Happy birthday to all our UR employees celebrating their special days in August! Enjoy time off with your family and friends!

8/2 – Adria Logan
8/2 – Colleen Cross
8/4 – Jim Small
8/10 – Tara Gilchrist
8/12 – Amber Cerveny
8/12 – Katie Edel
8/12 – Melissa Medina
8/13 – Jami Radcliff
8/13 – Sean Carroll
8/14 – Lauren Dolzan
8/16 – Brian Benedict
8/18 – Tim Kelly
8/19 – Brent Henningfeld
8/19 – Casey Buck
8/19 – Julia Sama
8/20 – Marty Harshman
8/22 – Jennifer Milliron
8/23 – Amanda Retartha
8/23 – Shaheen Goldrick
8/25 – Killian Vidourek
8/27 – George West
8/28 – James Hill
8/30 – Abbey Johnson
8/30 – Molly Lenaburg
8/30 – Michelle Varda

Baby Nugent is here!! Sarah and Kevin welcomed Patrick Raymond Nugent on Thursday, July 21st. Patrick entered the world at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and 20 inches (sounds like he’ll be tall like his dad)! Baby and mom are doing great. Welcome baby Patrick!! Congratulations Sarah and Kevin!!

-Tashana Kenny

In an effort to maintain a healthy and more efficient campus, the University of Notre Dame will transition to a cashless retail environment beginning Aug. 1. The change includes transactions at Notre Dame food service locations, dining halls, concession stands and St. Michael’s Laundry, as well as dining services at Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College where the University manages operations.

For individuals who do not have a credit or debit card, kiosks have been installed in Duncan and LaFortune Student Centers where cash can be transferred to a Visa gift card to complete transactions on campus. The gift cards can be used anywhere Visa is accepted on or off campus at no additional charge.

Cash will still be accepted at the following locations: the Morris Inn, Rohr’s, the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstores, the Notre Dame Wellness Center, the U.S. Post Office, vending machines and privately operated businesses in LaFortune such as FedEx, the hair salon, barber shop, floral shop and 1st Source Bank. Cash donations will still be accepted at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and the Grotto, along with fundraising/donation events and residence halls food sales.

Faculty, staff and students can continue to add funds to Irish1Cards for use in the dining halls.

The change to a cashless environment will also affect the number of automatic teller machines (ATMs) on campus. ATMs will continue to be available in the two student centers.

For more information, please click here.

The Stewardship & Donor Relations team was delighted to welcome Nadia Casas as Program Director of Donor Recognition on July 18th. In this role, Nadia will serve as one of the project management leads on annual recognition donor events and unique celebrations for donors. She will also be responsible for the creation of both public and private donor recognition and the execution of a variety of individualized stewardship pieces.

Nadia is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University and holds a certificate from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Summer Institute for General Management. She has spent the last seven years working as an Academic Program Administrator in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Program.

This role will allow Nadia to utilize her creative strengths, gift of organization, and passion for others to serve those in our Notre Dame family. Nadia lives in South Bend with her husband and daughter. Please join us in welcoming Nadia.

-Jessica Reasons

Dear Colleagues,

I am thrilled to announce that Alyssa Strbjak joined the Gift and Data Management Team on July 18. Alyssa will be the Program Director for Gift Management Communications. Alyssa will oversee the acknowledgment process, pledge update letters, gift preparation, and gift management communications to internal and external partners.

Alyssa joins us from Andrean High School as the Manager of Annual Giving. Prior to Andrean, Alyssa worked at Purdue University Northwest, Lewis University, and Saint Xavier University – all in various annual giving and alumni engagement positions.

Alyssa has her bachelor’s degree from Lewis University and her master’s degree from Purdue. Alyssa and her husband Jeff along with their three children Dominic (4), Braxton (4), and Sutton (2) reside in Crown Point.

Please join me in welcoming Alyssa.

-Amy Schell

Friends,

Please join me in prayer for the repose of the soul of John Thomas Brice, the father-in-law of Jessica Brice and father of John Brice, and for the entire Brice family as they grieve his loss.

Jessica shared that her father-in-law passed away peacefully on Friday afternoon, with his wife and one of his daughter’s at his bedside, after a nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Jessica’s husband John composed a beautiful obituary for his father, which is linked here and which I encourage you to read as you lift up the Brice family in prayer.

-TJ

UR Team,

Please note that Monday, July 18, will be Kristin Trosper’s last day on the Marketing Operations, Annual Giving team. Kristin will be taking her experience and skills to the International Rescue Committee as the strategist for their monthly giving program.

Kristin has been a part of UR for a total of 9 years, beginning in Regional Development, and has been an integral part of the Annual Giving team the past 4 years. We’re thankful for all her hard work across our departments and her diligence in serving our donors over the years. Her deep historical knowledge of all things ND fundraising will be missed.

If you were working with Kristin directly on any projects, please contact me for a plan of transition. A replacement role will be posted on jobs.nd.edu in the coming weeks. We will release further information regarding this vacancy as it becomes available.

Please join us in wishing Kristin all the best in her next venture!

-Lauren Dolzan

University Relations Family,

It is a bittersweet time for the Central Region. We are sad to see Tara Reilly leave her role as a Regional Director. Her last day with UR will be Friday, July 29th.

Tara has been and continues to be a dear friend to us all. Tara’s extraordinary talent for understanding what is important to other people and affirming who they are, will be sorely missed by her teammates and benefactors alike. We will also miss the energy she infuses into the team and her extraordinary example of how to lead a life of love, faith, and fun.

All of this said, we could not be more happy for Tara as she will continue to serve the mission of Our Lady’s University as the Director of Candidate Development and External Relations for the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI). For those of you who know Tara, it only seems fitting that she will be working for an area of Notre Dame with the word “Inspired” in its title and her energy and authenticity will empower her to do well in this new role.

Thank you, Tara, for your friendship, prayers, and kindness over the years. We look forward to seeing you around campus and wish you all of God’s blessings as you make the transition.

-Jason Scarlett and the Central Region Team

Dear Colleagues,

Sara Munoz’s last day with the gift management team will be July 15. Sara and her family moved to North Carolina this spring to be closer to family and to see more sunshine!

Sara has taken a position at a tech start-up, Levitate, as a Sales Development Representative for small/medium size businesses.

Sara has been with our team for more than four years. During that time Sara has evolved several of our processes, hired and trained students and seasonal team members, served hundreds of donors, and prepped thousands of gifts. We are so grateful for Sara’s time with our team. Sara’s contributions to the team will be missed!

Congratulations Sara!

-Amy Schell

Beginning today, (July 6th), the policy and process for reserving the Family and Sorin Rooms is changing. Based on feedback we have received, this change will focus on providing an improved manner of getting meetings set up and mitigating overlapping meetings. To reserve the Sorin and/or Family Room, contact Dawn Smith (dsmith34@nd,edu, 631-7164, or stopping by ESC front desk). If either room is available, Dawn will be able to reserve the room for you.

To reserve one of the rooms, the information that will be needed includes:

• Date & Time

• Meeting Length

• If a specific layout is required (for Family Room only)

Moving forward, meetings will be booked with set-up time prior to each meeting and clean-up time after meeting. The set-up and clean-up time that is set will be determined by the needs for each meeting or event. Any existing calendar reservations for the Sorin and/or Family Rooms will remain in place unless the meeting’s reservation time is adjusted. If an existing meeting reservation needs to be adjusted by either the date or time, the host/organizer will need to contact Dawn to inquire about the room availability.

As we partner with everyone to ensure that this process works for all, please note that there will be some items that each meeting host/organizer needs to handle. These include cleaning up any food or beverage, ensuring handouts are picked up, trash is thrown away, etc. An information sheet with more details can be found here. If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to reach out to Dawn, Grace, or Lana.