Nikhit D'SaKellogg Institute Faculty FellowAssistant Professor and Senior Associate Director for Research, Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child There are numerous challenges facing young children in Haiti, including political upheaval, gang violence, civil unrest, community violence, closures, shortages of necessities, and natural disasters. This fragility has had a detrimental impact on their learning and development. To address these multifaceted risk factors D'Sa's team at the University of Notre Dame focused on leveraging the assets of the primary settings — lakay, lekol, legliz (home, school, and parish) — where young children learn and develop daily. Over four years and spread across six of the 10 departments in Haiti, they worked to activate this lakay-lekol-legliz (L3) system through interventions and approaches that were need-based, developed in partnership with communities, iteratively tested and improved, and gradually scaled. In this talk, D'Sa will share lessons from these years of research with faith-based communities, discussing how his team at the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child worked with community partners to activate the L3 system, the evidence and impact of this activation, and lessons for similar initiatives in other conflict-affected and fragile states.   Click here for more information 

Register here The nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to influence national defense and security policy at the height of the Cold War. Today, the world is threatened by a new global arms race as the United States, Russia, China, and other nuclear weapons states are rebuilding and enhancing their arsenals, including new missile deployments. In the face of worsening nuclear dangers, grassroots movements are once again advocating for nuclear disarmament and justice. This webinar will discuss the efforts and impact of local government officials, religious leaders, and international networks to amplify concerns about national nuclear policies and their economic, environmental, health, and cultural consequences. It will also examine the prospects for launching a new global nuclear freeze movement. Featuring:Hirokazu Miyazaki, the Kay Davis Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern UniversityDavid Cortright, professor emeritus of the practice, Kroc Institute for International Peace StudiesThis event is cosponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Catholic Peacebuilding Network, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University, the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, and the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America. Register here   Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

The AAHD Gallery is excited to present Second Chances, an exhibition showcasing new works by second-year MFA students in Studio Art and Design. Featured artists include Lily Dorian (sculpture), Heidi Dargle (visual communication design), Franceska Alvarado (painting and drawing), Lucy Schultz (industrial design), and Olivia Koziel (photography). The exhibition runs weekdays from January 30 to February 13, 2025, with a special opening reception Thursday, January 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. Join us to celebrate these talented, emerging artists and their inspiring creations. Originally published at artdept.nd.edu.

Palestine's official submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero is a collection of short films by 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war in Gaza. Through a unique blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, these stories capture the unyielding steadfastness of the human spirit and enduring creativity that thrives even in the face of relentless devastation. RESERVE TICKETS  

The AAHD Gallery is excited to present Second Chances, an exhibition showcasing new works by second-year MFA students in Studio Art and Design. Featured artists include Lily Dorian (sculpture), Heidi Dargle (visual communication design), Franceska Alvarado (painting and drawing), Lucy Schultz (industrial design), and Olivia Koziel (photography). The exhibition runs weekdays from January 30 to February 13, 2025, with a special opening reception Thursday, January 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. Join us to celebrate these talented, emerging artists and their inspiring creations. Originally published at artdept.nd.edu.

Work-in-Progress Seminars are designed to generate in-depth discussion of new scholarly work. For the pre-circulated paper and to attend, please register with the link below. Room location information will be shared with preparation materials following your registration.   During his Kellogg visiting fellowship, Fernando Ojesto Martínez Manzur will work on his project, “How to (Un)Build a Democracy: The Mexican Case,” which explores the challenges of building a democratic system and the ease with which it can be dismantled. Democracy worldwide, particularly in Latin America, is under attack. The Mexican experience will be the basis of this research, especially because it is a great example of how an electoral democracy was built; but unfortunately, it also serves as an ongoing example of how democracy can be “unbuilt” or dismantled. The project is divided into two main sections. The first section will analyze how a democracy is built, focusing on the democratic transition that Mexico underwent from 1977 to 2018. This section will outline the necessary and foundational requirements for building a democracy. The second part of the research will examine the current state of democracy in Mexico and how a 40-year democratic process has been disrupted in the past six years. Since 2018, democracy and its institutions have faced a constant threat, orchestrated by the government and its ruling party. This threat, rooted in the concept of political majorities, has escalated into a reality following the 2024 election, where the governing party secured almost complete control, including a supermajority in Congress, granting them the power to amend the Constitution. This part of the research will aim to understand the dismantling process Mexican democracy is undergoing. Register Here