Alpha Phi Alpha president to be featured ‘fireside chat’ guest
Willis L. Lonzer III, general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity for African American men, will be the featured guest of the “Fireside Chat with Dean Martijn Cremers” at 3 p.m. Oct. 6 (Thursday) in the Mendoza College of Business’ Jordan Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame.
The fireside chat, hosted by Martijn Cremers, the Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business, will focus on leadership and community service, as well as the challenges of leading service organizations. Lonzer also will offer remarks during the reception and dinner following the chat.
The event is open to the Notre Dame faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the local community. It is part of Mendoza’s Solidarity in Leadership Immersion taking place Oct. 6-7 on the Notre Dame campus.
Lonzer is the regional medical director at Horizon Therapeutics in the greater Chicago area. As a medical professional, he has more than 20 years of experience in global medical affairs and pharmaceutical research and development. He began his term as the president of the national Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in 2021 and is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which fosters cooperative actions of its charter members in dealing with matters of mutual concern. Lonzer earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Delaware State University and his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Akron.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the Mendoza College of Business began an ongoing partnership effort in July 2021 that included a two-day Alpha Phi Alpha Inclusive Leadership Immersion in October 2021 at Notre Dame focusing on career development and professional degree opportunities. As part of the partnership, the college also offered a designated fellowship program, waived application fees to its graduate programs and required entrance exams, and provided test preparation programming, early access to Mendoza graduate business career coaching and alumni mentoring.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., headquartered in Baltimore, was founded in 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, the Hon. Andrew Young, Edward Brooke and Cornel West. Through more than 720 college and alumni chapters and general-organization members, the fraternity serves communities in the United States, Canada, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. For more information, visit apa1906.net.
Originally posted on Mendoza News.
Latest Colleges & Schools
- Notre Dame researcher explores how technology can defend democracyGrowing public disenchantment with social media often highlights how it has poisoned political discourse. Critics say its business model leverages negative emotions to maximize user engagement, fueling mistrust and polarization. Keough School of Global Affairs scholar Lisa Schirch sees opportunity in a new class of deliberative technologies and their implications for democracy.
- Keough School establishes two new doctoral programsNotre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs has established two new doctoral programs in sustainable development and peace studies. The peace studies and sustainable development programs will enable doctoral students in the Keough School to examine from different perspectives the intersection of poverty, the environment, violent conflict and peace. Both programs will enroll students beginning in fall 2025.
- Essays on democracy draw attention to critical threats, explore safeguards ahead of Jan. 6Shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Notre Dame’s Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy established the January 6th, 2025, Project, which includes 10 Notre Dame faculty who are preeminent scholars of democracy. In an effort to understand the social, political, psychological and demographic factors that led to that troublesome day, the group created a collection of 14 essays aimed at drawing attention to the vulnerabilities in our democratic system and the threats building against it, hoping to create consensus on ways to remedy both problems.
- Graduate students to present research, compete for prize money in annual Three Minute Thesis competitionNine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.
- Does Russia stand to benefit from climate change?There exists a narrative about climate change that says there are winners and losers — with Russia being one of the countries that stand to benefit from its effects. In a new study, researchers at the University of Notre Dame found that Russia is suffering from a variety of climate change impacts and is ill-prepared to mitigate or adapt to those climate impacts. And, as the rest of the world transitions to renewable energy sources, Russia’s fossil-fuel-dependent government is not willing or ready to make alternative plans for the country, changes that could potentially benefit the whole of their society.
- ‘I’m watching you’ behavior produces racial disparities in school disciplineResearch from Calvin Zimmermann, the O’Shaughnessy Assistant Professor of Education in Notre Dame's Department of Sociology, indicates that early childhood teachers often apply discipline disproportionately in their classrooms based on a student’s race.