In memoriam: Michael Montalbano, adjunct assistant teaching professor
Michael Montalbano, adjunct assistant teaching professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday (Nov. 7) at his home in South Bend, Indiana. He was 66.
The South Bend native taught undergraduate and graduate management courses at Notre Dame since 2015. He was a business executive with more than 40 years of experience in marketing, strategy and executive development, holding leadership positions from vice president of marketing to president and CEO. He served on numerous boards and as the managing director of Verso Ministries, a Catholic pilgrimage company that organizes travel to sacred sites worldwide. In 2018, he founded Imprenditori, a company that supports entrepreneurs in growing their ventures.
Montalbano was a graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Mendoza College of Business hosted a walk to the Grotto and a prayer service for students, faculty and staff in Montalbano’s honor on Wednesday (Nov. 8) with faculty chaplain Rev. Frank Murphy, C.S.C., presiding. Students recalled Montalbano’s deep authenticity, his gift for mentorship and his genuine care for them as individuals.
“Mr. Montalbano was a great mentor and friend,” said Matthew Potter, a senior accountancy student at Mendoza. “I will really miss the dinners he hosted for some of us in the Marine Corps ROTC host family program and all the amazing advice and stories he had to offer.”
“Mike went out of his way to host student gatherings at his house,” said Craig Crossland, senior associate dean for programs at Mendoza College of Business. “He would often invite more than a dozen students at a time from his undergraduate and graduate classes to join himself and his wife for dinner and community building. He truly loved Notre Dame and our students.”
Montalbano was well-known and respected for his contributions to the local community, including organizing literary events, participating in local literary organizations and supporting literacy programs for underprivileged youth.
Montalbano is survived by his wife, Susan; three sons, Vincent (Millicent) Montalbano of Austin, Texas, Thomas (Emily) Montalbano of Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Dominic (Angela) Montalbano of Holliston, Massachusetts; and seven grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2:30 p.m. Monday (Nov. 13) in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Inurnment will follow in Cedar Grove Cemetery. His obituary is available here.
Latest Faculty & Staff
- Political scientist explores extending constitutional duties to private actorsNew research from Christina Bambrick, the Filip Family Assistant Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame, explores the nonconventional idea that each of us, as private citizens, may be responsible for upholding the constitutional rights of our fellow citizens. She examines constitutional politics across the globe to explore these different approaches to balancing rights and responsibilities in a democratic society.
- Six new faculty join psychology department to advance research on mental health, other disordersThe Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame has hired six new faculty members this year, a significant expansion of a field that is core to the University’s commitment to fighting the U.S. mental health crisis.
- Notre Dame theologian to receive 2024 Ratzinger Prize from VaticanCyril O’Regan, the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, has been selected to receive the 2024 Ratzinger Prize in Theology, widely regarded as the most prestigious award in the field. Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, will present the award to O’Regan and to sculptor Etsurō Sotoo during a ceremony at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on Nov. 22. Both winners will also have an audience with Pope Francis earlier that day.
- Labor economist seeks to understand how society continues to innovate — and why relationships are key to progressKirk Doran, an associate professor of economics, has a research mission to identify where and how new knowledge is created. He is one of four finalists from leading global institutions for the 2024 Adam Smith Panmure House Prize.
- Virtual learning detrimental to school attendance, especially in districts with higher poverty rates, study findsSince the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of chronic absenteeism have nearly doubled across the nation for students in kindergarten through grade 12. This increase was tied to the mode of instruction during the early years of the pandemic. In particular, schools that employed virtual learning as the primary teaching mode during the 2020-21 school year experienced a greater increase in chronic absenteeism in the following year. That increase was significantly greater in school districts with higher levels of poverty, according to new research from William Evans, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities.
- In memoriam: E. Jane Doering, professor emeritaE. Jane Doering, professor emerita in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame, died Aug. 23. She was 91.
