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Student/Alumni Stories

Why majoring in English made Patrick Lyons ’08 a better doctor

Published: April 19, 2016

Dr. Patrick Lyons ’08 doesn’t ask his patients if they have questions when he’s finished talking with them about a diagnosis. There’s a good chance they’ll say no. Instead, he asks what questions they have. Looking at how he practices medicine now, especially in his interactions with patients, Lyons realizes his time as an English major had a profound effect...

Notre Dame alum encourages youth interest in architecture

Published: March 28, 2016

Ashley Johnston

As part of a program created by the ICAA, Michael Romero ’02 is introducing a class of eighth graders at Marymount School of New York to the world of classical architecture and urbanism through a unique, hands-on program called New Heights: Discovering Classical Architecture.

Jim Aviles, ’82, and Milena de Goes establish LL.M. fellowship for Brazilian students

Published: March 17, 2016

Lauren Love

On March 11, Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., proudly announced a $1 million gift from 1982 alumnus Jim Aviles and Milena de Goes. The gift will support Brazilian students seeking an LL.M. degree from the Law School.

Hunter Smith '99 kicks way to music stage

Published: February 18, 2016

Daily Domer Staff

Hunter Smith '99, the former University of Notre Dame punter and high jumper has thrived in everything from sports to singing and songwriting, and it all started on campus.

A class that's only technically about coding

Published: January 07, 2016

Josh Stowe '01

South Bend Code School aims to eliminate barriers between people and technology.

Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures offers new minor: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Published: December 18, 2015

Charlene Dundek

The Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters is launching a new minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The program offers students the opportunity to study linguistics education, learn how to teach English, and develop classroom management and lesson planning skills.

Marc Burdell named program director, Low Socioeconomic Status support

Published: November 05, 2015

Ann Hastings

Burdell will oversee the creation of a student life enrichment program under the Fighting Irish Initiative, a groundbreaking initiative that will fully fund the cost for low-income students to attend Notre Dame — including tuition and fees, room and board, books, transportation and personal expenses.

Notre Dame adds to Wall of Honor on Founder’s Day

Published: October 13, 2015

Brendan O’Shaughnessy

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, added two plaques to the Wall of Honor in Notre Dame’s Main Building on Tuesday (Oct. 13). One plaque honored Notre Dame theologian and teacher Rev. John S. Dunne, C.S.C., and another honored the first generation of African-American students at Notre Dame.

History alumnus Patrick Burke advocates for safety and inclusion in sports

Published: September 30, 2015

Mary Kate Martin

Soon after graduating from Notre Dame, Patrick Burke ’06 found himself juggling three roles—scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, law student, and co-founder of a nonprofit organization. If ever there was a time when he needed to communicate well and quickly, this was it. Whether the topic was hockey or law or diversity, Burke has found himself calling upon skills...

A conversation with Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Published: September 18, 2015

Michael O. Garvey

A two-hour public conversation Wednesday night (Sept. 2) with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor drew a crowd that filled the 840-seat Leighton Concert Hall and overflowed the adjacent Decio Theatre of the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. With Notre Dame alumnae and trustees Anne Thompson, chief environmental affairs correspondent for NBC News, and U.S. Court...

Architecture students to present plans for new South Bend housing project

Published: April 18, 2016

Michael O. Garvey

The students, directed by Kim Rollings, assistant professor of architecture at Notre Dame, will present plans for a 30,000-square-foot facility to provide safe and affordable housing for chronically homeless people.

NDLS Hispanic Law Student Association presents JoAnn Chávez with Graciela Olivarez Award

Published: March 22, 2016

Lauren Love

For 20 years the Graciela Olivarez Award has been presented to Hispanic lawyers and judges whose work embodies the spirit of Graciela Olivarez, the first woman and first Hispanic to graduate from Notre Dame Law School.

Breaking down walls of racism, classism and sexism

Published: March 16, 2016

Cidni Sanders

Karsonya Wise Whitehead can be described in many ways. She is an historian, a writer, a public speaker, a professor. She’s a poet and filmmaker. She is a mother, a wife. She is a resident of Baltimore, Md., and she is the daughter of a Baptist minister. But, perhaps most fundamentally, she is an activist — a peace activist.

Black Domers book honors pioneers

Published: February 12, 2016

Kerry Temple ’74

Some stories need to be lived in order to be told truthfully, truly and fully. But even an African-American student would be unable to tell the story of being black at Notre Dame because there is no single story, no singular experience, no one person who can speak for all who have come here from so many places, families and...

Planting produce, growing jobs

Published: January 07, 2016

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...

Women at work: What's next in tech

Published: December 15, 2015

College of Engineering

Meet some of the next generation of innovators — the women of Notre Dame engineering.

Ruth Riley goes to Congress, recounts childhood hardships in advocating against cuts to food stamps

Published: October 29, 2015

Hoopfeed

"I can’t imagine what my path would have been if I’d been tall, lanky, uncoordinated…and hungry," Ruth Riley (EMBA '16, ND '01) testified on Oct. 27.

Notre Dame alumna establishes Chávez Family Law Fellowship to benefit Hispanic students

Published: October 08, 2015

Denise Wager

Notre Dame Law School is pleased to announce the generous donation from alumna JoAnn Chávez, ’86, ’90, J.D., to establish the Chávez Family Law Fellowship to benefit Hispanic students at Notre Dame Law School.

A brother with autism led to this software startup

Published: September 23, 2015

Will Thwaites

Crain's Chicago Business profiles Katie Hench MNA '11 about her company, Infiniteach.

Exploring new horizons as an intern in Puerto Rico

Published: September 04, 2015

Mary Beth Zachariades

Like many of her fellow students, Caitlyn O’Malley ‘16 spent her summer as an Architectural Intern. Unlike the others, she was also experiencing a new culture as she worked in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Studying youth participation in Colombia’s peace-building movements

Published: April 06, 2016

Carrie Gates

The young people of war-torn northern Colombia want their homes and their lifestyle back. Displaced from their villages by guerilla and paramilitary groups, they have spent the last 10 years in urban centers—making them prime targets for recruitment by those same criminal enterprises. But rather than falling prey to a violent cause, they’ve founded a successful peace-building movement. Notre Dame...

Women lead: Tracy Kijewski-Correa

Published: March 18, 2016

Office of Brand Content

The power to lead is the power to transform. Notre Dame is proud to celebrate women whose scholarship and leadership are leaving an indelible imprint on the global community.

Science alumnus transforms developing countries’ prison medical care

Published: March 14, 2016

Gene Stowe

Notre Dame alumnus Dr. John May ND '84 founded Healing through Walls in 2001 in Haiti, where the organization now has 50 medical professional employees working in prisons. Healing through Walls also operates in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Malawi and the Congo and consults across the Caribbean and Africa.

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

Published: January 27, 2016

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...

The embarrassment of racism

Published: January 01, 2016

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...

Matters, in black and white

Published: November 08, 2015

Don Wycliff '69

Some straight talk about America’s deep, dark and difficult racial divide.

Notre Dame to host Global Forum: Asia in Hong Kong

Published: October 21, 2015

Michael O. Garvey

The University of Notre Dame will hold the first-ever gathering of all the Notre Dame clubs of Asia.

Anything you want to be

Published: October 05, 2015

Heather Treseler ’10Ph.D.

I was taught to pursue my dreams, but I wasn’t told that every woman must weather something like gravitational resistance if she is to make what she wishes out of her one life.

Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu, ’93 J.D., shares key insights with students

Published: September 23, 2015

Lauren Love

Growing up in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, an area historically inhabited by working class Irish immigrants, Mary Yu, ’93 J.D., wasn’t afforded the opportunity of seeing many people who looked like her in positions of power or significant influence, she told Notre Dame Law students this week. The daughter of a Mexican farm worker and Chinese factory employee, Yu was...

Fighting for unaccompanied immigrant children, one client at a time

Published: September 04, 2015

Denise Wager

In early June, Michael Hagerty, ‘13 J.D., a staff attorney with Public Counsel, a non-profit legal aid firm in Los Angeles, was in Visalia for the first time to represent a client in the Tulare County Probate Court. On that day a crucial guardianship hearing was set to take place—one that Hagerty knew was likely to determine the ultimate fate...