This conversation will provide a forum for rich dialogue about evidence-based solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing today's vulnerable youth. Hosted by the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC), this panel conversation features professor and director of the GC-DWC, Neil Boothby, in conversation with Dr. Carrie Quinn, pediatrician and executive director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center and co-chair of the University of Notre Dame’s (UND) For Good Initiative, and Wendy Angst, professor and director of the Powerful Means Initiative and Impact Consulting Minor at UND’s Mendoza College of Business. All three panelists serve children and their families in different vocational capacities, but their work is aligned by the science of early childhood development (ECD) and how it complements Catholic social teaching. The conversation will touch on various themes such as Notre Dame’s unique position to be a strong agent of global change in unifying scientific knowledge with the wisdom of the church, strategies to bolster ECD programs for children enduring crisis, and how Catholic Social Teaching underscores the imperative to cater to marginalized children, while scientific insights guide the methodologies to achieve this. The event’s conversation will provide a forum for rich dialogue about evidence-based solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing today’s vulnerable youth. Immediately following the panel, please join us for fellowship, refreshments, and conversation. Moderated by Nicole McNeil, director of the Center for Educational Research and Action (ERA); professor of psychology. Review the poster.  Questions? Contact the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC); bparker2@nd.edu.

As a part of the ongoing series on how art and scholarship combine in academic storytelling, the Nanovic Institute is pleased to host a lunch presentation with Sarah Edmands Martin, assistant professor of design and a Nanovic Institute faculty fellow. Martin produced recently released A Fable of Tomorrows (2024), an artwork consisting of video projection, interactive sculpture, and video game design at the center of which is a fable from the future. It is experienced through multiple media forms. Created while on a 2024 research Fulbright in Norway, the work materializes how human memory, digital computation, and temporality are revealed through fables, riddles, and archives. As a phantasmagoric video panorama immerses viewers in visions of different temporalities (from deep time to a lifetime), a mysterious artifact poses Old English-inspired riddles, which take more than one human generation to solve. Curated into a solo exhibition in Manchester’s MediaCity which reached over 30,000 people on opening weekend, the work travels to South Korea in 2025 for a solo exhibition at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of State, Notre Dame's Department of Art, Art History & Design, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. Join the Nanovic Institute as well as Notre Dame students, faculty, staff, and the general public to learn more about this work, experience the interactive elements of this art, ask questions, and enjoy experiencing an innovative example of the art of academic storytelling. Lunch for participants will be provided beginning at 12:00 p.m., while supplies last. About the SeriesThe Art and Scholarship of Academic Storytelling series explores the connections between “The Arts” (music, theater, dance, poetry/creative writing, filmmaking, drawing, painting, photography, and sculpting) and “Scholarship” on the topic of storytelling. Story and narrative are critical in the transmission of human ideas and culture. Thus, the institute and its partners across campus seek to understand how these methods of transmitting ideas may be practiced within an academic context. To do so, it seeks out the expertise of practitioners of the arts who do this type of storytelling in their work. Students, faculty, staff, and the general public are all invited to join these events, which are sometimes scheduled in tandem with performances on campus or in the local community, to consider this fascinating topic that cuts across disciplinary lines and appeals to academic and general audiences alike. Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.

In her new book Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning, published by Cornell University Press, Kellogg faculty fellow Susan D. Blum presents a a theory-based phenomenology of institutional education. She defines "schoolishness" as educational practices that emphasize packaged "learning," unimaginative teaching, uniformity, constant evaluation by others, arbitrary forms, predetermined time, and artificial boundaries, resulting in personal and educational alienation, dependence, and dread. Drawing on critical, progressive, and feminist pedagogy in conversation with the anthropology of learning, and building on the insights of her two previous books, Blum proposes less-schoolish ways of learning in ten dimensions, to lessen the mismatch between learning in school and learning in the wild. Join the Kellogg Institute for a book launch conversation between the author and special guests Jean Lave and Rev. Hugh R. Page, Jr. A reception will follow and books will be available for purchase and signing. Co-presented with the Department of Anthropology, with co-sponsorship by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and the Center for Educational Research and Action.   More information here. 

Join us for an engaging panel discussion as experts unpack the results of the 2024 U.S. election.   Welcoming remarks will be made by Notre Dame President, Rev. Robert A Dowd, C.S.C.  Moderated by David Campbell, director, Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, this event features insights from leading scholars Derek Muller, professor of law, Geoffrey Layman, chair of the Department of Political Science, and Laura Gamboa, assistant professor of democracy and global affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs.  The panel will analyze the election's key outcomes, voter behavior, ongoing contention and certification processes, and the broader implications for American democracy. A light lunch will be served from 12:30 - 1:00 pm before the panel begins.  The event is free and open to the public. Don’t miss this chance to hear from top experts about what just happened and what it means for the future of U.S. politics. This event is sponsored by the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, and co-sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, and Notre Dame Student Government. Originally published at rooneycenter.nd.edu.

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, Therese Cory, associate professor of Thomistic studies, will present. The lectures take place in the Andrews Auditorium on the lower level of Geddes Hall adjacent to 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. Come and grab a free T-shirt! Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.

American political life is characterized by hyper-partisanship and polarization. Each election cycle seems to sharpen divisions and deepen political idolatry, while leaving most of us exasperated and exhausted. Yet, the Catholic Church encourages us to participate in politics. Pope Francis expresses the Church’s conviction that politics is “a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (EV, 205). This series explores the Church’s call to participate in political life and the complexities, challenges, and possibilities therein: What is politics? How do Catholics balance the call to participation without making an idol of politics? Is our call to participate exhausted by our duty to vote? What is the mission of Catholics in the public square? What constitutes the public square? How can the Eucharist transform our understanding of politics? Can we envision a world where charity, not political ideology, guides all our actions and decisions? Featured panelists will include: Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland and a deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Kathleen Buckley Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference; and Theresa MacArt, assistant professor of politics and public service at Holy Cross College.  Click here to register. Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.