The great thinkers of the world, past and present, extend the realm of the possible. Year after year, they also continue to inspire generations of University of Notre Dame students and alumni.
While studying philosophy at Notre Dame, Paul E. Tierney Jr. ('64) was inspired to "think different." Today, after a successful career in business, he is chairman of TechnoServe, a nonprofit organization that provides training and guidance to entrepreneurs in developing economies in India, Africa, and Latin America.
And thanks to Notre Dame Professor of the Humanities Steve Fallon and other scholar-teachers like him, tomorrow's thought leaders—students such as Elizabeth Davis who plans to address food sustainability after her graduation in 2012—are still being educated to ask questions that matter and to use their curiosity, critical thinking skills, and creativity to analyze complex problems in service of the common good.
They demonstrate that while there are no simple answers to universal problems, there are new perspectives and solutions worth pursuing.
Finding Inspiration in the Great Questions—and History's Great Thinkers (video)
http://video.nd.edu/209-academically-speaking-steve-fallon
Stephen Fallon Leads Marathon Student Reading of Milton's Paradise Lost (video)
http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/21683-marathon-reading-of-paradise-lost-highlights-miltons-masterpiece/Paul Tierney: The Investor (ND Magazine story)
http://magazine.nd.edu/news/18884/
Elizabeth Davis (2012) Notre Dame Student Selected as Truman Scholar (ND news story)
http://al.nd.edu/news/21949-notre-dame-student-named-2011-truman-scholar/
More from What Would You Fight For?
- 2:01Fighting to End PovertyIn Dandora, Kenya, a sprawling neighborhood in Nairobi, housing for 250,000 people is built around the city’s largest dumpsite. Life near a large trash heap exposes the population to problems ranging from illness to unemployment to extreme poverty.Many of the town’s residents spend their days wading in the trash, looking for bits of aluminum and plastic that they can exchange for a few dollars to support their family. Others, typically women, run roadside stands selling goods like fruit or medications. For many families, the profits from these microenterprises are the only way to put food on the table or to send children to school.Notre Dame and its Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity have been invested in Dandora for several years. Research projects and a Holy Cross parish have taken root. In speaking with the local population about their needs, the Ford Program asked a trio of Notre Dame economists — Wyatt Brooks, Kevin Donovan and Terry Johnson — to come to Dandora to explore problems surrounding unemployment.For more information: http://ntrda.me/FFEndPoverty
- 2:01Fighting for the Lives of ChildrenWhen your child is diagnosed with a rare, genetic disease, it feels like you’re rolling down a mountain, just waiting to hit rock bottom, says Doug Berns. When his daughter, Samantha, was diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, an incurable, neurodegenerative disorder, he and his wife watched as Samantha’s energy depleted, her balance became shaky, and her laughter quieted.At Notre Dame, researchers in the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases seek to identify and advance treatments for a number of rare diseases, including Niemann-Pick Type C.For more information: http://ntrda.me/LivesofChildren
