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Our Stories » Archives » January 2016

Next steps in our journey of purpose; beyond Walk the Walk Week

Cidni Sanders

What does it mean for the Notre Dame community — its students, faculty and staff — to be doers, not merely speakers or hearers, of the call to Walk the Walk? As the campus paused January 18-22 to reflect on the values central to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the mission of the University, several speakers outlined possible next steps...

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New Political Science faculty expand department’s international profile

Tom Lange

As students read news about China’s turbulent economy or about Russia flexing political muscle, two new professors in Notre Dame’s Department of Political Science can provide them with context about what’s happening. Associate Professor Karrie Koesel and Assistant Professor Susanne Wengle have both lived in Russia and studied its culture and politics for years. Koesel has also worked and researched...

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King Day prayer service honors the past, looks to Notre Dame’s future

Cidni Sanders

The midnight prayer service held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2016 was just as much about the historic actions of the slain civil rights leader as it was about the prospective actions of the Notre Dame students, faculty, staff and guests who gathered together. More than 1,000 people attended the service at 12 a.m. on Monday, January 18, the...

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Graduate student travels to Nepal to design and construct housing for earthquake victims

Carrie Gates

Kevin Phaup, who is pursuing a master’s degree in industrial design, went to Nepal last summer to conduct research for his thesis project—designing stronger, safer, cost-effective temporary shelters for refugees and victims of natural disasters. While there, he worked with Hope for Nepal, an organization co-founded by Assistant Professor Ann-Marie Conrado, to construct temporary shelters, permanent homes, and schools after...

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Experiencing the World Fellowship inspires commitment to culturally centered development

Emily Beaudoin '17

Unless you have a conversation to really understand culture, you can’t make effective change. That’s what Emily Campbell ’17 learned during her Kellogg Institute Experiencing the World fellowship last summer. Her experience in Rwanda focused her future academic work, affirmed her career goals, and motivated her to make lasting international development change.

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MLK Day — A time for reflection

Cidni Sanders

It will begin, fittingly, at the Hesburgh Library Reflecting Pool, a serene spot on campus designed to encourage serious thought and meditation. A midnight march will kick off the University’s celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “I hope you will use this occasion to reflect on the values that are so central both to...

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Enrollment Division establishes Matriculate chapter

Dennis Brown

The University of Notre Dame’s Enrollment Division has established a Matriculate chapter on campus. Founded in the fall of 2014, Matriculate is a college-access organization based in New York City that helps high-achieving, low-income high school students make the transition to college by pairing them with advising fellows at leading colleges and universities nationwide.

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Spanish students connect with South Bend through community-based learning

Josh Weinhold

Through a series of new community-based-learning Spanish courses at Notre Dame, undergraduates are improving their language skills both inside and outside the classroom. Spanish students in intermediate-level and community-based learning classes now average about 3,000 hours of service per year in South Bend. The model is based on the idea that a faculty member and local organization leader are co-educators...

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Psychologist honored for a lifetime of influential personality research

Tom Lange

When you help create two dozen psychological assessment instruments—including one cited more than 19,000 times—the world takes notice. David Watson, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology, was honored for those accomplishments and many others when the Society for Personality and Social Psychology presented him with the 2015 Jack Block Award for Distinguished Research in Personality. The award recognizes...

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Planting produce, growing jobs

Jessica Trobaugh Temple '92

Lifting a panel of romaine lettuce, Jan Pilarski ’79, ’96M.A., exposes a tangle of plump roots. Over a year’s time, her social enterprise business, Green Bridge Growers, can produce several hundred pounds of organic vegetables and herbs. The entrepreneurial venture Pilarski began with her son Chris Tidmarsh is an aquaponic farming operation that provides training and jobs for young adults...

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The embarrassment of racism

Terry Fitzgibbons '04

Gathering with extended family or old friends often seems to churn up different versions of the same story.  From the vantage point of the distant northern suburbs, our conversation dips down into Philadelphia: who lives there now, where someone else used to live, how this neighborhood has changed, how that neighborhood has changed back. “We grew up near Olney,” we...

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Out of the Office: Remembering MLK

Kit Loughran '16

I stood outside Main Building just before midnight this past Sunday, shivering in the frigid snow, waiting for my candle to be lit. A classmate shared a light; I hurried through the door. A huge gust of below-freezing wind immediately blew out the flame.

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Students, staff pay tribute to two leaders in civil and human rights

diversity.nd.edu

More than 800 students and staff from the Notre Dame community took part in a project to recreate a photograph of former University President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., standing arm-in-arm with Martin Luther King Jr. The iconic image is a visible reminder of Notre Dame’s longtime involvement in the dialogue on civil and human rights. And now, a new generation of...

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Fulbright Scholars bring foreign languages to Perley School

Kathy Borlik

Pupils at Perley Primary Fine Arts Academy in South Bend are expanding their world view with classes brought to the school by the University’s Center for the Study of Language and Culture and Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants. As young students learn languages such as Hindi, Portugese and Korean, teaching assistants have a chance to learn about American public schools...

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