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Student Stories

Notre Dame endeavors to be a place where each student can grow individually in both mind and heart, and become a part of something larger than themselves. By celebrating the unique gifts each student brings to our shared community, student life is enriched immeasurably.

The stories below share just some of the ways Notre Dame students are celebrating and taking advantage of the wonderful diversity on our campus – through both scholarship and development and formation outside the classroom.

'They Didn't Fail Because They Had Each Other'

'They Didn't Fail Because They Had Each Other'

Rowland, Ashley

Nineteen Kellogg undergraduates took part in a program offering virtual international projects during the University of Notre Dame’s recent winter session. Through Kaya Responsible Travel, students collaborated on projects related to microfinance, health, and education with organizations in Uganda, South Africa, and Ecuador.

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Untapped Resources: The Office of Student Enrichment

Untapped Resources: The Office of Student Enrichment

Sarah Price

Hidden on the second floor of LaFortune Student Center is the Office of Student Enrichment (OSE). Aimed at providing a more inclusive and open environment for all Notre Dame Undergraduates, OSE is a God-sent resource for our low socioeconomic status students. Seeking to enrich the Notre Dame experience for all, this untapped resource has many opportunities for funding, mentorship, and guidance.

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Rochelle Krebs ’09 J.D. benefits from the Law School’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program to forge a public interest career path many years after graduation

Denise Wager

For Rochelle Krebs ’09 J.D., the journey to a career in public interest law was not typical. Not until several years after earning her law degree from Notre Dame Law School did she begin practicing full time in civil legal aid, helping survivors of domestic violence in the Seattle area. Now, she is…

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Identity, Exploration, and Discernment: A Personal Journey to Religious Pluralism

Identity, Exploration, and Discernment: A Personal Journey to Religious Pluralism

Thanh Nguyen

At the heart of it, pluralism invites us to engage with the new questions of the 21st century and to no longer see our differences as daunting borders. Embracing new faith traditions has made me a stronger Christian. By welcoming these traditions into my own religious space, I make more room to understand God as the trinity, as a mystery,...

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The Rome Gateway commemorates the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The Rome Gateway commemorates the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Costanza Montanari

The Rome Gateway has had a special connection to the historical heritage of the Jewish presence in Rome since the acquisition of the ND Villa, the living-learning community where the students of the University of Notre Dame in Rome live, located in Via Celimontana. The ND Villa housed a Jewish school in the two-year period from 1938 to 1940

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How the liberal arts instilled curiosity, boldness, and fearlessness in a history and Japanese student — and carried her from USA Today to Hollywood red carpets

How the liberal arts instilled curiosity, boldness, and fearlessness in a history and Japanese student — and carried her from USA Today to Hollywood red carpets

Carrie Gates

For Arienne Thompson Plourde ’04, the first step toward a successful journalism career was to study history and Japanese. Although it might seem an unlikely combination for an aspiring journalist, it gave her a strong foundation to build on — and just as importantly, four years to study what she loved. “For me, I always knew that I wanted to be...

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Alumni Spotlight: Anselme Mucunguzi '18 is Building a World-Class E-Commerce Support Service

Alumni Spotlight: Anselme Mucunguzi '18 is Building a World-Class E-Commerce Support Service

Gene Stowe

Even as he was completing a master’s degree in physical chemistry at the University of Notre Dame in 2017, Anselme Mucunguzi had decided that his future was in technology entrepreneurship rather than science and engineering. ESTEEM gave him the combination of business acumen and computer programming skills that empowered him for the new career.

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Meruelo Family Center for Career Development, Hesburgh Women of Impact partner to mentor undergraduate women

Meruelo Family Center for Career Development, Hesburgh Women of Impact partner to mentor undergraduate women

Siobhan Loughney

Hesburgh Women of Impact (HWOI), an organization of Notre Dame alumnae dedicated to celebrating and supporting female leadership within the University, is hosting a mentorship program in partnership with the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development. The program matches undergraduate women with an alumna in their field of interest to guide and support them in career related preparation and goals...

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Senior art history major Meg Burns awarded Luce Scholarship

Senior art history major Meg Burns awarded Luce Scholarship

Carrie Gates

Notre Dame senior Margaret “Meg” Burns, an art history major from San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a 2021–22 Luce Scholarship. The scholarship provides a stipend, language training, and individualized professional placement in Asia, with a goal of enhancing the understanding of Asia among potential leaders of American society. Burns is Notre Dame’s 10th Luce Scholar in total and its third...

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Elizabeth M. Renieris appointed founding director of the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab

Elizabeth M. Renieris appointed founding director of the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab

Notre Dame News

Elizabeth M. Renieris, currently a technology and human rights fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a practitioner fellow at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab, has been appointed founding director of the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab at the University of Notre Dame.

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Liu Institute expands

Liu Institute expands "Justice and Asia" call for proposals, implements rolling deadline

Christine Cox

The Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies is extending and expanding its annual call for proposals for research on the theme “Justice and Asia.” Additionally, funding is available for related lectures. Proposals for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year will be accepted on a rolling basis until May 1, 2021.

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Isaac Duncan, BFA '97

Isaac Duncan, BFA '97

Dept. Staff

Isaac Duncan III, a Brooklyn, New York native and Afro-Cuban descendant, received a BFA degree in 1997 from Notre Dame, and a certification of secondary art education from St. Mary's College. In 2004, he completed his Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the University of Kentucky.

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Begin with empathy: Notre Dame Ethics Week explores finding common ground

Begin with empathy: Notre Dame Ethics Week explores finding common ground

Carol Elliott

Notre Dame Ethics Week, held Feb. 16-19, features four events exploring the theme “Beginning with Empathy: Listening and Learning From Others.” The sessions explore a wide range of topics related to empathy, including the underlying science, diversity and inclusion, teaching empathy as part of problem solving and how medical professionals employ empathy.

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Jessica Binzoni ’15 J.D. founded a nonprofit in Iraq, the Law School’s Loan Repayment Program makes her mission to serve a reality

Jessica Binzoni ’15 J.D. founded a nonprofit in Iraq, the Law School’s Loan Repayment Program makes her mission to serve a reality

Denise Wager

Jessica Binzoni came to Notre Dame Law School knowing that her calling was to work with refugees, especially those displaced by international conflicts. Her path after law school—including two years as a Thomas L. Shaffer Public Interest Fellow—led her to northern Iraq where she serves displaced Iraqi and Syrian refugees through the nonprofit organization she founded, HOPE + FUTURE.

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