Register to attend via Zoom here The recent drastic restructuring of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the overtaking of the offices by DOGE, have brought to the forefront the way the current administration actions have undercut peacebuilding efforts locally and globally. This flash panel, including George A. Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies, Lisa Schirch, the Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies, Elizabeth (Liz) Hume, executive director, Alliance for Peacebuilding, and Kroc Institute Advisory Board member, Angela Lederach (Ph.D. '19), assistant professor of peace studies at Chapman University, and others will discuss the history and significance of USIP for peacebuilding around the world, including the work of the Kroc Institute. The panel will also consider the consequences these actions have on the broader policies of peacebuilding globally. Background: The USIP is an independent, nonprofit, national institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures. Following years of proposals for a national peace academy, the USIP was established in 1984 by congressional legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame and a national voice for civil and human rights, served as a member of the board of directors of USIP from 1991-2000 and as co-chairman of the USIP Building Campaign. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Hesburgh said, “Amidst all these reliquaries of wars, we are going to commit a temple of peace.” A hall was named in honor of Father Hesburgh to house the Institute's Religion and Peacemaking Center. The USIP is officially nonpartisan and independent, receiving funding only through a congressional appropriation to prevent outside influence. The Institute is governed by a bipartisan board of directors with 15 members, which must include the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the president of the National Defense University. The remaining 12 members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.   Register to attend via Zoom here Photo: The U.S. Institute of Peace's headquarters. Credit: (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images) Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Robert M. Citino, the retired Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National WWII Museum, presents "The Fascist Lair: the Battle of Berlin." This lecture, cosponsored by the Department of History, is being held in conjunction with the spring Rare Books and Special Collection exhibit, "Tragedies of War: Images of WWII in Print Visual Culture." About the Exhibit This exhibit commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) using primarily European visual sources recently acquired by Rare Books and Special Collections. It showcases over forty works on paper, including posters, maps, propaganda ephemera, and illustrated books, as well as photographs and first-hand accounts. The exhibit explores themes of Nazi racial ideology, the Holocaust, children in war, resistance, liberation, and memories of war. By examining images created for personal use and for state-sponsored propaganda, the exhibit presents a visual narrative of the war’s profound impact on individuals and societies, offering deeper insight into how this war was experienced and remembered. This exhibit is curated by Natasha Lyandres, Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections, Jean McManus, Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives, and Julia Schneider, German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries. 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, the public, alumni, and friends.

The School of Architecture is excited to welcome Francesco de Angelis from Columbia University to campus for a lecture titled, "Victory in the Making: Triumphal Arches on Roman State Reliefs." This talk will focus on ancient depictions of triumphal arches in the medium of sculptural relief. Several of these images represent the monuments in an abridged fashion, for example by diminishing or omitting key components of their figural decoration, including sculpted scenes. Therefore, especially if we try to understand the reliefs as evidence for ancient viewing habits, they appear paradoxically to downplay their own relevance as carriers of meaningful and semantically rich imagery. The talk will examine this seeming act of self-effacement and argue that, rather than a simple celebration of past deeds, Roman arches—and their decoration—were parts of a project that was perpetually in the making. Join us for this insightful discussion and learn how Roman relief sculptures represented monumental arches and their profound significance in ancient art and architecture. This event is open to all—don’t miss the opportunity to learn from an expert in the field! This lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Architecture, Department of Classics, Center for Italian Studies, and the Department of Art, Art History and Design.   Originally published at artdept.nd.edu.

The Cushwa Center 50th anniversary conference will convene April 10–12, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame to explore Catholic modernity as a global reality shaped by the Church’s former peripheries—not least South and North America. Conference sessions are free and open to all, but participants must register in order to join in conference meals. Learn more and registerImage: Indigenous women and children in front of the mission church of Santa Teresita de Kavanayén in Venezuela’s Gran Sabana, c. 1955. Pictorial Parade via Getty Images. Originally published at cushwa.nd.edu.

The Notre Dame Student Peace Conference is an annual conference organized by undergraduate peace studies students at the University of Notre Dame. During this free conference, undergraduate and graduate students from across the U.S. and abroad present original research, showcase innovative practices, and network with peers who share their passion for peace. More information about this year’s conference will be provided in the coming months. Students and faculty who wish to learn more about participating in the upcoming conference can visit the conference program page. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Join the Medieval Institute for its 23rd annual Mellon Colloquium. The colloquium is a half-day public seminar discussion with the institute's 2024–25 Mellon Fellow, Kayla Dang (assistant professor of theological studies and the Renard Professor of Islamic Studies, Saint Louis University), on her book-in-progress. She will be joined by three distinguished discussants: Christian C. Sahner (University of Oxford), Alison Vacca (Columbia University), and Sarah Bowen Savant (Aga Khan University). Professor Dang's book project tells a new history of the Zoroastrian religion by focusing on its priests—the individuals responsible for recording and transmitting Zoroastrian religious knowledge, which survives in extant Zoroastrian Middle Persian (or Pahlavi) books. Using Arabic sources alongside Middle Persian ones, she studies the priesthood in and as part of Islamic society, and she brings Zoroastrianism more firmly into emerging discussions about the interactions of Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and others in the medieval Middle East. Lunch will be provided to those who register for the event using this form. If you cannot attend in person, then you can register to join via Zoom. Questions about this event? Email us at medinst@nd.edu. Schedule 9:45 a.m. Refreshments 10:00 a.m. Opening Remarks 10:05 a.m. Kayla Dang, "The Zoroastrian Priesthood in Islamic Society (9th–10th Centuries)" About the Speaker: Kayla Dang is an assistant professor of theological studies and the Renard Professor of Islamic Studies at Saint Louis University. Her current research, which engages a variety of classical languages (including Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Middle Persian), focuses on the history of the Zoroastrian priesthood from antiquity into the medieval period. 10:25 a.m. Christian C. Sahner, “Tabaristan in the Early Islamic Period” About the Speaker: Christian C. Sahner is the associate professor of Islamic history, University of Oxford and Margoliouth Fellow in Arabic, New College. He researches the history of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Professor Sahner is especially interested in relations between Muslims and non-Muslims (including Christians and Zoroastrians), religious conversion, Islamic sectarianism, and the intertwined histories of the Umayyad, ʿAbbasid, and Byzantine empires. 10:45 a.m. Coffee Break 11:00 a.m. Alison Vacca, "A Tenth-Century Causasian Albanian History of Religion" About the Speaker: Alison Vacca isthe Gevork M. Avedissian Associate Professor of Armenian History and Civilization at Columbia University and editor of Al-'Usur al-Wusta: the Journal of Middle East Medievalists. 11:20 a.m. Sarah Bowen Savant, "Making the Arabic Book (700-1500): Memory Made and Remade" About the Speaker: Professor Sarah Bowen Savant is a cultural historian specializing in the Middle East and Iran ca. 600-1100 at Aga Khan University. She also serves as founding director of the AKU-ISMC's Centre for Digital Humanities. 11:45 a.m. Lunch (provided) 12:15 p.m. Questions and Discussion 1:00 p.m. Conclusion   Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.