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Two new hires bring expertise in Chinese history

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Notre Dame’s Department of History has significantly broadened and deepened its coverage of China with the appointments of Elisabeth Köll and Liang Cai, two scholars “who are doing extraordinarily exciting and complementary work,” said Madden-Hennebry Professor of History Patrick Griffin, chair of the department. “These two historians enjoy established reputations in their subfields,” Griffin said. “They are also committed to...

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Two Arts and Letters students receive Gilman Scholarship to study abroad

Daniel Sehlhorst

Two students from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters—Bright Gyamfi and Ray’Von Jones—have been awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad. The Gilman Scholarship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The nationally competitive award aims to diversify the kinds of students who study and intern abroad and the...

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Notre Dame biologist Nora Besansky leads international consortium in sequencing the genomes of malaria-carrying mosquitoes

William G. Gilroy

Nora Besansky, O’Hara Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the University’s Eck Institute for Global Health, has led an international team of scientists in sequencing the genomes of 16 Anopheles mosquito species from around the world. Anopheles mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting human malaria parasites that cause an estimated 200 million cases...

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'Gay in Christ' conference to be held at Notre Dame

Michael O. Garvey

A two-day conference, “Gay in Christ: Dimensions of Fidelity,” co-sponsored by the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life (ICL) and the Gender Relations Center, will convene Oct. 31 (Friday) to explore appropriate pastoral strategies for Catholic parishioners who regard themselves as non-heterosexual, but who accept Catholic Church teaching on marriage and sexuality.

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Video: Meet Africana Studies major Olivia Furman

Todd Boruff

“I am more than glad that I chose Africana studies. It’s a major that helps you form a way of going about life,” said Olivia Furman, a senior in the College of Arts and Letters. Africana studies at the University of Notre Dame centers on Africans and the African Diaspora—the global dispersion of peoples of African descent—and examines their historical,...

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Political science student interns with Supreme Court

Jonathan Warren

As a judicial intern at the Supreme Court of the United States last summer, Notre Dame senior Veronica Guerrero got a behind-the-scenes look at one of the nation’s most influential institutions. Guerrero, a political science and Chinese major in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, worked in the Office of the Counselor to the Chief Justice, where she helped...

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Notre Dame professor’s new work explores morality and tradition in African Christian theology

Arts and Letters

The Catholic Church in Africa is growing at an annual rate of over 3 percent. Given the largely Eurocentric nature of moral theology in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, what will it take to invest the theological community in the history and moral challenges of the Church in other parts of the world, especially Africa? What is to...

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Notre Dame Haiti Program dedicates new salt facility

Marissa Gebhard

In partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and the Population (MSPP), the Congregation of Holy Cross and other partners, the University of Notre Dame Haiti Program dedicated a new fortified salt production plant Monday (Dec. 8) in Delmas, Haiti. Several dignitaries were in attendance, including Sophia Martelly, first lady of Haiti.

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Political scientist Luis Fraga joins Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies

College of Arts and Letters

Luis Ricardo Fraga, a heralded scholar and pioneer in the field of Latino politics, joined the faculty of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters this fall. Fraga has been named the Arthur Foundation Endowed Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership in the Institute of Latino Studies and a professor in the Department of Political Science.

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Sociologist Jennifer Jones to convene Afro-Latino conference

Institute for Latino Studies

Jennifer Jones, Institute for Latino Studies faculty fellow and assistant professor in Notre Dame’s Department of Sociology, will convene a conference on Afro-Latinos in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas on October 31, 2014. The conference and an accompanying volume, for which Professor Jones will serve as co-editor, explore broad questions of black identity and representation,...

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Washington Post writer Wil Haygood, author of 'The Butler,' to speak at Notre Dame

College of Arts and Letters

Washington Post national writer Wil Haygood, whose feature story provided the basis for the movie “The Butler,” will discuss his career as a journalist and author Oct. 28 (Tuesday) at the University of Notre Dame. The conversation, which is open to the public and free of charge, will begin at 7 p.m. and take place in the auditorium of the...

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Truly Christian and African: Notre Dame theologian Paulinus Odozor’s new book

Michael O. Garvey

The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, as Pope Francis nearly two years ago is only one illustration of how the Catholic Church has become less concentrated in Europe and North America than in the southern hemisphere. Nearly half of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics live in Latin America, and the Catholic Church in Africa, home...

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ACE launches $1M project to improve reading outcomes in Haitian Catholic schools

William Schmitt

The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Haiti initiative recently launched its “Haiti Reads” project, an innovative literacy program in 52 Haitian Catholic schools. Working in partnership with the Haitian Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the project began in the summer and is supported by a $1 million grant from an...

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Notre Dame’s crèche pilgrimage: Celebrating life’s most intimate moment

Michael O. Garvey

When the University of Notre Dame’s Crèche Pilgrimage begins at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (Dec. 7) in the Eck Visitors Center, those on hand to visit, view and pray at some 30 Nativity scenes on exhibit throughout the campus will be participating in a Christmas tradition as ancient as it is universal. “Mary is the most ‘inculturated’ person in the Church,”...

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Michelle Whaley is 2014 Indiana Professor of the Year

William G. Gilroy

Michelle A. Whaley, a teaching professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, has been named the 2014 Indiana Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She will be announced as the award winner at a luncheon Thursday...

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Notre Dame unites to fight Ebola

Carol C. Bradley, NDWorks

When news broke of the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia, “We knew we had to do something,” says Katherine Taylor, director of operations for the Eck Institute for Global Health and interim director of global health training. “Ebola in West Africa is a crisis in our own family,” she says. “We felt we couldn’t stand around and do nothing. This...

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Video: Arts and Letters major researches perceptions of race at national library of France

Todd Boruff

During the summer of 2014, Notre Dame French and history major Curran Cross traveled to Paris to conduct research at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. His project examined the differing views of Arab and African immigrants in modern France. “My hypothesis is that the French have had centuries of experience racially mixing with people of African ancestry and this is...

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Film, Television and Theatre students shine at national auditions

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“Imagine a kind of live, national GRE exam where students audition in open competition against one another, evaluated by representatives from the best graduate theatre programs,” said Professor Jim Collins, chair of the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT). Notre Dame had record success in 2014 at the national auditions organized by the University/Resident Theatre organization (URTA), with six...

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Notre Dame music faculty build scholarly connections in Asia

College of Arts and Letters

Three faculty members from Notre Dame’s Department of Music embarked today, October 7, on a 12-day tour to Asia, building scholarly and cultural connections with universities in China and South Korea. Professor Peter Smith, chair of the department, Professor John Blacklow, an award-winning pianist, and Assistant Professional Specialist Tricia Park, a critically acclaimed violinist, will travel to Shanghai, Beijing, and...

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