Resources for Faculty and Staff

The University of Notre Dame is located in Northwest Indiana, minutes south of the Michigan/Indiana border, in an area known as “Michiana.” It is a short drive from the shores of Lake Michigan and approximately 90 miles east of Chicago. South Bend and the neighboring cities of Mishawaka and Granger adjacent to the University campus form a metropolitan area of about 265,000 residents.

The Notre Dame campus is accessible by air via the South Bend Regional Airport In addition, Tri-State/United Limo offers shuttle service to and from Chicago’s two major airports, O’Hare International and Midway. Rail service linking the Chicago Loop directly to the South Bend Regional Airport is offered by the South Shore line. Amtrak has a station in Niles, Michigan, just ten miles north of Notre Dame. [link to: . Driving directions to the Notre Dame campus are available here; Notre Dame is approximately one and a half hours east of Chicago and three hours north of Indianapolis.

Learn More
• Travel by Air: http://www.sbnair.com/
• Travel by United Limo Bus: http://www.coachusa.com/tristateunitedlimo/
• Travel by SouthShore Train: http://www.nictd.com/
• Travel by Amtrak Train: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&cid=1080080551082&c=am2Station&ssid=84
• Driving Directions: http://www.nd.edu/visitors/dir.shtml

The University of Notre Dame is a distinctively Catholic university, dedicated both to embodying the highest ideals of liberal arts education and to being one of the leading research universities in the world. Notre Dame is rated among the nation’s top 25 institutions of higher learning in surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report, Princeton Review, Time, Kiplinger’s, and Kaplan/Newsweek, and has been recently named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “New Ivies.” Notre Dame was founded in 1842 by Rev. Edward Sorin, and has been animated from its origins by the Congregation of Holy Cross.

• Learn More: http://newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=49
• The University of Notre Dame is composed of five colleges—the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Science, the College of Engineering, the School of Architecture, and the Mendoza College of Business—along with the Graduate School and the Law School.

Learn More:
• http://newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=16

With a student-faculty ratio of 13:1, the university employs 1,163 full-time and 423 part-time faculty. Close to half of these are associated with the College of Arts and Letters, the largest of Notre Dame’s Colleges. The student body is largely undergraduate; approximately 8,000 of its 11,400 students are undergraduates. Around 2,500 undergraduates and 750 graduate students at any given time are working toward degrees in disciplines within the College of Arts and Letters. Composed of twenty-one departments in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, the College of Arts and Letters offers more than sixty majors and minors leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree, and awards the Masters degree in twenty-five fields and the Ph.D. in ten. Residential life is vibrant, with about 80% of undergraduates choosing to reside on campus.

• Learn More: http://www.nd.edu/aboutnd/

Notre Dame is dedicated to uniting superb student-centered learning and outstanding research with a distinctively Catholic identity that grounds and enhances those aims. Notre Dame seeks to embody its Catholic identity in ways that make a positive difference for both Catholic and non-Catholic members of the faculty, staff, and student body. To be a Catholic university is to be committed, in President John Jenkins’ words, to a “wide-open, unconstrained search for truth,” in which matters of meaning, faith, and morality are not simply left at the door in deference to an empty ideal of critical reflection but are assumed in dialogues and debates.

Notre Dame is a place where the Church does its thinking, where Catholic teaching and the Catholic intellectual tradition more broadly engage with the wider culture. Notre Dame therefore seeks to maintain a preponderance of Catholic faculty. At the same time, in order that such a dialogue take place, it is necessary that a rich diversity of perspectives, Catholic and non-Catholic, exist within Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s distinctive identity is expressed in a variety of ways: through special attention to Catholic intellectual traditions across the disciplines, the central place of the disciplines of theology and philosophy within the University, research and study of issues related to social justice, a vibrant religious life on campus, the presence of programs and institutes within the University committed in particular ways to service of the Catholic Church, and through student and faculty involvement in volunteer service work locally, nationally, and internationally.

In short, Notre Dame has a unique ethos or culture, anchored in a vibrant religious tradition, and also open to broad, inclusive, and productive dialogue.

All faculty, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, are full members of the Notre Dame community. Each faculty member can contribute to Notre Dame’s distinctive mission, though it is expected that they will do so in a variety of ways. Some contribute through rooting critical intellectual inquiry in a concern for meaning, character, and/or justice.  Others contribute through research and teaching focused on Catholic intellectual and cultural traditions. Some ensure through their presence a diversity of perspectives and identities indispensable to allowing Notre Dame to be a locus for dialogue and debate on the issues of the day.

Only through this diversity can Notre Dame serve, as the mission statement of the university says, as “a forum where through free inquiry and open discussion the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect with all the forms of knowledge found in the arts, sciences, professions, and every other area of human scholarship and creativity.” Some faculty, finally, contribute by offering dynamic models of lived Catholicism. All of these contributions are important and valued.

• Learn More: Catholicism in Arts and Letters:  Making a Difference

Immersion in diversity - in diverse ideas, in diverse experiences, and in diverse ways of approaching life’s great questions - is central to the idea of a liberal arts education.

Notre Dame is home to students from every state of the union and from some one hundred foreign countries. Enrollments of minority students have been steadily on the rise: minorities composed 13.3% of the student body in 1996 and rose to 17.2% in 2005, comparing favorably with our peer institutions. Women were first admitted to undergraduate studies at Notre Dame in 1972 and now compose 47% of the student body. 

We interact with and support several national organizations such as GEM, SACNAS, Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers, Project 1000, National Physical Science Consortium, SHPE, MAES, and NSBE among others whose goal is to increase diversity at the graduate level, Notre Dame also hosts a McNair Scholars Program that is open to our students as well as those from four partner universities.

Creating an increasingly diverse community is so important to Notre Dame that it was singled out as one of four academic priorities of the university in the Strategic Plan of 2004. The university houses a variety of units that have diversity as part of their core mission or identity. The Office of Institutional Equity was formed to help support the University’s effort to develop a diverse community by welcoming and recruiting others who bring a multitude of talents and backgrounds to the University.

The Institute for Latino Studies, founded in 1999, has helped make Notre Dame one of the premier places in the nation for research and study linked with Latin America. Latin America is also the major focus of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, a research institute which hosts 15 visiting fellows each year from around the globe and supports the research of Notre Dame faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students. The Department of Africana Studies provides a disciplined and rigorous intellectual environment to study the histories, literatures, political systems, arts, economies, cultures, and religions of the African Diaspora and Africa.

Other significant area studies institutes include the Center for Asian Studies , the Nanovic Institute for European Studies and the Keough–Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. In addition, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies ] and the Center for Civil and Human Rights give us a cross-regional presence in matters of great international concern.

Learn More:
• Celebrating Diversity and Internationalism
• 2004 Strategic Plan: http://www.nd.edu/~stratgic
• Office of Institutional Equity:http://equity.nd.edu
• Institute for Latino Studies:http://www.nd.edu/~latino
• Kellogg Institute for International Studies: http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg
• Department of Africana Studies http://africana.nd.edu
• Center for Asian Studies: http://www.nd.edu/~cas
• Nanovic Institute for European Studies: http://www.nd.edu/~nanovic
• Keough–Naughton Institute for Irish Studies: http://www.nd.edu/~irishstu/
• Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies: http://kroc.nd.edu
• Center for Civil and Human Rights: http://www.nd.edu/~cchr

Notre Dame ranks as one of the nation’s most selective universities, joining Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Dartmouth, Brown, MIT and Rice as the only schools that admit fewer than half of their freshman applicants and enroll more than half of those admitted. Nearly 70% of first-year students entering Notre Dame in 2006 were in the top 5% of their high school graduating class. Average SAT scores of enrolled students have been steadily rising, from 1,215 (in 1996, when recentering took place) to 1,368 (in 2004). Notre Dame’s graduation rate is regularly among the top three in the nation.

Our students come from all 50 states and 106 countries, and Notre Dame ranks first among major research universities in the percentage of students studying abroad. Notre Dame undergraduates are actively involved in faculty-mentored independent research projects and have been awarded the most prestigious prize fellowships, including Fullbright, Marshall, Javits, and National Science Foundation fellowships.

Notre Dame is legendary for its strong sense of community, which fosters in its alumni an intense dedication to the school. Notre Dame’s 98% retention rate between first and sophomore years is the highest in the country. The residence hall is the focus of social, religious, and intramural athletic activities, and alumni retain particularly strong ties to their dorm-mates.

Nearly 90% of Notre Dame students undertake volunteer service during their undergraduate years, and at least 10% of each year’s baccalaureate graduating class spends a year or more in full-time service work; within the College of Arts and Letter, this is true of 20% of the graduating class. Nearly 70% of undergraduate alumni are engaged in volunteer service ten years after graduation.

After graduation, Notre Dame alumni continue to be high achievers who are respected for their sterling character. The medical school acceptance rate of the University’s preprofessional studies graduates is75%, almost twice the national average, and Notre Dame ranks first among Catholic universities in the number of doctorates earned by its undergraduate alumni. Employers asked about the specific strengths of Notre Dame graduates praised their critical thinking, ability to work with others, and perseverance. Most notably, an overwhelming 87% of respondents placed Notre Dame graduates above or far above their peers with respect to their “ethical behavior and integrity.”

Of the Graduate School’s 1,700 students:
• 98% are full-time students
• 80% are pursuing a doctorate
• 36% are international students
• 11% identify themselves as minority

Students may pursue graduate degrees in 30 fields at the University of Notre Dame; over half of these are within Arts and Letters disciplines. Approximately 800 graduate and professional degrees are awarded annually. Notre Dame’s advancement as a research institution is reflected in the growth of its graduate programs. From 1995 to 2005 our graduate school enrollment grew by 31%, while our undergraduate enrollment grew by only 5%. During the same period our sponsored research grew by 152%, while those of other top twenty universities grew by only 66%.

• Learn More: List of Graduate Programs

Graduate students are drawn to Notre Dame by the opportunity to work closely with leading scholars in their disciplines. Students in Notre Dame’s graduate programs often have the opportunity to author or co-author articles during their time at Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s graduate students are also able to take advantage of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, which offers a wide range of teaching workshops for graduate students and even several popular certification programs.

• Learn More: http://kaneb.nd.edu/ta/index.shtml

Graduate students at Notre Dame go on to teaching and research positions at top universities and liberal arts colleges. Recent placements include the University of Chicago, University of Oxford, Penn State, SUNY-Albany, Kings College, London, and Ohio State University. Graduate placements at leading religious universities are also impressive and include Boston College, Fordham University, Catholic University of America, University of St. Thomas, Villanova University and Loyola University Chicago.

• Learn More About Graduate Students: Resources for Graduate Students.

The “Michiana area” is the popular informal name for an area that includes parts of Northern Indiana and Southwest Lower Michigan that center around South Bend, IN. Counties included in ‘Michiana’ are La Porte, St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall (in Indiana), and Berrien and Cass (in Michigan). Towns included in ‘Michiana’ are South Bend, Mishawaka, Granger, Elkhart, Warsaw, Plymouth (in Indiana), Niles and Cassopolis (in Michigan), and others. The name “Michiana” reflects strong economic and cultural connections in the region that cross state boundaries.

Learn More
• http://www.poddys.com/michiana.htm
• http://www.michianaonline.com/
• http://www.exploresouthbend.org/
• http://www.southbend.com/
• http://www.livethelegends.org/community.php
• http://www.buyersonlyindiana.com/area_and_schools.htm
• http://www.elkhartindiana.org/

The cost of living in the South Bend area is very affordable, averaging 60 to 80 percent of what one would pay in most large metropolitan areas in the U.S. A variety of housing options exist, ranging from gracious Victorian-era homes in South Bend’s Historic District to newly-constructed homes with golf-course views in suburban Granger.Rental housing is also widely available and reasonably priced.

Learn More:
• Rental Housing: http://och.nd.edu/inquiry/students
• Buying a House: http://www.realtor.com/southbend/nbregion.asp?poe=realtor
• St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce: http://www.sjchamber.org
• Project Future: http://www.projectfuture.org
• Real Estate & Home: http://southbend.com/RealEstateHome.shtml
• St. Joseph County Association of Realtors: http://www.sjcarhomes.com

The Michiana area offers an abundance of diverse cultural events, museums, movie theaters, shopping malls, coffee houses, and parks. The area is home to an array of fairs and festivals, a zoo, and a variety of historical and interactive museums for both adults and children. The South Bend Farmer’s Market is open three days a week year-round, selling local produce, organic foods, fresh meats, Polish and Amish bakery goods, crafts, and much more.

The Saint Joseph River flows from the north into the city of South Bend, turning east near the city center and giving the city its name before flowing back north to empty into Lake Michigan. Many city and county parks are located on the banks of the river, and paved walkways are popular with walkers, joggers, and bicyclists.

The East Race waterway in downtown South Bend, constructed in 1984, was the first human-made whitewater rapids facility in the North American hemisphere, and attracts kayak enthusiasts from everywhere. Sports fans can enjoy Notre Dame athletics, Silver Hawks minor league baseball, and the College Football Hall of Fame. South Bend is home to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and the Morris Performing Arts Center.

In the Community:
• Arts Everywhere: http://www.artseverywhere.com/index.php
• Morris Performing Arts Center: http://www.morriscenter.org/local/main.html

On Campus:
• The Notre Dame Events Calendar: http://agenda.nd.edu/cgi-bin/view/webevent.cgi
• College of Arts and Letters Events Calendar: http://al.nd.edu/about-arts-and-letters/events-calendar/
• Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts: http://performingarts.nd.edu
• Department of Film, Television, and Theatre: http://www.nd.edu/~ftt
• Department of Music: http://www.nd.edu/~music
• Actors from the London Stage: http://www.nd.edu/~aftls
• Snite Museum of Art: http://www.nd.edu/~sniteart

The largest employer in South Bend-Mishawaka is Notre Dame. Other large employers include the Memorial Health System and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, local city governments, local public and parochial school systems, and local city governments. AM General, Honeywell, Bayer, and Bosch corporations are among the leading manufacturing industries in town.

Neighboring city Elkhart is also home to leading manufacturers in the recreational vehicle, marine, musical instrument, manufactured housing, and many other important industries.

In St. Joseph County there are 16 Catholic grade schools and 2 Catholic high schools.

• Learn More: http://www.diocesefwsb.org.

There are nearly 100 private and parochial schools within 25 miles of Notre Dame.  Costs associated with these schools vary and depend upon the child’s age, the school, and other factors.

• Learn More: http://www.southbend.com/Education.shtml#private.

There are many public schools local to Notre Dame.

• Local public schools in Indiana: http://www.southbend.com/Education.shtml#k12
• Public Schools in Edwardsburg, MI: http://www.edwardsburgpublicschools.org/
• Public Schools in Berrien County, MI: http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/bcisd/

In addition to Notre Dame, South Bend also is home to Saint Mary’s College, Holy Cross College, Indiana University South Bend, and Bethel College. St. Andrews University and Goshen College are also nearby. Chicago, 90 miles away, is home to a plethora of colleges and universities, notably the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, DePaul University, and Loyola University Chicago.

Learn More:
• List of colleges and universities in the South Bend and southwestern Michigan areas: http://www.southbend.com/Education.shtml#collegesuniversities.
• List of colleges and universities in Chicago: http://chicagoeducation.com/colleges-and-universities-in-chicago.html.
• Saint Mary’s College: http://www.saintmarys.edu/
• Holy Cross College: http://www.hcc-nd.edu/
• Indiana University South Bend: http://www.iusb.edu/
• Bethel College: http://www.bethelcollege.edu/
• Andrews University: http://www.andrews.edu/
• Goshen College: http://www.goshen.edu/
• University of Chicago: http://www.uchicago.edu/
• Northwestern University: http://www.northwestern.edu/
• DePaul University: http://www.depaul.edu/
• Loyola University Chicago: http://www.luc.edu/

The Human Resources site has extensive information on health and retirement benefits available to faculty, as well as other useful links and resources for new hires.

• New Employee's Toolkit > http://hr.nd.edu/employment/new_employees_toolkit.shtml

Notre Dame recognizes that spousal employment is an important factor in the decision-making process of prospective faculty and makes a concerted effort to assist spouses with employment opportunities, both at Notre Dame and in the community. Faculty with spouses in academia should discuss this with the department chair as soon as possible.

Assistance is available through the Spousal Employment Network, which exists to provide career search assistance to spouses of prospective and recently hired faculty. The Office of the Provost and the Department of Human Resources are currently developing a University office to address spousal employment needs and issues more completely.

• Learn More: http://hr.nd.edu/employment/spouse_network.shtml

The Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) is a nonprofit, licensed childcare center for children aged 2 to 6 (2 to 9 during the summer). Both full and part time programs are provided; tuition is determined by salary and the number of hours per week the child is enrolled.

• Learn More: http://hr.nd.edu/worklife/ecdc.shtml

See the Office for Human Resources website, Caring for Children, for information about adoption benefits, educational opportunities, summer camps and more.

• Learn More: http://hr.nd.edu/worklife/cfc.shtml

After three years of full-time employment, children of full-time employees who meet standard admission requirements and attend the University of Notre Dame are granted tuition for up to eight semesters. This is full tuition remission for the first year and all but one credit hour of remission for years two through four. Children must be 26 years of age or younger.

After ten years of employment, the university will pay up to 30% of Notre Dame tuition to another institution where children are enrolled.

Notre Dame faculty and their spouses also receive a tuition benefit, which provides 90% tuition remission for undergraduate courses and 100% tuition remission for graduate courses for a maximum of one (1) course up to three (3) credits per semester or summer.

• Learn More: http://hr.nd.edu/benefits/educ_benefits.shtml

The University provides eligible employees with leave at full pay for their own serious health condition; for the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child; or for the care of a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition. All such leaves are consistent with the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). An FMLA leave may be granted for a maximum period of 12 weeks within any twelve-month period.

• Learn More: http://hr.nd.edu/policy/manual/Benefits/fmla.shtml

A faculty member whose due date is at any time during a semester is relieved of all teaching responsibilities during that semester.

• Learn More: http://provost.nd.edu/faculty-handbook/documents/facultyhandbook06.pdf

Untenured members of the teaching and research faculty may elect to extend their probationary period by one year in connection with the arrival of the faculty member’s newborn or adopted child.

• Learn More: http://provost.nd.edu/faculty-handbook/documents/facultyhandbook06.pdf

The College website offers detailed information on a variety of resources for faculty: http://al.nd.edu/resources-for/faculty-and-staff/

• General Resources
• Operations Resources (computer support, copy centers, etc.)
• Faculty Research
• Teaching Resources

Notre Dame is committed to excellent teaching and offers many opportunities for faculty to improve or enhance their teaching.
• Notre Dame’s Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning sponsors workshops, presentations, and consultations that highlight best teaching practices and learning environments. Course development grants are available through the college’s Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and through the Center for Social Concerns . Other resources include the Center for Creative Computing which assists in the integration of digital media with teaching and research, and the Language Resource Center, which offers a variety of resources to support foreign language acquisition.
• The Arts and Letters Office of Undergraduate Studies provides support for class field trips, faculty hosting students for dinner in their homes or lunching together on campus, and other education-enhancing activities.
• Excellence in teaching is recognized through the Sheedy Award, given annually to one or two outstanding teachers in the College, and a number of other awards that recognize outstanding contributions in a variety of areas.

Learn More:
• Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning: http://www.nd.edu/~kaneb/
• Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts: http://www.nd.edu/~isla/
• Center for Social Concerns: http://centerforsocialconcerns.nd.edu/
• Center for Creative Computing: http://creativecomputing.nd.edu/
• Language Resource Center: http://www.nd.edu/~lrc/
• Office of Undergraduate Studies

The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) in the College of Arts and Letters provides grants for faculty research, travel to international conferences, curriculum development, speaker series/conferences, publication subventions and miscellaneous research expenses. These supplement departmental and individual research account funding.

ISLA also disseminates information regarding grants and fellowships available from various agencies and foundations. Faculty interested in pursuing external funding to support their research, writing and/or course development should contact ISLA for assistance in identifying external programs appropriate to their work. ISLA has two professional staff who provide assistance with grant opportunities.

• Learn More: http://isla.nd.edu

The Office of Research offers university-wide assistance in grant application and management, including workshops for grant preparation and compliance training.

Learn More:
• http://www.nd.edu/~research/

Faculty interested in planning and hosting conferences work closely with the Center for Continuing Education, which offers excellent conference facilities and extensive support in planning and managing conferences.

• Learn More: http://cce.nd.edu/

The University’s 12 libraries, housing over 2 million volumes and over 22,000 serials, are an invaluable resource for faculty research. Special strengths of the collection include are Roman Catholic Church history, liturgy, law, and theology; English and American literature; Irish studies; and more generally art, architecture, and science.

• Learn More: http://www.library.nd.edu/

The Center for Social Concerns works with faculty at the University of Notre Dame in many ways. It supports faculty scholarship through the Ganey Award and Ganey Mini-Grants; facilitates faculty teaching through Course Development Grants, and by offering consultations and workshops on community-based learning, and modest funds for conference attendance and materials; and contributes to a variety of faculty interests that coincide with the Center’s mission through its Faculty Fellows Program.

• Learn More: http://socialconcerns.nd.edu/faculty/
• Learn More About Research Centers/Institutes at Notre Dame: http://www.nd.edu/~research/Institutes.html
• Learn More About research areas at Notre Dame: http://www.nd.edu/~research/MonthlySummary/CollegeRsch.html
• View Lumen, Notre Dame’s online magazine for Research, Scholarship and Creativity > http://lumen.nd.edu

In addition to providing seed grants for faculty research and a variety of other functions, the College’s Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) also assists with the process of obtaining external funding. This has contributed to an outstanding record of success in the College. For the fiscal year 2003-2004 alone, faculty in Arts and Letters garnered 78 awards, totaling $11.2 million. Over the past six fiscal years, scholars in the social sciences have had an impressive 64% success rate in external funding, and in the humanities, Notre Dame’s external grant record has been extraordinary.

Faculty at Notre Dame have won more NEH fellowships than faculty at any other university in the country, and Notre Dame has placed fifth overall among research universities for receipt of the top humanities fellowships (NEH, Guggenheim, ACLS, Fulbright, etc.) used by the National Research Council in its rankings.

The University’s Office of Research is another important source of seed grants, assistance with grant applications, and help with award management.

• Learn More: http://www.nd.edu/~research/.

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