Engaging South Bend—University faculty explore research collaborations with regional organizations through institute’s Engage South Bend tour

Engaging South Bend

University faculty explore research collaborations with regional organizations through institute’s Engage South Bend tour

October 15, 2025

As a newly hired assistant professor of information technology, analytics, and operations at Mendoza College of Business, Chengcheng Zhai began her time at Notre Dame last fall by joining the Institute for Social Concerns’ annual Engage South Bend community tour for faculty.

More than introducing her to the city in which she would come to live and work, the tour introduced her to community partners with whom to explore research and scholarship possibilities.

Faculty gather at Brain Lair Books in South Bend — *Faculty gather at Brain Lair Books in the Near Northwest Neighborhood of South Bend*

Following the tour, Zhai met with the institute’s community partnerships staff to discuss how Notre Dame could partner with civic leaders to reimagine what is possible for parts of the city that have suffered from decades of disinvestment. That conversation blossomed into a collaboration among the institute, Mendoza’s Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program, and South Bend residents to research the viability of redeveloping an economic and cultural anchor on South Bend’s West Side.

On September 26, a new group of nearly 20 faculty from across the University participated in the 2025 Engage South Bend tour, visiting locations in the Kennedy Park, Near West, Near Northwest, Northeast, and Southeast neighborhoods, as well as downtown South Bend. At each stop, they spoke with Notre Dame faculty or community members about ways the institute is engaging with neighborhoods.

In the Near Northwest Neighborhood, for example, in addition to meeting with community leaders like Kathy Schuth, executive director of the Near Northwest Neighborhood, Inc., and Kathy Burnette, founder and owner of Brain Lair Books, participants spoke about the possibility for community-engaged research with Matt Sisk, the co-director of the Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab (C-GaLL) and associate professor of the practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society at Notre Dame. Sisk presented his work developing sustainable and affordable modes of heating and cooling for older homes in the Near Northwest Neighborhood and beyond that were not built for the more extreme temperatures brought about by climate change. His lab has developed a tool utilizing Google Street View and other publicly available data to provide a formal assessment of potential low-cost interventions for these homes, such as shading windows and passive ventilation.

Faculty came away from Engage South Bend invigorated by the experience that sparked a variety of ideas for community-engaged research.

Heng Xu, professor of information technology, analytics, and operations at the Mendoza College of Business, said that visiting Habitat homes and learning about Notre Dame’s work on lead detection stood out to her. “They made clear that ‘community impact’ isn’t abstract—it’s safer homes and healthier children,” she said. “That’s Notre Dame’s mission in action.”

“They made clear that ‘community impact’ isn’t abstract—it’s safer homes and healthier children.”

Prior to the tour, Xu admits that she didn’t see how her data privacy research connects to on-the-ground justice. “I don’t build homes or run public-health programs,” she said. “But the tour showed me how I may help in the digital space—by creating disparity-aware, dignity-first data practices that make our work and everyday life safer, fairer, and more effective.”

Allison Margaret Bigelow joined the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Notre Dame as associate professor of Spanish this fall after five years as the Tom Scully Discovery Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Virginia, where she used community-engaged research methods to document the history of language contact, knowledge transfer, and erasure throughout the colonial Americas.

After meeting with community leaders on the tour, Bigelow has been talking with colleagues who run the community-engaged learning program in her department to brainstorm ideas about possible partners and themes. She envisions starting a reading group that brings together Notre Dame students and South Bend community members at one of the locations she visited on the tour.

“I believe in the value of community-engaged research and teaching,” Bigelow shared following the tour, “but it’s hard to know where to start when you move to a new city. I really appreciated the chance to hear from community leaders about the projects they’re working on and to think about ways to contribute down the road, once I start to meet people and can build something together.”

Zoom call with Introduction to Hispanic Literatures and Cultures class — *Following the faculty tour, Allison Bigelow invited community-based Maya researchers from Universidad Rafael Landívar to join her Introduction to Hispanic Literatures and Cultures class*

Others commented on the value of the experience for their research and teaching. Anuradha Goswami, assistant research professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, is new to the South Bend area and joined the tour to learn about Notre Dame’s efforts in uplifting the local community. She noted that her lab and the institute “share a common interest in public welfare that could lead to future collaboration.” Matthew Thomas Payne, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, shared that he is co-teaching a course called South Bend Stories and participated in the tour with the desire to see how his students might partner with the institute to work with the people and organizations in the community. And Emiliano Aguilar, assistant professor in the Department of History, stated, “Part of my inspiration from Engage South Bend was seeing some of the very deliberate and clear connections between ongoing work and the potential for me to engage through my teaching and research.” He added, “I would love the opportunity to explore, with the Institute Social Concerns current courses as a model, how I can revamp my courses to emphasize our mission here at Notre Dame and serve as a good neighbor to the broader community.”

“Part of my inspiration from Engage South Bend was seeing some of the very deliberate and clear connections between ongoing work and the potential for me to engage through my teaching and research.”

“Through the Engage South Bend tour, the institute catalyzes connections between Notre Dame faculty and South Bend residents,” said Suzanne Shanahan, the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the institute. “With longstanding partnerships across South Bend, the institute has become a hub for developing community-driven research agendas to promote justice and pursue the common good.”

This fall, the institute announced the South Bend Citizens Collaboratory, which develops community and interdisciplinary partnerships like those formed on the tour through a research hub, story lab, and leadership forum. Through Engage South Bend and the Collaboratory, the institute is realizing the aspiration of the University’s Strategic Framework to build genuine partnerships with the region that create a thriving community for all.

Learn more about the South Bend Citizens Collaboratory and how you can engage South Bend and the institute.