Category: News

What would an economy of celebration look like in the US today? May 5, 2023 Adam Gustine and José Humphreys had each been thinking about communities for a while. What makes them flourish? What prevents their flourishing? Both had written about the relationship between churches and the communities of which they’re a part when they […]

Visiting practitioner fellow engages faculty, staff, and students around global human rights advocacy April 12, 2023 Monalisa, an Indian human rights attorney and expert on global human trafficking joined the Institute for Social Concerns and the Higgins Labor Program in March as a weeklong practitioner in residence. But this was a bit of a homecoming. […]

Rewired for a just society: 2023 conference keynote urges shift to nonviolence April 5, 2023 In the years following September 2001, Marie Dennis tried to demonstrate in her work with Pax Christi that violence and war were not an appropriate response to the 9/11 attacks. In the process of doing so, she began to realize […]

Called to the common good? March 19, 2023 Vocations without the virtues will lack substance. Virtues without vocations will seem arbitrary.—Stanley Hauerwas, 2023 The Institute for Social Concerns is launching a new 3-year initiative to study and pilot best practices for cultivating a lifelong commitment to the common good among college-aged students. The project begins with […]

Keona Lewis brings ballet, Buddhist meditation, and hope to academic DEI initiatives March 17, 2023 When Keona Lewis was in high school, she toured with an African ballet company in a ballet titled Crucifixion. It told the story of the Soweto Uprising, a riot led by black school children in South Africa opposing the use of […]

Pokagon Art Collection opens with celebration and collaboration March 16, 2023 Family and friends from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, faculty, staff, students, and local community members filled the coffeehouse to celebrate the opening of the Pokagon Art Collection on February 23, a part of the center’s Arts of Dignity series. Like other events and initiatives in […]

NDBridge students frame summer immersions with research questions February 7, 2023 Over mugs of chai and cookies, the roughly 120 students who make up the inaugural NDBridge cohort met for the first time at the end of January in the center’s coffee house. The students, all current freshmen, will travel together to 30 sites across […]

Creating a scholarly home for justice February 7, 2023 A group of students will begin meeting this February to develop student-led programming on justice for other undergraduates. Interdisciplinary in nature, the group will consist of 14 students across levels, colleges, and program participation at the center. They will be charged with engaging students in a […]

New Director for Women’s Prison Education Program February 7, 2023 The Women’s College Partnership (WCP) is a liberal arts program providing college degrees to women at the Indiana Women’s Prison. In partnership with Marian University, it is a part of the larger Notre Dame Programs for Education in Prison (NDPEP) housed at the Institute for Social Concerns. This February, […]

New research lab seeks solution to local housing crisis January 13, 2023 “Homelessness has become a part of the fabric of life, but it doesn’t have to be. I want to create awareness of this issue, so that students can respond as responsible and compassionate citizens: ‘It doesn’t have to be this way. It ought […]