Helen Zia by Bob Siang, BHP San Francisco. Photo provided.The Asian American Distinguished Speaker Series honors innovative, creative, and effective Asian American leaders and celebrates their contributions, especially as the visibility of Asian American leadership and success is often overlooked. This year, the Liu Institute will present "Helen Zia: A Life at the Intersection of Activism, Writing, and History" on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at 5 p.m. in the Smith Ballroom, Morris Inn. Jennifer Huynh, assistant professor of American Studies, will moderate the event, which is free and open to the public. Helen Zia is a writer, journalist and Fulbright Scholar who has been a trailblazing activist on issues ranging from human rights to countering gender and hate violence and homophobia. Her role in the national Asian American civil rights movement against anti-Asian violence and racism began after the racially motivated killing of 27-year-old Vincent Chin in Detroit in 1982. After a judge sentenced Chin's attackers to probation, Zia helped organize and lead a coalition of Asian Americans to stand up for justice and equality in the case. Her efforts are documented in the Academy-award-nominated PBS film “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” Zia is the founder of the Vincent Chin Institute, which works to build multiracial solidarity against hate. Zia is also an advocate for marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights. In 2010, she testified as a witness in the federal case on marriage equality decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Her 2008 marriage to Lia Shigemura was featured in The New York Times. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Zia grew up in New Jersey. After graduating in Princeton’s first coeducational class, she quit medical school to work as a construction laborer, autoworker, and community organizer until she discovered her life’s work as a journalist and writer. Her 2019 book, "Last Boat out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese who Fled Mao's Revolution," was an NPR best book and shortlisted for a national PEN America award, while her first book, "Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People," published in 2000, is a foundational textbook in schools across the country. Zia served as executive editor of the iconic Ms. magazine, a feminist publication for which, among other stories, Zia went undercover in a New York garment factory to expose sweatshop conditions. Zia received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of San Francisco and an honorary Doctor of Laws from the City University of New York Law School for bringing important matters of law and civil rights into public view. In 2023, Hunter College in New York City named its first Helen Zia Distinguished Lecturer in Asian American Studies.Jennifer Huynh, assistant professor of American Studies and Liu Institute faculty fellow, will moderate the event.Zia was one of 79 people in North America who carried the 2008 Olympic torch in San Francisco, the only site in North America passed on the way to Beijing, China. She stated in an op-ed:"There is another vision: that a peaceful and better world is possible through friendly engagement and mutual understanding, not violent confrontation and polarization. It's an Olympic message, a possible dream that our global civilization and everyone who is a part of it can aspire to - and for which I am proud to carry a torch."The lecture is sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies with the Department of American Studies, the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy, and the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame. Originally published at asia.nd.edu.

The Kroc Institute has selected The Honorable Emilce Cuda as the featured speaker for the 26th Annual Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace. As Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See, Cuda is a renowned international speaker who has published extensively on moral social theology, democracy and Catholicism in liberal contexts, theology of the people and culture in a Latin American context, economic migration, the socio-environmental ecological crisis, and more. Cuda is a member of the research team, “The future work of labor after Laudato si,” at the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC). She received a Ph.D. in theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and specializes in social moral theology. Lunch and conversation will follow this lecture in C103, Hesburgh Center for International Studies. The Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace, which began in 1999, were established through a gift to the Kroc Institute from Mrs. Anne Marie Yoder and her family. Each year, the Kroc Institute invites a leading thinker, writer, scholar, and/or peace advocate to deliver a lecture related to nonviolence, religion, and peace. Following the lecture, audience members join in informal dialogue and discussion with the speaker and with each other. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Mark Gitenstein. Photo by the U.S. Department of State (Public Domain).With many elections in Europe being decided in the past year and more ahead in 2025, the topic of the future of democracy in Europe is timely. It is also a moment of evolving relations between the United States and the European Union. How might democracy and international diplomacy chart a path forward? To invite consideration of this and other pressing questions, the Nanovic Insitutute has partnered with the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative to present a public lecture and dialogue with Mark Gitenstein, former United States Ambassador to the European Union. Gitenstein will be on-campus for several weeks during the spring 2025 semester as the Nanovic Forum Diplomat in Residence. His presentation will also be part of the ND Democracy Talks series. The Nanovic Forum aims to bring Europe's leaders to Notre Dame to engage with students, faculty, and its wider scholarly community. Likewise, the Democracy Talks series creates opportunities for Notre Dame students to better understand current events and pressing policy issues. With these two inter-related goals, this presentation will spark dialogue on the European Union, its relationship with the United States, and where democracy goes from here on both sides of the Atlantic. All are invited and warmly encouraged to participate in this important conversation. A light lunch will be offered to participants beginning 30 minutes prior to the event (12:00 p.m.), while supplies last. This event is co-sponsored by the Nanovic Institute's Nanovic Forum and the Notre Dame Democracy Initiatitive. About the Speaker Mark Gitenstein served as United States ambassador to the European Union from January 24, 2022, through January 17, 2025. Before this post, Gitenstein served as partner and counsel for Mayer Brown LLP for more than 30 years. He also held previous government roles, including serving as U.S. Ambassador to Romania (2009-2012) and working with the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees. Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.

This Notre Dame Forum event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs. Featuring Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard University; Director, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Professor Allen is a renowned professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, tech ethicist, distinguished author, and mom. Allen's work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change at the helm of a $6 billion foundation, writing as a national opinion columnist, and advocating for strong public health policy, democracy renovation, civic education, and sound governance of and with new technology. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, her leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in the country’s first-ever Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience; her policies were adopted in federal legislation and a presidential executive order. She was the 2020 winner of the Library of Congress' Kluge Prize, which recognizes scholarly achievement in the disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prize. She received the Prize "for her internationally recognized scholarship in political theory and her commitment to improving democratic practice and civics education." She was a lead author on the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy, a framework for securing excellence in history and civic education for all learners, K-12, released in 2021. The annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy, established by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in 1995, honors the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of Notre Dame, a global champion of peace and justice, and the founder of the Kroc Institute. Each year a distinguished scholar, policymaker, and/or peace advocate is invited by the Kroc Institute director to deliver a major lecture on an issue related to ethics and public policy in the context of peace and justice. Originally published at forum2024.nd.edu.

As part of the Keough-Naughton Institute's fall 2024 speaker series, Professor Peter Shirlow will deliver a lecture titled “The Failings of Irish Republicans and the National Question in Ireland.” Lecture Abstract This lecture will explore how, despite post-Brexit Referendum predictions of a united Ireland by as early as 2021, there has been, at best, limited growth in recorded support for ending partition between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Growth of Northern Ireland’s Catholic population has been less dramatic than predicted and the region now has the fastest growing economy in the UK. Peter Shirlow asserts that in this context, pro-united Ireland campaigns and republican activism, especially via civic fora and social media, have failed to significantly close the gap between Irish unity and pro-union proponents. In this lecture, Shirlow will consider how Irish Republican arguments for unity contain internal contractions: underscoring the economic successes of the South while also indicating its structural deficiencies, or pointing to socio-economic deficiencies of Northern Ireland even while Republicans are co-authors of its new found economic growth. Ultimately, Shirlow argues, the shortcomings of Irish republicanism lie in its inability to read and understand the new sociology of Northern Ireland– particularly temporal and social shifts that potentially render the inevitability thesis of Irish unification inconsistent, if not ineffective, in the short to medium term. Speaker Biography Professor Peter Shirlow (FaCSS) is the director at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. He was formerly the deputy director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, QUB. He is the independent chair of the Executive Office's Employers' Guidance on Recruiting People with Conflict-Related Convictions Working Group and a board member of the mental health charity Threshold. He is a visiting research professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. He sits on the editorial boards of Irish Political Studies and International Planning Studies. Professor Shirlow has undertaken conflict transformation work in Northern Ireland and has used that knowledge in exchanges with governments, former combatants and NGOs in the former Yugoslavia, Moldova, Bahrain and Iraq. He has also presented talks to members of the US Senate and House of Representatives and is a regular media contributor. Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.

Register here Join us for an engaging discussion on the groundbreaking Abraham Accords and their implications for national security, regional order, and popular representation in the Middle East. Signed on September 15, 2020, the accords normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and later Morocco, marking a major shift in regional dynamics. In this event, co-authors of The Abraham Accords: National Security, Regional Order, and Popular Representation (Lexington Books, 2025) will explore the motivations and impacts of this historic agreement. They will analyze how political consolidation, pluralism, and regional alliances have shaped normalization trends with Israel and could influence future developments, especially amid the ongoing Gaza conflict. Moderated by Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. Director of the Kroc Institute for International Studies, the panel will provide key insights into Israel's relationships with the six Gulf Cooperation Council states—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the UAE—as well as Iran. Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into the evolving dynamics of Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy. Panelists: Banafsheh Keynoush, scholar in residence, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre DameGuy Burton, visiting fellow, Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation Project, Lancaster University  Register here Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.