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Student/Alumni Stories

Planting produce, growing jobs

Published: January 07, 2016

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.

Video: Meet Latino Studies major Juan Rangel

Published: August 10, 2015

Todd Boruff

Latino studies is an interdisciplinary field engaged in understanding the fastest-growing population in the United States. Students explore the latest Latino-focused research in fields such as anthropology, history, literature, and theology. “Latino studies is for anyone and for everything,” said Juan Rangel ’15.

The priest who earned an MBA

Published: July 13, 2015

Jeff Schmitt

Poets & Quants profiles Father Pete McCormick EMBA '15.

Building blocks for the unemployed

Published: July 06, 2015

Jessica Trobaugh Temple '92

Jennifer Shouse slides a disc sander over a wooden slab, rubbing the surface smooth and flawless. Later, using variant grades of sandpaper, she’ll work out the board’s rough edges by hand. These are new skills for the employee who took a job at South Bend Woodworks late last year.

Alumna translates liberal arts degree into international business career

Published: June 02, 2015

Libby Feil

When Wendy Wang ’06 came to Notre Dame, she was focused on pursuing a career in academia. But when her plans changed, her liberal arts training moved with her. The skills she developed in the College of Arts and Letters have served her well in the business world, including in her current role as vice president at BlackRock, the world’s...

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...

First person: Danielle Green's ESPY moment

Published: July 30, 2015

Daily Domer Staff

When I found out several weeks ago that I was being honored at the ESPY Awards with the 2015 Pat Tillman Award for Service, I was overwhelmed with both excitement and anxiety. I was excited about being the second recipient ever to receive the award and being recognized for my continued service to my fellow veterans.

The little things that make the world go 'round

Published: July 06, 2015

John Nagy ’00M.A.

A friendship opens a Notre Dame passage to India.

Tomorrow's generation

Published: July 06, 2015

Steve Reifenberg ’81

Some of Africa’s most gifted young people have come to the University from an academy that educates the continent’s most promising students — bringing hope to the future and their talents to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame graduate wins prestigious Native American internship in Washington, D.C.

Published: May 20, 2015

Josh Weinhold

Before he heads to law school, Notre Dame graduate Tyler Barron ’15 will have a front-row seat for the lawmaking process. Barron, a sociology and American studies major, has been selected for the Udall Foundation’s Native American Congressional Internship Program in Washington, D.C. He will work for 10 weeks this summer with U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona.

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...

Kellogg PhD funding bears fruit in new book on Haiti

Published: August 25, 2015

Elizabeth Rankin

A decade ago, Notre Dame graduate student Marlene Daut received a Kellogg Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship to continue her study of Haitian Creole.

A Notre Dame man for others

Published: July 23, 2015

Daily Domer Staff

From his heroism during World War II to his support for the elderly and homeless veterans, Judge Robert L. Miller Sr. '42, '47 J.D. continues to lead an inspiring life of service.

A head-turning, attention-grabbing, transferable skill

Published: July 06, 2015

Kevin Brennan '07

On the first day of class, a professor often will ask pupils to share their names along with accompanying “fun facts.” Nervous fidgeting and sweaty palms often follow, but Mark O’Dea ’15 never had any trouble.

Being a special needs dad

Published: June 25, 2015

Daily Domer Staff

Over the past decade, Digger O’Brien, an Emmy award-winning producer for NFL Films, has learned to cope with the fact that his autistic son will never love the game the way he does. But in life—just like in football—gameplans often change.

The Minority Engineering Program

Published: May 01, 2015

Gene Stowe

Memphis native Leo McWilliams came to Notre Dame as an undergraduate in the late 1970s, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1981, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1982, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1985. That was before the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) started on campus in 1987, although he participated in the National Society...