Erin Blasko

Notre Dame senior Lydia Liang works with a pair of preschoolers at the Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend. (Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame)

Seniors Joseph London and Brianna Tennes will study abroad this summer as part of the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program, a language-based scholarship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

University of Notre Dame junior Veronica Bofah, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is among 20 recipients of a 2026 Key into Public Service Scholarship from Phi Beta Kappa. Bofah is Notre Dame’s sixth Key into Public Service Scholar since the program was established in 2020.

The University of Notre Dame has been named a top producer of Gilman Scholars over the program's first 25 years. The University of Notre Dame has been recognized as a top producer of Gilman Scholars over the program’s first 25 years, ranking fifth among institutions with between 5,000 and 15,000 students. Notre Dame has had 283 Gilman Scholars since the U.S. Department of State-sponsored program was established in 2001, including 44 this year alone.

Charlie Desnoyers competed in the 2025 Chicago Marathon as part of Team ALS.

Clockwise from top left: Lizbeth Cordova Lopez, Bernice Antoine, Charlie Desnoyers, Eva Romero and Mustafa Hess. (Artwork by Brittney Searles/University of Notre Dame)

Mary Cunningham Boyce delivered the keynote address Saturday during the Graduate School’s annual Commencement Ceremony, encouraging students in this moment of profound change, from rapid advances in science and technology to the increasing threat of global climate disaster, to “set aside any sense of a well-worn path to ‘success.’

Douglas and Diana Berthiaume have made a transformational gift to the University of Notre Dame in support of the Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative. (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

University of Notre Dame rising senior Katharine Steffes has been awarded a Beinecke Scholarship worth $35,000 in support of her graduate education. She is Notre Dame’s 11th Beinecke Scholar overall and third since 2023.

University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., has appointed Randy Kozel, the Fritz Duda Family Law Professor, to succeed Tricia Bellia, the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Professor of Law, as chair of the University of Notre Dame’s Faculty Board on Athletics and its NCAA faculty athletics representative. Kozel’s appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2027.