James E. Armstrong Award - 2014: Mr. Lee Tavis '53

2014: Mr. Lee Tavis '53

For his years of distinguished service to the Notre Dame Community, Lee Tavis ’53 is recognized with the James E. Armstrong Award. 

Tavis first arrived at Notre Dame in 1949 as a student, eventually becoming one of the original members of the Irish Guard. After completing a degree in marketing, he returned to his home state of North Dakota and married his wife, Sparky. Tavis served in the U.S. Navy for five years before going on to earn his M.B.A. from Stanford and his D.B.A. from Indiana University. 

After a stint at the University of Texas at Austin, Tavis returned to Notre Dame in 1976 as the C.R. Smith Professor of Finance in the Mendoza College of Business. Over his 38 year career at the University, Tavis has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Managerial Finance, International Financial Management, and International Ethics. 

Tavis has won numerous awards for his teaching at Notre Dame. He has received the Mendoza College of Business’s MBA Award for the Outstanding Teacher four times (1978, 1980, 1984, and 1990), as well as the Executive MBA Award for the Outstanding Teacher in 1984. Tavis won the Notre Dame Outstanding Faculty Award in 1993 and the Reinhold Niebuhr Award for work in social justice in 1998. 

Tavis has taken on leadership roles in the University’s international programs. He directed the MBA programs in Chile and London and served as a faculty member for Notre Dame Australia. He also was founding director of the Notre Dame Program on Multinational Managers and Developing Country Concerns.