Stinson-Remick Hall

Last week, the College of Engineering opened Stinson-Remick Hall, a new $70 million, 142,000 square foot facility on Notre Dame Avenue (on the site of the old University Club--this building is just a tad bit larger). Stinson-Remick is home to a nanotechnology research center, the University's new Energy Center, a semiconductor processing and device fabrication clean room, and plenty of spaces for both undergraduate and graduate research and collaboration. As a side note: don't ask me what any of those technical "activities" are; I was a Political Science major.

Our office was fortunate to tour Stinson-Remick Hall yesterday, during which I was able to take a few pictures. I apologize for the quality--I was using the camera on my phone--but I figured these were better than nothing!

Undergraduate Learning Center

One of many study areas throughout the building

One of three "clean rooms" in the facility: one of grade 10,000, one of grade 1,000, and one of grade 100. Again, my knowledge here lacks, but apparently these are some of the "cleanest" such facilities on a college campus in the United States.

A view of the main hallway, with the clean rooms in the back.

It does not look like there is an online tour of the facility yet, though I'm guessing there will be soon. It will be posted at this website.

The Priest President

Today's edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice, in-depth profile on Father Jenkins. As expected, much of the article discusses the controversy surrounding the invitation to President Obama last year, though it also covers Father Jenkins as a person and the identity of Notre Dame.

If you do not have a subscription to The Chronicle, a .pdf version of the article is linked here.

A direct link to the article (for subscribers--a subscription is free) is here.

Notre Dame research

Notre Dame has always been known for its undergraduate education; the University often rivals liberal arts colleges in small class sizes, individual attention to students, and strong relationships between students, faculty and staff.

Recently, and especially over the past few years, Notre Dame has made efforts to strengthen its research opportunities and achievements at all levels. Personally, I am often amazed and what some of the very bright students and professors here at the University can do in their respective fields, whether it is biological sciences, electrical engineering, or economics.

The Office of News and Information has a website specifically dedicated to Notre Dame research and the many projects conducted on campus each year: http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/category/research/. If you are anything like me, much of the information is over your head, but the page certainly highlights an impressive list of people and projects making Notre Dame proud.

Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program

Yesterday, the University announced the third-largest gift in Notre Dame's history, a $35 million donation from Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Stacey Yusko of Chapel Hill, N.C.

The gift will be used to create the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, "a comprehensive merit scholarship and enrichment initiative that will seek to attract talented undergraduate students to the University".

Each year, twenty Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars will be selected by an advisory committee; the committee will take nominations from high school guidance counselors and University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions. "The students will be chosen based on distinguished academic accomplishments, exemplary integrity and moral character, demonstrated leadership abilities, and a commitment to a life of service embracing the values of Catholic social tradition."

The twenty HY Scholars will receive $25,000 of merit-based financial aid annually, in addition to summer "enrichment" experiences.

As an ASC, the main point to take away from this is that, when asked about merit-based financial aid, we can now answer that yes, there is merit money available at Notre Dame. To be fair, I think it is important to stress that the money is very limited and competitive, but there are funds available.

The full University press release can be found here.

University hosts research symposium

Last week, the University hosted a regional research symposium for undergraduate researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Hope College and the University of Michigan. The symposium, centered around science research allowed students to present the fruits of their summer labors. It is an annual event and was held at the University of Michigan last year.

This is another great example of the growing trend of undergraduate research at Notre Dame. Students really can conduct their own research if they choose!

The full article is here.

Dean Woo presents at Global Forum for Responsible Management Education

Mendoza College of Business Dean Carolyn Woo presented before the first Global Forum for Responsible Management Education at the U.N. Headquarters last week.  During her presentation, Dean Woo argued that business education needs to broaden its focus beyond wealth creation to issues like poverty, disease and conflict.  

The full article is here.

I just came across this article...

...from almost a year ago, but I thought it was worth posting.  This article, from the Chicago Sun-Times, details the Jordan Hall of Science and everything it offers to our undergraduates.  It might be helpful to review this piece before going to college fairs as it gives you a good understanding of the new building!

Another department rewarded

Following in the steps of the History Department (recently rewarded for its fellowships, story here), the Industrial Design program was recently ranked as one of the world's top programs by Business Week magazine. The ranking, based on the number of awards won in the past five years, puts Notre Dame in a tie for fourth.

The News and Information article is found here.

New deans and nd.edu videos

A few months ago, I posted about the new deans in many of our colleges on campus. For the past few days, www.nd.edu has been running videos with the new deans, discussing their colleges and different programs within them. The main University website is always a great reasource for prospective students for reasons like this!

History fellowships

As detailed in this article, Notre Dame's Department of History has won more fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) than any other university. Sure, any university can have professors earning fellowships and bringing research money into the different departments, but the way our faculty incorporates their research into the classes is second to none.

Graduate wins Fullbright scholarship

Notre Dame graduate Jessica Nelson was recently awarded a Fullbright scholarship. Jessica, a 2008 graduate, will teach English in Spain.

The full (though very short) article is here. Congratulations to Jessica!

Religion and the faculty

CatholicCitizens.org is not very happy with the Notre Dame faculty. In this article, the group lets its feelings be known about the place and role of religion in relation to the faculty here at Notre Dame.

I post this article not as an argument for or against its text, but because it provides an interesting commentary on an issue faced by Notre Dame (not only the faculty, but also the students and the administration): how do we become a great and elite university while still maintaining our Catholic heritage and identity? Some see reason, intellectual freedom and faith as quite compatable; others (see the article), may have a different opinion.

Renting Books?

Any student will tell you that the price of textbooks is ridiculous--especially when new versions are published seemingly-annually, making it nearly possible to resell the books. However, according to an article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, a new company has built itself around the concept of renting textbooks. I have copied the article in its entirety below as it is rather short:

To Avoid High Price of Textbooks, Students Turn to Renting

With a college textbook often costing more than $100, it’s no wonder that students are protesting, and Congress has discussed legislation to lower the price of textbooks.

But what if students rented books instead of buying them? That’s the business model behind a company called Chegg, which was started a year ago and bills itself as “the Netflix for college textbooks.” Students identify the books they want to rent and place their order online. Then, Chegg ships the books to students’ residences. After using the books for a semester, students mail the books back to Chegg with prepaid shipping labels that they download from the Chegg Web site.

Chegg literature says its rental model can save students 60 percent to 80 percent off the price of a book. —Andrea L. Foster

Online publications

It may be helpful to bookmark this website, which provides links to many of the online academic publications from some of the colleges on campus.

The site itself isn't pretty, but it will at least point you in the right direction!

Popular professor honored

Professor James McKenna, who teaches an extremely popular first-year anthropology class (I know a number of people who went into the class knowing nothing about anthropology and came out as anthropology majors), recently received the 2008 Anthropology Media Award. The full story is here.

OK, so maybe I'm stretching it a bit by posting this article, but it's the "dog days of summer" and things are pretty quiet here on campus!

iTunes U

Notre Dame is not part of a group of colleges that distribute lectures and class materials to the general public through iTunes U (iTunes serves many purposes: it is a music player; an online music store; a program to organize your iPod, iPhone; etc). We do, however, have our own program, Notre Dame OpenCourseWare, where anyone can access various class information and materials.

I know a number of prospective students are interested in the classes here at Notre Dame and this is a great way of giving them an inside look without visiting campus (though we still strongly encourage that visit!).