Setting the Standard for Summer | Institute for Social Concerns

YEAR IN REVIEW

Setting the Standard for Summer

STUDENT RESEARCH FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Joshua Jones, a neuroscience and behavior major from Chatham, New Jersey, crossed the Hudson River to New York City to work with the organization Alliance for Positive Change for the summer through NDBridge.

NDBridge is a summer program at the Institute that enables rising sophomores to think hard about injustice, work with communities around the world that face it, and consider their responsibility to the common good while at Notre Dame and beyond. Working in clusters of four students placed with community partners nation- ally and internationally, NDBridge students document their experiences through photography, weekly writing on themes ranging from cultural humility to research as justice, and end-of-week discussions with their cluster.

More than a summer job or internship, Joshua’s time with the Alliance was guided by research questions he developed in the one-credit preparatory spring course: What are the systemic factors that contribute to healthcare disparities among marginalized communities in New York City? And how have community-based organizations or policy initiatives been proposed or implemented to address these inequities in the healthcare system? While working full-time at Alliance, he also analyzed statistics and sociological data of the city and engaged in deep conversations with his Notre Dame mentor, site supervisors, doctors, and peers working at the Alliance to obtain various perspectives on his question. For his capstone project, he proposed possible ways organizations like Alliance can take further evidence-based steps to address the healthcare disparities they are already battling.

NDBridge is part of an arc of summer programming offered by the Institute, beginning with RISE, which offers pre-matriculating students the chance to get proximate to questions of justice in their hometowns or in South Bend. Two hundred and eighty-two Notre Dame students representing 70 different majors participated in part of this program arc.

“The fellowship opened my eyes to the world of sustainable agriculture and integral ecology. I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty and doing things I never would have imagined. I got to milk cows, prepare chickens, hold piglets, plant trees, and attend a global conference.”
— Sydney O’Malley ’26, accounting major, Bethany Land Institute, Luweero, Uganda

For rising juniors and rising seniors who seek to pursue a summer experience more aligned with their anticipated vocation—whether in medicine, law, science, education, social services, or technology—the Institute offers the Social Concerns Summer Fellowship. Through readings and analytic and theological reflection, the fellowship leads students to explore their vocational aspirations, consider the dynamics and drivers of injustice, and conduct original research in collaboration with community partners. As with NDBridge, the Summer Fellowship begins with course preparation and includes faculty mentorship throughout, as students work in small clusters or even on solo projects to engage their research while working full-time at their site.

On completion of their experience, each NDBridge and Summer Fellowship student gives a presentation and submits a final project, which can range from a research paper to a podcast. In October, they gather for the Research for the Common Good Student Symposium and Andrews Scholars Reception, where select students are awarded grants to continue their research over the following academic year or summer.

By providing students opportunities to hone their research skills while making a difference in communities across the country and around the globe, these rigorous, eight-week, credit-bearing immersive summer experiences are setting the standard for undergraduate justice education.