NDWorks Weekly

CAMPUS NEWS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

September 16, 2025

This is the second in a series of features highlighting the managing directors of the University’s strategic initiatives. The managing directors are key senior staff members who work directly with the faculty directors to help implement and operationalize the vision for the initiatives, oversee initiative staff, and serve as thought partners for the faculty directors.

A man with light skin tone and short brown hair, wearing a white button-down oxford shirt, stands and smiles in front of an orange and black background.

Strategic Framework

Managing director brings interdisciplinary background to Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative

Arnie Phifer, managing director of the Bioengineering & Life Sciences (BELS) Initiative, helps lead efforts on campus to advance human health through interdisciplinary biomedical research and training. The BELS Initiative works to create new technologies and approaches to the detection, prevention, and treatment of disease.

On the left is Spencer Cox, a smiling bald man in a navy blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. On the right is Michelle Lujan Grisham, a smiling woman with short light brown hair wearing a navy blue blouse and a necklace.

Strategic Framework

Updated location: Democracy Initiative hosts bipartisan conversation with Western state governors

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) and Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT), known to work across the aisle on policy issues, will visit for a fireside chat from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Friday, September 19, in the Leighton Concert Hall, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., will moderate the discussion on how Western state pragmatism can serve as a model for the country to overcome polarization. John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost, will offer opening remarks.

A white male with graying dark hair sits on a brown bench with his left arm along the top. He is wearing a white shirt with a collar and a navy suit jacket with an ND insignia pin. He is also wearing light gray pants. There are trees and a building in the background.

NDWorks Podcast

We have a purpose here, with Tim Sexton

In this episode of NDWorks Podcast, host Natalie Davis Miller sits down with Tim Sexton, associate vice president for public affairs. Sexton talks about his life, family, and career at Notre Dame, including some heartwarming stories about former University President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.

A group of seven people stand in front of the KinderCare Learning Center. The building has a glass front with stone columns on either side. The exterior is concrete.

Accolades

KinderCare Team receives Presidential Team Irish Award

A cross-functional team from NDHR, Finance, Facilities Design and Operations, and the Office of General Counsel partnered with KinderCare to make a new on-site childcare center a reality for faculty, staff, and students with children as young as 6 weeks old.

A graphic that reads 2025 Notre Dame All-Faculty Team in blue on a white background taking up half of the graphic. The other half of the graphic reads Lakshmi Iyer, professor of economic and global affairs. A photo of a woman with shoulder length, graying black hair, medium brown skin tone, wearing glasses and smiling is in the center to right of the graphic. She is wearing a necklace, a yellow top, and a dark sweater.

Accolades

Meet the 2025–26 All-Faculty Team

At every home football game, John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost, honors a distinguished member of the faculty as part of the All-Faculty Team. These seven scholar-teachers have been chosen from across the disciplines for their transformative contributions to Notre Dame and beyond.

An aerial image of a large outdoor circle that includes trees, grass, and concrete benches with hedges that include flowers and other greenery. There are two entry points with concrete columns on either side of the circle.

Campus

New Notre Dame Circle commemorates women students and graduates

Notre Dame Circle, a new campus landmark celebrating the invaluable contributions of Notre Dame’s women students and graduates, will be dedicated at 3:30 p.m. Friday, September 19. The circle was commissioned in 2022 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the admission of undergraduate women at Notre Dame. University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., together with Presidents Emeriti Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and Rev. Edward “Monk” Malloy, C.S.C., will lead the dedication.

ND in the News

A white woman with straight brown hair past her shoulders, wearing a white-striped blue dress, looks at the camera while giving an open-mouthed smile.

Product recalls are setting records in 2025. Here’s why.

Kaitlin Wowak, associate professor in the Mendoza College of Business, talks to Newsweek in “Product recalls are on the rise, top causes revealed.”

A graphic of two people sitting on a hill facing an aurora. The people are dark blue and the aurora is colored with greens, yellows, and blues.

Strategic Framework

Notre Dame to host summit on AI, faith, and human flourishing, introducing new DELTA framework

The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative will host the Notre Dame Summit on AI, Faith, and Human Flourishing on campus from Monday, September 22, through Thursday, September 25.

“As a leading global Catholic research university, Notre Dame is uniquely positioned to help the world confront and understand AI’s benefits and risks to human flourishing. Technology ethics is a key priority for Notre Dame, and we are fully committed to bringing the wisdom of the global Church to bear on this critical theme.”—John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost

A graphic that reads Sept. 15-Oct. 15 (in gray) and Hispanic Heritage Month (written in black) on a light peach background. There are four wavy lines in orange, yellow, red, and light green, running from the right edge of the graphic to approximately one-quarter of the way into the graphic.

We Are All ND

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month honors the history and traditions of Americans who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Find events and resources here.

A graphic that reads Congratulations to those celebrating service anniversaries in gold font. Full list is written in white and is a “button” for more information, all on a white background for one half of the graphic. The right side of the graphic has a photo of the Golden Dome with gold glitter around it. It is on a light blue background over a darker blue background

A horizontal gold graphic reads In Memory: Recently deceased employees and retirees in white lettering. Blurred-out votive candles are featured in the background.

NDWorks

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