Team, effective Monday, October 9, 2023. We are excited that Val’s marketing experience, creativity, and can-do attitude will be utilized in a greater capacity within the Annual Giving team.

Val joined the Annual Giving team last year as our Development Coordinator, Member Experiences. In this prior role, she primarily fielded Giving Society donor inquiries, and has assisted in our membership experiences. This role has made her an extremely knowledgeable resource within our team.

Formerly, Val graduated from Purdue Northwest with a BA in Communications and was later a HR Program Manager at Luke Family of Brands. She led employee and community engagement initiatives and created training content for business divisions.

If you were working with Sydney Kuhn (formerly in this role) recently on crowdfunding or other digital marketing campaign needs, please direct those to me in the next couple of weeks until Val is onboarded in October.

Congrats, Val!

-Lauren

Please join me in congratulating Rachel Schaefer (formerly Parks) on her wedding to Greg Schaefer! We wish them a happy future together.

-Patty

Please join me in congratulating Emily and Chandler Naff on the birth of their first child, Blake Oliver Naff. Blake entered the world on Friday, September 22, 2023 at 2:54 pm, weighing 8lbs and measuring 21 inches. Both mom and baby (and dad) are well.

-Anita

Looking to hit your step goal? Craving some sunshine? Want face time with our department’s senior leaders? If you answered yes to any of these, please consider signing up for an upcoming UR Walks!

These informal walks take place over the lunch hour, and all you need is a pair of comfortable shoes. For your convenience, we have upcoming walks starting from both ESC and Grace Hall. Please sign up for one or both of the walks using the links below:

UR Walks with Lou Nanni – Thursday, September 28 at 12:00PM (ESC)
Sign up here

UR Walks with Brian Diss – Tuesday, October 3 at 12:00PM (Grace Hall)
Sign up here

Team,

In preparation for the transition to asceND Go-Live scheduled for October 23, 2023, we have compiled a few helpful training items that you may review prior to your registered training session. These have been placed in Canvas (the University’s Learning Management System) as part of a course that will ultimately convert into the training criteria for new hires. 

For those gaining access to asceND, you should have received an email stating that you’ve been invited to participate in the course (called asceND).  All you need to do is click on the “Get Started” link and you will be directed to the homepage and available Modules. Feel free to browse through pages to learn how to personalize your profile and navigation bar, execute searches and learn about terminology and data management.

We look forward to sharing more at the upcoming training sessions starting September 25th. If you don’t have a training time on your calendar yet, you will soon!

Get ready to asceND! 

Hello UR Team! If you are interested in joining us for our next UR Walks, please fill out this form. Lou Nanni will be leading the walk from ESC at 12:00PM. As there may be some non-pavement, trail walking, we advise that appropriate footwear be considered. Signing up also helps us to contact those who are interested just in case we need to cancel at the last minute due to inclement weather. We look forward to catching up with you while getting in our steps. Happy trails!

Do you have old bank statements, checks, copies of bills or other non-business related confidential papers piling up at home?

We can help!

The University’s shred provider, Shred-it, in conjunction with the University Archives, is offering a free, secure and confidential document shredding event for Notre Dame faculty, staff and retirees.

The event will be held on Wednesday, October 18th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. A Shred-it truck will be parked in the parking lot of the Mason Support Center, which is located off of St. Joseph Drive behind the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union. The truck accepts paper only, so please be sure to remove any binders, binder clips or non-paper items before the event (staples and paper clips are acceptable). For the courtesy of others, we ask that you limit your shred material to no more than five file-size boxes. We also ask that you remain with your material until it is in the shred truck as Notre Dame cannot be responsible for papers left unattended. We will be
happy to recycle your empty boxes after the event so feel free to leave these behind.

Contact Sarah Joswick, Archivist for Records Management, with any questions at:sjoswick@nd.edu or 574-631-4028

*this event will be held rain or shine

I’m writing to share the bittersweet news that our dear colleague and friend RaeLee Rea will be retiring from her role as Senior Director of Gift Planning Strategic Operations in the coming months in order to spend more time with her family.

As all who know and have worked with RaeLee can attest, her practical wisdom, work-ethic, care and attention to detail, and compassionate service to colleagues and benefactors is second-to-none. The value of her contributions to Notre Dame, especially in the building and oversight of the Donor Advised Fund program (among many, many other responsibilities) over the past several years is immeasurable.

RaeLee is committed to enabling a smooth transition, therefore the precise timing of her departure is not yet determined and will be communicated in the coming weeks. A posting for the Senior Director of Gift Planning Strategic Operations will be live in the coming days, and interested candidates are encouraged to apply or reach out to Beth Graybill.

TJ Pillari

I am thrilled to share that Indi Jackson will be stepping into the position of Director, Leadership Annual Giving, effective September 25th. We are thrilled that her creativity, leadership, and immense dedication to the mission of Notre Dame will be expressed in new ways!

Indi is a 2017 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor’s in Film, Theatre, and Television and a Minor in Computer Digital Technologies. Indi first started working at the University with Fighting Irish Media, creating award-winning content for 26 sports, developing the first black student-athlete podcast, and managing 50 student workers. She began working with the Annual Giving team in May of 2021 where she surpassed her fiscal year goal by 14%, driving $3M in unrestricted revenue. Most recently, Indi has served as Regional Director. We’re thrilled that Indi’s prior experience in other University departments, within Annual Giving, and with Regional Development will elevate the work of our Leadership Annual Giving team.

Please direct all questions related to the Leadership Annual Giving team to Indi moving forward. Congratulations, Indi!

-Katie Kerby & Tim Kelly

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Bill Doyle and the East team, we wanted to share the Obituary and service information for Bill’s father, William Joseph Doyle.

For those who may not have known, Bill’s father sadly passed away September 7, 2023.

Please take a moment to share your condolences and keep Bill, Mary Lynn and their family in your thoughts and prayers during this time.

With gratitude,
Nadia

I’m excited to share that Sydney Kuhn has earned the role of Associate Director of Athletics Annual Giving. Sydney will transition from her current position as Senior Digital Marketing Specialist on the Annual Giving team, where she planned, managed, and executed Notre Dame crowdfunding, including significant events such as Notre Dame Day. Her primary focus will be on our Gold and below levels and helping drive Monogram engagement.

Sydney is a 2018 Notre Dame graduate, four-time volleyball Monogram winner, and former professional athlete. She will bring a relentless work ethic to the Rockne team and uphold our standard of elite stewardship.

Congratulations, Sydney!

-William Mitchell

As our Development Team grows, we continue to assess our usage of space and test different setups to ensure, above all, collaborative and effective fundraising success. As such, beginning this week, the desks in the Annual Giving and Prospect Management and Research spaces will become hot desks for use by other individuals in the department when not in use by those teams. Special thanks to the Annual Giving and Prospect Management and Research teams for making these spaces available to the wider team. If you would like to book one of these spaces to use for either a few hours or for an entire day, you are welcome to do so using the following instructions:

• Go to Google Calendar and set up a meeting for the date / time that you want to reserve and click on “More Options”.
• Under “Rooms” (top right) search for the number / letter of the cubicle that you want to reserve. All newly reservable cubicles start with “3131” and are followed by a letter. Each cubicle name can be found in the map here.
• Add a title such as “*Your Name* Reservation”
• Change “Busy” to “Free”

Additionally, offices #3113 – #3129 (odd numbers only), as well as 3159 and 3161 are available for a quick phone call or Zoom meeting if they are not in use by their normal occupant. If you need to pop into a space for a quiet conversation, you can look for offices that are marked as “Vacant” (via office signage). When you are using the office, please flip the sign to “Occupied” and when you leave the office, please change the sign to read “Vacant”. These signs will not be installed until later in the week. Offices are not available to book via Google calendar.

As you may know, we are commencing construction of additional space on the second floor of Eddy Street. Once the second floor construction is completed in the next few months, the desks in the Annual Giving and Prospect Management spaces will be available for reservation every weekday.

Please reach out to Patty Kokesh with any questions.

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing today to share that Allison Slabaugh is departing Development to pursue an opportunity in the College of Science. In this newly created position, she will work with the Dean to guide the College’s administrative operations and academic strategy. Specifically, she will help develop and implement strategic projects, manage relationships with key internal and external constituents, and serve as a representative of the Dean on a variety of committees and initiatives.

Allison has been an integral part of development since she joined in 2010 as a corporate relations coordinator to her current role as the Academic Advancement Director for the College of Science. Her work in partnership with many of you on this team has resulted in over $200 million in gifts to the College of Science in the last 5 years. Beyond the numbers, she has been instrumental in building relationships with benefactors and faculty alike and seamlessly transitioned relationships and priorities across three different deans. She also played a key role in the development and implementation of a number of new initiatives such as the Mary E. Galvin Science and Engineering Scholars Program, Sports Science Initiative, and Rare Disease Patient Advocacy Program.

Her passion and determination to elevate Notre Dame and the College of Science are unquestionable and we are excited to see what she will accomplish in this new role. And she will be greatly missed by the AAD Team!

Allison will begin her new role on October 1st but please note that this will not be formally announced to the faculty or the advisory council until the end of the month. We are sharing the news with you today so we can post her position but I ask that you please keep it confidential at this point.

Starting October 1st, please see Kelly Courington with any needs or requests around BELS. Please see Caiti Houlilan or check Highspot for questions around priorities – priority pages will be posted soon. Anything else, please see me as interim AAD for Science. We want to make an efficient transition for Allison as she begins her role in the College!

-Katy

Hello UR Team! If you are interested in joining us for our next UR Walks, please fill out this form. Brandon Tabor will be leading the walk from ESC at 12:00PM. As there may be some non-pavement, trail walking, we advise that appropriate footwear be considered. Signing up also helps us to contact those who are interested just in case we need to cancel at the last minute due to inclement weather. We look forward to catching up with you while getting in our steps. Happy trails!

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to welcome Aleks Mitrius to the East team as a Regional Director. Aleks’s first day was September 5th, and he will have the pleasure of cultivating relationships with families in the DC market.

Aleks is a ’95 graduate from Notre Dame and a parent of a ’22 graduate (Lukas), and current student (Romas). After graduating from Notre Dame, Aleks had a tremendous experience in public accounting, observing and auditing both successful and struggling companies. He then branched out and applied this knowledge to the title and sales consulting industries. Aleks currently resides in South Bend, and we look forward to his wife, Ilona, kids – Lukas, Romas, Karina, and rescue dog, Fozzy joining him soon.

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Aleks!

Many thanks,
Nadia

It’s that time of year again, so brush off your broomsticks and get ready for the annual UR Halloween Spooktacular! On Thursday, October 19th from 4:00-6:00pm, bring your little monsters for an evening of trick-or-treating through the Development offices. We’ll have activities, prizes, and of course, lots of sweet treats! This year, we’ll be holding the festivities in the eerie Eddy Street 3rd floor, and we need your help to make this the best Spooktacular yet. Please reach out to Grace Prosniewski to sign up your team for a space to decorate (and your theme!). Happy haunting!

Beginning this week (9/11/2023), Mail Distribution is instituting a new procedure for handling metered mail (envelopes and/or packages) being sent out by the US Postal Service. This new process is being implemented campus-wide to help ensure that mail is charged to the appropriate FOAPAL numbers. 

The new procedure applies only to mail needing to be metered (i.e. having postage added).   

• Mail needing to be metered must have a completed copy of this form. The form can be filled out then printed; you can view a sample form here.
  • For single pieces of mail (i.e. 1 envelope or 1 package), the form can be secured using a paperclip, rubber band, or small piece of Scotch tape.
  • For multiple pieces of mail being charged to the same FOAPAL, these can be secured with rubber bands or for larger mailings in a mail tub. With either option, a copy of the completed form must be included. 

There will be blank forms at the Eddy Street Reception desk in case anyone needs to add a form. Please note, by not including a completed form this may result in the mail being delayed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Laura Waltz or Lana Taylor.

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to share that Tim Kenney will be joining the New York Metro team as a Regional Director, effective September 12, 2023. We are excited that Tim’s creativity, dedication to the Notre Dame mission, and genuine care for the Notre Dame family will be expressed in new ways.

Over the past four years, Tim has served on the Annual Giving team in several capacities, most recently leading the Sorin to two record-breaking years. Tim’s former position will be posted soon. Please contact Katie Kerby if you have any candidates that may be a good fit.

Congratulations, Tim!

Joe Dietz & Katie Kerby

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to welcome Lilly Yun to the Gift and Data Management team as Gift Management, Program Coordinator. Lilly’s first day is today, September 11. She will lead gift preparation efforts while assisting colleagues and donors with questions through the departmental phone line (5150) and email (GiveGift).

Lilly earned her Bachelor’s degree from Hillsdale College in Michigan. She comes to us with experience in customer service, PR, communications, and process improvement. We are excited to have her on our team!

Please join me in welcoming Lilly.

Best,
Alyssa Strbjak

It is my pleasure to welcome Jim Furlong to the East team as a Regional Director. Jim’s first day was August 7th, and he will have the pleasure of cultivating relationships with families in Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and within the Atlanta market.

As a double domer, Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in ’07 and an MBA in ’11. During his time on campus, Jim served as a student-manager for the football team, and worked with the Monogram Club in between undergrad and graduate school. Thereafter, Jim worked in athletics fundraising at Penn State, Hofstra, UAB and UCF. Jim and his wife, Julie now reside in the South Bend area.

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Jim!

Many thanks,
Nadia

All,
I would like to welcome back our newest regional director, Debbie Loughran, to the SouthBest team. Debbie is a Notre Dame ’91 graduate and earned her M.A. in leadership development from Chapman University. Debbie worked as a regional director at ND for the West region from 2014-2019. Most recently, Debbie served as an Associate Vice President of Development at Chapman University in Orange, California. Debbie and her husband, Terry (also a ’91 grad) are proud parents to Kit ’16, Ryan ’17, Kelly ’18, and Andy ’26. Debbie’s first day will be September 12. She will be working with families in Orange County. Please join me in welcoming back Debbie!

Best,

Shelby

Hello UR Team! If you are interested in joining us for our next UR Walks, please fill out this form. Brian Diss will be leading the walk from Grace Hall at 12:00PM. As there may be some non-pavement, trail walking, we advise that appropriate footwear be considered. Signing up also helps us to contact those who are interested just in case we need to cancel at the last minute due to inclement weather. We look forward to catching up with you while getting in our steps. Happy trails!

Please welcome Nick Weiler to the Development Coordinator team! Nick is a South Bend native. He graduated from John Adams High School (Go Eagles!) and then received his Bachelor’s degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences and Master’s in Business Administration, both from Indiana University South Bend. He’s spent the past few years as an office manager for Varners Greenhouse and Nursery and serves as President for the Racing for Steve-O Foundation. We are excited to have Nick on the team!

Please join me in welcoming him to Notre Dame and the Development family!

Tashana Kenny

Dear Colleagues,

The second fall renewal mailing (renew #2) is dropping in mailboxes starting Friday, September 8 to all our unrestricted and giving society benefactors. As a reminder, this mailing is sent to all assigned and unassigned benefactors whose annual giving is less than $25,000, asking them to renew their previous calendar year gift by their respective fund owner. This mailing is being sent to over 26,000 households and will be followed by email reminders in the weeks to come. If you have any questions regarding our renewal strategy, please reach out to the appropriate fund (Sorin, Rockne, Law, etc.) owner on the annual giving team and they can assist.

Thanks!
Annual Giving Team

On Friday, September 15th at 3:30PM at Leighton Concert Hall, The Thomas H. Quinn Lecture Series will present: Steve Levitt, Economist & Co-author of NYT Bestseller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. This is a free but ticketed event. Tickets will be available for pick-up at the Ticket Office one hour prior to the event. There are no advanced reservations for this event. Limit 2 tickets per person. Learn more here.

Please join me in welcoming Kathy Link to the Illinois Team as a Regional Director!

Kathy is a proud ND parent of daughter, Maddie ’20, ’23 who is also a current PhD student in the Medieval Institute. Kathy recently moved to South Bend this summer from Pennsylvania. She has spent the last 12 years consulting to Catholic schools on issues of sustainability (enrollment, advancement, and governance). Prior to that, she served multiple non-profits through her consulting firm (focused primarily on advancement and marketing), and taught management and marketing courses at the collegiate level.

She has a true passion for the mission of Notre Dame and we are so excited to have her join our team!

Kathy’s first day in the office was Tuesday, September 5. Please stop by to say hello.

Thanks!
Ashley Gerard

Please join me in thanking Sam King for his contributions to Development and the Storytelling and Engagement team. Sam is leaving Notre Dame for another opportunity. His last day is September 8, 2023. Best wishes to you, Sam!

David Chaudoir