Bridging data and compassion

Jen Waddell (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

When Jen Waddell (MA ’98, PhD ’00) arrived at the University of Notre Dame in 1995 to pursue a master’s degree in social psychology, she couldn’t have known she would one day return as a professor. Today, the teaching professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations (ITAO) at Mendoza College of Business has spent two decades helping students at every level understand the world through the power of statistical methods and their real-world applications.

Teaching, however, was never part of her original plans. Waddell’s interest in understanding people — their thoughts, attitudes and behaviors — prompted her to study social psychology. Three years into her degree, the social psychology program was discontinued.

“I was really fortunate to be at a place like Notre Dame,” said Waddell, who also serves as the ITAO department’s assistant chair and director of undergraduate studies. “They could’ve easily said the program is done, go finish your master’s elsewhere. But instead, they welcomed me to find a new home here.”

That new “home” was studying quantitative methodology, a passion she first developed while being a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate statistics classes.

“During my last few years of graduate school, I realized how much I loved teaching. I loved everything about it — preparing lectures, holding office hours, leading lab sections. Soon, I found myself looking forward to teaching even more than doing my research,” she said.

After receiving both her master’s and doctoral degrees from Notre Dame, Waddell left to begin teaching. She spent the next chapter of her career at a range of institutions, including the University of Sioux Falls, Augustana College and Villanova University.

Still, she said, nothing quite compared to coming back to Notre Dame in 2012 to teach statistics and quantitative methods. “What’s kept me here is Notre Dame’s emphasis on teaching and undergraduate education, and the amazing people who work and study here,” Waddell said. “The people create such a collegial atmosphere, there’s strong student engagement and the environment is so supportive.”

Even though her subject matter involves some heavy numbers-crunching, Waddell has a human-first approach to her teaching. She recognizes that all students are different and thus have varying needs and learning styles. “Because I am a parent of two children with special needs, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the beauty of neurodiversity and how different ways of thinking shape how people engage with the world,” she said.

She consistently goes above and beyond to identify the most effective learning approaches for her students and makes herself readily available for one-on-one support throughout the course.

This approach is especially helpful in teaching statistics, which is not always the most inherently exciting topic for students to learn. Waddell keeps the subject matter lighthearted, engaging and digestible. Among students, she is known for her passion and excitement in the classroom.

“She is an incredibly engaging professor who goes above and beyond for her students and makes a tough subject more than manageable,” said Camille Bice (BA ’26). “She wants to see students succeed in her class, but also wants us to feel supported as people, and she makes that abundantly clear.”

“Between her charisma, care, compassion and passion for statistics and teaching, Professor Waddell surpasses every expectation I had coming into Notre Dame when it came to professors,” said Chandler Churchill (MSM ’26). “Professor Waddell has had an extensive impact on my life as a student, professional and individual, and I am almost certain that every other student within my cohort shares the same opinion.”

Waddell is frequently recognized for her teaching, winning awards including the Outstanding Teaching Professor Award from her department, the Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration Outstanding Professor Award, the Joe and Gina Prochaska Family Teaching Award and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

In 2016, Robert Easley, professor emeritus and former ITAO department chair, asked Waddell to work with him as the assistant department chair as they created the ITAO department. He knew that role would be critical to its overall success and remembers how well Waddell was able to balance conflicting pressures and priorities, while consistently delivering excellent results for their programs and students.

Easley, the founding chair of the ITAO Department, also called on Waddell to help create the business analytics major. “I think about the fact that we built this program from the ground up, and it’s exciting and wonderful to see how it’s grown into a thriving major. We now graduate more than a hundred students each year who go on to do incredible things, and that’s something I’ll always be proud of,” she said.

Because of this, she always looks forward to graduation weekend. “Seeing the graduates, meeting their families, handing out awards, reading the names … it is the yearly culmination of everything our department strove for when we created ITAO. I was so proud of the role I had in coordinating the courses and offerings during their time in the major,” she said.

All that Waddell accomplished as ITAO’s assistant department chair and director of Undergraduate Studies has made — and will continue to make — a lasting impact on Notre Dame as a whole. “She is best known as a teaching professor, loved and respected by the thousands of students she has taught at every level,” Easley said. “There is not a semester that goes by without numerous students reaching out to express their appreciation for her.”