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Student/Alumni Stories

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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Alumni Spotlight: Janaeé Wallace '16 is Investing in STEM Founders

Alumni Spotlight: Janaeé Wallace '16 is Investing in STEM Founders

Gene Stowe

Janaeé Wallace knew she wanted to help finance STEM-based businesses so they could grow the economy in The Bahama Islands and across the Caribbean before she knew what incubators and venture capitalists were. ESTEEM taught her.  “I wanted to build something that would help get STEM-based businesses financing to grow their business and the economy throughout the Caribbean,” she says....

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Shaping History: The sculptor who turned the social movement of his time into art

Shaping History: The sculptor who turned the social movement of his time into art

Notre Dame Magazine

Frank Hayden’s art was of its time and timeless, attuned to current events and to eternity. Closely associated with the civil rights movement, he created sculptures in honor of those who bore the crosses of that struggle, as well as actual Church-commissioned crucifixes — an American Black Catholic artist in a time of civil and spiritual unrest.

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Alumni Spotlight: Nancy Nguyen '17 is a Product Manager in a Drone Technology Startup

Alumni Spotlight: Nancy Nguyen '17 is a Product Manager in a Drone Technology Startup

Gene Stowe

Boston native Nancy Nguyen, who earned a degree in chemistry at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, was considering an offer for a lab chemist job at Massachusetts General Hospital when a professor urged her to consider Notre Dame's ESTEEM graduate program. After a visit with David Murphy, Executive Director of Student Entrepreneurship and the ESTEEM program, she agreed. 

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Peace Studies student works alongside first-of-its-kind organization addressing police torture in Chicago

Peace Studies student works alongside first-of-its-kind organization addressing police torture in Chicago

Hannah Heinzekehr

When searching for an organization to work with during her second year of studies at the University of Notre Dame, Helina Haile knew that she wanted to work alongside an organization focused on systemic racism in the United States. Her search led her to the Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC), a first-of-its-kind organization dedicated to supporting survivors of police violence.

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Peter S. Gonzales, ND ‘16 and JD ‘19, joins ILS Advisory Council

Peter S. Gonzales, ND ‘16 and JD ‘19, joins ILS Advisory Council

Institute for Latino Studies

  Peter S. Gonzales, a commercial litigation associate at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Chicago, is the newest member of the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) Advisory Council.  As a young alum on the council, he will advance Notre Dame’s mission by serving as an ambassador for ND in his community and profession. Specifically, he will provide counsel and professional...

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From Here to There: Program helps underrepresented students advance their academic career

From Here to There: Program helps underrepresented students advance their academic career

Erin Blasko

When Yamil Colón arrived at the University of Notre Dame from Puerto Rico, he had yet to spend much time outside of the island. A chemical and biomolecular engineering major, Colón grew up in Bayamón, a city of about 200,000 in the northern coastal region of Puerto Rico, outside the capital of San Juan. His mother taught middle school. His father worked at...

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Alumna Nikole Hannah-Jones awarded Pulitzer Prize

Alumna Nikole Hannah-Jones awarded Pulitzer Prize

Dennis Brown

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a 1998 University of Notre Dame alumna and an investigative reporter for The New York Times Magazine, was honored Monday with the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Hannah-Jones was recognized for her introductory essay to the newspaper’s landmark “1619 Project,” an ongoing and interactive series she created that focuses on the 400th anniversary of when enslaved Africans were first brought...

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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 qualified to use the Law School’s Loan...

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Assistant dean's family has welcomed dozens for Thanksgiving each year

Assistant dean's family has welcomed dozens for Thanksgiving each year

New York Times

Dr. Jan Sanders was the first Black pediatrician to have her own practice here. Her husband, Leo McWilliams, is an assistant dean in the University of Notre Dame engineering department and a “quadruple Domer.” For decades, the couple have been the unofficial parents for many Black students at Notre Dame. This year, that family is scattered, reflecting on the year’s crises.

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Greg Bourke signs contract with Notre Dame Press to publish memoir, “Gay, Catholic, and American”

Greg Bourke signs contract with Notre Dame Press to publish memoir, “Gay, Catholic, and American”

Kathryn Pitts

Greg Bourke (ND ‘82), one of the plaintiffs in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015, has signed a contract with University of Notre Dame Press to publish his memoir. The book, “Gay, Catholic, and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion,” will be published in October 2021.…

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Sociology and Latino Studies guide recent grad to Fulbright in Mexico

Sociology and Latino Studies guide recent grad to Fulbright in Mexico

Oliver Ortega

Since high school, Erin Albertini has been focused on becoming a bilingual doctor serving children and families. But the recent Notre Dame graduate’s path to medicine is uniquely intersectional. Eschewing traditional pre-med majors such as biology and chemistry, Albertini instead took on sociology, Latino studies, Spanish and early childhood literacy during her time at Notre Dame, which culminated this May.

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Japanese major’s study abroad and internship experiences help launch career as U.S. diplomat

Japanese major’s study abroad and internship experiences help launch career as U.S. diplomat

Jack Rooney

Before Beth Gee ’10 studied abroad in Tokyo during her junior year, the Japanese and political science major had never left the United States. Now, as a U.S. foreign service officer, Gee travels for a living. She is currently working at the American Embassy in the Republic of the Congo — where she employs the language, communication, and critical thinking...

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