As learning becomes service to justice

Higher education summit marks Brandenberger retirement

December 10, 2025

As he contemplated a way to mark his retirement, Jay Brandenberger ’78, professor of the practice at the Institute for Social Concerns, wanted the focus to be not so much about him as about the work that he has spent the last 34 years pouring into at the institute. So it is only fitting that, for his retirement celebration, the institute hosted the Higher Education and the Common Good Summit on November 21 in the Geddes Hall Coffee House where Brandenberger spent much of his time over the years with students and colleagues.

The summit convened scholars and administrators from across the University—as well as some from across the country—to discuss issues at the heart of Brandenberger’s research: the significance of higher education in society, the impact of community-engaged scholarship, and the importance of seeking common good through civic and democratic participation.

In an opening keynote, Tom Schnaubelt, executive director of the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions at Stanford University, argued that American higher education must shift its focus from mere knowledge transmission to the deliberate cultivation of wisdom and civic competence to reclaim its purpose in promoting the common good and democratic equality.

“Any institution concerned with reclaiming the common good must be intentional in how it does so through its approach to education,” Schnaubelt said. As opposed to a “corporate approach” in which “the college experience is a commodity to be purchased through a transaction,” he offered a vision of the universities as communities one joins and contributes to and as “exemplars of democratic practice.”

Schnaubelt concluded with a series of proposals or thought experiments on how colleges and universities might serve as such exemplars by forming democratic habits among students. Some examples he mentioned include using ranked choice voting in institutional decision making, using citizen assemblies as a process for guiding important decisions, admitting students who meet a set of minimum standards by lottery, building a service-oriented bridge year into expectations for a baccalaureate degree program, and connecting larger institutions to microcolleges that offer experiential learning rooted in a particular community.

Drawing on themes from Schnaubelt’s address, the invited attendees participated in a conversation café on questions surrounding the role of higher education in advancing community and democratic engagement. They discussed such questions as how universities might expand the classroom to include social action and reciprocal engagement with external communities, how higher education can address and prepare students and future faculty as they confront systemic challenges that might threaten democracy or erode communities, and how the University’s mission statement calling for “learning that becomes service to justice” can best be operationalized.

In an afternoon session, Brandenberger moderated a panel discussion that addressed challenges and opportunities for higher education. Schnaubelt was joined on the panel by Jim Frabutt, senior assistant provost at the University; Keona Lewis, assistant provost at the University and assistant professor of the practice at the institute; and Nicole McNeil, professor of psychology, ACE College Professor, and fellow at the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University.

Following the summit, participants expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage in such meaningful discussion and highlighted key themes they were taking away from it.

“The summit was very much in line with Jay’s approach to scholarship, reflecting his consistent connection to external partners in the field while simultaneously holding together local and institutional issues for reflection,” said Frabutt. “Especially timely was the focus on civic engagement, as sharpening our language around what universities do is crucial in the current political moment.”

McNeil identified themes that emerged from discussion as “relationship-building, trust, coordination, and consistency as essential forms of infrastructure.” For her, “relational infrastructure” is just as significant for the flourishing of the University as its buildings, technology, and grant infrastructure. 

“If we are serious about the University’s mission, we must be willing to invest institutional resources in this relational infrastructure,” McNeil said. “It can’t just be one-off instances. It has to be long-lasting, mutually beneficial infrastructure that stays put, even as student service projects and faculty research projects come and go.”

Spencer French, a PhD candidate in the English department and 2022–23 Graduate Justice Fellow at the institute, commented, “What the summit helped remind me is that, more than just one’s career, it is the holistic life of the scholar that brings about more just relationships and community.”

“The enriching and engaging conversations throughout the summit continually pointed us back to the north star of the institute’s mission to create a University where learning becomes service to justice,” said Suzanne Shanahan, the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the institute. “Commitment to this mission has animated Jay’s 34 years of innovative scholarship and transformative mentoring at the Institute for Social Concerns. It is wonderful for him to be concluding his time with us animated by the same passions that were ignited in him as an undergraduate at Notre Dame in the 1970s.”

Read Brandenberger’s perspective on the purpose of a university in the institute’s 2024–25 year in review.

All photos by Peter Ringenberg/University of Notre Dame.

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