Finance
An educational environment defined by collaboration
The environment of some of the top-ranked finance departments in the country can be ultra-competitive. Not so at Mendoza. Many finance students cite the close relationships they form with classmates as one of the most valuable components of their Notre Dame experience. In addition to benefiting from the diverse perspectives your peers bring to the classroom, you’ll graduate with a built-in professional network that looks out for one another.
A curriculum as wide as it is deep
By studying everything from mergers and acquisitions to corporate financial analysis and reporting, you will be equipped to ethically address any challenge you and your company face.
Don’t just learn finance, experience it
And don’t just experience finance—experience it in London. Through Emerging Markets Investing, you can travel to London to analyze emerging market economies, and economies in transition. Or you can spend your spring break earning credit through the International Portfolio Management Practicum, which gives you the opportunity to spend an intensive week of real-world interaction with a leading investment management firm.
Department Administration
Robert H. Battalio
William and Cassie Daley Professor and Department Chair
Contact: (574) 631-9428 or rbattali@nd.edu
Robert Battalio is currently a professor of Finance at the University of Notre Dame. Robert has also served on the faculty of Georgia State University, as a visiting academic at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, and as the first NASD visiting academic fellow.
Robert has consulted for Fidelity, the New York Stock Exchange, LaBranche, Goldman Sachs, NYFIX, NASDR, the Nasdaq Intermarket, Archipelago, Susquehanna, and Knight Securities. His primary area of interest involves the relationship between financial market design and trading costs. He is currently studying whether the post-earnings announcement drift survives transactions costs, who trades on accruals information, trading costs in the equity option market, and price discovery in option markets. Robert’s work has appeared in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies, among others. Robert has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Newark Star Ledger, Inc Magazine, Business Week On-Line, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Letter, Christian Science Monitor, CNNfn, USA Today, Barrons, and Securities Week.
James Leady
Assistant Department Chair and Assistant Teaching Professor
Contact: (574) 631-5540 or jleady@nd.edu
Jim Leady brings expertise in the areas of agent-based simulations and experimental economics to the economics courses he teaches to both undergraduate and graduate students. He advises the undergraduate Finance Club and mentors through programs at Notre Dame and South Bend schools. He also serves as Question Leader and exam developer for the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics examination.
Prior to joining Mendoza in 2006, Leady taught courses in public finance, labor economics, game theory, intermediate microeconomics, and principles of economics at Centre College in Danville, KY and at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI. Leady earned a PhD in Economics at the University of Michigan as well as an MA in Economics and a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Complex Systems. He graduated with a BS in Economics from West Point.
Major Leady continues to serve in the US Army Reserve as the commander of the 690th Quartermaster Petroleum Liaison Team. His most recent deployment was to Kuwait in 2015-2016.
Marlene Wasikowski
Administrative Assistant
Contact: (574) 631-6370 or mwasikow@nd.edu