April 10 Day | Merton Symposium
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The Franco Institute hosted its inaugural Dorothy Day & Thomas Merton Culture and the Public Good Symposium on April 10, 2026. The institute welcomed Jenny Odell, Shankar Vedantam, Vauhini Vara, and Rainn Wilson for this afternoon event in the Downes Ballroom in Corbett Family Hall.
Named for two of the foremost socially engaged Catholic thinkers of the 20th century, the signature annual event culminated a year of themed research support at the institute. To coincide with this year's research theme of attention, the event began with a student poster session to showcase their themed research, and the speakers participated in lectures, fireside chats, and a full panel conversation to respond to the question "How should we hold attention?"
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Eleven scholars named
Franco Faculty Fellows for 2026-2027
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Fourteen scholars selected for new
Research Innovation Collaboratives
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Franco Institute supports spring 2026 student research
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Notre Dame students received grants and research support throughout the Franco Institute’s spring 2026 application season.
The institute awarded 156 grants in total, 91 grants for undergraduate students and 65 for graduate students from across 30 programs and departments in the College of Arts & Letters.
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| Register today for faculty writing retreat
June 1-4
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The Franco Institute will host a writing retreat for faculty (Monday-Thursday) June 1-4 in Corbett Hall on campus.
Space for this retreat is limited. Registration is open to all regular faculty with a primary appointment in the College of Arts & Letters on a first-come, first-served basis.
Send questions to Matt Zyniewicz (mzyniewi@nd.edu).
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2026-2027 Annual Research Theme: Interdependence
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Since 2020, the Franco Institute has supported scholarly engagement with annual research themes of timely and enduring importance to society. To complement the ND Arts Biennial theme of “symbiosis,” we are pleased to announce that the Franco Institute’s annual research theme for 2026-2027 will be Interdependence.
With this year’s theme, we invite proposals that probe the interrelations of species, communities, ideas, and economies, past and present. At a personal level, awareness of our shared plight and fate fosters more meaningful connections with others. Catholic thinkers from Thomas Merton to Pope Leo XIV have called us to recognize our interdependence with all living creatures as a basis for love and compassion. Centuries after John Donne’s famous articulation that “No man is an island, Entire of itself,” the feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “There is not an inch of my path which does not encroach on the path of another.” Yet, lest interdependence be conflated with assimilation, the novelist Zadie Smith reminds us there are ways of being connected without being the same. “We aren’t required,” she writes, “to be like one another or even to like one another to be in relation. We just need to be willing to create and enter spaces in which solidarity is one of the possibilities.”
Clearly, interdependence is a concept that connects not only living beings but also diverse perspectives, methodologies, and disciplines. Throughout the coming year, the Franco Institute will support research on interdependence by faculty and graduate students across the College of Arts & Letters, culminating in the second annual Day | Merton Symposium in April 2027.
The application window for theme grant proposals will open in August 2026.
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Looking ahead to 2026-2027
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The Franco Institute is pleased to announce some of its exciting events for the coming academic year.
On October 6, 2026 writer, journalist, and blogger Cory Doctorow will hold a Fireside Chat and book signing in the Leighton Auditorium at the St. Joseph County Public Library's Main Branch as part of the Franco Institute's public event series.
On March 31, 2027 architect, designer, and sculptor Maya Lin will join the Franco Institute the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, and the Arts Initiative for a Fireside Chat in the Raclin Murphy's atrium.
On April 15, 2027, historian Sunil Amrith, artist Sougwen Chung, and writers Elizabeth Kolbert and Zadie Smith will make up the speaker roster for the second Day | Merton Symposium.
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Franco faculty grants close May 31
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Franco Institute funding windows will close for June and July.
Application windows will reopen in August.
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Upcoming external funding deadlines for faculty
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Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good 356 O'Shaughnessy Hall | Notre Dame, IN 46556 US
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