Institute for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame

Institute for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame Together building a more just future

The Center for Social Concerns is an interdisciplinary institute responding to the complex demands of justice through a combination of justice education and research for the common good. We bring people together to think carefully about the world's most pressing social concerns in order to develop creative and effective approaches to addressing them.

Today, Ryan Juskus, assistant professor of the practice at the Institute for Social Concerns, continues our series of re...
06/02/2026

Today, Ryan Juskus, assistant professor of the practice at the Institute for Social Concerns, continues our series of reflections on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, by describing how Pope Leo connects the environment with digital ecosystems. As an environmental ethicist, Juskus reads Leo’s encyclical as a sequel to Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, “On Care for Our Common Home.” Both, argues Juskus, confront “the technocratic paradigm” with a paradigm that emphasizes human dignity and the good of our common human home.

Read more from Juskus and other at the institute at https://bit.ly/4o1V0L1

Calling University of Notre Dame graduate students to apply to the Institute for Social Concerns' Graduate Justice Fello...
05/28/2026

Calling University of Notre Dame graduate students to apply to the Institute for Social Concerns' Graduate Justice Fellowship by 9:00am EDT on Monday, June 8!

If you are in a terminal graduate degree program (PhD, MBA, MFA, J.D., JSD, or professional degree) at the University and your scholarship considers questions of justice broadly conceived from any disciplinary perspective, we welcome you to apply for a year-long Graduate Justice Fellowship.

As a Graduate Justice Fellow at the Institute for Social Concerns, you will have the opportunity to develop moral purpose in your discipline, gain an understanding of how your work can be a force for justice, and develop an interdisciplinary community to enhance your education.

If accepted, you'll receive a stipend or research support of $3,000 on successful completion of the fellowship, consultation with faculty exemplars and field or community experts whose scholarship addresses the demands of justice, and opportunities to develop and workshop research or teaching plans with other early-career scholars to enhance quality, relevance, and impact.

Graduate students from each college and school are welcome. Apply at socialconcerns.nd.edu/gjf

As the University of Notre Dame’s scholarly home for interdisciplinary responses to questions of justice, the Institute ...
05/27/2026

As the University of Notre Dame’s scholarly home for interdisciplinary responses to questions of justice, the Institute for Social Concerns is inspired and emboldened by Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas. The encyclical’s calls to protect human dignity, serve the common good, foster solidarity, and care for the vulnerable are bedrocks of our mission and work. It is an essential document in the face of the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for disruption.

We are especially moved by Pope Leo’s call to not be afraid to get our hands dirty on the “construction site” of our time—a summons that reminds us that Catholic social tradition is not merely a body of theory or doctrine but a living call to action. For more than 40 years, the institute has sought to enter into that work of construction through research, education, community partnerships, and programs that bring the wisdom of Catholic social tradition into direct engagement with the urgent questions of our world. Across the document, Pope Leo returns again and again to justice, peace, and the demands of human dignity, reminding us that “the true peace” we seek is born of justice—and that we must never grow weary of seeking it.

Today, Suzanne Mulligan, Director of the Catholic Social Teaching Minor and Professor of the Practice reflects on her reading of the encyclical and her four key takeaways from this prophetic document.

“We know that it’s impossible to cultivate hope if we don’t take seriously the challenges that people face in our world ...
05/21/2026

“We know that it’s impossible to cultivate hope if we don’t take seriously the challenges that people face in our world today,” said Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame. “Cultivating hope can seem like an empty slogan, just a platitude, unless we take suffering, pain, and injustice seriously.”

Addressing an audience of 88 graduating seniors—along with approximately 500 family members, friends, and Institute for Social Concerns faculty and staff—at the institute’s annual Senior Send-off Ceremony on Commencement Weekend, Down stated, “I know that all of you, our graduates, have dedicated yourselves to taking those challenges seriously and deepening your understanding of those challenges so that you might better address them—so that you might be effective agents of hope in our world.”

Congratulations to all our graduates who we send off to be agents of hope!

Join the Institute for Social Concerns as a Justice Education Program Manager!Under the direction of the Associate Direc...
05/20/2026

Join the Institute for Social Concerns as a Justice Education Program Manager!

Under the direction of the Associate Director of Justice Education for the Institute for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, the Justice Education Program Manager will lead the daily operational and administrative tasks for several justice education programs, as well as provide support for Institute initiatives and events. This position works independently to guide justice education program administration, immersive learning coordination, management and development of community/site host partnerships, and co-curricular program support. This is a full-time, 12-month position.

This position plays an essential role in the development and ex*****on of the Institute’s justice education strategy. The position will assist in the development and growth of programs as needed.

The position may permit up to one day per week of remote work, in accord with the Institute policies and scheduling after the first 90 days.

What We Offer:

• A chance to make a real difference in the world by providing opportunities for students to be proximate to systemic injustice.

• A collaborative and supportive environment where you will be able to shape the education of our students.

• A meaningful role that provides direct opportunities to connect with and contribute in a professional and formative way to student success.

Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/4tJVUg8

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What will carry you into what comes next?
05/18/2026

What will carry you into what comes next?

Congratulations once again to all our amazing students on the completion of another year of impressive research, coursew...
05/13/2026

Congratulations once again to all our amazing students on the completion of another year of impressive research, coursework, and community engagement. As we continue to celebrate their many accomplishments, we’re looking back on some of the highlights from the spring semester.

Today we feature Proximities seminars that sent students across the country over spring break to engage in rigorous analyses of pressing issues of justices. The Justice at the Mexico-U.S. Border seminar took an interdisciplinary cohort of students through an immersive encounter with the structures of justice and injustice in the borderlands near Tucson, Arizona. By engaging the lived realities of the Sonoran Desert, students moved beyond abstract debate to confront the human face of policy.

Paralleled by Proximities seminars investigating structural inequality in Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, the seminar demonstrated how being proximate to questions of justice increases awareness and understanding.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/42tnmE3

With graduation upon us, may we go forth with courage in our hearts.
05/11/2026

With graduation upon us, may we go forth with courage in our hearts.

Congratulations to all our amazing University of Notre Dame students on the completion of another year of impressive res...
05/08/2026

Congratulations to all our amazing University of Notre Dame students on the completion of another year of impressive research, coursework, and community engagement. As we celebrate their many accomplishments, we’re looking back on some of the highlights from the spring semester.

Today we feature the McNeill Winter Plunge that kicked the semester off strong. The one-credit course and its fully funded immersive experience last January in Boston brought selected students from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business together with nonprofit leaders, service providers, corporate executives, community partners, Notre Dame Alumni Association members, and individuals experiencing homelessness.

The students returned to Notre Dame with a new sense of purpose, challenged by their interactions. In their final presentations, they reflected on the problems they witnessed, proposed business solutions, and shared key takeaways from their experience.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4uBMXGS

05/06/2026

Last fall, the Institute for Social Concerns collaborated with Dismas House of Indiana for its Art & Social Change course. The course brought together Notre Dame students with residents of Dismas House and other community partners, including South Bend–based muralist Nate Baranowski, and culminated in a mural honoring returning citizens.

Portraying the joys, struggles, and resilience of returning citizens at Dismas House, the mural spans the entire west side of the newly opened Dismas Hub and features 27 residents, former residents, community members, and Notre Dame students—each of whom had a hand in its creation.

At the 39th annual community celebration and benefit dinner for Dismas House last Saturday, May 2, the institute was honored to receive the 2026 Bridge Builder Award. This award recognizes an organization, group, or institution that has demonstrated a strong commitment to carceral engagement by providing partnership, education, volunteer engagement, and resources that strengthen pathways for justice-impacted individuals.

“The institute has shown what it looks like for higher education to step closer, not stay at a distance,” said Andrea Gordon, director of operations at Dismas House, in presenting the award. “You model an approach that brings together the wisdom and experience of the Dismas community with the expertise and resources of Notre Dame in order to cultivate long-term, impactful partnerships in service of justice and the common good.”

Read more about the mural project: https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/news/putting-a-stamp-on-the-community/

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