Notre Dame Leadership Seminar
With the increasing prominence of pre-college programs for high school students to give real-world experience and bolster college applications. One excellent opportunity to develop lifelong skills is the Notre Dame Leadership Seminar, a competitive, 10-day program on Notre Dame's campus for academically talented students who show impressive leadership within their communities. In this blog post, we will first discuss what this seminar is and then move to the different skills and practical takeaways that come from this program.
What is the Notre Dame Leadership Seminar?
In this pre-college program, approximately 100 students are admitted each year making it highly selective, and students could be eligible to receive one transferable college credit upon completion of the program. Additionally, tuition, housing, and meals for students admitted to Leadership Seminars will be paid for by the University. In 2024, this program will run from July 20 to July 31. For ten days, students will engage in leadership seminars that explore topics such as Global Issues, The Environment, The Power of Investing, and The State of Race in 21st Century America. Find out more!
What are the different topics discussed in the Leadership Seminars?
Business
What is the purpose of business? What is its role in a just and humane society? Many believe that business is a morally suspicious activity, a suspicion reflected in the common belief that businesspeople should “give back” to society. Is business an activity for which one should atone? Can business contribute to the common good? Are people right to be suspicious of business? This leadership seminar draws on philosophy, business, and economics to evaluate the purpose and practice of business.
Some questions this seminar addresses are:
Should we have a market economy? What are the principal arguments in favor of a market economy, and what are the principal objections to a market economy?
What is the connection between business and the common good?
Is there such a thing as “honorable business”? If so, what is it, exactly? What is dishonorable business?
What are the responsibilities of an ethical business leader to self, to others, to society, and to the world?
Additionally, students will be taught by the following two qualified academic directors:
James Otteson
James R. Otteson is John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. He received his BA from Notre Dame from the Program of Liberal Studies, or “great books” program. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He also serves as the faculty director of Mendoza’s Business Honors Program.
Craig Iffland
Craig Iffland is Program Director of the Business Honors Program at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He received his BA from the University of Virginia in Religious Studies and a MLitt in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews. In 2021, he received his PhD in Moral Theology from the University of Notre Dame.
Global Issues: Violence and Peace in the Modern Age
This leadership seminar focuses on three areas of the world – the Middle East, central Africa and the United States - exploring these problems from a global and local perspective. This includes wars across parts of Asia, the Middle East, and central Africa; the largest global refugee crisis in modern times; rising intolerance, racism and authoritarianism in Western democracies; poverty and underdevelopment in vulnerable communities; and instability and conflict driven by climate change. It begins by investigating these pressing contemporary challenges, with a focus on war and violence.
The second part of the seminar turns to various peacebuilding strategies and actors. It examines how international institutions like the United Nations can promote the rule of law and reduce armed conflict, how nonviolent social struggles can advance justice and lessen discrimination, and how restorative justice practices can help overcome mistrust and reduce conflict in local communities.
The seminar concludes with a visit to several community peacebuilding organizations in Chicago, where students will learn about practical strategies to mitigate violence and poverty, and build trust and resilience among neighbors.
The following two academic directors will be leading this focus of the seminar:
Atalia Omer
Atalia Omer is professor of religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
Ernesto Verdeja
Ernesto Verdeja is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies and Director of Undergraduate Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He received his Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Inequality in America America's Social and Economic Inequities
The US is the most unequal high-income economy in the world, with wealth inequality rising. The top ten percent of American families controlled nearly 70 percent of the wealth in the US in 2022. Over the last fifty years, the poverty rate in the US has remained stagnant. How do we explain America's social and economic inequities and stasis? How do these facts change when examining intersectional identities based on race, class, and gender, particularly in the context of anti-immigrant xenophobia and anti-black racism? Students in this course will develop a critical understanding of the historical and contemporary causes and consequences of inequality and how it is reproduced in society.
The first half of this course will center on a critical analysis of various sources and outcomes of inequality, focusing on education, political representation, residential segregation, and racial disparities. The second half of the course will explore the opportunities of countervailing inequality, asking what is to be done. Students will research policy solutions, drawing on a range of interdisciplinary sources.
The following two academic directors will be leading this focus of the seminar:
Jennifer Huynh
Jennifer Huynh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies. Her research focuses on race, immigration, and Critical Refugee Studies. Huynh earned her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from Princeton University. Before coming to Notre Dame, she worked as a sociology instructor in northeast China and as a lecturer in Asian American Studies at Northwestern University.
Ricardo Ramirez
Ricardo Ramirez is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the director of the Hesburgh Program in Public Service and a faculty fellow in the Institute for Latino Studies. He is past President of the Western Political Science Association (WPSA). He received his B.A., cum laude, from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.
The Environment: Science, Policy, Ethics
Protecting and preserving the natural environment is the most urgent challenge facing scientists, humanists, policy makers and ordinary citizens today. Sustaining our environment is critical to human flourishing, as well as the flourishing of non-human kin, in both the short and long term.
This leadership seminar will explore a wide array of interesting and thorny problems related to the environment, including climate change and species preservation, air and water quality, sustainable agriculture, and prudential resource extraction. These problems will be thought of in a broader social context, interrogating questions of global justice and the differing responsibilities and needs of developed and developing countries.
The following two academic directors will be leading this focus of the seminar:
Don Howard
Don Howard is a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame. First trained in physics and with a long-standing interest in the history and philosophy of modern physics, Howard now also works and teaches in areas like the ethics of new weapons technologies, cybersecurity, and science and technology policy.
Paola Crippa
Paola Crippa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. She completed her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science at Indiana University in 2013, and then became postdoctoral fellow, first at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and later at Newcastle University in the UK.
The Power of Investing: Financial Literacy and the Miracle of Compound Interest
The miracle of compounding can be described as the seemingly small, incremental positive changes that make an outsized impact over a long duration. This can be seen quite clearly through investment returns, but the laws of compounding apply more broadly. People and companies have a moral obligation to consider the long-term impact of their decisions.
In order to invest for change, we must first understand the basics of financial literacy and the role it plays in accumulating assets. By crafting a lifelong financial plan, students will learn about the fundamentals of finance and the tools of wealth creation. Topics include investing inside and outside retirement accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and tax considerations. The goal is to ensure your financial security, so you can select the career of your choice, help those in need, and support important social causes.
The following two academic directors will be leading this focus of the seminar:
Carl Ackermann
Carl Ackermann teaches financial management and personal finance to University of Notre Dame undergraduates. He holds an A.B. from Amherst College, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mark Dumich
Mark Dumich has been the Associate Director of the Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing (NDIGI) since June of 2019. Mark received a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from the University of Illinois Gies College of Business, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Conclusion
Overall, the Notre Dame Leadership Seminar presents an invaluable opportunity for students to immerse themselves in an environment dedicated to fostering leadership skills, personal growth, and a deeper understanding of ethical leadership. Throughout this seminar, participants gain multifaceted insights into effective leadership through engaging discussions, collaborative activities, and exposure to diverse perspectives. Ultimately, the students depart with not just knowledge and skills, but also a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration, equipped to make a meaningful impact in their communities and future endeavors as principled and empathetic leaders. Click here to start the application process for the Notre Dame Leadership Seminar!
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