University Highlights
Campus Crossroads is the largest building project in University history. Using Notre Dame Stadium as a hub, academic and student life facilities will be constructed on the east, west and south sides of the iconic football venue. The 750,000-square-foot project will cost an estimated $400 million.
It was a year of anniversaries at Notre Dame: The Hesburgh Library turned 50, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart marked its 125th year, and it was the 200th anniversary of the birth of the University’s founder, Rev. Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C.
The University has unveiled a new strategic plan. "A Legacy Expanded" includes a set of enduring commitments—well-established strategies that have and will continue to guide future actions—as well as areas of enhancement that will spur new energy and innovation for the next 10 years.
A study commissioned by the University found that the economic impact of Notre Dame’s employment, spending, students, visitors, and research brought $1.67 billion in economic activity and 13,766 jobs to St. Joseph County in 2012. It was the third such study produced for the University by the New York-based consulting firm Appleseed.
Biologists Nicole Achee and Neil Lobo received a $23 million grant from the Gates Foundation—the second largest grant in University history—to lead a five-year project that will generate the data required to show the effectiveness of a new paradigm in mosquito control in an effort to prevent malaria and dengue fever.
The Notre Dame athletics program completed what was arguably the greatest year in its long and storied history. Twenty-two of 26 sports qualified for postseason competition, the men’s programs won the Capital One Cup as the best in the nation, and both the men’s and women’s programs finished third nationally in the all-sports competition sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Highlights included a national championship in men’s soccer, a fourth consecutive Final Four appearance by the women’s basketball team and a national championship game appearance by men’s lacrosse. In the classroom, Notre Dame student-athletes had the No. 1 graduation rate in the nation for the seventh consecutive year.
The first Notre Dame Day was held April 27 and 28, bringing together all members of the Notre Dame family from around the world to celebrate the University’s many accomplishments via a 29-hour streaming webcast, social media efforts and on-campus events.
Notre Dame opened a new Global Gateway in Rome in a renovated building a block from the Colosseum. The Global Gateways—also located in Beijing, Chicago, Dublin, Jerusalem and London—are academic and intellectual centers that expand traditional study abroad programs to bring together scholars, students and leaders from universities, government, business and community to discuss issues of topical and enduring relevance.
The Alliance for Catholic Education marked its 20th anniversary. A nationwide bus tour raised awareness of the profound impact K–12 schools have on the future of our nation's children and the unique role that Catholic schools play in education. The ACE bus visited 50 cities, with faculty and staff engaging in dialogue on important topics in education and honoring schools and educators.
Three significant gifts will be used to construct new academic facilities on the south side of the campus. A new facility for international studies, to be named after Father Jenkins, was underwritten by Donald and Marilyn Keough. A gift from Matthew and Joyce Walsh will be used for the construction of a new facility for the School of Architecture. A new social sciences building will be made possible by a gift from Robert S. and Elizabeth Nanovic.
Alumnus and Trustee John W. “Jay” Jordan made a $75 million gift to his alma mater, the largest in Notre Dame’s history. The gift, which makes him the University’s most generous benefactor with total giving of $150 million, will be directed toward the creation of a world-class research program in an area of science and technology that is new to Notre Dame and that has the potential to create innovative intellectual property that has important commercial potential.
For a fifth consecutive year, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked the Mendoza College of Business as the No. 1 undergraduate program in the nation. The survey ranked 132 U.S. undergraduate business programs.
Notre Dame will build the nation's foremost research and test facility for gas turbine engines. Notre Dame and five partners – General Electric Co., the city, the state, Indiana Michigan Power, and Greate Lakes Capital – will collaborate on a $36 million project to build the nation's foremost research and test facility for advancing the technology used in massive gas turbine engines for commercial and military aircraft, power plants and the oil and gas industry. In addition to providing a testing facility, the project will have a significant economic impact on the community with dozens of high-paying jobs.
Father Jenkins, the President’s Leadership Council and members of the Board of Trustees spent an hour with Pope Francis at the Vatican in late January, 2014. “From its founding,” the pope said, “the University of Notre Dame has made an outstanding contribution to the Church in your country through its commitment to the religious education of the young and to serious scholarship inspired by confidence in the harmony of faith and reason and in the pursuit of truth and virtue.”