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Train and Learn

As a university community committed to fostering diversity and inclusion, Notre Dame provides a number of educational and enrichment activities outside the classroom for faculty, students, and staff.

Below is a selection of training programs and learning opportunities. Whenever possible, links are provided for more information.

Provost's Initiative on Faculty Mentoring

The Office of the Provost sponsors faculty participation in the Faculty Success Program, a 12-week mentoring experience offered by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity. The online program, facilitated by tenured faculty, is designed to equip faculty with the skills and strategies necessary to increase research productivity, promote effective time management, and maximize work-life balance. All full-time assistant and associate professors are eligible to apply; women and other minority applicants are especially encouraged.

Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Seminars

The Office of the Provost, the Graduate School, and the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning support faculty participation in the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum. The SEED curriculum helps colleges embrace varied faculty, staff and student experiences in an effort to transform the diversity climate and offer a more inclusive educational experience.

The Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Seminars began at Notre Dame in 2012-13. Each academic-year-long seminar consists of six to eight three-hour sessions followed or preceded by a shared meal. Sessions typically include preparatory work ranging from reading articles to reading a book and reflection and writing on the session’s theme. As of May 2018, seven year-long SEED Seminars have been conducted at Notre Dame. In those seminars, 112 participants explored, in depth, topics including: gender, privilege, race, racism and oppression, sexuality, religion, religious privilege/oppression, education, class and classism, structural/systemic sources for bias, The Curriculum as Windows & Mirrors, and The Danger of a Single Story.

Faculty Workshops on Inclusive Excellence

Notre Dame faculty, department chairs, deans, and other academic leaders have access to an ongoing series of Inclusive Excellence workshops. The objectives of these workshops are to:

  • Promote the use of recruitment and hiring practices to enhance diversity and inclusion
  • Increase awareness, sensitivity, and understanding of our own assumptions and unconscious biases
  • Increase understanding of how to build a welcoming environment for our students, faculty, and staff

Workshop descriptions and registration information can be found at https://provost.nd.edu/academic-community/diversity/spring-2020-inclusive-excellence-workshops/.

Kathleen Cannon, O.P., Distinguished Lecture Series

Designed to bring extraordinary women from both within and beyond the academy to the Notre Dame campus, the Kathleen Cannon, O.P., Distinguished Lecture Series facilitates visits during which the host unit plans and publicizes a variety of conversations and meetings featuring the guest lecturer. These events can include (but are not limited to) lectures, colloquia, panels, and performances.

Faculty Diversity Resources

All INclusive

The Office of the Provost, Notre Dame Research, and Foundation Relations co-sponsored the “Are You All Inclusive?” workshop on Jan. 12, 2017. The presentations from the conference and workshop, which addressed questions of broader impacts and diversity in federal and private foundation proposals, are available for review.

Under One Dome

“Under One Dome” is a video series highlighting diversity and inclusion at Notre Dame; it features interviews with faculty members talking about their own experiences as well as their teaching and research.

Staff Multicultural Competencies Training

All vice presidents and senior leaders in the Office of the Executive Vice President are currently participating in training on cultural competency, micro aggressions, and benefits of diversity. To date, more than 400 new employees at the University have also participated in the multicultural competencies training during new hire onboarding. This training segment includes awareness, skills, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs developed to interact with and better serve diverse populations. The University also offers a multi-day workshop on multicultural competencies that presents Notre Dame’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan; defines diversity, inclusion and multicultural competencies; and features interactive discussion on their benefits to Notre Dame.

Residential Life Staff Training

All residential staff—including rectors, assistant rectors, and resident assistants—participate in mandatory training related to topics of diversity and inclusion. Intensive training occurs prior to the start of each academic year and through in-services during the year.

Building Community the Notre Dame Way

All incoming first year students are required to participate in “Building Community the Notre Dame Way” programs over the summer prior to their arrival and through dedicated sessions over Welcome Weekend. Programs include online modules and assessments that cover topics such as appreciating the diverse individuals who make up our community, forming healthy relationships, being safe on and off campus, and providing information and prevention skills for high-risk topics.

The Moreau First Year Experience Course

A one-credit, graded course offered in both the fall and spring semesters, the Moreau First Year Experience Course integrates academic, cocurricular, and residential experiences of new students. The course, which is codirected by First Year of Studies and Student Affairs, assists students with the transition to Notre Dame as well as with development of lifelong habits of the mind and an engagement in faith, service, arts, wellness, and community. Outcomes of the course include assisting students in becoming aware of and engaging with diverse communities as well as helping students understand the complexity and expectations of the Notre Dame community.

Summer Internships

Human Resources, Student Affairs, and Auxiliary Operations Food Services are partnering with INROADS, a nonprofit organization in Chicago that develops and places talented underserved youth in business and industry, and prepares them for corporate and community leadership. Notre Dame students are participating in the program through summer internships.

Hiring Game Changers Workshops

This recruiting workshop provides leadership and staff involved in hiring with a framework for using multicultural awareness, skills, and knowledge to reduce bias in the hiring process, from prospect identification and recruitment to interviews and onboarding. This workshop also provides a step-by-step road map for a departmental diversity recruiting plan, complete with resources and tips.

Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS)

This office works with students—as well as faculty and staff—to ensure that Notre Dame is a place where everyone can flourish. Among its many programs and University-wide activities, MSPS focuses, in particular, on offering multicultural students the tools to make the most of their college experience, and prepare for meaningful and rewarding careers.

Gender Relations Center

The Gender Relations Center offers events and programming designed to engage women and men in respectful dialogue and to help build a community that fully honors the human dignity of each person. The GRC promotes moral formation of students consistent with Catholic identity, mission, and values in an effort to create a healthy culture at the University of Notre Dame.

Campus Ministry

The Office of Campus Ministry offers many spiritual opportunities and multicultural resources for the campus community, including Masses, retreats, and fellowship groups.

Career Center

The Meruelo Family Center for Career Development is comprised of Undergraduate Career Services, Graduate Career Services, Employer Engagement, Regional Engagement, and an Operations and Event Services teams. The Center works toward its mission of preparing students for lifelong career readiness through innovative and tailored programs, services, and strategic partnerships. Staff members aim to empower students to discern, discover, and pursue meaningful careers to be a force for good in the world.

Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights    

Founded in 1973 by Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., then president of the University of Notre Dame, the Klau Center’s mission is at once both ambitious and fundamental: we seek to advance the God-given dignity of all human persons. We anchor this work in an integrative approach to civil and human rights. We aspire to provide transformative education, innovative research, and meaningful engagement with students and with the broader community.

Mandela  Leadership Program

The Pulte Institute for Global Development has been a proud Institute Partner for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders since the establishment of the program in 2014. To date, the Pulte Institute has hosted 150 fellows from 36 countries for a six-week Leadership Institute, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Institute for Latino Studies

Since its creation in 1999 the Institute for Latino Studies has played a vital role in fostering understanding of the U.S. Latino experience. Building upon the history of Latinos at Notre Dame and the outstanding intellectual legacy of Julian Samora, a pioneering Latino scholar and professor of sociology, the Institute supports scholarly initiatives in Latino studies as a key component of Notre Dame’s academic mission. By teaching and preparing leaders, advancing research, and strengthening community, the Institute is true to the mission, tradition, and distinctively Catholic values of Notre Dame.

Department of Africana Studies

Africana Studies’ geographic interests span the globe, incorporating African American experience in the U.S., the African Diaspora throughout the Americas, Europe and the African continent. The Department’s intellectual interests cross an array of disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, the arts, business and the sciences. Africana Studies also takes responsibility for engaging Notre Dame’s students, faculty and administrators in understanding the importance of African American intellectual research, cultural and religious traditions. 

Kellogg Institute for International Studies

The Kellogg Institute for International Studies promotes research excellence on critical global challenges, with a particular focus on democracy and human development. Building on a core interest in Latin America and Africa, the Kellogg Institute fosters research on the developing world and

Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies

The Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies provides a forum for integrated and multidisciplinary research and teaching on Asia. It supports innovative projects that actively combine teaching, research, and social engagement, creating a unique model of rounded education on Asia. The Institute also promotes general awareness, understanding, and knowledge of Asia through organizing public events and supporting student and faculty scholarship and engagement with partners in Asia. 

Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, is one of the world's leading centers for the study of the causes of violent conflict and strategies for sustainable peace. Kroc Institute faculty and fellows conduct interdisciplinary research on a wide range of topics related to peace and justice. The Kroc Institute’s mission is integral to Notre Dame, an international Catholic research university. The Church has a rich tradition of teaching on war, peace, justice, and human rights. The Kroc Institute fosters collaboration among religious and secular traditions, strengthening the capacity of all for building peace.

Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion

The Rafat and Zoreen Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion is dedicated to studying, learning from, and collaborating with religious communities worldwide for the common good. Its wide-ranging work includes research, teaching, outreach, and interaction with religious communities, faith and civic leaders, academics and journalists, and the general public. Together, these efforts enable the institute to foster deliberation, offer training, implement transformative educational programs, and generate ideas on how religion can continue to serve as a force for good in the world.

Pulte Institute for Global Development

The Pulte Institute for Global Development — an integral part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame — combines the existing world-class teaching and research faculty of Notre Dame with a dedicated staff of experienced international development professionals, administrators, and researchers in order to address global poverty and inequality through policy, practice, and partnership.