Initiatives
More than any previous planning effort, the Strategic Framework emphasizes Notre Dame thinking and acting as one institution in order to make the most meaningful contributions to questions of national and international concern. This approach includes University-wide strategic priorities on arts, climate and sustainability, data and computational science, democracy, ethics, global Catholicism, health and well-being, and poverty. These are coordinated efforts drawing on expertise in multiple schools, colleges, centers, and institutes and launched in phases over the next two years. Learn more about University activities in these priorities and follow our progress below.
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Arts Initiative
The Arts Initiative brings together the people and programs of the University's extended arts community to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and define the arts as central to campus and community life. By transcending conventional boundaries — between art forms and across disciplines — we are mobilizing the transformative power of the arts to advance knowledge, invigorate learning, and foster human solidarity.
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Data, AI, and Computing
Notre Dame's Data, AI, and Computing Initiative pursues an ambitious research and education agenda that balances ground-breaking foundational advances in data, AI and computing with transformative interdisciplinary applications targeting societal challenges.
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Democracy Initiative
The Notre Dame Democracy Initiative will establish Notre Dame as a leader in the study of democracy both in the U.S. and worldwide, as a convenor for conversations about and actions to preserve democracy, and as a model for the formation of civically engaged citizens and public servants.
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Ethics Initiative
The Notre Dame Ethics Initiative will establish Notre Dame as a premier global destination for the study of ethics, offering superb training for future generations of ethicists and moral leaders, a platform for engagement of the Catholic moral tradition with other modes of inquiry, and an opportunity to forge insights into some of the most significant ethical issues of our time.
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Global Catholic Research Initiative
Notre Dame's Global Catholic Research Initiative mobilizes the University’s intellectual and institutional resources to advance scholarship on Catholicism as a global and dynamic tradition. It supports interdisciplinary research on how Catholics, Catholic institutions, and the intellectual, social, artistic, and cultural expressions of Catholic life have circulated—and continue to circulate—across regions, nations, and cultures, shaping and being shaped by the local contexts in which they take root.
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Health and Well-Being
Notre Dame is committed to research and education that improve health and well-being for all humans, with particular attention to those who are marginalized by modern health care systems. The University's Health and Well-Being efforts include a commitment to address the nationwide mental health crisis, a new Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative, and advancing in Neuroscience and Behavior.
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Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative
As sustainability challenges intensify, their cascading effects on food, energy, water, and infrastructure increasingly threaten the well-being and dignity of people worldwide. Notre Dame’s Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative is the University’s far-reaching response to these urgent threats.
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Humanities
At the core of Notre Dame’s identity as a leading global Catholic research university is a deep commitment to excellence in the humanities and the liberal arts. In a time when many institutions are divesting from these disciplines, we are uniquely positioned to lead.
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Poverty Initiative
The Notre Dame Poverty Initiative will establish Notre Dame as a leading institution for poverty research, preparing students for careers and service in anti-poverty efforts, and turning evidence into action, illuminating proven pathways out of poverty for people around the world.