p. Jeffrey C. Kantor, John Affleck-Graves, and Louis M. Nanni today were elected to new officer positions at the University of Notre Dame by its Board of Trustees. The appointments all are effective immediately.p. Kantor, who has been a vice president and associate provost of the University since 1996, will become vice president for graduate studies and research and dean of the graduate school, succeeding James L. Merz, who is leaving that office to return to full-time research and teaching. Reporting to the provost, the vice president for graduate studies and research is responsible both for the development and state of all postbaccalaureate work in the University and for the development and administration of all research conducted by its faculty.p. Affleck-Graves, a Notre Dame faculty member from 1986-2000 who spent the last year as the Patty Hill Smith Eminent Scholar in Finance at Florida State University, will succeed Kantor as a vice president and associate provost and also will assume a new endowed professorship, the Notre Dame Chair in Finance, in the University’s Mendoza College of Business. He served three years as chair of the Department of Finance before leaving Notre Dame.p. Nanni, who has been executive assistant to the University’s president, Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., will become the University’s first vice president for public affairs and communication, a newly created division that will include four departments formerly part of University Relations?public relations and information, community relations, University communications design (formerly publications), and Notre Dame Magazine?as well as a new department of governmental relations. The University’s development operation, the Notre Dame Alumni Association, and the offices of special events and international advancement now will constitute University Relations, which will continue to be led by vice president William P. Sexton.p. “The administration of the University will benefit greatly from these appointments,” Father Malloy said in announcing the Board action.p. “Jeff Kantor has been a dynamic and innovative presence in the provost’s office who will bring those same qualities to the University’s expanding efforts in research and graduate studies. John Affleck-Graves was among the most active members of the faculty during his years at Notre Dame?as a teacher, scholar and in administration?and we are delighted to bring him back to campus as an officer of the University. Lou Nanni is a charismatic leader of great energy and vision whose talents will bring immediate shape and substance to the new division of public affairs and communication.”p. Among his accomplishments in the provost’s office, Kantor established the University’s Web administration office, created and filled the position of chief information officer, and was instrumental in academic budget and space planning. He also chaired the Provost’s Task Force on Strategic Directions in Science and Engineering. A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1981, he is a professor of chemical engineering and specializes in chemical process dynamics and control theory. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and a number of industrial sponsors. He has been the recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award.p. A 1976 graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he served as student regent, Kantor received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Princeton University, where he was a National Science Foundation fellow from 1976-79 and a George Van Ness Lathrop fellow in 1979-80. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty, he spent a year in postdoctoral studies at the University of Tel Aviv.p. Kantor and his wife, Diane, have two sons.p. Affleck-Graves specializes in the study of initial public offerings, valuation and asset pricing models, and shareholder value-added methodology. He has served as a consultant to numerous corporations, including Allied Signal, Bayer, Merck, and Pharmacia&Upjohn.p. Highly regarded in the classroom, Affleck-Graves has received six teaching awards at Notre Dame? three in the regular MBA program, two in the Executive MBA program, and one for undergraduate teaching. He also has been actively involved in governance at Notre Dame, serving on the Academic Council, the Faculty Senate, the Academic Code of Honor Committee, and as chair of the Provost’s Task Force on Curricular Innovation.p. A native of South Africa who now is a U.S. citizen, Affleck-Graves taught from 1975-86 at his alma mater, the University of Cape Town, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.p. Affleck-Graves and his wife, Rita, have two daughters.p. Nanni returned to Notre Dame in 1999 after serving eight years as executive director of South Bend’s Center for the Homeless, which he established as a national model in addressing the complex issues of homelessness.p. A native of Akron, N.Y., Nanni was graduated from Notre Dame in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in government and the Program of Liberal Studies. He served for two years following graduation as a Holy Cross Associate living in Santiago, Chile, and addressing issues of poverty and injustice there. He then entered Notre Dame’s pioneering international peace studies program, earning a master’s degree in 1988. Nanni became director of the world mission office of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, Fla., in 1988 and in 1990 was elected to Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees as a three-year, young alumni member. As a Trustee he became aware of Notre Dame’s involvement with the fledgling Center for the Homeless and was invited to apply for the position of executive director, which he accepted in 1991.p. Nanni and his wife, Carmen, a 1993 Notre Dame graduate, were presented one of three national exemplar awards by Notre Dame as part of a special University observance in May 1997. A former member of the advisory council for Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life, Nanni received the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s Dr. Thomas Dooley Award for Humanitarian Service in 1994.p. The Nannis have two daughters and a son.
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