The Prospect Research and Strategy is thrilled that Jonathan Retartha has joined us as the Director of Prospect Development and Strategy, leading the team of Prospect Management Consultants (Cindy Karpovs, Katie O’Friel, Kevin McMannis, Meghan Walsh, and Brooke Wenzel). Once he is up to speed, he will also transition to directly supporting the Athletics region and the UR Executives with their portfolios.

Jonathan Retartha returns to the Development team after four years as Director of Housing in Residential Life. Jonathan started his Notre Dame career in Development as Assistant Director and then Donor Experience Manager on the Annual Giving team, after three years at Fox Corporation.

As Director of Housing, Jonathan’s team managed all assignments, student services, and logistics across the University’s 32 residence halls, including the emergency shutdown and staged reopening of the halls in 2020. Jonathan also managed the University’s residential master plan, extending the occupancy strategic roadmap and organizing full-year renovations in Morrissey, Dillon, Sorin, and Alumni halls, while acting on the design team for Baumer, Johnson Family, and the new men’s residence hall under construction on east quad.

He has earned a B.A. and M.B.A. from Notre Dame, as well as an M.A. from NYU’s Skirball Center for New Media. Please join us in welcoming Jonathan back to University Relations!

Please note that the Basilica posters mentioned in today’s souNDoff have now all been claimed. Thank you.

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

It is with excitement for our team and the University to announce that Katy Orenchuk will serve in the role of Academic Advancement Senior Director, effective July 25th. Katy joined University Relations in the spring of 2019 in the newly created role of AAD for Arts and Architecture. In this role she has cultivated a wide range of relationships, worked effectively to secure support for key projects, and instituted new initiatives to support the arts on campus, including the recently created Notre Dame Arts Council. She has since added the Libraries to her portfolio.

Prior to her role at Notre Dame, Katy spent 13 years as a fundraiser in Washington DC and Chicago. She has her BA in history and political science from the University of Notre Dame, and obtained her MA in Arts Administration from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University in 2006. She became certified as a Fund Raising Executive in 2018.

We are grateful that Katy will bring her unwavering commitment to the mission of our Lady’s University and her deep knowledge of and experience with fundraising to this leadership role.

Katy will continue to be located at Eddy St. and will continue to be the first point of contact for the arts and architecture until she hires her successor.

Please join me in congratulating Katy.

Best,

Michelle

Please join me in congratulating Sean Cuneo on his new role as the Senior Digital Campaign Specialist on the Marketing Operations team in Annual Giving. We are thrilled for Sean to step into this role and lead our team of two Content Marketing Specialists.

Sean joined the Development team in January 2022 as a Content Marketing Specialist and has excelled in this role, leading reporting and testing, and digging into email solutions. Prior to his position with Annual Giving, he was the Director of Marketing at Mercyhurst University. In Sean’s first week, he has been charged with creating and managing our Giving Society events registration platform and the exploration of journeys and automation for our email campaigns. We’re excited for all Sean will do with and for our team.

Please join me in congratulating Sean on his promotion!

Lauren Dolzan