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Five years ago, on a frigid January morning, a nearly indescribable journey began for four young women from Nigeria. They came to Notre Dame after being carefully selected by their government, shepherded by senior leaders from the United Nations and the Catholic Church, and anxiously but quietly awaited by a tight circle of supporters on campus.

For a country torn apart by religious violence and where the value of educating girls was constantly questioned, sending this group to a Catholic university on an unfamiliar continent was a gamble, but a risk many felt was worth taking. There were two Christians who had been kidnapped by Muslim terrorists as schoolgirls and endured a harrowing path back to freedom. And there were two Muslims who had encountered devastating violence at the hands of Christians.

They arrived with the chance to pursue an education that could transform their lives, but also, their country hoped, be an example that could help heal their homeland. Maybe, just maybe, if this quartet could go to America and thrive, they could demonstrate all that is possible when strength is built through knowledge and community is founded on forgiveness.

“The symbolism of this was breathtaking,” said Sara Sievers, a former Notre Dame faculty member who served as a host mother to all four. “They had lost all you really can, short of their own lives. But if they could learn to love one another as sisters, then anyone can.”

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The Graduate School is honoring the following people from the College of Arts and Letters Arts: Robert Goulding with the Dick and Peggy Notebaert Award; Susanna De Stradis with the Shaheen Award in the Humanities; Luiz Vilaça with the Shaheen Award in the Social Sciences; and Ester E. Aguirre Alfaro with the Social Justice Award.

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Director of musical theater Matt Hawkins wants to reimagine the way new musicals are brought to the public. Thanks to a grant from Notre Dame Research, Hawkins is collaborating with alumnus Jorge “Jay” Rivera-Herrans ’20 to do just that. The pair’s new musical, My Heart Says Go,” premieres at the South Bend Civic Theatre after the pair produced a studio cast recording as a way to generate interest and awareness. That model is also proving successful for Rivera-Herrans with another musical he’s written, EPIC: The Troy Saga, which began as his senior thesis at Notre Dame and has now become a viral sensation with more than 70 million views on TikTok and debuting as the No. 4 album on iTunes the day of its release.

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Cameron Compton '10 has a thing for beer. Not the “Natty Lights” he drank back in college at the University of Notre Dame. Not the Bud Lights he graduated to when he had a little extra money in his pocket. No, he’s in love with his beer, a hobby-turned-commercial venture called Midwest Coast Brewing, which is among the hottest craft beer breweries and taprooms in Chicago. And March 14, Compton celebrated a milestone: his 343^rd…

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For students at the University of Notre Dame, the unparalleled liberal arts education they receive is grounded in and enhanced by the Catholic intellectual life fostered on campus. Catholicism serves as a foundation for all fields of study — from analyzing the consequences of poverty in an economics class to studying Dante to using graphic design for social good. And it extends beyond the classroom to the development of the whole person, and serving those in need, and being a powerful force for good in the world.

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For Maria Antoniak ’11, a liberal arts education isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about learning what questions to ask. After four years studying great books in the Program of Liberal Studies, she’s now spent nearly a decade working in data and computer science across industry, nonprofit, and academic settings. “The background of PLS helps me engage critically with a dataset,” Antoniak said. “Asking creative and critical and pertinent research questions that try to get at the heart of things as quickly as possible — that comes partly from PLS and diving deeply into a text.”

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Adriana Fazio ’19 went from watching her idol on TV every day to working alongside her. A fan of The Today Show since childhood, it was no surprise that the American studies and film, television, and theatre major chose to explore the career of Katie Couric for her senior thesis. By studying Couric’s career, Fazio set her own in motion — the opportunity to interview the famed journalist ended up leading to a job with Katie Couric Media, where she’s worked across a variety of media projects.

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“Living abroad for the past five years, I was often the first Black and/or American my foreign students met, so I believe it is important for U.S. diplomats abroad to reflect the diverse American population,” said Fauvé Liggans-Hubbard. “These experiences, along with many others, solidified my passion for cultural exchange, and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of a program that aims to increase diversity in the U.S. Foreign Service.”

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"I feel like Notre Dame helped me with seizing opportunities to go abroad," said Hayes, who now is attending Officer Candidate School and plans to join the U.S. Navy. "I had never left the country, other than to go to Canada. And then [at Notre Dame], I saw there were study abroad experiences and grants to go abroad. That really gave me the travel bug."

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Wetzel was attracted to Notre Dame's Reilly Dual Degree program because he could pursue his interests in industrial design and mechanical engineering. As a student, he started a pop-up business and built lofts for peers in residence halls. And in 2012, he created the winning design for The Shirt that students and fans wear to football games. Today, he's a senior product manager at ChartHop.

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The government and international studies major who grew up idolizing Jacques Cousteau and Marlin Perkins said nature shows are nurturing. "They feed your soul. For me, producing these films is rewarding but not in a monetary sense. I continue to do it because there are remarkable, compelling stories in nature."

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Notre Dame alumna Tess Gunty ’15 has won the National Book Award for fiction for her debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch. Born and raised in South Bend, Gunty majored in English with a concentration in creative writing. “My writing professors from Notre Dame uprooted my literary preconceptions and planted far better ideas in their place,” Gunty writes in the book’s acknowledgments. “I cherished their generosity as an undergraduate, and I continue to cherish it now.”

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Roos received the Sheedy Award, the Joyce and Dockweiler Awards for undergraduate teaching and mentorship, and a Notre Dame Presidential Award for service to the campus community. The Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy annually presents the John Roos Award to students with the best senior honors thesis in American politics.

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"We must decide the type of world that we want to live in and make sacrifices and changes to achieve that outcome," said Miller. "Leaders that can grasp just how much has changed between the Middle Ages and the present day will find it easier to find that 'true north' moral conviction to be passionate stewards for change."

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Maps don’t just show us where things are located — for urban planner Asha Barnes ’18, they also reveal stories about who we are and how we live our lives. Majoring in anthropology and Africana studies at Notre Dame allowed Barnes to explore humanity and identity using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She’s now employed these research techniques in her career, continuing to give back by telling the stories of those who have been silenced. “It was through my education that I was able to put to words my own experience as an Afro-American woman living in this country,” said Barnes, now an associate planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “It was through my education at Notre Dame that I was able to learn the skills that I have now to collect and tell the stories of other people and advocate for communities that I’ve worked with.”

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As an undergraduate at Notre Dame in the 1970s, Ann Combs was often the only woman in her classes. But that didn't faze her — in fact, it prepared her for a successful 40-year career in public policy affecting retirement and health care benefits. Combs served in the Department of Labor under three presidents, culminating in being appointed assistant secretary for employee benefits security by President George W Bush. She also worked in the private sector, helping trade associations and private companies navigate Washington, D.C. Throughout it all, the skills she developed and knowledge she gleaned from her Notre Dame liberal arts education served her well in her career. 

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Over the past four years, Tim Keller ’00 has found that leading his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has much more in common with studying art than he initially thought. Being able to analyze and understand the context, history, and circumstances of Albuquerque has helped Keller recognize and address his community’s needs. It’s just one of the many surprising ways art history has re-entered his life since earning his degree — and one of the many skills he developed in his liberal arts education that have remained a constant throughout his career. 

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When the company he worked for let its entire business development team go, David Wallace, 61, founded Bay Ridge Consulting Group, became an independent consultant with Corporate Visions and Culture Partners, co-authored the business book, Brilliant Breakthroughs for the Small Business Owner and occasionally guest lectures at the Mendoza College of Business.“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” he said. “Sometimes it seems like luck, but it was a lot of work to get here.”

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Tambr, which is available on Google Play and the App Store, seeks to give all musicians a way to be heard while allowing them to monetize their music in a new and fair way. “Some musicians are livestreaming performances every week. They are really excited to have a new tool," said Go. "That’s the most gratifying thing for me."

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In addition to teaching, Hedlin will assist with curriculum design and outreach, and work with faculty and staff to build a robust and intellectually serious community around the study of business and the practice of the liberal arts. “My courses are all about experiential learning," she said. "I want students to be active, to try something new together.”

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For Shinjini Chattopadhyay, Ulysses provides a blueprint for understanding modern life in post-colonial times. The winner of Notre Dame's Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award will begin as a tenure-track assistant professor at Berry College in Georgia this fall.

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Ann Hermann, who double-majored in computer science and Chinese, will research comparative tech policy and social media algorithms in the U.S. and China. Susan Peters, who majored in international economics with a concentration in Chinese, will examine effects of recent changes in China’s “cram,” or test-prep, school policies.

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Melinda Henneberger, a 1980 University of Notre Dame alumna and columnist for the Sacramento Bee, won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, journalism’s highest honor. Henneberger was honored for “persuasive columns demanding justice for alleged victims of a retired police detective accused of being a sexual predator,” pieces she wrote while working as vice president and editorial page editor for The Kansas City Star. Graduates of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters have now won Pulitzer Prizes three out of the last four years.

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As a plastic and reconstructive surgery resident at Duke University Medical Center, Natalie (Jackson) Hibshman ’17 applies what she learned at Notre Dame and in medical school to improve the lives of her patients. But there's always more to learn. With every physical problem someone encounters, she’s found there are complicated mental and emotional dynamics entwined with it — and her liberal arts education prepared her to take on the task of treating patients holistically.

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Fathers remain understudied when it comes to contributions they make to their children's health and well-being. “There’s a lot of interest in how dads and other caregivers can help shape the future health of children, and this new work provides insights about the biology that may contribute to those outcomes,”

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Dinah Lawan won the 2022 Gary F. Barnabo Political Science Writing Prize for the best paper about a current national or global issue that provides a plan for specific action and a nonviolent resolution. Lawan recommended a peacebuilding approach to effectively dismantle Boko Haram, which has has killed more than 350,000 people in Nigeria.

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The Illinois resident became interested in studying Chinese when her aunt moved to Beijing to report on the 2008 Olympics. Margaret Rauch thrived in her ND Chinese language classes, completing the highest level in her sophomore year. She then took Classical Chinese and designed an independent research project—three semesters of directed readings that examined Su Xuelin, a May Fourth Intellectual who converted to Catholicism and wrote horny Heart. 

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Irma Ibarra, who spoke Spanish and English when she arrived in South Bend, majored in Italian, studied in Rome, took Beginning French, and wishes she had taken a Portuguese course. Studying French helped Kyle Dorshorst gain a deeper appreciation of French music, literature, art, and culture. Maria Teel loved that her language skills could bridge gaps between people, including at the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. When Fouad El Zoghbi came to Notre Dame, he spoke French, English, and Arabic. Then he studied Spanish. Learning a new language, he said, expands your mind in unimaginable ways.

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The Office of the Provost presented Kimberly Belcher, Ann-Marie Conrado, Blake Leyerle, Forrest Spence, and Michael Macaluso with Joyce Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and presented Maureen Dawson with a Dockweiler Award for outstanding advising.

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Notre Dame alumna Geraldine Mukumbi has been named a 2022 Knight-Hennessy Scholar. She is Notre Dame’s second consecutive Knight-Hennessy Scholar and third in the past four years. An English and Africana studies major, she will now pursue a doctorate in curriculum studies and teacher education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She is interested in interventions in the English classroom that can inspire students to be lifelong readers — particularly, the role that young adult fiction can play in improving the quality of literacy for multilingual students.

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