Deborah (Debi) A. Dell was a member of the first class of undergraduate women admitted to Notre Dame in 1972. Inspired by her father, attending Notre Dame was a personal goal from the age of eight. (And, yes, she was at ND during the Rudy years!) She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on management, in 1976.
Raised in South Florida, her parents encouraged her to pursue her career in the big city — Chicago. While working for Commonwealth Edison as a technical sales representative, she completed an MBA at Loyola University Chicago.
After the blizzard of 1979, Debi returned to Florida, where she joined IBM in 1980 and became program director for IBM’s Project Management Center of Excellence. She was one of the first employees to work from home. She experienced the joys and tribulations associated with teleworking — but that’s another story!
She went on to earn a master’s degree in 1995 in the management of technology from the University of Miami in Florida. She focused on brand management, and her experiences with IBM inspired her first book, ThinkPad: A Different Shade of Blue.
Debi is actively involved in service to the University of Notre Dame and continues to support the Notre Dame class of 1976.
Bringing together more than 150 contributors, Objects in the Rearview Mirror documents the transformative path of coeducation at Notre Dame and the roads these pioneers paved over the past half-century.
Interviews
Bella Laufenberg, “Objects in the Rearview Mirror: The story behind the first women at the University,” The Observer, September 7, 2022
Books by Deborah A. Dell
