Learning Beyond the Classics: Voicing Intergenerational Trauma in Postwar Korea and Japan through Contemporary Cinema Directed by Yasujiro Ozu With Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama Not Rated, 137 minutes In Japanese with English subtitles A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is a crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu. The film, which follows an aging couple's journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director's customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director's recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema's mightiest masterpieces. GET TICKETS *Free for ND, SMC, HC, and IUSB students. **Co-presented by the David A. Heskin and Marilou Brill Endowment for Excellence, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship/Hesburgh Libraries.

Join the Institute for Social Concerns on Friday afternoons on select home football weekends for MVP Fridays: lectures by national leaders, journalists, and writers on questions of meaning, values, and purpose. Each lecture will take place at 4:00 p.m. in the Geddes Hall Andrews Auditorium. For the weekend of the Purdue game, join us for "POV: Writing as Other" with Viet Thanh Nguyen. Introduction by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi, the Dorothy G. Griffin College Professor of English. Co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, the Department of American Studies, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer is a New York Times bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Other honors include the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction from the American Library Association, the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction, a Gold Medal in First Fiction from the California Book Awards, and the Asian/Pacific American Literature Award from the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association. His other books are Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction) and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He is the Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and a professor of English, American studies and ethnicity, and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. Most recently he has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and le Prix du meilleur livre étranger (Best Foreign Book in France), for The Sympathizer. 

Saturdays with the Saints has established itself as a popular Notre Dame football pregame ritual that combines the University’s rich traditions of Catholic faith and spirited game days. In this lecture, Timothy P. O’Malley, Professor of the Practice, ND Center for Liturgy, and academic director, Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, will present on "Providence and Obedience: Claude La Colombière, SJ, the Jesuits, and the Sacred Heart." The lectures take place in the Andrews Auditorium, located on the lower level of Geddes Hall, adjacent to the Hesburgh Library. The talks are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as the events tend to fill to capacity.Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.

Join the Medieval Institute for a thrilling tailgate before our  Fighting Irish take on the Purdue Boilermakers! This Gameday, the Medieval Institute is very excited to welcome perennial favorites Theatrica Gladiatoria back to campus. Theatrica Gladiatoria’s professional performers and educators will offer dazzling swordplay alongside fascinating information about martial arts from the European Middle Ages both as historical practice and as living tradition! This is a hands-on event featuring basic instruction in medieval fencing for anyone interested. Complimentary food and drink will be provided. This event is free and open to the public—all people of all ages are welcome! Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

Laura Gamboa, assistant professor of democracy and global affairs in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, will talk about “Democratic Backsliding” at the first Pizza, Pop and Politics event of the fall 2025 semester. Pizza, Pop and Politics is hosted by the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights and ND Votes, a nonpartisan initiative that aims to foster conscientious engagement in political and civic life among students. The student-led initiative’s activities include promoting voter education, registration, and mobilization. Originally published at klau.nd.edu.

19th-Century Women’s Culture Through the Life and Work of Esmeralda Cervantes Discussion and Panel Join Rare Books & Special Collections from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. for a panel and discussion on the fascinating life of Catalan harpist Esmeralda Cervantes (born Clotilde Cerdá, 1861–1926), moderated by Latin American and Iberian Studies Librarian and Curator Payton Phillips Quintanilla. A child prodigy who toured the Americas in the 1870s, Cervantes meticulously documented her vast network of friends and acquaintances across Europe and the Americas in two personal friendship albums: scrapbooks filled with photographs, autographs, drawings, letters, poetry, and other keepsakes. One album resides at the Biblioteca de Catalunya, and the other is held by the University of Notre Dame. Our guest speakers, Lorena Fuster, University of Barcelona, Philosophy; Merli Marlowe, Barcelona-based film director; Vanesa Miseres, University of Notre Dame, Romance Languages & Literatures; and Erika Hosselkus, University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Libraries, will use Cervantes’ unique case to explore broader themes of library archives, 19th-century women's sociability, the public and private conversations shaping women's lives, and the nascent stages of transnational feminisms. The panelists will also share how these remarkable albums brought them together for their ongoing academic and creative projects centered on Cervantes. Hands-On Workshop and Reception After the panel, attendees are invited to attend a reception from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Hesburgh Library Scholars Lounge to continue the conversation over light refreshments and engage in a hands-on activity to create their own album pages. Presenters:Lorena Fuster, University of Barcelona, Philosophy — Lorena Fuster is a professor of Philosophy and Feminist Theory at the University of Barcelona. Her research and publications focus on topics that link contemporary philosophy with cultural history. She currently directs the project "The Forgotten Legacy of Clotilde Cerdà/Esmeralda Cervantes: An International Avant-Garde Presence."Merli Marlowe, film director, Barcelona — Merli Marlowe is a singer and filmmaker, and has also written and directed television series and podcasts. She is currently working on a documentary about the harpist Esmeralda Cervantes in collaboration with Lorena Fuster. As a musician, she is the lead singer of the band Les Rencards, with whom she recently released the album Angles morts.Vanesa Miseres, University of Notre Dame, Romance Languages & Literatures — Vanesa Miseres specializes in the cultural and literary landscapes of 19th- and early 20th-century Latin America, with her research and teaching exploring diverse topics such as travel writing, war literature, women writers, and gender, cultural, and food studies. She is the author of Mujeres en tránsito: viaje, identidad y escritura en Sudamérica (1830–1910) (2017) and Gender Battles. Latin American Women, War, and Feminism (2025). She is also the co-editor of Food Studies in Latin American Literature. Perspectives on the Gastronarrative (2021).Erika Hosselkus, University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Libraries — Erika Hosselkus is Associate University Librarian for the Distinctive and Academic Collections at Hesburgh Libraries. Her portfolio includes research collections, special collections and archives, metadata, and preservation. Prior to this appointment, Hosselkus served as the curator in Rare Books & Special Collections for Latin American and Iberian Studies, and developed a significant collection for this fast-growing area of study.Open to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, postdocs, alumni, friends, and the public.  Sponsored byHesburgh LibrariesFranco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public GoodKellogg Institute for International StudiesOffice of Undergraduate Studies (Teaching Beyond the Classroom Grant)

Join Wisconsin Poet Laureate Brenda Cárdenas for a talk and reading from her art-inspired work. Cárdenas’s remarks will center on “ekphrastic” writing—creative writings that respond to or are inspired by works of art. Her presentation will include projections of artworks that inspired some of her poems and her performance of them. Cárdenas’s campus visit launches “Poets & Art: Ekphrasis at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art,” a multi-year partnership between the museum and Letras Latinas, the literary initiative of the University’s Institute for Latino Studies (ILS). In addition to her poetry reading, Cárdenas will spend two days at the museum observing, reflecting, and writing a new ekphrastic poem inspired by an artwork on display. On Saturday, September 27, Cárdenas will lead a community-focused ekphrastic writing workshop. Brenda Cárdenas has published ekphrastic poems in her two books Trace (Red Hen Press, 2023) and Boomerang (Bilingual Press, 2009), as well as in literary magazines, and anthologies, most recently in Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology. Cárdenas is also co-editor of two anthologies, including Resist Much/Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2017). She co-designed and co-taught the inaugural master workshop for PINTURA: PALABRA, a multi-year Letras Latinas initiative in partnership with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is professor emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee where she taught undergraduate and graduate classes and seminars on poetry and the visual arts. Originally published at raclinmurphymuseum.nd.edu.

You are invited to the first conference of the Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab, focused on addressing structural barriers to equitable economic growth in low- and middle-income countries. Thursday, September 25 4:30 p.m. Welcome 4:45 Fireside Chat Introduction by Mary Gallagher, Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Karlan, Northwestern University, former chief economist, USAID in conversation with Lakshmi Iyer, BIG Lab Director and Professor of Economics and Global Affairs 6:00 Opening Reception Friday, September 26 8:30 a.m.  Gender, Norms and Work Alejandro Estefan, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Outsourcing Policy and Worker Outcomes: Causal Evidence from a Mexican Ban” Paul Novosad, Dartmouth College “Cultural Capital and Economic Opportunity in Rural India” Danila Serra, Texas A&M University “From Jobs to Careers: Understanding Aspirations, Opportunities, and Barriers Among Working Women in South Asia” Moderated by Brenda Samaniego de la Parra, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 10:00 Coffee 10:30 Keynote Address Introduction by James Sullivan, Professor of Economics & Director of the Notre Dame Poverty Initiative Ted Miguel, University of California, Berkeley 11:30 Human Capital Jere Behrman, University of Pennsylvania “Starting Strong: Medium- and Longer-run Benefits of Mexico's Universal Preschool Mandate” Taryn Dinkelman, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Economic and Political Effects of Free Primary Education in Africa” Manisha Shah, University of California, Berkeley “Reducing bias among health care providers: Experimental evidence from Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan” Moderated by Rebecca Thornton, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 1:00 Keynote Address & Lunch Introduction by Eric Sims, Notre Dame Economics Department Chair Pete Klenow, Stanford University 2:30 Trade & Structural Transformation Rodrigo Adao, University of Chicago Booth School "From Heterogeneous Firms to Heterogeneous Trade Elasticities: The Aggregate Implications of Firm Export Decisions" Heitor Pellegrina, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab "Directed Innovation meets Economic Development: Embrapa and Brazil's Agricultural Revolution" Jing Zhang, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago “Deindustrialization and Industry Polarization” Moderated by Jeremy Majerovitz, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 4:00 Coffee 4:30 Political Economy Lakshmi Iyer, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Electoral Redistricting in the World’s Largest Democracy” Nancy Qian, Northwestern University “Chinese growth and support for reunification in Taiwan” Enrico Spolaore, Tufts University “Cultural Remittances and Modern Fertility” Moderated by Enrique Seira Bejarano, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab For more information, visit the event page. Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute at the Keough School of Global Affairs and the Franco Family Institute

In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, He was (and his wife Ricki continues to be) a long-time friend and supporter of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.   The first talk in the 2025 series will be given by Petra Sijpesteijn, professor of Arabic at Leiden University, on "Running the early Islamic Empire: the papyrological evidence."About the Talk In the dry Egyptian desert sands, tens of thousands of Arabic, Coptic and Greek papyri from the first three centuries of Muslim rule in the province (7th-9th century CE) were preserved. Containing tax demand notes, fiscal receipts, lists of agricultural properties, tax payers, converts, alms payments, prisoners with the crimes they committed, the fines assigned to them or the petitions they wrote requesting to be released, decrees issued by the authorities or petitions directed to them, the papyri form the written residue of the daily running of the early Islamic Empire. They show that Arab rule was characterized by a marked continuity of daily administrative routines but also by the introduction of striking new practices. In this presentation I will discuss what the papyri tell us about the Arab administrative practices in early Islamic Egypt, what changed and what remained the same after the Arab conquest and why this was. About the Speaker Petra Sijpesteijn holds the chair of Arabic at Leiden University. She uses documentary sources such as papyri, seals, coins, inscriptions and manuscripts to reconstruct the daily life of Muslims and non-Muslims living under Muslim rule. Currently she runs a five-year research project entitled 'Land, space, power: Landscapes of the early caliphate' financed by the Netherlands National Science Foundation.Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, He was (and his wife Ricki continues to be) a long-time friend and supporter of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.   The second talk in the 2025 series will be given by Graham Loud, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Leeds, on "The Sicilian Chancery, from the Normans to Frederick II." About the Talk The paper traces the evolution of the chancery of the Norman rulers of Sicily, from the writing office of Count Roger I (d. 1101), which operated primarily in Greek, through to the trilingual documentation of the Sicilian monarchy after 1130. It looks at the emergence of a Latin chancery, at first as a subordinate section, but then as the increasingly dominant element within the royal administration. This led to the eventual abandonment of writing documents in Greek and Arabic. The paper concludes with an analysis of the greatly enhanced scale of the operations of the (by now monolingual) chancery of Emperor Frederick II as ruler of Sicily in the first half of the thirteenth century. About the Speaker Graham Loud is professor emeritus of medieval history at the University of Leeds, where he taught from 1978 to 2019. He is a leading authority on the history of southern Italy from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, and has also written about Staufen Germany and the Crusades. His most recent books are The Social World of the Abbey of Cava, c. 1020-1300 (2021) and Frederick Barbarossa (2025). His translation of the Montecassino Chronicle of Leo Marsicanus, c. 529-1075, will be published in February 2026, and his chapter on 'Frederick II and the Crusades' will appear in The Cambridge History of the Crusades during the summer of 2026. Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

Learning Beyond the Classics: Voicing Intergenerational Trauma in Postwar Korea and Japan through Contemporary Cinema Directed by Soon-rye YimWith Kim Tae-ri, Jin Ki-joo, Ryu Jun-yeol Rated PG-13, 103 minutesIn Korean with English subtitles Director Soon-rye Yim scheduled to appear live! From work to relationships to school, nothing is going smoothly in young Hye-won's life in the big city. Putting unresolved matters behind her, she dips and impulsively returns to her hometown. There, she reunites with her childhood friends Jae-ha and Eun-sook, who go about rural living in their own unusual ways. Finding herself at a crossroads, Hye-won looks to reconnect with her past simple life while forging meaningful connections to the geographies and people around her. GET TICKETS *Free for ND, SMC, HC, and IUSB students. **Co-presented by the David A. Heskin and Marilou Brill Endowment for Excellence, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship/Hesburgh Libraries.

You are invited to the first conference of the Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab, focused on addressing structural barriers to equitable economic growth in low- and middle-income countries. Thursday, September 25 4:30 p.m. Welcome 4:45 Fireside Chat Introduction by Mary Gallagher, Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Karlan, Northwestern University, former chief economist, USAID in conversation with Lakshmi Iyer, BIG Lab Director and Professor of Economics and Global Affairs 6:00 Opening Reception Friday, September 26 8:30 a.m.  Gender, Norms and Work Alejandro Estefan, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Outsourcing Policy and Worker Outcomes: Causal Evidence from a Mexican Ban” Paul Novosad, Dartmouth College “Cultural Capital and Economic Opportunity in Rural India” Danila Serra, Texas A&M University “From Jobs to Careers: Understanding Aspirations, Opportunities, and Barriers Among Working Women in South Asia” Moderated by Brenda Samaniego de la Parra, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 10:00 Coffee 10:30 Keynote Address Introduction by James Sullivan, Professor of Economics & Director of the Notre Dame Poverty Initiative Ted Miguel, University of California, Berkeley 11:30 Human Capital Jere Behrman, University of Pennsylvania “Starting Strong: Medium- and Longer-run Benefits of Mexico's Universal Preschool Mandate” Taryn Dinkelman, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Economic and Political Effects of Free Primary Education in Africa” Manisha Shah, University of California, Berkeley “Reducing bias among health care providers: Experimental evidence from Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan” Moderated by Rebecca Thornton, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 1:00 Keynote Address & Lunch Introduction by Eric Sims, Notre Dame Economics Department Chair Pete Klenow, Stanford University 2:30 Trade & Structural Transformation Rodrigo Adao, University of Chicago Booth School "From Heterogeneous Firms to Heterogeneous Trade Elasticities: The Aggregate Implications of Firm Export Decisions" Heitor Pellegrina, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab "Directed Innovation meets Economic Development: Embrapa and Brazil's Agricultural Revolution" Jing Zhang, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago “Deindustrialization and Industry Polarization” Moderated by Jeremy Majerovitz, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab 4:00 Coffee 4:30 Political Economy Lakshmi Iyer, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab “Electoral Redistricting in the World’s Largest Democracy” Nancy Qian, Northwestern University “Chinese growth and support for reunification in Taiwan” Enrico Spolaore, Tufts University “Cultural Remittances and Modern Fertility” Moderated by Enrique Seira Bejarano, University of Notre Dame & BIG Lab For more information, visit the event page. Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute at the Keough School of Global Affairs and the Franco Family Institute

In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, He was (and his wife Ricki continues to be) a long-time friend and supporter of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.  The third and final talk in the 2025 series will be given bey Adam Benkato, the Bita Daryabari Presidential Chair of Iranian Studies, on "Reconstructing Sasanian and post-Sasanian Chanceries: Where do the Middle Persian documents fit in?" About the Talk This talk will consider the existing traces of official document production in the Sasanian Empire and in post-Sasanian/early Islamic Iran based on groups of seals, sealings, and documents that have been discovered over the 20th century at a variety of sites, and in comparison with observations from Islamic sources. It will attempt to discuss the notions of 'chancery', 'archive', and 'diwan' as they pertain to the material evidence of Sasanian and post-Sasanian administrative practices and will examine the existing groups of evidence with regards to their internal coherence. About the Speaker Adam Benkato is an associate professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and holder of the Bita Daryabari Presidential Chair in Iranian Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. His research investigates a wide variety of textual and audio sources through the lenses of material philology, sociolinguistics, and archive studies. His two main fields are (ancient) Iranian studies (particularly philology of Middle Iranian languages) and Arabic linguistics (particularly dialectology). He is the leader of two digital projects pertaining to sources in Iranian languages of late antiquity and the medieval period: the Open Archive of Middle Persian Documents, and Chorasmian Online.Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

The final event in the 2025 Conway Lectures is our speaker roundtable on this year's theme, "Medieval Political Thought and its Legacy," featuring our three speakers. About the Conway Lectures In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway is a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, and he and his wife are long-time friends and supporters of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

Learning Beyond the Classics: Voicing Intergenerational Trauma in Postwar Korea and Japan through Contemporary Cinema Directed by Isao TakahataWith Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara Not Rated, 89 minutesIn Japanese with English subtitles When an American air raid kills their mother in the final days of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko are left to fend for themselves in the devastated Japanese countryside. After falling out with their only living relative, Seita does his best to provide for himself and his sister by stealing food and making a home in an abandoned bomb shelter. But with food running short, the siblings can only cling to fleeting moments of happiness in their harsh reality. Based on the personal accounts of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki, Grave of the Fireflies is hailed as one of the most stunning contributions to animation and cinematic history. Deftly depicting the beauty of the human spirit as well as its devastating cruelty, Grave of the Fireflies is a singular work of art from Academy Award-nominated director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata. GET TICKETS *Free for ND, SMC, HC, and IUSB students. **Co-presented by the David A. Heskin and Marilou Brill Endowment for Excellence, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship/Hesburgh Libraries.

Drop in to meet and speak informally with curator Giulia Maria Gliozzi, a Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate, about the new exhibit, Mapping Global Dante in Translation. Learn how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Divine Comedy over the centuries and across the world and discover the library’s many Dante editions. Free and open to the public.For more information, contact Holly Welch at rarebook@nd.edu or (574) 631-0290. About the Exhibit This exhibit traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature. This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies and the Devers Program in Dante Studies. It is curated by Salvatore Riolo, Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate, and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi, Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate; Inha Park, Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate; and Peter Scharer, Yale Comparative Literature doctoral candidate. Theodore J. Cachey Jr., Notre Dame, and Jacob Blakesley, Sapienza Università di Roma, served as consultants on the exhibit. This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment. All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.Open to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, postdocs, alumni, friends, and the public.

Join the Institute for Social Concerns on Friday afternoons on select home football weekends for MVP Fridays: lectures by national leaders, journalists, and writers on questions of meaning, values, and purpose. Reception and book signing to follow! For the weekend of the Boise State game, we welcome Timothy Egan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and award-winning author. Introduction by Darren Dochuk, the Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History; William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Co-director, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. Co-sponsored by the Department of American Studies, the Department of History, the Department of Sociology, and the Initiative on Race and Resilience. Timothy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and award-winning author. His most recent book, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them, is a historical thriller that was an immediate New York Times bestseller. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, called it “a harrowing look at forgotten chapter in American history.” The Immortal Irishman was a New York Times bestseller. His book on Edward Curtis, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, was awarded the Carnegie Award for best nonfiction. His account of the Dust Bowl,The Worst Hard Time, won the 2006 National Book Award and he was featured prominently in the 2012 Ken Burns film on the Dust Bowl. A lifelong journalist, Mr. Egan worked as a national correspondent and opinion columnist for the New York Times, roaming the West. As a Times correspondent, he shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 with a team of reporters for its series, “How Race is Lived in America.” He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Saturdays with the Saints has established itself as a popular Notre Dame football pregame ritual that combines the University’s rich traditions of Catholic faith and spirited game days. In this lecture, Sr. Ann Astell, Ph.D., will present on "St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of Divine Love." The lectures take place in the Andrews Auditorium, located on the lower level of Geddes Hall, adjacent to the Hesburgh Library. The talks are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as the events tend to fill to capacity.Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.

We invite you to join distinguished leaders for a dynamic discussion on AI research in and for Latin America! This event is part of the R.I.S.E. AI Conference. To ensure comfortable accomodations, we strongly encourage you to RSVP to the event.* If you are already registered for “The Impact of AI In Latin America” as part of your R.I.S.E. AI Conference attendance, please do not RSVP through the following form. RSVP to AttendSession I: 10:00 – 11:00amIn this session, hear engaging presentations from University of Notre Dame faculty and collaborators from institutions across Chile, including:Paula Aguirre Aparicio, Vice President for Digital Intelligence, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile:Paula Aguirre is a Mechanical Civil Engineer, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy, and a PhD in Astrophysics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is a faculty member at the UC Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering, Principal Investigator at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), and Associate Researcher at the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN).Her current research focuses on risk assessment of natural hazards and their impacts on urban environments and critical networks, applying a combination of remote sensing, geospatial analysis, data science, and physics-informed machine learning methods. In June 2025, she was appointed Vice-Rector for Digital Intelligence at UC, whose mission is to design and implement the University’s policy to adapt, understand, and perform in digital environments, including the advancements of AI.Karla Badillo-Urquiola, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame:Karla Badillo-Urquiola is a Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. She earned her Ph.D. from the School of Modeling, Simulation, and Training at the University of Central Florida. Badillo-Urquiola is a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research expert, investigating technology-driven solutions that empower people and protect the well-being of youth in marginalized communities, drawing on participatory and critical design methods. Her work has won Best Paper (top 1%), Best Paper Honorable Mention (top 5%), Best Poster, and Impact Recognition awards. She also received the Google Academic Research Award to support her research. As an active member of the ACM SIGCHI Latin American HCI community, Dr. Badillo-Urquiola is committed to building a global and interdisciplinary community around ethical technology. She co-founded the 1st International School on Responsible Computing in Guadalajara, Mexico. By integrating her expertise in HCI, psychology, and design, Badillo-Urquiola is at the forefront of shaping a more responsible and equitable digital world.Rodrigo Carrasco, Data Science Initiative Director, Associate Professor, Institute of Mathematical Engineering and Computation, Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile:Carrasco is the Data Science Initiative Director and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Mathematical Engineering and Computation and the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department in the School of Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Columbia Global Center | Santiago and a Board Member of the Chilean Institute of Operational Research. His research focuses on combinatorial problems and addressing uncertainty in these settings. To achieve this, his research team combines predictive and prescriptive analytics tools for uncertainty modeling with combinatorial optimization techniques and stochastic optimization, thereby developing robust decision support tools for applied problems. Rodrigo holds a B.S. in Electrical & Industrial Engineering and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Columbia University.Carolina Melo Hurtado, Director of the Library, Associate Professor, Universidad de los Andes in Chile:Carolina Melo Hurtado is a higher education leader and Fulbright alumna with over 20 years of experience in academic innovation, open science, and educational equity. As Director of the Library and Associate Professor at Universidad de los Andes in Chile, she has led a bold transformation of her institution’s library—repositioning it as a strategic academic unit that advances research, student success, and digital transformation. Her leadership spans academic program design, international collaboration, and evidence-based innovation, with a strong focus on Latin America. Recognized among Chile’s 100 Women Leaders, she has co-founded a national literacy network and led award-winning edtech initiatives.Motivated by a deep commitment to educational equity, Carolina combines academic vision, strategic execution, and global engagement to help shape higher education systems that are more inclusive, data-informed, and socially impactful.Session II: 11:00am – 12:00pm In the second session, join us for a panel discussion with leaders in AI and data innovation, who are driving interdisciplinary solutions to real-world challenges in Latin America. Moderator:Diego Gómez-Zará, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame:Professor Gómez-Zará’s research focuses on how social computational systems help people organize and collaborate. His work has been at the forefront of computational social science, human-computer interaction, and network science. His recent publications include work in recommender systems, team formation, team formation, diversity, and virtual reality. This research has won best paper awards at top conferences in human-computer interaction, including CHI, CSCW, and IUI. Panelists:Angélica García Martínez, Assistant Research Professor, Lucy Family Institute for Data & SocietyAngélica García-Martínez is an expert in cancer epidemiology and early childhood development, with extensive experience working with highly vulnerable children in rural and Indigenous communities in Mexico. She coordinated national and international research at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health in collaboration with leading universities (UCSF, Harvard, Yale). She led real-time child development monitoring innovations as Research Director at the NGO Un Kilo de Ayuda. Her contributions span cancer environmental epidemiology, nutrigenetics, early childhood development, and breastfeeding practices, authoring the Mexican national nurturing care guidelines in partnership with Yale.Lourdes Martínez Villaseñor, Research Professor, Universidad Panamericana:Dr. Lourdes Martínez Villaseñor holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering and a PhD in Computer Science from Tecnológico de Monterrey, State of Mexico Campus, as well as a Master’s degree in Family Education from the Universidad Panamericana (IPCE). She is a Level D research professor in the area of artificial intelligence at the Universidad Panamericana and a Level II member of the National System of Researchers. Currently, she serves as President of the Mexican Society of Artificial Intelligence and is an IEEE Senior Member. Dr. Martínez Villaseñor has received multiple recognitions for her contributions to the field, including the 2023 Leading Woman in Responsible Artificial Intelligence in North America Award and the 2025 Trailblazer Award – Woman in AI of the Year in North America. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence applied to healthcare, user modeling, and AI ethics. With more than 30 years of teaching experience, she is the author of over 65 international journal and conference publications, as well as books and a patent in the field of artificial intelligence.Rodrigo Roa, Executive Director, Data Observatory:Rodrigo Roa is Executive Director of the Data Observatory, a Chilean non-profit co-founded by the Government of Chile, AWS, and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. He drives national and regional initiatives that turn scientific, environmental, and civic data into impact through open data, FAIR stewardship, and trustworthy AI. His portfolio includes SURDATA, a Latin American alliance for data interoperability; LatamGPT, a regional large-language-model initiative with CENIA and AWS; and sector platforms for oceans, environment, consumer protection, and public health. A lawyer by training, Rodrigo works at the intersection of policy, research, and industry and represents Chile in international forums such as CODATA, Research Data Alliance, among others.Anil Sadarangani, Director of Innovation, Universidad de los Andes:Anil Sadarangani, Ph.D., MBA, is a scientist and innovation leader with a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and an MBA from the University of California, San Diego. He currently serves as Director of Innovation at Universidad de los Andes (Chile), where he has been instrumental in shaping the university’s strategy for research engagement, technology transfer, and science-based innovation. At UANDES, he also leads the Technology Task Force, a strategic initiative focused on fostering the adoption and impact of emerging technologies across disciplines. In addition, he is a part-time professor in Strategy and General Management at the ESE Business School. As an entrepreneur, Anil founded a biotechnology company during his MBA studies in the United States in 2010, which has since advanced to clinical development. Beyond his entrepreneurial endeavors, he actively contributes to the governance and growth of science-based startups and initiatives, serving on the boards of spin-offs such as Dia+, Pregnóstica, and the innovation consortium HubTec Chile. His career bridges academia, industry, and entrepreneurship, reflecting his conviction that scientific knowledge, when connected with business and society, can generate transformative solutions for global challenges.

Saturdays with the Saints has established itself as a popular Notre Dame football pregame ritual that combines the University’s rich traditions of Catholic faith and spirited game days. In this lecture, Cyril O’Regan, the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology, will present on "To Remind of the God Who is With Us: Newman on the Sacred Heart." The lectures take place in the Andrews Auditorium, located on the lower level of Geddes Hall, adjacent to the Hesburgh Library. The talks are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as the events tend to fill to capacity.Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.