In The News

Humanizing the just wage conversation in labor mediation April 29, 2022 What makes any wage excessive? This question is at the heart of one of seven criteria that make up the Just Wage Framework, a tool created by the interdisciplinary Higgins Labor Program to determine the justness of any given wage scenario. The concept of excessive wage is…

Westville Correctional Facility podcast gives voice and new perspective to incarcerated men April 14, 2022 The Moreau College Initiative (MCI) is an academic collaboration between Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame that provides opportunities for the incarcerated at Westville Correctional Facility in northwestern Indiana to earn college credit towards an associate’s or…

Center hosts meeting of statewide advocacy leaders April 5, 2022 Leaders from advocacy organizations across the state of Indiana gathered on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Geddes Hall coffee house to share their work and consider opportunities for collaboration on statewide advocacy efforts. The meeting was part of the Institute for Social Concerns Signs…

Four years of student leadership at Notre Dame April 4, 2022 When seniors Elaine Carter, accounting, and Maddie Whitney, business analytics, registered for the Institute for Social Concerns’ Advocacy for the Common Good seminar their freshman year, they had no idea the one-credit course would turn into a four-year campaign that would shape their entire…

Making science more accessible (and more fun) for children March 18, 2022 Professor Cara Ocobock saw an opportunity. It was August 2020 and her young niece had asked for an at-home science kit, but the materials Ocobock found too often seemed to treat science as if it were magic. “Science is cool enough,” she thought.…

Center student takes community organizing skills to hometown March 18, 2022 Erica Browne ‘22, a Neuroscience and Behavior major, first became involved at the Institute for Social Concerns when she joined Organizing, Power, and Hope, one of numerous courses the center offers on current justice-related topics. In the course, students explore the field of community…

Working to create more diverse language arts curricula and more just communities March 4, 2022 Drs. Kati and Mike Macaluso know that everyone loves a good book. As faculty in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, they will tell you that it is hard to overstate the ways that literature can affect our emotional, intellectual, and…

Faculty exchange pilot program creates intercultural opportunities March 3, 2022 “What do I take for granted as universal, but is actually cultural? How do I ask the right questions or give the right answers so that my Mexican friends and colleagues and I can work well together? How can I learn to ‘unpack’ a misunderstanding…

Community impact grants support innovative approaches to lead reduction in South Bend February 18, 2022 A 2017 Reuters report found higher lead levels in some South Bend neighborhoods than Flint, MI, prompting Notre Dame faculty to partner with local neighborhood organizations to put research on safe housing into action. With a Community Impact Grant from the…