Jon Bullock’s research has brought him around the world, and he’s brought the world into his O’Neill Hall office.

In the latest installment of “Office Hours,” the assistant music professor discusses instruments and mementos that remind him of resilience.

https://bit.ly/4dVZfon

Wishing our Arts & Letters family a joyful and peaceful Easter! 🌷 ☘️

Notre Dame launches Human Neuroimaging Center to advance interdisciplinary neuroscience and insight into the human mind

The College of Arts & Letters is launching the Human Neuroimaging Center, which will drive innovation in interdisciplinary neuroscience and uncover how brain networks shape the remarkable capacities of the human mind.

https://bit.ly/41Mz7op

The data of democracy: Renowned political scientist Ken Kollman spans borders and subfields to reshape understanding of governments and voters

“One of my colleagues at Michigan said that Notre Dame just seems like it’s on fire — in a good way,” said Ken Kollman, who joined Notre Dame's political science faculty this semester after 32 years at the University of Michigan. “And it’s fun to join something like that.”

https://bit.ly/3Q9Qih8

Two Notre Dame faculty members win NEH fellowships for research on medieval Iberian liturgy and Kierkegaard’s <em>Fear and Trembling</em> During her NEH fellowship, Maloy will work on a monograph exploring the Old Hispanic rite, tentatively titled “Sounding the Saints in Early Medieval Iberia.” Jech will write a monograph that wrestles with the totality of Søren Kierkegaard’s seminal 1843 work, Fear and Trembling.

Music professor Rebecca Maloy and philosophy professor Alexander Jech have each been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research on medieval Iberian liturgy and Kierkegaard's “Fear and Trembling.”

https://bit.ly/4170jOy

Three majors and two career development programs help junior Natalie Magura find her perfect professional path Natalie Magura is determined to make the most of her undergraduate years.

As a first-year, Natalie Magura's appetite for edification took her across disciplines as she added majors in sociology, economics, and political science — then she just needed a career plan. That's where Beyond the Dome and Consulting Connect came in.

https://bit.ly/4l33FLO

Office Hours: Kate Marshall on the books, the artifacts, and the people that inspire her writing and leadership Stepping into Kate Marshall’s office is a bit like stepping into a one-room museum, with antique typewriters, artifacts of early cinema, and book-making tools among the pieces on her shelves.

English professor and Franco Institute director Kate Marshall discusses important pieces in her office that are relevant to her writing, her leadership, and her personal life in the latest installment of "Office Hours."

https://bit.ly/4aAzYxW

From Shakespeare to the C-suite: How studying the liberal arts helped English major Mike LaMena ’95 become a wealth management CEO “There’s a value in generalists in a world that’s increasingly specialized.”

Mike LaMena ’95 was always envious of his fellow Notre Dame students who knew what career they wanted to pursue from the start. Like many, he thought the ladder to success was linear.

But over time, LaMena discovered that career paths often have many loops and lateral steps.

https://bit.ly/3MMtSRY

Democracy Initiative director advances nationwide dialogue on civics education through new AAAS publication

A new guide from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences will help higher education institutions prepare students for engagement in the democratic process. Democracy Initiative director David Campbell led the group of experts who developed the report.

https://bit.ly/4aBTzwx

‘A greater understanding of truth’: English professor studies medieval poetry to converse with the past

Assistant English professor Ann Killian, OP, writes and teaches about medieval literature and devotional culture. She's particularly interested in the social life of poetry — not just what was written down, but how it affected people in the past.

https://bit.ly/4tEyyKq

‘Seeing the synapses click’: Electronic music professor pushes the limits of creativity in himself and his students &#8230;

The most essential tool in David Bird's office isn't a microphone or a synthesizer, but the computer on his desk — that's where the magic happens.

A specialist in electronic music, the assistant music professor pushes the boundaries of performance with each composition.

https://bit.ly/3Mf6ZGE

A department on the rise: Notre Dame political science turns heads with big hires, impactful research, and vibrant centers and institutes &#8230;

In the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings, Notre Dame's political science department made a significant jump — up 10 spots.

It's a demonstration of their conscious effort to strengthen in one area without sacrificing quality in others.

https://bit.ly/3ZfSt4i

Notre Dame philosophy professor to lead new collaborative research on critical thinking pedagogy Paul&#8230;

Notre Dame has been awarded nearly $4 million in a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund a new initiative that will incorporate tools and strategies for teaching critical thinking into college classrooms around the country.

https://bit.ly/4tho7fg

Office Hours: Jason Ruiz on the art, the lighting, and the items that make his Bond Hall space his own &#8230;

Interior design aficionado and Institute for Latino Studies director Jason Ruiz discusses inspiring pieces in his office in the first installment of a new A&L story series called “Office Hours” that gives personal tours of our faculty's workspaces around campus.

https://bit.ly/3Z7gURi

Biological anthropologist explores how cells that are not our own may unlock secrets about our health During pregnancy, maternal and fetal cells migrate back and forth across the placenta, with fetal cells entering the mother’s bloodstream and tissues. They can settle in maternal organs such as the thyroid, liver, lungs, brain and heart — and can persist there for decades.

We all carry little pieces of our family with us. Literally.

In a phenomenon called microchimerism, studied by a Notre Dame anthropologist, fetal and maternal cells migrate back and forth across the placenta, creating a lifelong link between mothers and their descendants.

https://bit.ly/4rpioTa

Key to human intelligence lies in how brain networks work together, Notre Dame neuroscientists say Modern neuroscience understands the brain as a set of specialized systems. Aspects of brain function such as attention, perception, memory, language and...

Notre Dame neuroscientists are at the forefront of research on the brain's organization and integration, discovering how neural systems work together to create intelligence.

https://bit.ly/45AAVDu

Historian John Deak to recapture the past as new member of Commission for Modern Austrian History

John Deak is helping write the next chapter in the story of one of Austria’s oldest historical research institutions. The associate professor of history recently became one of the first non-Austrian members of the Commission for Modern Austrian History.

https://bit.ly/4sUEEWy

A ‘cross-pollination of ideas’: Interdisciplinary research collaborative brings virtue ethics into AI &#8230;

Tom Stapleford and Patrick Gamez argue that if AI will actually help humanity, we need more than just regulations — we must consider how AI can facilitate human well-being.

To accomplish that goal, the duo created the Generative AI Research Innovation Collaborative.

https://bit.ly/4r55VUn

Alumnus John Babbo ’24 on philosophy, fellowship, and a call to priesthood When John Babbo first stepped onto the University of Notre Dame&#8217;s campus, he imagined himself studying great books and cheering in the student sec...

When John Babbo first stepped onto Notre Dame’s campus, he imagined himself studying great books and cheering in the student section. He didn’t imagine that the ideas he encountered would eventually lead him toward the priesthood.

Read his story: https://bit.ly/4qu4uPv

Notre Dame sociologist examines human interaction to explain organizational dynamics

Sociologist Timothy Hallett understands interactions — how they create culture, sustain organizational success, and fuel conflict.

He embeds himself in the operations of organizations to learn how the institutions shaping our lives are inhabited by people acting together.

https://bit.ly/4pHBcLW

Italian studies students retrace travels of renowned writers in weeklong trip to Rome, Florence, and Naples Eighteenth-century German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote that, &#8220;only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.&#8221; A group of Un...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote that “only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.”

Students in the Italian studies course The Literature of the Journey to Italy discovered that to be true.

Read about the class's fully-funded literary odyssey through Italy: https://bit.ly/4pPDysw

American studies professor's research and teaching on religious history aims to broaden and deepen understanding of U.S. Catholicism &#8230;

Anthony Petro never thought he’d end up at a Catholic university.

But only a few months after joining the Department of American Studies, he says Notre Dame's unique intellectual environment drives his research, which aims to deepen understanding of U.S. Catholicism.

https://bit.ly/4spuJYF

The top five most-read Arts & Letters stories from 2025 As we look to the new year, we reflect and celebrate the top five most-read stories from the College of Arts & Letters in 2025.

“What does my heart actually desire?” Lane Poche often asks himself. “What actually brings me life?”

This graduate's journey to answer the big questions is just one Arts & Letters story highlighting the power of the liberal arts. Read this year's top 5: https://bit.ly/44AMyde

Scott Jackson encourages actors to more deeply engage with their art — not get lost finding the “right" way to act. It's how he teaches some of theatre's most prominent plays.

This is just one of many A&L stories shared on camera in 2025. Watch the top 5: https://bit.ly/4j4Yk5j

Merry Christmas from the College of Arts & Letters! May your day be filled with faith, laughter, and love.🎄✨🎶💚📖

Theatre historian honored for work that highlights the hidden stories of disability arts For a historian, finding 20 boxes of archived source material is a pretty big deal. And when Patrick McKelvey found more than 150 boxes of papers stemmi...

Patrick McKelvey's award-winning book "Disability Works: Performance After Rehabilitation" invites readers to think more deeply about disability and culture, sharing the untold history of art and performance preceding the Disability Rights Movement.

https://bit.ly/48FmIHj

‘I want to teach as much as I can': Sheedy Award-winner Mark Roche inspires discoveries through discussion Mark Roche, the Rev. Edmund Joyce, C.S.C., Professor&#8230;

Mark Roche's pedagogy emphasizes that teaching is best done with students leading the way, and it has earned him the Sheedy Award for Excellence in Teaching.

al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/i-want-...

Notre Dame political scientist seeks out the benefits of bipartisanship amidst D.C. conflict James Curry, professor&#8230;

Discover how Congress finds common ground and achieves more than meets the eye, as James Curry explores the true benefits of bipartisanship:

al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/notre-d...

English professor wins Barricelli Book Prize for essay collection on persuasion For Yasmin Solomonescu, literary studies isn&#8217;t just a place to explore her own ideas &#8212; it&#8217;s an opportunity to pull in more voices and ...

Yasmin Solomonescu, associate English professor, won the International Conference on Romanticism’s Jean-Pierre Barricelli Book Prize for "Persuasion After Rhetoric in the Eighteenth Century and Romanticism," a "wildly interdisciplinary" essay collection.

https://bit.ly/4hKn9mC

Psychology Ph.D. student Melissa Nance recently won a NIH grant to support her study of alcohol use and self-harm in young adults, connecting two isolated fields.

al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/clinica...