About the Department
News Archives: 2005-2006 Academic Year
Xavier institute finds temporary home at Notre Dame
June 28, 2006
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," one of New Orleans' best-known fictional residents, Blanche DuBois, said famously in the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Not so for one of New Orleans' best-known real residents, Xavier University of Louisiana. The only Catholic institution among the nation's historically black colleges and universities, Xavier has taken pride in being independent and producing graduates who not only achieve, but also help build and uplift their communities.
Junior wins DAAD scholarship to study in Germany
June 22, 2006
Grant Van Eaton, a University of Notre Dame junior from Austin, Texas, has been awarded a DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship, which will support 10 months of study at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen in Germany beginning this fall.
Van Eaton is one of 62 students from 51 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada to be chosen from a group of 210 applicants to receive the prestigious scholarship for those interested in studying, conducting senior thesis research or completing internships in Germany.
Faculty honored at annual President's Dinner
May 26, 2006
The Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C., Graduate School Award was presented to John Cavadini, chair and associate professor of theology and director of the Institute for Church Life, and to Daniel J. Costello Jr., Bettex Professor of Electrical Engineering. The Burns Award recipients are nominated by faculty and graduate students in recognition of teaching excellence and exemplary support to graduate education.
Cavadini has been "a shining example and a trusted advisor" who has built a competitive faculty in the field of patristics and who has sought partnerships to bring graduate education to teachers in Catholic schools and directors of religious education.
Class acts: Senior stories of distinction
May 16, 2006
The University of Notre Dame's 2006 graduating class can be defined collectively, through a variety of numerical and statistical observations, as well as individually, through the stories of seniors with compelling tales to tell.
Some of the numbers are:
- About 95 percent of the 1,935 undergraduates who enrolled at Notre Dame in the fall of 2002 will receive a diploma Sunday (May 21) - a graduation rate exceeded only by Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities.
- Some 80 percent of the graduates participated in volunteer and service-learning programs in the greater South Bend area, nationwide and around the world.
- About 10 percent of this year's seniors will continue in volunteer service to society, engaging in a year or more of work in programs such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education and Holy Cross Associates.
- All 50 of the United States are represented in the senior class, making Notre Dame among the nation's most geographically diverse universities.
Catherine Herman, Baldwin, N.Y. - The University's first recipient of the Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose, Herman plans to use her $40,000 prize to start a community home for the elderly in New York City. Honored for demonstrating passion, dedication, a high capacity for self-direction, and originality in pursuit of a goal that will strengthen civil society, Herman plans to attend nursing school and eventually explore master's programs in geriatric nursing and pastoral counseling as part of her dream to help the elderly.
She has served as a volunteer at Cardinal Nursing Home and Catholic Worker House in South Bend, spent the summer of 2004 working with mentally and physically disabled orphans at Casa Hogar San Pablo in Querétaro, Mexico, and provided direct care aid for one of her classmates. Herman is a theology major and peace studies minor.
Theology major receives $40,000 Simon Fellowship
April 24, 2006
Catherine Herman, a University of Notre Dame senior theology major from Baldwin, N.Y., has been awarded the William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose to start a community home for the elderly in New York City.
Theologian Cunningham to be honored by Neumann College
April 4, 2006
Lawrence S. Cunningham, John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, will give the commencement address and receive an honorary degree May 13 at Neumann College in Philadelphia.
Theologian Father Kollman publishes book on African mission history
March 22, 2006
"Evangelization of Slaves and Catholic Origins in Eastern Africa" by Rev. Paul Kollman, C.S.C., assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, recently was published by Orbis Books.
An unusual historical study of the Catholic Church in East Africa, Father Kollman's book examines 19th-century French missionary strategies and how they affected Catholicism throughout Africa.
Symposium to examine "white privilege"
March 10, 2006
An interdisciplinary symposium titled "White Privilege: Implications for the Catholic University, the Church and Theology" will be held March 26 to 28 (Sunday to Tuesday) in McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame. Sponsored by Notre Dame's Department of Theology, the symposium is free and open to the public.
Designed to raise consciousness about the dynamics of white privilege as a form of racism, the symposium will seek to identify structures of white privilege within the church, the academy and society. Various theologians will engage the work of prominent scholars of race theory in the fields of law and the social sciences. The format of the symposium will encourage discussion among all participants.
Father Jan Michael Joncas to receive ND's Mathis Award
March 3, 2006
Rev. Jan Michael Joncas, visiting associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, will receive the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy's 2006 Mathis Award, according to center director David W. Fagerberg.
The Mathis Award, named in honor of Rev. Michael Mathis, C.S.C., who founded the graduate school of liturgy at Notre Dame, is annually given to a person or organization making significant contributions to the renewal of the liturgy in the United States. Father Joncas, its 24th recipient, will receive the award and give the keynote address at the center's annual liturgy conference, which will be held June 19 to 22 on campus.
Symposium to examine Dead Sea Scrolls debates
February 27, 2006
"Reading Between the Lines: Scripture and Community in the Dead Sea Scrolls" is the title of a symposium Sunday and Monday (March 5 and 6) in the auditorium of McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame. Sponsored by the Department of Theology and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, the presentations are free and open to the public.
Held in honor of James C. VanderKam, Notre Dame's John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology and one of the world's leading scholars of the scrolls, the symposium will examine current debates in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and will include presentations by national and international scholars.
Legal scholars and theologians to discuss Bible and Constitution
January 30, 2006
University of Notre Dame law and theology faculty members will take part in a panel discussion on "Interpreting the Bible and the Constitution: Similarities and Differences" at 4 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 2) in Room 121 of the Notre Dame Law School.
ND ReSource: Scholars assess Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical
January 26, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love") was issued yesterday in seven languages. A 16,000 word teaching letter addressed to all Catholics, the encyclical has been widely anticipated as an indication of the new pope's concerns, understandings and inclinations, and of how he hopes to exercise his ministry.
Three ND Press titles edited by faculty win national awards
By Shannon Chapla
Three books edited by University of Notre Dame faculty members and published by Notre Dame Press have recently received national awards.
"Accounting for Dante: Urban Readers and Writers in Late Medieval Italy" received the Modern Language Association of America's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies, and "Understanding Dante" and "The Theology of Thomas Aquinas" each received an Outstanding Academic Title award from Choice Magazine.
"The Theology of Thomas Aquinas," published last year, was co-edited by Joseph Wawrykow, associate professor of theology at Notre Dame.