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Father Hesburgh celebrated in U.S. Capitol: 'A very wonderful day that I’ll never forget'

2013-05-23T10:50:00-04:00

University President Emeritus Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., speaks during a reception in the U.S. Capitol

It was all for him, a celebration of 96 years of a life well-lived, 70 of them as a Catholic priest from Notre Dame, Indiana.

The personal invitation from U.S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. The applause as he entered the wood-paneled Rayburn Room on the House side of the U.S. Capitol. The intimate invocation from Theodore Cardinal McCarrick. The surprise appearance of Vice President Joe Biden. The personal anecdotes, heartfelt adulation and hugs shared by a lineup of senators and members of Congress.

Then there was the double-wide chocolate cake, big enough to feed a few hundred Notre Dame alumni and other Capitol Hill well-wishers and cheerfully inscribed, “Happy Birthday, Father Hesburgh.”

When it came time for him to speak, more than a half-hour into his national birthday party, Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh rose from his seat and stepped toward the podium escorted by University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and Ambassador Timothy Roemer (who earned his master’s degree at Notre Dame in 1981 and his Ph.D. in 1985), who moments before had praised Hesburgh as a priest, civil-rights champion and president of the University of Notre Dame.

Hands firm on the podium, Hesburgh began humbly, dismissing all the storytelling with an Italian saying that he then translated for the benefit of his all-American audience: “By golly, it may not all be true, but it sure sounds good.”

Father Hesburgh’s day trip to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday (May 22) began with a 20-minute visit in the White House with President Barack Obama. When he mentioned the private audience in his remarks to the Rayburn crowd, Pelosi jumped on the chance to tease him. “How’d it go?” she asked. “Tell us about it.”

Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Father Hesburgh

He deftly sidestepped the question. But many in the elegant House chamber adjacent to Pelosi’s office noted how fitting it was that Father Hesburgh, who had made history at several key moments in his life simply by bringing people together, was at it again.

Pelosi, the top House Democrat, co-hosted Father Hesburgh with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who was expected but could not attend the 3 p.m. gathering. Both members of Indiana’s split-party U.S. Senate delegation, Dan Coats and Joe Donnelly, offered appreciative reflections. In all, it was a genuinely bipartisan affair that brought politicians and staffers from “both sides of the Capitol, both sides of the aisle and all sides of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Pelosi said.

Cardinal McCarrick, the other elder statesman of the American Church present in the room, delivered an affectionate preamble to his invocation that recalled remarks he made at the 2008 dedication of the U.S. Institute for Peace headquarters, which Father Hesburgh helped through extensive fundraising to build near the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials on the National Mall.

McCarrick found symbolism in the lights illuminating those three buildings for travelers crossing the Potomac River into the city at night.

“Father Hesburgh brought to this country a new understanding of what a university education should be,” McCarrick said. Hesburgh, he added, also advanced important work the two American presidents had done to advance religious freedom in Jefferson’s case and civil rights for all Americans in Lincoln’s. So Hesburgh’s light shines in all three.

“Every time we see another birthday, he gets younger and younger and more influential than ever in the life of our country,” McCarrick said.

U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly and Steny Hoyer and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi present Father Hesburgh with an American flag

The party came complete with birthday gifts — a framed copy of the text of Pelosi’s memorial to Hesburgh as it appears in the Congressional Record, and a triangular wood-and-glass case containing the flag flown over the Capitol in his honor earlier in the day.

Pelosi’s speech to the House noted the distinction Father Hesburgh received in April when the U.S. Navy named him an honorary chaplain at a ceremony on campus. For Hesburgh, it was the realization of a lifelong dream. When Pelosi congratulated him in person, Hesburgh slowly raised his hand in a salute.

To the right of the podium on an easel stood the famous photograph — on loan from the National Portrait Gallery — of Hesburgh singing, arm in arm with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., at a Chicago rally in support of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Pelosi wondered aloud how long she might be able to hang on to the photograph. “Don’t get too attached,” gallery director Kim Sajet shot back.

Biden recalled criticism of Hesburgh’s work as a Civil Rights Commissioner he’d heard as a young man in his hometown parish. He praised Hesburgh because he did not simply educate Notre Dame students. “You awakened their conscience,” Biden said.

“You’re one of the most powerful unelected officials this nation has ever seen,” he added.

Visibly moved, Father Hesburgh was having none of it. “No one,” he said, “could be as good as the guy you portrayed up here.”

He tried to direct the celebratory spirit toward Notre Dame. Calling America “an enormously beautiful dream,” he described the school he led for 35 years as a place where young people love being Americans and love trying to make the world a better place.

Father Hesburgh blesses Indiana U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly during the reception

“My heart swells with pride at seeing you all here in the nation’s capital,” he told the group, which included several members of Congress who graduated either from Notre Dame or Saint Mary’s College.

Hesburgh thanked Pelosi for “a very wonderful day that I’ll never forget.”

But it was a football coach, not a politician, who may have found the words that most in the room wanted to say.

Ten minutes after the conclusion of the formal program, as people waited in line to offer Father Hesburgh their own birthday wishes, former Notre Dame head football coach Gerry Faust took the microphone to tell about a humbling plane trip early in his Notre Dame tenure when he found himself enjoying a rare seat upgrade and Father Hesburgh riding economy class. Hesburgh kidded him for already being more recognizable than he was after nearly three decades as president of Notre Dame.

“I couldn’t get off that plane fast enough,” Faust said.

“I’ve got thousands of stories of Father Hesburgh [but] I’m going to tell you,” the former coach continued, his voice beginning to break. “Great president. Great priest. And a great person.

“I love him. I couldn’t have asked to work for a better man.”

Rev. James H. McCarthy Laetare Address

2013-05-22T10:00:00-04:00

Delivered at Notre Dame’s 168th University Commencement Ceremony, held May 19, 2013, in Notre Dame Stadium

I can’t help but feel on this Feast of Pentecost some writings of Karl Rahner, who said that the spirit is manifested and known in the devastation of Jesus’ heart on the cross. That has always fascinated me, the coming together of opposites. And I feel, and I want to accept this wonderful gift, if you will, of recognition not simply to those who flank me here, but on behalf of all the families and the siblings and the volunteer catechists who have made this a reality for so many.

I thank you, Father Jenkins, who represents Notre Dame, for recognizing the reality of this need. I have some six different sentences to say to our graduates, because I’m sure this mystery of presence and absence is in your families and in your friends.

May you be surprised by joy as you undertake your life’s work.

May you go beyond your comfort zone to help those who are needy and weak.

May you be blessed with faithful companions as I have been for your journey, and may you be as happy as we have been in building small parish-based communities of faith, inviting those who have intellectual or developmental disabilities, and may those in need become your friends.

And in the simple theology that we say, whenever we are happy to be together, Jesus is with us. I sense that is a reality today for you. Thank you.

Law School’s O’Connell to testify before Congress on citizens’ rights during 'War on Terror'

2013-05-22T07:00:00-04:00

Mary Ellen O’Connell, Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, will testify today (May 22) before the House Judiciary Committee on “Protecting U.S. Citizens’ Constitutional Rights During the War on Terror.”

One of the world’s leading experts on the law respecting targeted killing, O’Connell is author of “What Is War?” and “The Power and Purpose of International Law.” She has testified before Congress numerous times on drones, and again will help clarify the law regarding the Constitutional and human right to life in war and peace. O’Connell’s full testimony is available here.

It is O’Connell’s emphatic belief that targeted killing is “illegal, immoral and dangerous.”

“All human beings possess the right to life, which is protected in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” O’Connell states in her testimony. “‘No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.’ The United States committed to the same duty to protect life when it joined the International Civil and Political Rights Covenant.

O’Connell points out that some loss of life may be justified.

“In peacetime, a state may take a human life when ‘absolutely necessary in the defense of persons from unlawful violence.’ Police and other authorized agents of the state may resort to lethal force to save a life immediately or to apprehend a highly dangerous individual who resists arrest.

“During an armed conflict, troops will not face criminal charges for killing enemy fighters, so long as they respect the law of armed conflict, including that civilians never be intentionally targeted unless and only for such time as the civilian takes direct part in armed conflict hostilities,” O’Connell clarifies.

For five years, O’Connell chaired the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force, which defined armed conflict as always having at least two minimum characteristics, including the presence of organized armed groups engaged in intense inter-group fighting within limited combat zones. O’Connell says it is only in such zones that killing enemy combatants is permissible.

“Because armed conflict requires a certain intensity of fighting,” O’Connell states in her testimony, “the isolated terrorist attack, regardless of how serious the consequences, is not an armed conflict. Terrorism is, therefore, generally categorized as a crime, although in some circumstances, it may be carried out so continuously as to be the equivalent of an armed conflict. A single, isolated act of terrorism is consistently treated by states as crime, not armed conflict.”

O’Connell states, “References by Bush and Obama administration officials to the right of self-defense offer no justification for using force or exercising wartime privileges beyond Afghanistan.”

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, will speak Thursday (May 23) at the National Defense University on the rules his administration has developed regarding killing with drones.

However, as O’Connell emphasizes in her testimony, “The United States and the world have rules with respect to the fundamental right to life firmly in place. They are the rules found in our Constitution, the United Nations Charter and Geneva Convention.”

O’Connell recently published in The New York Times: “When can the US kill one of its own?” and “The Questions Brennan Can’t Dodge.” O’Connell and her views on drones were featured in the LA Times article: “In legal battle against drone strikes, she’s on the front lines.”

O’Connell is vice president of the American Society of International Law. Her areas of specialty are international legal regulation of the use of force and conflict and dispute resolution.

Contact: Mary Ellen O’Connell, 574-631-7953, maryellenoconnell@nd.edu

Statement from Father Jenkins on tornado devastation

2013-05-21T10:45:00-04:00

The following is a statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, on the tornadoes that swept through parts of the nation on May 19 and 20, causing numerous deaths and injuries:

“The prayers of the Notre Dame community are with all who have been affected by the devastating tornado that swept across Oklahoma, in particular, as well as Texas and Kansas. To those who have lost loved ones, you have our deepest condolences. To those who have been injured, may God provide you with comfort and healing. To those who have responded with assistance to this tragedy, you have our heartfelt appreciation. And to those who are able, please consider donating to relief efforts through organizations such as Catholic Charities USA and the American Red Cross.”

Mendoza College offers 10-day program to develop executives in Catholic organizations

2013-05-21T08:00:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame Nonprofit Professional Development program, located at the Mendoza College of Business, is offering a 10-day leadership program for executives in Catholic organizations. Held July 8-18 in the Giovanini Commons in the College’s lower level, the Catholic Leadership Certificate Program offers a range of topics vital for organizational development within the context of furthering the Catholic mission.

“The leaders attending this program face some very unique challenges,” said Marc Hardy, director of Nonprofit Executive Programs. “As with any business, they’re responsible for creating a strategy of growth, often amidst limited resources and exponentially increasing demands for services. At the same time, they want to be effective not just in the business sense, but in serving the Church. We supply them with a toolkit of knowledge and skills that help them to meet this twofold challenge.”

Hardy noted that 2013 marks the fifth year the Catholic Leadership Certificate has been offered as part of the commitment of the Mendoza College and the Nonprofit Executive Program to advancing the work of Catholic organizations. The tuition of $495 for the 10-day session, which includes most meals, is steeply discounted to allow nonprofit executives to attend. Registration deadline is July 1 (Monday).

The program includes sessions in:

Employment law

Implementing mission in practical ways in everyday operations

Measuring effectiveness and impact

Budgeting and finance

Nonprofit board governance

The instructors include faculty members from the Mendoza College and others from the University, as well as nonprofit executives and consultants. Sister Melanie DiPietro, director of Seton Hall University Law School Center for Religiously Affiliated Corporations, will present a special session on canon and civil law.

Contact: Marc Hardy, 574-631-1087, mhardy@nd.edu

Graduating seniors honored for commitment to postgraduate service

2013-05-20T16:00:00-04:00

One hundred sixty-nine University of Notre Dame graduating seniors embarking on a year or more of service in this country and abroad were honored during the University’s annual Service Send-Off ceremony on May 18 (Saturday) in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Leighton Concert Hall.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, commended the seniors for their commitment to service. Nearly a quarter of the graduates will join the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) or programs that share its model to serve as educators in the nation’s Catholic schools. Others will serve in the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Still others will mentor AIDS orphans in South Africa, cultivate sustainable agriculture in the South Pacific islands, foster spiritual formation in the nation’s parishes, or provide a host of other services that match the mission of Notre Dame.

Elizabeth Moriarty, Class of 2000 and 2007, whose postgraduate experiences included work in an addiction recovery program, in the Catholic Worker program offering hospitality to homeless families, and as a jail chaplain, offered the gathered students: “You and I are called to go out from here … to practice the works of mercy. This is not service. This is sharing life. What I mean is that these are not to be reduced to things we do for a year or two and then get back on track with the real plan. These are the first steps of the rest of your life. This is a path for meeting and loving Jesus. These choices will define who you are now and who you will become as teachers, mothers, fathers, priests, nuns, business people, community organizers, artists or doctors. It is not a retreat or a chance to take a step back for a year off from the real world. It’s a year on."

Graduating senior Gabriela Hernandez, who is undecided on her postgraduate service experience, introduced Father Jenkins. Graduating senior Carl David Jones II, who will serve with ACE in Jacksonville, Fla., introduced Moriarty, and graduating senior Abigail McCrary, who will serve with the Dominican Volunteer Corps in New York, introduced Rev. Paul V. Kollman, C.S.C., executive director of the Center for Social Concerns (CSC).

In introducing Father Kollman, McCrary spoke of how blessed she has been as a student at the CSC and at the University. “Father John Dunne, a Notre Dame professor of theology, writes, ‘The crossing over and coming back are the greatest spiritual adventures of our time.’ Service allows individuals the opportunity to engage with others in a new context and gain insight and perspective. I have been immensely blessed in my four years at Notre Dame to have the opportunity to cross over multiple times — from South Bend elementary schools to Westville Prison to India to Uganda — and these experiences have come to define me and my time at this university.”

Father Kollman, in addressing the graduates, said, “You are embarking on something that shows your openness to learn and grow, give and receive. You enter a new university, which L’Arche founder Jean Vanier calls ‘the university of the poor.’ You embrace an internship of sorts, an internship in vulnerability. And you will continue to grow, of that we can be sure. Whether you head to Tanzania or Toronto, into a classroom or a boardroom, whether you teach or learn or pray or listen or fold laundry, or all of these things, you will grow. Lonely or rich in companions, you will grow. Happy or sad, sick or well, you will grow.”

Among the service programs in which this year’s Notre Dame graduates will participate are ACE, which provides teachers for understaffed parochial schools in dioceses across the United States; Notre Dame’s Echo Faith Formation Leadership Program, which trains and provides religious educators for Catholic parishes; the Peace Corps; AmeriCorps; Nuestro Pequenos Hermanos, which cares for orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean; Jesuit Volunteer Corps; and Teach For America.

Many of the graduates became involved in service and social action through the programs and courses of the Center for Social Concerns. They join a community of more than 4,000 Notre Dame alumni who have chosen postgraduate volunteer service since the Center was founded in 1983.

Contact: Mike Hebbeler, director, senior transitions programs, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-5779, Hebbeler.2@nd.edu

Engineering assistant professor Ruilan Guo receives CAREER Award

2013-05-20T16:00:00-04:00

Ruilan Guo

Ruilan Guo, an assistant professor in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been named a recipient of a 2013 U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Development Research Program award. The program, now in its fourth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work.

Guo’s primary research interests are focused on development and characterization of novel polymeric materials with applications in areas impacting both energy and the environment. Her research topics include studies on molecular design, synthesis and characterization of new co-polymers for cleaner energy production (fuel cells), high-performance polymer membranes for gas/liquid separations and water purification, structure-property relationship of polymer networks/gels, atomistic study on polymer-free volume, and polymer coatings.

Her Early Career Development Research Program project is titled, “Design Synthesis and Characterization of Tripycene-Containing Macromolecules with Hierarchically Controlled Architectures as Functional Membrane Materials for Energy Applications.” Membrane technology, which takes advantage of materials’ selectivity rather than energy to perform separations, is a promising approach because of its low-energy consumption, environmental friendliness, modularity and reliability. The objective of her research is to design and develop a new platform of high-performance functional polymeric membranes with hierarchically controlled architectures derived from three-dimensional, shape-persistent triptycene molecular units.

Guo earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. She earned her doctorate from Georgia Tech and completed postdoctoral research at Virginia Tech.

Guo joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2012.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan Commencement Address

2013-05-20T14:00:00-04:00

Delivered at Notre Dame’s 168th University Commencement Ceremony, held May 19, 2013 in Notre Dame Stadium

Thank you, Notre Dame, for the joy of your company, the gracious invitation, the warm welcome, and the high honor of this degree.

It was so obvious I almost missed it . . .

See, ever since, almost a year ago, Father Jenkins, with characteristic thoughtfulness, invited me to deliver this commencement address, I’ve been mulling over just what to say to you, class of 2013.

Only Friday a week ago I still had not yet completed this talk, and I got on the train in New York City to travel to D.C. In Philadelphia, a distinguished looking man boarded the train and sat next to me.

He turned out to be a fanatical, in-your-face, obnoxious Notre Dame alumnus! You ever met one? Nice to meet you! Now I guess I am proudly one, after the privilege of this honorary degree which I so appreciate and cherish! He begins to speak with obviously radiant pride and gratitude about Notre Dame, telling me his faithful Jewish parents wanted him to attend a Catholic college – - because, in their words. “The Church founded the universities, and educate better than anybody else” – - and reporting to me that, even as a faithful Jew, he considers his four years here at this Catholic university a gift beyond measure. When I told him I’d be here for graduation, he beamed.

“Father,” he went on, holding my arm and looking me in the eye, “let me tell you the secret of Notre Dame. It’s not the library, as first-rate as it is; it’s not the professors and courses, as stellar as they are; it’s not the campus, as enchanting as it is, or even the football team, as legendary as it is. No, the secret of Notre Dame is really a person, whom we Jews call ‘Miriam,’ and you Christians call ‘Mary.’ She’s there . . . she looks down from the ‘golden dome’; and, if you really want to discover the secret of Notre Dame, visit that grotto you Catholics call “Lourdes.” There’s something there . . . no, there’s someone there . . . we call her Notre Dame, and she’s the secret of her university.”

Thank you, Howard. Hope you’re listening to me now, as you promised me on that train you would. Because with those words you solved the riddle about what I should say in these few moments. That was Mother’s Day weekend; it was May, the month dedicated to her; and I had just returned, with fifty sick and disabled people, from a pilgrimage to the “real” Lourdes in France. So obvious I had almost missed it . . . I’m going to speak of Notre Dame . . . Notre Dame . . . our Lady . . . Mary, the mother of Jesus.

One can make the point that she’s perhaps the most important human person ever. Even history itself is divided “before” and “after” the birth she gave to her firstborn. She was there at Christmas at His birth; at Cana, His first miracle; at the foot of the cross; at Pentecost, the feast we celebrate today.

“But when the appointed time came, God sent His own Son, born of a woman . . .” St. Paul writes the Galatians;

“And while there in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to her firstborn . . .” records St. Luke;

“Mary said to the servants at Cana. ‘Do whatever He tells you . . .’ ’’ reports St. John;

“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother . . .” recalls the Beloved Disciple;

“The apostles were in continuous prayer, together with Mary, the mother of Jesus . . .” writes St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, in the account of Pentecost.

Notre Dame . . . Our Lady . . .

John Ruskin held that “every brightest and loftiest achievement of the arts, dreams, advancement, and progress of humanity has been but the fulfillment of that poor Israelite woman’s prayer, ‘He who is mighty has magnified me!’ . . .”

While Wordsworth extolled her as “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.”

“All things rising, all things sizing, Mary sees sympathizing . . .”

. . . claims Gerard Manley Hopkins, as you, the class of 2013, have sensed her maternal presence “rising, sizing, and sympathizing” these blessed years on a campus wrapped in her mantle, and praise God that Father Sorin and that pioneer band of priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross placed this most noble endeavor under her patronage from day one 171 years ago.

Might I propose to you, my new classmates, class of 2013, that she’s not just our patroness, but our model. It all comes down to this: she – - Miriam, Mary, Notre Dame, our Lady – - humbly, selflessly, generously, with trust, placed her life in God’s hands, allowing her life to unfold according to His plan. She gave God’s son a human nature; she gave the Eternal Word – - God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity – - flesh. That’s called the Incarnation. God became one of us.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” The Incarnation . . .

Now, as you complete years at this acclaimed university dedicated to her, you are asked the same pivotal question the Archangel Gabriel once posed to her: will you let God take flesh in you? Will you give God a human nature? Will He be reborn in you? Will the Incarnation continue in and through you?

I dare say you gratefully claim that God’s Word has certainly taken flesh on this campus in your years here: in your classes and professors, in your friends and service projects, in the prayer and sacraments, in the “all-nighters” and exams, in the memories and promises.

And now it’s your turn to let God take flesh in your lives.

You can answer the way Mary did, “Let it be done to me according Thy will” – - Fiat . . . or, you can reply with a term New Yorkers use, “forgetaboutit!”

Notre Dame challenges us to reply, Fiat! Yes! For, at her best, this university has the heart of Mary, meaning this university gives us Jesus and His Church, and clings to them both with love, loyalty, and service.

Here at Notre Dame we do not strive to be like Harvard or Oxford, but like Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, Calvary, and the Upper Room at Pentecost . . .with Mary, as the “Word becomes flesh” in the one who called Himself “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Here our goal is not just a career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve gotten but what we’re giving; not just the now but eternity; not just the “I” but the “we”; not just the grades but the gospel.

My friend on that train ride ten days ago, now my fellow alumnus of this university, will be glad to know that I took him up on it. Last night I snuck down to discover the secret of Notre Dame. Kind of a cool breeze off the lake; the voices of visiting families and friends, the songs, and laughter subsided as I got close; there were the candles, hundreds of them, with wax droppings to remind us of prayers of past generations; there many of you were, kneeling, standing, sitting on the ground; there was quiet, there was a welcome; there was light; there was peace; there was warmth; there was Notre Dame, Mary, our Lady.

There was Bethlehem, as I saw moms, dads and grandparents beaming over their babies of twenty-two years ago, now graduates;

There was Nazareth, as families were united in prayers of thanksgiving;

There was Cana, as students remembered miracles;

There was Calvary, as one or two of you had tears in your eyes, perhaps recalling a past or present cross or crown of Thorns, made a bit more bearable by the one also called the Pieta.

There was Pentecost, as this class whispered that favorite prayer of Father Hesburgh, united with Our Lady and the apostles in that Upper Room, Come, Holy Spirit!

There, I joined my prayers with yours, with hers, and entrusted her university, with her call, her mission, her Catholic identity, her excellence, yoked to the truth of the Gospel;

There I prayed for this class of 2013, their folks and families;

There I prayed for Bishop Rhoades, and for our much missed Bishop D’Arcy, for Father Jenkins, the board, the alumni, the benefactors, the faculty, staff, for Father Dick Warner and Congregation of the Holy Cross.

There I prayed for you, Howard . . . because, on that train ride, you were right: at this grotto there’s a touch of the transcendent, a hint of the beyond, a whisper of the sacred, that reminds us that we’re not just minds and bodies, but hearts and immortal souls, called not to a “crap shoot” called life but an adventure in fidelity that beckons us to cast out to the deep, and, yes, even walk on water toward Him, the Son of God, the Son of Mary; she’d remind us that He has a plan for us, that these years of college have been a part of it, and that we’re happiest when our plans are consonant with His.

There indeed was the secret of Notre Dame, not something but someone: our Lady, who gave the Divine a human nature, and invites us, equipped, please God, with what she’s given us here, to do the same!

Congratulations Class of 2013.

May Jesus Christ be praised!

May Notre Dame, our Lady, reign in our hearts! Tell the world our secret!

Commencement 2013: A Look Back

2013-05-19T16:00:00-04:00

A chance Mother’s Day encounter with a Jewish alumnus of Notre Dame provided Cardinal Timothy Dolan, principal speaker at the 168th University Commencement Ceremony, with the inspiration for his address: The proud graduate revealed to Cardinal Dolan the “secret” that makes Notre Dame great. (Watch Video / Read Address)

“‘It’s not the library, as first-rate as it is. It’s not the professors and the courses, as stellar as they are. It’s not the campus, as enchanting as it is, or even the football team, as legendary as it is, or even the magnificent service projects,’” Cardinal Dolan told the graduates. “‘No, the secret of Notre Dame is really a person, who we Jews call Miriam and you Christians call Mary. She’s there. She looks down from that Golden Dome, and if you really want to discover the secret of Notre Dame,’ my friend went on, ‘visit that Grotto that you Catholics call Lourdes. There’s something there. No, he concluded, there’s someone there. We call her Notre Dame and she’s the secret of this university.’”

Cardinal Dolan is archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the ceremony, at which 2,078 undergraduates received their diplomas on Sunday (May 19) in Notre Dame Stadium.

“You, the class of 2013, have sensed Mary’s maternal presence, ‘rising, sizing and sympathizing’ these blessed years on a campus wrapped in her mantle, and as you praise God that Father Sorin and that pioneer band of priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross placed this most noble endeavor under her patronage from day one 171 years ago. So may I propose to you, my new classmates, that she’s not just our patroness; she’s our model.”

Dolan urged graduates to consider their experiences in a fuller light: “Here our goal is not just a career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve gotten, but what we’re giving; not just the now, but eternity; not just the ‘I,’ but the ‘we’; not just the grades, but the gospel."

Mallory Meter, a psychology major from Beverly Hills, Mich., delivered the valedictory address. (Watch Video / Read Address) Stressing the importance of living “every single day fully aware, present, and conscious and to never stop searching for the beauty in the present moment,” Meter said she recognized that “…this ability is one that few people ever achieve and if they do, it is often too late. This lack of awareness is why the phrase ‘you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone’ seems to be a truism of the human condition. It is why 30 years ago will always be the good old days, and it is why that intangible pin-prick we call nostalgia is so often accompanied by a sense of sadness. But what if we could learn at our young age to live with a constant awareness of the beauty in the world and in our lives? What if we could realize that these days are the good old days, and what if we could appreciate what we have while it’s still in our grasp?

“This place taught us to think critically, to reason, to evaluate, to debate, to question, and to create, and these are the tools it takes to avoid living unconsciously, prodded along by nothing but outside pressures and expectations. The things we have learned here can force us to see the beauty in the mundane and to appreciate and value the present. If we can use these tools Notre Dame has given us, I truly believe we can make the world a better place.”

Sister Susanne Gallagher, S.P.; Sister Mary Therese Harrington, S.H.; and Rev. James H. McCarthy, founders of the Special Religious Education Development Network (SPRED), received Notre Dame’s 2013 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.

“May you be surprised by joy as you undertake your life’s work,” Father McCarthy told the graduates. (Watch Video / Read Address) “May you go beyond your comfort zone to help those in need. May you be blessed with faithful companions for your journey. May those in need become your friends. As we say with them, you see, whenever we are happy together, Jesus is with us.”

2013 Laetare Medalists and Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

SPRED’s ministry began in 1960, when Father McCarthy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, began working with parents, special educators and catechist volunteers of several archdiocesan parishes to make Catholic liturgies and catechesis more accessible to children and adult parishioners with developmental disabilities. Sister Harrington, a member of the Society of Helpers, joined him in 1963 to help with catechetical and administrative work, and Sister Gallagher, a member of the Sisters of Providence, joined them in 1967, assisting both with administration and the training of new special catechists.

Energized by the renewed emphasis on catechesis in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, SPRED’s ministry expanded beyond Chicago in the 1960s and now the 52-year-old network administers faith formation and sacramental initiation programs for people with special needs in 28 Catholic dioceses and 200 parishes nationwide (including in Notre Dame’s own diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend) as well as small faith groups in several other countries including England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, South Africa, Malta and Mexico.

Mallory Meter valedictory address

2013-05-19T16:00:00-04:00

Delivered at Notre Dame’s 168th University Commencement Ceremony, held May 19, 2013 in Notre Dame Stadium

Cardinal Dolan, Father Jenkins, distinguished faculty and guests, family, friends and fellow graduates: When I began to consider what I would say in this address, I was overwhelmed by the amount I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. My initial thought was that I wanted it to be unique. So many of these speeches are the same, using cliché after cliché to get one’s point across. As I considered this idea further, I was struck by the realization that these addresses are so often delivered in this way because that is, perhaps, the simplest and most genuine way of communicating a message that is otherwise impossible to articulate. In light of this insight, then, my message to you today will proceed in just three simple steps. It is a message that we can use to find meaning in those thousands of Notre Dame moments, and it is a message, I hope, that we will all carry in our hearts for the millions of little moments to come.

Allow me, then, to begin with step one: say something shocking to grab the audience’s attention. There were many moments I did not like at Notre Dame while I experienced them. For starters, the uncertainty I felt upon arriving here was not exactly quelled by the depletion of dignity I experienced during Frosh-O and Domerfest, or by the total annihilation of the little dignity I still possessed when I was forced to put on a Speedo and complete the swim test a week later. Then there were the dorm parties. After the sixteenth time of opening a dorm room door only to be pummeled by a wall of heat, the sound of “Party in the USA”, and the smell of cheap beer, I began to question whether or not the social life at Notre Dame was for me. If I decided to forgo one of these gatherings, though, that was OK, because I likely had twenty hours of homework to complete. Surely my friends at other schools didn’t have this much work to do, and even if they did, they only had to focus on classes for their major which they declared at the beginning of Freshman year. No, I had to juggle hour after hour of literature, history, mathematics, science, religion, and some strange topic my professor called philosophy. Then, when I had finished all of my homework and the light at the end of the tunnel was finally visible, there were applications to be completed. Nearly everything at Notre Dame seems to require an application with no less than four recommendation letters. In fact, a required polygraph test seemed like the next logical step in the study abroad application process. And then there was the religion thing. As someone who has gone to a Catholic school since Kindergarten, I consider myself a kind of expert when it comes to the ins and outs of a Catholic education, but even I quickly came to realize that the importance of religion here was a categorically different kind of beast. After just a few weeks I actually began to see the shape of the cross in my toast and to develop a vague sense of being watched at all times. And last but not least, there was the never-ending responsibility thrust upon me as a Notre Dame student to always smile and nod politely as my waiter told me about the time his bosses’ cousin’s neighbor went to Notre Dame.

I’m sure many, if not all, of you can relate to at least one of these experiences, and this brings me to step two: cite a quote to make sense out of everything you just said. When Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Slaughterhouse Five”, is asked by his wife what it was like to be a prisoner of war in World War II, his reaction is startling. Instead of reading a horrific account of the experience, the reader turns the page to see his response carved as an epitaph on his tombstone which reads, “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.” Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. When I first read this in high school, I didn’t understand what this meant. I thought about that quote every once in awhile, however, and now, six years later, I think I finally understand what Billy was trying to say. I understand because when I think back on these past four years, not only are the good memories the clearest, but even those things that seemed awful at the time now seem beautiful. We met our best friends during Frosh-O weekend, and Domerfest and the swim test are the things we laugh about now. When we think back to dorm parties, they now seem like a rite of passage, a kind of relic from a simpler time.

Now when we think about the strenuous academic requirements at Notre Dame, we realize that we were being immersed in topics that few would ever have the privilege of learning about, and that this immersion was led by some of the greatest minds and most respected scholars in the world. While our friends didn’t have to memorize Freud’s theory of sexual development, construct a comparative analysis on the messages of Christ and Muhammad, and understand electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions all in one night, we did, and it was empowering. School was impossible at times, but when I look back now, the clearest memory I have is not of the stress I felt at one in the morning on the fourth night of finals week. No, what I remember is the comfort of looking around the library and coming to the realization that all of you were right there with me, your presence pushing me along. What I remember is the audible buzz of hundreds of people learning at once, the sight of tables barely visible underneath empty coffee cups and books, and the strange feeling of euphoria I experienced as my friends and I all looked up and laughed at once for no reason other than pure delirium. Those applications were difficult, too, but now we realize that the opportunities they allowed us to have will forever be some of the most formative experiences of our lives. They allowed us to build homes in Appalachia and to empower young girls in Cambodia. They allowed us to apply what we had learned about finance, political science, and chemistry at some of the most prestigious businesses, social organizations, and laboratories in the world. And for some of us, they allowed us to live and learn in another country where we got to feel the salt air as we climbed the cliffs of Dover, stand so close to Van Gogh’s paintings of sunflowers that we could see every intricate brushstroke, and begin to dream in Spanish, French, and Italian.

Somewhere along the way, the emphasis on religion at Notre Dame became beautiful too. For those of us who are Catholic, perhaps our faith was strengthened. For those of us from the countless other denominations who are here today, perhaps the continuous engagement in questions pertaining to religion resulted in answers that served to confirm the beliefs you already held. And for those of us who do not adhere to any type of religion, perhaps the presence of religion was, at the very least, comforting, because, in the end, whether you pray to the Blessed Mother, bow towards Mecca five times a day, or live your life based on reason and the principles of kindness and fairness, we are all human beings attempting to be the best people we can be. In this sense, then, what the importance at Catholicism at Notre Dame reflected most was an attempt to challenge us to create a set of values by which we will always strive to be good, loving, and humble human beings.

We all had unique experiences during our time here, but all of the things that, at the time, were an annoyance or difficult now seem beautiful. Just as Billy Pilgrim saw the whole of his life as beautiful, our four years here now seem to be nothing short of perfectly invaluable, and this brings me to my third and final step: give a piece of advice. In keeping with my goal of making this address unique, my advice will not be to follow your dreams or to work hard. I have watched you all for four years. You are some of the most driven and capable people I have ever known, and there is no doubt in my mind that you will find success. My piece of advice to myself and to you all is something far more important, and it is to live every single day fully aware, present, and conscious and to never stop searching for the beauty in the present moment. While this might seem simple, it is not. In fact, I believe that this ability is one that few people ever achieve and if they do, it is often too late. This lack of awareness is why the phrase “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone” seems to be a truism of the human condition. It is why thirty years ago will always be the good old days, and it is why that intangible pin-prick we call nostalgia is so often accompanied by a sense of sadness. But what if we could learn at our young age to live with a constant awareness of the beauty in the world and in our lives? What if we could realize that these days are the good old days, and what if we could appreciate what we have while it’s still in our grasp?

My fellow graduates, I believe with my whole heart that we can accomplish this. I’m not saying it will be easy. There are countless forces in today’s world working against us. As the world continues to move at a quicker pace, competition grows fierce, and Darwin’s idea of the survival of the fittest has never seemed more applicable. This, unfortunately, makes it difficult to slow down for even a moment lest we lose our lead in the race. Furthermore, beauty is often difficult to find amidst the war, genocide, poverty, and hunger that seems to plague our world. Despite these obstacles, however, I believe we can achieve this goal because of the education we received at Notre Dame. This place taught us to think critically, to reason, to evaluate, to debate, to question, and to create, and these are the tools it takes to avoid living unconsciously, prodded along by nothing but outside pressures and expectations. The things we have learned here can force us to see the beauty in the mundane and to appreciate and value the present. If we can use these tools Notre Dame has given us, I truly believe we can make the world a better place because if we are constantly aware of ourselves and of the good in this world, then perhaps we can be more aware of the good in others and strive to make this goodness known.

This is a realization that required thousands of little moments here at Notre Dame to arrive at, and in this very moment, this moment of opportunity and change, it is of the utmost importance. With this new realization, then, let us begin this awareness today. Let us honor our education by going out into the world and by using this awareness as a source of hope and healing for all. And most importantly, do not see today as an ending, because endings, which by their very nature so often hurt, also mark beginnings, and the beginning is a beautiful thing.

In closing, I want to thank every single one of you, my best friends, the people I met once, and the people I have yet to meet. It has been an honor to experience these four years with you. It has been an honor to live with you, to swim with you, to cheer with you. It has been an honor to learn with you and to learn from you, and it has been an honor, perhaps one of the greatest honors of my life, to become an adult with you. So, in the end, even though sometimes things in the present moment did hurt, our time together at this place was beautiful, and not merely because of the privilege of receiving a Notre Dame education. No, so much of that beauty also came from the privilege of experiencing the beauty inside each and every one of you. Class of 2013, I wish everything and more for you. I wish the world for you. Congratulations.

Graduates urged to exhibit intellectual curiosity and 'grit' at Graduate School Commencement

2013-05-18T18:00:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame’s Graduate School recognized 438 master’s and 213 doctoral degree recipients and presented several awards during Commencement ceremonies Saturday (May 18) in the Compton Family Ice Arena.

Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University and formerly provost and the Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History at Notre Dame, delivered the Commencement address.

Hatch focused on the themes of curiosity and grit in his remarks.

“This morning I want to leave you with two simple messages, the first about intellectual curiosity and the importance of learning as an end in itself; the second, about what scholars are now calling ‘grit’ or resilience,” he said.

Hatch explained that there were two reasons for his emphasis on intellectual curiosity.

“First, it is crucial for the vitality of your own sense of calling long-term,” he said. “Whether you will be spending time teaching, or in research, in public service, or in management, keeping alive a flame of curiosity will give motivation and meaning to what you do. Thomas Jefferson once said that the best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. Your work will continue to seem worth doing if it is animated by sustained inquiry.”

Hatch noted that he was also emphasizing intellectual curiosity because the ideal of learning for its own sake is under steady assault amid demands that the primary purpose of higher education should be its economic utility.

“This kind of accountability may have its place, but it also brings into question the value of learning itself and the vital importance of a liberal arts education — in a time when in Andrew Delbanco’s eloquent rendering, the liberal arts are becoming marginal or merely ornamental.

“All of us need to redouble our efforts to defend the ‘higher’ purposes of a college education despite our economic woes, just as C.S. Lewis did in his address during World War II, ‘Learning in Wartime:’ In that address he defended the importance of the life of the mind even when civilization was literally crumbling.”

Hatch explained that “grit” is important for two reasons. The first is related to the fact that today’s generation of students tends to have many and varied interests.

“My advice to you, as young professionals, is to become really good at something,” he said. “It is better to master one discrete thing than dabble in ten interesting projects. Being the faithful steward of a small responsibility will convince others you can be entrusted with larger things.”

Hatch noted that grit is important for another reason.

“Your generation needs to cultivate a second quality of ‘grit:’ to understand how to cope with disappointment and failure,” he said. “The timeless, if uncomfortable, truth is that true strength of character is almost always forged by encountering and overcoming failure.”

In conclusion, Hatch said, “This morning, I extend the heartiest congratulations on this special day. And I commend to you the conjoined virtues of relentless curiosity and sustained focus and hard work.”

The recipients of several Graduate School awards also were recognized during the Commencement ceremony.

The top graduating doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences, science and engineering were honored with the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Graduate School Awards.

Bernard Sensale Rodríguez, an electrical engineering Ph.D., was the recipient for engineering. His research focus was on ultra-high frequency, or terahertz, electronics and their diverse applications. He will assume a tenure-track position this fall as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah.

In the social sciences, Laura K. Taylor, a peace studies and psychology Ph.D., was the recipient. The primary focus of her research was on children’s psychological development in areas of war, and ethnic conflict and violence — specifically in Columbia, Northern Ireland and Croatia. In the fall, she will assume a tenure track position in the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Major Gooyit, a chemistry Ph.D., was the recipient in the sciences. His research was focused on illuminating the progression mechanisms of a number of major human diseases — notably stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, and diabetic wounds — and the development of therapeutic strategies. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Scripps Research Institute, a leading biomedical research laboratory.

Theresa O’Byrne, a Medieval Studies Ph.D., was the recipient in the humanities. O’Byrne has made original discoveries about late medieval Anglo-Irish literature that have established her as a rising star in the medieval literary field. She will be joining the faculty at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award was presented to Richard D. Connell. Connell was graduated from Notre Dame in 1989 with a doctorate in organic chemistry. He was honored for his achievements in pharmaceutical research and development as well as his accomplishments as a leader at two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies: Bayer and Pfizer.

Jennifer Tank, The Ludmilla F, Stephen J., and Robert T. Galla Collegiate Chair in Biological Sciences at Notre Dame, was honored as the 2013 recipient of the University’s Rev. James A. Burns. C.S.C., Graduate School Award. The award is given annually to a faculty member for distinction in teaching or other exemplary contributions to graduate education and honors the first Notre Dame president with an advanced degree.

Kathie Newman in the Department of Physics was recognized as this year’s Director of Graduate Studies Award winner and Nancy Davis from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering was named recipient of this year’s Graduate Administrative Assistant Award.

Nathan Hatch Graduate School Commencement address

2013-05-18T17:55:00-04:00

Delivered at Notre Dame Graduate School Commencement Ceremony, held May 18, 2013 in the Compton Family Ice Arena

It is a double honor to return to this place, which so profoundly nurtured my own sense of calling as a teacher, scholar, and administrator. I arrived here in the fall of 1975 as a newly minted historian of early America. I found the History Department and the College of Arts and Letters an ideal academic home: impeccable intellectual standards, great commitment to teaching, and creative thought about what kind of discourse should animate a distinct place like Notre Dame. I remember fondly the intimidating intellectual presence of Father Marvin O’Connell, the powerful intellects of Marshall Smelser and Fred Pike, the good cheer of Vincent DeSantis, the wisdom of Philip Gleason, who seems to have read every book about any subject, the great teaching of Father Tom Blantz, the
stimulation of other new young colleagues like Jay Dolan, John Van Engen, Tom Kselman, and Diane Murray.

I also remember the fateful day, when Mike Loux, a new dean of Arts and Letters, called two weeks before classes began in the fall to see if I would stop what I was doing to take on a job in administration. Mike was a brilliant leader and, under his tutelage, I became intrigued with the challenges of working, on behalf of one’s colleagues, to strengthen this university. It was a distinct privilege to work with Provost Tim O’Meara and Father Ted Hesburgh. Father Monk Malloy gave me the enormous privilege of serving as Provost here and I learned a tremendous amount from him as well as from colleagues in the Provost office: Carol Mooney, Father Tim Scully, John AffleckGraves,Father John Jenkins, Chris Maziar, and Dennis Jacobs. My debts here are many and large, indeed.

It is also an honor to be here on this special day for those of you receiving graduate degrees from Notre Dame. Let me salute your signal accomplishments. This is a day to celebrate, to take note of all that your newly minted degree represents, and to give thanks to family and colleagues who helped make possible your course of study.

One thing I can promise those of you who are being awarded degrees today. The value of your graduate diploma from this place has never been higher. Notre Dame has been in the business of graduate education for a long time, for over 75 years, but the University’s ascendency as a research university and its commitment to graduate education has been marked in recent years. I was privileged to have a small hand in these efforts some twenty years ago. But the progress in recent years has been remarkable: investment in graduate support, in laboratories, in the library, and, most importantly, in bringing to Notre Dame faculty of the first rank.

Let me congratulate Father John Jenkins, Provost Tom Burish and especially Vice President and Senior Associate Provost Chris Maziar, who is also serving as Interim Dean of the Graduate School. Also, let me acknowledge the deans of the colleges, and so many faculty who have been responsible for making Notre Dame a truly distinguished university in the Catholic tradition. This sterling quality is certainly being recognized nationally and it will serve you graduates well as you move out from this place and begin to apply what you have learned here.

This morning I want to leave you with two simple messages, the first about intellectual curiosity and the importance of learning as an end in itself; the second, about what scholars are now calling “grit.” or resilience. Curiosity and Grit.

I trust your graduate education at Notre Dame offered one gift above all: to whet your appetite for understanding. The very reason a university exists—its heart and soul—is to inspire passion to learn, to explore, to discover, to understand. In these walls, I trust you have been gripped by the power of a great novel, or dazzled by hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, or the intricacies of the human genome, or stirred by a play or concert, or amazed by a brilliant analysis of comparative politics. Most of all, I hope that your intellectual grounding in your respective discipline here has generated questions, and methods of inquiry, that will animate your work for years to come.

Professor Nancy Hopkins, who teaches at MIT, remembers her own moment of intellectual awakening. She does so in frankly romantic terms, describing her “crush on DNA.” After hearing a lecture by James Watson on the wonder of DNA, she admits she suddenly fell in love with a subject that promised to unravel the very mysteries of life. I hope that you have experienced such moments of awakening—and that their memory will be a continuing inspiration.

“Never lose a holy curiosity,” advised Albert Einstein. Be relentlessly inquisitive, every day, about the world around, its promises and mysteries. I make this point for two reasons. First, it is crucial for the vitality of your own sense of calling longterm. Whether you will be spending time teaching, or in research, in public service, or in management, keeping alive a flame of curiosity will give motivation and meaning to what you do. Thomas Jefferson once said that the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. Your work will continue to seem worth doing if it is animated by sustained inquiry. How can things be understood better?

What new insights have others developed in a given field? How can human interactions be structured more positively? Any job can become routine without this kind of intellectual vitality. I also want to make this point about continuous learning because today the ideal of learning for its own sake is under steady assault. In the context of a constrained economy, and scarce public resources, we are hearing a drumbeat that the primary purpose of higher education should be its economic utility. The most pressing question today seems to be how much does college cost in relation to the salary that a college graduate can command. These themes resonate not just from nervous parents but also from Congressional Committees, from the Education Department itself, and from dominant influences like the Gates and Lumina Foundations. In states like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina there have been open discussion that suggest the value of higher education should be evaluated strictly in terms of return on investment. And Virginia has begun a statelevel data collection to link graduates’ salaries back to their colleges and majors. This kind of accountability may have its place, but it also brings into question the value of learning itself and the vital importance of a liberal arts education—in a time when in Andrew Delbanco’s eloquent rendering, the liberal arts are becoming marginal or merely ornamental.

We need intellectual curiosity on all fronts. We need it desperately in the so-called STEM disciplines. We need it in the social sciences, in the arts, and in professional fields of law, medicine, business, and divinity. While all of learning for its own sake is questioned, the greatest threat is to humanistic inquiry, which has been at the heart and soul of a place like Notre Dame. Literature, philosophy, history, the Classics—these fields are the ones most easily targeted as irrelevant or unnecessary. Michael Malone, in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal defending the Humanities, states the point bluntly: for the humanities “to image that they have anything approaching the significance or influence of technical fields smacks of a kind of sad, lastditch desperation. Science merely nods and says, ‘I see your Jane Austen monographs and deconstructions of ‘The Tempest’ and raise you stem cell research and the iPhone’—and then pockets all of the chips on the table.” (This does not mean to disparage science and technology in any way; only to suggest the comparative vulnerability of disciplines that have less economic utility.)

All of us need to redouble our efforts to defend the “higher” purposes of a college education despite our economic woes, just as C.S. Lewis did in his address during World War II, “Learning in Wartime:” In that address he defended the importance of the life of the mind even when civilization was literally crumbling. “Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun.” Andrew Delbanco’s book College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be is an eloquent reminder of the real, higher aims of colleges and universities. Learn, keep learning, and inspire others to learn. That is my first piece of advice. The second is far more practical and addresses how you approach the jobs you will now undertake: in colleges, in research labs, in NGO’s, in government, in museums, in libraries. This is advice for any kind of position that you pursue.

I want to talk with you about some surprising studies about what make people successful. Those of us in the academy are particularly prone to believe that intelligence is the key to success: the spoils, we think, generally go to those who are brilliant, to those who analyze and write well, to those who are quick on their feet. This morning I am going to suggest an entirely different theory of success, one that offers both encouragement and challenge to us all.

My theme today is a character strength called “grit.” Before she taught psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, Angela Duckworth taught math in middle and high school. She spent a lot of time thinking about something that seemed obvious: students who tried hardest did the best and students who didn’t try very hard
didn’t do so well. Duckworth wanted to know: what is the role of effort in a person’s success. Duckworth’s research focuses on a personality trait she calls “grit.” Grit is “sticking with things over the very long term until you master them.” She writes that “the gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.”

Duckworth has developed a “Grit Scale.” You rate yourself ona series of about 10 items such as “I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge” and “Setback don’t discourage me.” She has found in a variety of settings that a grit score was the best predictor of success: She found that among West Point cadets, at Ivy League institutions, at the National Spelling Bee competition, and among underprivileged students seeking to complete college. People with less talent often compensate by working harder and with more determination. The grittiest students, not the smartest ones, often do the best. Similar themes are evident in the work of Paul Tough whose books “How Children Succeed” and “Whatever it Takes” challenges the so-called cognitive hypothesis that success depends primarily on cognitive skills. The thesis of these books might be called the character hypothesis: the notion that noncognitive skills, like persistence, selfcontrol, curiosity, resilience, and grit are more crucial than sheer brainpower to achieving success. “Character is created by encountering and overcoming failure,” Paul Tough suggests. One of his articles is entitled “What if the Secret of Success is Failure?” This kind of “grit,” or staying power, is important for two reasons. Your generation tends to have interests many and varied. In college many of you doubled majored and in graduate school, your interest has ranged widely. Even within your own discipline, you may be intrigued by very different sets of questions and approaches. Your enthusiasms are worthy and intense, but sometimes fleeting. Your have not been known for persistence: sticking to something until you really master it.

My advice to you, as young professionals, is to become really good at something. It is better to master one discrete thing than dabble in ten interesting projects. Being the faithful steward of a small responsibility will convince others you can be entrusted with larger things. Publishing one firstrate academic article will carry more weight than a slew of second-tier work. This is not to say that, over time, you won’t branch out, and that you will not take on many different assignments. You will. But when you have a challenge, learn to master it, no matter how difficult. Don’t retreat to something easier, more interesting, or more familiar. Don’t dream about what might be. Learn to sprint up the hills. Your generation also needs to cultivate a second quality of “Grit:” to understand the how to cope with disappointment and failure. The timeless, if uncomfortable, truth is that true strength of character is almost always forged by encountering and overcoming failure.

On this bright and auspicious day, I wish I could promise you graduates the road would always rise up to meet you, that the wind would always be at your back, that the sun would always shine warm on your face. There will be many of those days, I am confident. But there will also be hard days when schooling, or job, or family, or your own sense of selfworth seems to crumble around you. “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick,” Steve Jobs noted in his famous 10 commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. Jobs had revolutionized the world of personal computers in 1984 with the MacIntosh, but then the project faltered, and he was fired from the very company he had founded. “It was awful tasting medicine,” he said, “but I guess the patient needed it.” Jobs concluded that getting fired was actually the best thing that could have happened to him. Why? Because it drove him to reassess everything, to rekindle his creative fire, and to redouble his effort and commitment. It made him resilient.

Why is coming to terms with failure important? Because all of us encounter turns that seem to go nowhere, launch projects that fizzle, or get caught in organizations into which we do not fit. Particularly in this day and age, no one is exempt from the school of hard knocks. The key is how we respond to such setbacks. Do we lose heart, or do we learn things about ourselves? Do we blame others or do we change our approach? Do we become more skittish or find a way to bounce back, to get back into the saddle? In this day, the biggest problem with a fear of failure is that we will not take risks. And in this economy, as traditional jobs and careers disappear, and as some academic fields wax and others wane, you will have to take more risks, become more entrepreneurial. As Thomas Friedman recently stated: “Need a job? Invent it.” You cannot make big bets, experiment early and often, if you are terrified of failure.

Thomas J. Watson, the legendary leader of IBM counseled: “If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.” The point is to lean into disappointment and setback. Become more gritty. This morning you may think I have taken you in two entirely different directions. I have extolled inspiration, the joys of learning, the importance of thinking and understanding as ends in themselves. And I have said, as a young professional you need perspiration, to be more gritty; focused, tough, able to overcome setbacks and disappointment. I have spoken about inspiration and perspiration, traits that may seem opposite or contradictory. Actually, I do think they are linked more tightly than one might think. No one was more relentlessly curious than Thomas Edison, yet he regularly related his insights to a relentless work ethic: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly a genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” Another brilliant inventor, Louis Pasteur, put it this way: “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

This morning, I extend the heartiest congratulations on this special day. And I commend to you the conjoined virtues of relentless curiosity and sustained focus and hard work.

Father Hesburgh to be celebrated at U.S. Capitol reception

2013-05-18T12:35:00-04:00

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president emeritus, who celebrates his 96th birthday May 25 (Saturday), will himself be celebrated three days earlier at a special reception in the U.S. Capitol.

A reception hosted by John A. Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, will be held May 22 (Wednesday) beginning at 3 p.m. in the Rayburn Room of the Capitol. All members of Congress, both House and Senate, have been invited to the reception, at which both Boehner and Pelosi are expected to make remarks.

In addition to celebrating his birthday, the reception also is taking place to honor Father Hesburgh’s 70th anniversary as a priest. He was ordained as a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross on June 24, 1943 at Sacred Heart Church on the Notre Dame campus.

The 70th anniversary of Father Hesburgh’s ordination also will be celebrated at Notre Dame May 24 (Friday) along with the ordination anniversaries of 21 of his brother Holy Cross priests at a Jubilee Mass at 4 p.m. in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Father Hesburgh is the oldest and longest-serving priest of the Congregation’s United States Province.

Long regarded an elder statesman in American higher education, Father Hesburgh holds 150 honorary degrees, the most ever awarded to one person. He has held 16 presidential appointments involving most of the major social issues in his time, including civil rights, the peaceful use of atomic energy, campus unrest, treatment of Vietnam offenders, and Third World development and immigration reform. A charter member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he chaired the commission from 1969 to 1972, when President Richard Nixon replaced him as chairman due to his criticism of the administration’s civil rights record. He was the first Catholic priest elected to the Board of Overseers at Harvard University and served two years (1994-1995) as the board’s president. He also co-chaired from 1990 to 1996 the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. In July 2000, Father Hesburgh became the first person from higher education to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Seven seniors receive national fellowships and scholarships

2013-05-17T15:00:00-04:00

The Fulbright Exchange Program, Churchill and Clarendon and other national organizations have awarded postgraduate scholarships and fellowships to seven members of the University of Notre Dame’s Class of 2013.

MurphyKate Montee, Sturgeon Bay, Wis., received a Churchill Scholarship, which encourages the exchange of knowledge and the sharing of ideas in science and technology between the U.S. and Great Britain. This program enables outstanding American students to do graduate work in engineering, mathematics and the physical and natural sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge University. She also was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Catherine Reidy, Greenwood Village, Colo., received a Clarendon Scholarship. Oxford University recognizes the best students worldwide as decided by experts in each student’s field, awarding 100 scholarships each year divided equally among the four divisions of study at Oxford: humanities, medical sciences, math and science, and social science.

Three seniors received Fulbright Awards. They are Patrick Kramer, Akron, Ohio, to Singapore; Caitlin Myron, Oreland Park, Ill., to Ireland; and Monica O’Hearn, Chester, Md., to Morocco.

Joseph Wegener, Brockton, Mass., was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Malaysia.

Ian Duncan, Bedford, Ind., received a Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) Study Scholarship, which is awarded to graduating seniors with a well-defined study or research project that makes studies at universities in Germany essential.

Kaitlin Veenstra, Saint Paul., Minn., was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which assists students of exceptional academic achievement and scholarly promise for whom advanced study at the University of Cambridge would be particularly appropriate.

The University’s Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement helps students find appropriate fellowships, navigate the application process, write robust proposals and personal statements, and prepare for interviews.

ND Expert: Creation, destruction of cloned human embryos an 'injustice'

2013-05-16T12:00:00-04:00

Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University announced yesterday they have, for the first time, succeeded in creating a cloned human embryo, which they destroyed in order to derive embryonic stem cells. The researchers hope that this will advance understanding of developmental biology, and perhaps lead to regenerative therapy for a variety of conditions.

Public debate over the propriety of human cloning remains heated, and University of Notre Dame Bioethicist O. Carter Snead is concerned by this new development.

“It is very sad news to hear they have cloned and destroyed human beings at the embryonic stage of development for purposes of deriving stem cell lines,” says Snead, a professor of law.

The scientists created the cloned embryos by replacing the nucleus of a human egg with that of a skin cell — the same process that has been used to create cloned mammals, such as Dolly the sheep. They then disaggregated (thus destroying) the living human embryos in order to extract embryonic stem cells, which they were able to cultivate into other forms of human tissue.

“The use and destruction of living human beings — at any stage of biological development — for scientific research is a terrible injustice,” Snead says. “Human cloning for biomedical research is a particularly aggravated form of this harm. First, it amounts to an even starker type of instrumentalization than research involving donated embryos originally conceived by IVF, but no longer wanted for purposes of assisted reproduction. In cloning, human beings are created specifically and solely to be used and destroyed for someone else’s research project. Moreover, these embryonic human beings are manufactured according to a precise genetic specification; they are created to be genetically virtually identical to a preexisting individual.

“Cloning research requires a large quantity of human ova, which compels scientists to find women willing to undergo nontrivial health risks to donate, or more likely sell, their eggs. As we have already seen in South Korea, this creates new forms of coercion, especially for the poor and vulnerable to treat their own bodies as an object of commerce. It has been reported that the Oregon researchers paid 10 women for 380 eggs used in this experiment. In a recent worrisome development, California is moving to liberalize its regulation of egg sales.”

According to Snead, continued refinement of cloning for biomedical research will lead inexorably to cloning to produce a live born child.

“This is a prospect that a vast majority of the world community across the political spectrum rightly opposes,” Snead says. “Our elected officials should move swiftly to protect against these harms, and to promote promising research that respects the intrinsic, equal dignity of all living human beings, such as research on adult and induced pluripotent stem cells (for which Shinya Yamanaka won the 2012 Nobel Prize).”

Snead specializes in public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His scholarly works have explored issues relating to abortion, neuroethics, stem cell research and end-of-life decision making. Snead has provided advice on the legal and public policy dimensions of bioethical questions to officials in all three branches of the U.S. government and to officials in intergovernmental bodies, including the United Nations. Prior to joining the law faculty at Notre Dame, he served as general counsel to The President’s Council on Bioethics (a White House advisory committee).

Contact: O. Carter Snead, 574-631-8259, snead.1@nd.edu

Notre Dame to open three new international programs

2013-05-15T14:30:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame’s International Studies office has announced that it will offer three new opportunities for study abroad in South Korea, Spain and Switzerland in spring 2014.

Notre Dame and Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, will begin a bilateral exchange program in the spring 2014 semester. Open to undergraduates in all majors, the program does not require knowledge of the Korean language, since its courses will be taught in English. Available courses will include Korean language, Korean studies, business and economics, politics, sociology, engineering, sciences and human ecology.

Notre Dame and the Polytechnic Institute of Valencia in Alcoy, Spain, will begin a bilateral exchange program in spring 2014. Designed for sophomore or junior engineering majors, particularly those in chemical, electrical and computer science engineering, the program will be offered to students who have completed at least two semesters of college-level Spanish or the equivalent.

Through Boston University’s Geneva-Physics program, Notre Dame students will have the opportunity to study at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. The program, which combines coursework in quantum physics and electrodynamics at UNIGE and directed research at CERN, is open to physics majors who have completed at least two semesters of college-level French or the equivalent. Additionally, students will be required to complete a specially designed French-language tutorial before going to Geneva.

Applications for all these new programs are available online.

Contact: Kathleen Opel, director of international studies, 574-631-9525, kopel@nd.edu

ND Expert: Justice served in life sentence for Gosnell

2013-05-15T11:20:00-04:00

Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, convicted of killing three babies born alive at his clinic (along with various felony violations of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act), waived his right to appeal yesterday (May 14) in exchange for a sentence of life without parole, dodging a possible death sentence.

The news comes as no surprise to bioethicist O. Carter Snead, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame.

“It is not surprising that the prosecutors would have agreed to such an arrangement,” Snead says. “From a pragmatic perspective, it can take decades for a defendant to exhaust all of his appeals from a sentence of death. Given Gosnell’s advanced age (72), it is likely that he would die on death row before this process runs its course.”

More importantly, Snead says, principles of justice are served by a sentence of life without parole in this case.

“There has been quite enough bloodshed because of this evil man’s actions,” Snead says.

Snead specializes in public bioethics – the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His scholarly works have explored issues relating to abortion, neuroethics, stem cell research and end-of-life decision making. Snead has provided advice on the legal and public policy dimensions of bioethical questions to officials in all three branches of the U.S. government and to officials in intergovernmental bodies, including the United Nations. Prior to joining the law faculty at Notre Dame, he served as general counsel to The President’s Council on Bioethics (a White House advisory committee).

Contact: O. Carter Snead, 574-631-8259 or snead.1@nd.edu

ND Expert: Roots run deep in IRS scandal

2013-05-15T09:20:00-04:00

The Justice Department yesterday began a criminal investigation into overzealous scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service of applications for tax exemptions by conservative groups, and the outrage over the IRS admission that it played political favorites is fully justified, according to University of Notre Dame Law Professor Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, who says the problem is even more complex than it seems.

“What has been missed in the furor is the recognition that this problem arose from much deeper sources than the poor judgment or possible partisan bias of a handful of IRS employees,” says Mayer, who specializes in the laws governing nonprofit organizations and politics. “Congress has given the IRS the difficult task of applying an incredibly vague definition of political activity and an uncertain standard for how much political activity tax-exempt social welfare organizations may engage in. Add to this mix the political pressures generated by applicants publicly demanding swift action while members of Congress call loudly for the IRS to strictly enforce these unclear legal rules.

Mayer says it’s no surprise mistakes were made.

“The IRS exempt organizations have fewer than 300 employees to process the 60,000 exemption applications filed annually by all types of nonprofits,” he says, “and fewer than 600 other employees to monitor the hundreds of thousands of already existing tax-exempt groups.

“Yes, Congress and the Treasury Department need to determine what exactly went wrong in this instance and who was responsible,” Mayer says. “But more importantly, they need to grapple with the unclear legal rules and lack of sufficient resources that provided fertile ground for this situation to arise and which are ultimately their responsibility.”

Contact: Lloyd Mayer, 574-631-8057 or lmayer@nd.edu

Notre Dame establishes Office of Postdoctoral Scholars

2013-05-14T15:00:00-04:00

To ensure that postdoctoral scholars in the early stages of their careers receive necessary resources, training, mentoring and comprehensive professional development support, the University of Notre Dame is forming an Office of Postdoctoral Scholars. The newly formed office will be administered through the Graduate School and is slated to open July 1.

Postdoctoral scholars are researchers who have received their Ph.D.s and who are undertaking additional training before assuming their professional careers, be it in the academy, industry, government or nonprofit setting. There currently are 271 postdoctoral scholars at Notre Dame.

Building on a foundation put in place by the Office of Research — which formerly managed the appointments of postdoctoral scholars — the new office will consolidate services and provide additional professional development training and resources that will allow postdocs to flourish both at Notre Dame and beyond in their careers.

“The fact that the Office of Postdoctoral Scholars will report through the Graduate School signals Notre Dame’s recognition that postdoctoral appointments are developmental positions for scholars preparing for the next stage in their careers,” said Christine Maziar, acting dean of the Graduate School.

Primary functions of the office will include:

Serving as a central location for providing services aimed at postdoctoral scholars’ needs.
Developing a postdoc professional development program in partnership with the Graduate School Professional Development program that is focused on research, teaching, career and professional ethics.
Building a strong and interactive postdoctoral community through orientation, information sessions, workshops and social events.
Providing assistance to faculty with recruiting and hiring postdocs.
Providing oversight of postdoctoral appointment procedures and policies.
Serving as a resource for visa issues involving postdocs.

Robinson Center and Notre Dame students create children's book

2013-05-14T11:15:00-04:00

With the help of a group of University of Notre Dame undergraduate students, children from the Robinson Community Learning Center worked together to publish a book of their stories and artwork.

Called “Every Child Has a Story,” the self-published children’s book features three stories with drawings that were created by the RCLC students, all between the ages of 7 and 11.

In spring 2011, a group of about 10 undergraduates from Notre Dame’s Student International Business Council decided to create and market a book with the students from the RCLC that could provide continued income to the center. Many of the Notre Dame students in the group, working as the Global Development section of the SIBC, volunteered at the Robinson Center and saw an opportunity to help develop the children’s literacy and creativity skills.

Velshonna Luckey, youth development program director at the RCLC, said the children collaborated on the content for the book. “The students were divided into small teams and they worked on a few ideas,” she said. “The process was an entire year – ideas, characters, story and illustration. Each story had to be accompanied with a picture. After all the stories were completed – some groups had multiple stories – the top stories from each group were selected.”

The book contains three of these stories, accompanied by illustrations. One of the stories, for example, is about a visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama.

“Last year, the group worked extremely hard to get a professional designer to prepare the book for print,” Luckey said. “The final version is absolutely beautiful!”

The Notre Dame students decided to publish the book through Amazon.com, setting it up so that the proceeds from sales go back to the Robinson Center.

“Because so many people are involved at the Robinson Center, we wanted to do as much as we could because they do so much for the kids and the community,” said freshman Lisa Wuertz, an SIBC member and Robinson Center volunteer.

After facing setbacks such as when the initial project leader left to study abroad and challenges with printing, the finished book was published in March.

“It has been amazing for the students seeing their original work in a published book,” Luckey said. “We spend a lot of time encouraging our students to write and realize that every book they read was started by someone having a good idea and a willingness to work hard to get it published.

“It’s amazing to see the stories the students came up with. It was a lot of fun to see them work with the college students as well. They were a very interesting group of children with very diverse interest and personalities, and they had to work as a team, which wasn’t always easy. So they learned a lot about working in groups, sharing ideas and compromise.”

Paperback copies of “Every Child Has a Story,” sold for $12, are available online or at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.