Transforming Students 2014-15

From the DirectorThanks to the enormous generosity of our benefactors, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies provides Notre Dame’s students with opportunities that equal, or exceed, those of any comparable university in the world. Every year, the Nanovic Institute is fortunate to send more than 150 Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students to Europe to engage in original research, internships, language training, artistic endeavors, and other forms of cultural immersion. These experiences transform their lives. They also contribute directly to Notre Dame’s mission to foster future generations of national and international leaders.

We are especially thankful to those benefactors who have enabled us to make awards to the highest achievers among out talented students. I invite you to learn about these named gifts in the following pages and to celebrate our students’ accomplishments. It is truly gratifying to know that we can make a difference in the lives of young people who have so much to offer the world.

A. James McAdams Director and William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs

The idea of a program that could grow, evolve, and have an impact on the lives of students appealed to me.

Bob Nanovic

Leah Billion (‘17) Program of Liberal Studies and Spanish

The most unforgettable experience of my summer research experience in Greece was climbing the scaffolding of a 2,451-year-old structure, hardhat and everything.

I was in Athens, researching the ethics of restoring ancient Greek monuments. The grant allowed me to visit countless monuments and sites, visit world-class museums, and spend time in the city of Athens, which as a whole acts as a relic, scattered with ruins and churches in every corner. Working with various experts, I gained insights into the technical and ethical processes of restoration. Because I was actually there, I got to engage in philosophical discussions about questions of ownership, the ethics of intervention and excavation, and much more.

My research delves into issues of property rights, artistic ownership, and human rights of the deceased, all of which will be the basis for my senior thesis.

The Snider Family Endowment for Excellence in European Studies

I cannot sufficiently express my immense gratitude for providing me with the most intellectually and personally enriching experience of my life.

Thomas Lis (‘16) History and Economics Minor in European Studies

My senior thesis hopes to discover why the Franco-Polish Alliance of 1921 between Poland and France was so quickly and quietly discarded.

Thanks to this funding, I traveled both to Poland and France to view the foreign ministry records of both countries in order to get a more complete picture of the diplomatic situation at the time. What I found in the archives in Warsaw and La Courneuve was the surprising importance of personalities and how certain ministers could completely change the tone of relations between two powers.

With these revelations, I am excited to continue researching and writing my senior thesis. I am extremely interested in European foreign policy and history. The McMahon funding gave me a unique opportunity to combine these two passions. As I go forward, I hope to continue melding these two areas into a career.

The Katie Murphy McMahon Endowment for Excellence in Russian and East-Central European Studies

The inhabitants of the Cyclades islands in Greece may not have built their buildings for the sake of building sustainably, but their architecture remains beautiful and prominent today because they did.

I was fascinated to discover common key architectural elements across these islands, which can be very diverse. First, the mathematical proportion they used is always the same, being a golden ratio. Second, they built with simple local materials which reflect the environment and are therefore in harmony with it. They manipulated the orientation of their buildings to maximize thermal warming and take advantage of light. Openings are always on the north side, walls are always thick to provide insulation, and the very location of any building was related to its function. They didn’t alter the location to suit the building.

There are so many other details I could mention, but the lesson I took away from the Cyclades was that, hundreds of years before LEED certification, builders on the Aegean islands were masters of sustainable design.

Kristen Gates (‘18)

Architecture

The Snider Family Endowment for Excellence in European Studies

Grace Linczer (‘16) Anthropology and Peace Studies

The picture above was taken in Rome just outside a small park called Il Parco del Colle Oppio, which overlooks the Colosseum. It serves now as a gathering place for many of the refugees who have come to Rome in recent years.

I was introduced to this park by a staff member at the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, which offers basic provisions and services to immigrants and refugees. As I discovered while working at the center as an intern, these people struggle to find employment and adequate housing. They come to the park to escape the Roman heat, to socialize, and maybe even play a game of soccer.

I thought I had Rome and its people figured out. After I began working with refugees, all my assumptions about Roman life were turned on their heads. It is much more complex than a postcard or tour guide could ever express, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this.

The Dan and Cheryl Commers Endowment for the Nanovic Institute

This summer taught me a great deal, but one thing which I will carry with me through the remainder of my academic career and into my professional one is the importance of perspective.

Thanks to the Vill Family, the defining part of my Notre Dame experience has been learning about the apprenticeship system in Switzerland and its effect on entrepreneurial activity there.

The purpose of my trip was to conduct what we call ‘qualitative’ research on how the Swiss educate entrepreneurs. I conducted over fifty interviews. The ripple effects of my research led me to change my own leadership strategies with student clubs and to establish a student exchange between Notre Dame and South Africa. Going to a place where I had little local connection propelled me to listen, to be open, to be vulnerable, and to try new ways of engaging with the world.

I find it challenging to articulate how much this experience has transformed me as a person.

Jingting “Lily” Kang (‘16) IT Management and Sociology

The Vill Family Endowment for Excellence in the Nanovic Institute

Beyond my academic learning, my experience in Switzerland truly taught me what it means to be an empathetic listener, an effective communicator, and a brave explorer.

Thomas Behrens (‘16) Computer Science

Nanovic Institute Travel and Research Grant

My internship experience at the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was incredible, jaw-dropping, and educational.

I had the privilege and honor to work with some of the brightest political minds, meet some of the most courageous and respected military generals, and hear conversations, like the Iran nuclear talks, that will make the history books. I was also able to observe first-hand how the OSCE facilitates global security, protects human rights, advances American interests, and, in a more flexible way than other international organizations, respond quickly to a crisis.

I intend to apply to the State Department Internship Program again next year.

Allison Barry (‘17) Political Science

The Dr. Charles C. Price Memorial Fund for East-Central European Studies

What is the best and most ethical way to collect and analyze neurological data from participants in academic studies?

To explore this question, I met with the scientific director of a neuroscientific research lab, BrainSigns, a spin-off from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza.’ The thoroughness and rigor of their ethical practices surrounding data collection, storage, and analysis were striking. They prevent over-sampling, record no personal data to prevent them from being uniquely identified, encrypt their data in various ways, re-assign identification numbers, and share no raw data with third parties at all. But in addition to talking about data storage, the director also showed his philosophical mind. Scraping by with what I’ve read and spoke of with my philosophy major roommate, I was able to contend with him on how Plato’s famous metaphors of the mind influence not only human behavior, but fMRI scans which try to interpret these behaviors.

All in all, I was deeply impressed. In light of my experiences, insights, and methods, discussions about how to guarantee the same caliber of protection have begun amongst my peers.

Caitlin O’Connor (‘16) History Minor in European Studies

The R. Stephen and Ruth Barrett Family Endowment for the Nanovic Institute

During my three weeks in London this summer, I was able to immerse myself in the archives of the Imperial War Museum, the British Library, and the National Archives as I pulled together my research for my senior thesis in history.

My thesis explores how photographs and other visual representations of the First World War, such as paintings, worked together to form British cultural memory. Thanks to the Barrett Family Grant, I was able to look at both original photographs and bureaucratic documents that gave me insights into how and why the photographs were taken. As a result, I now have a more cohesive and complete picture of the context of these images and how they were meant to be used.

Being in London during the centennial of the First World War also allowed me to see how what I was studying had direct resonance in Britain today. Seeing how my research was connected to contemporary British culture was exciting, and I could not have experienced it had I stayed in South Bend.

Thank you for such a wonderful learning experience!

What I learned was that a team of only a few people could, by working on finance, affect thousands of lives.

This summer, I spent eight weeks in The Hague, Netherlands, in an internship position with the FMO (Nederlandse Financierings-Mattschappij voor Ontwikkelengslanden), a Dutch development bank.

The purpose of the internship was to understand better how the Netherlands helps to empower entrepreneurs and other businesspeople to build a better world. During my time with FMO, I helped my colleagues find in the cocoa supply chain in West Africa the greatest potential impact in terms of job creation, economic growth, and improved standard of living. This was highly satisfying to me.

As someone interested in creating good through business, the FMO was an ideal place to spend my summer.

Vincent Vangaever ( ‘17) Finance and Political Science

The R. Stephen and Ruth Barrett Family Endowment for the Nanovic Institute

In an effort to understand better the relationship between Russia and Europe, I have been exploring how Russians in the early nineteenth century followed the European press closely and showed great concern for how Russia was depicted abroad.

These explorations led me to the University of Tübingen in Germany, where I examined materials in French, German, Latin, and Russian that once belonged to the historian Alexander Brückner. The collection consisted mainly of handwritten notecards, an original book manuscript, several different newspapers, elegiac poetry, and copies of correspondence. The newspapers dated from 1825 and 1826, and included stories about the funeral

procession of the late tsar and the doomed uprising of December 14, 1825. Based on the stories lined in the newspapers, I hypothesize that the previous owner was quite interested in how the Decembrist revolt was represented in the European press.

The reign of Alexander’s successor, Tsar Nicholas, is considered to be one of strict censorship, mostly because of the trauma of the military uprising. However, the evidence suggests a continuing and robust Russian engagement with European ideas.

The research I conducted in Tübingen has greatly assisted me in my dissertation pursuits.

Raymond L. Drause Doctoral Candidate in History

The Katie Murphy McMahon Endowment for Excellence in Russian and East-Central European Studies

Belén Vicéns-Sáis Doctoral Candidate in History

Anna Siebach Larsen Doctoral Candidate in Medieval Studies

To have a year to write unencumbered by teaching or other obligations is a privilege. . . . I deeply appreciate the chance you have afforded me to focus my energies on my scholarship. It is an honor to be the recipient of this fellowship.

The Dominica and Frank Annese Fellowships in European Studies

Thanks to the Nanovic Institute’s generous support throughout my academic career, I am not only completing my dissertation on time but have established a robust scholarly profile in my field of study.

With the Institute’s support, I organized an international conference at Notre Dame and wrote a peer-reviewed and prize-winning scholarly article. But most recently, during a research trip to Copenhagen, I discovered a long-lost manuscript. In the catalog of a manuscript archive there, one entry caught my attention because its description matched the kind of manuscripts I work on: medieval compilations of customary laws from the kingdom of Aragon in northeastern Spain. I had an intuition that the catalog’s description

revealed the existence of a hitherto-unknown manuscript. When I examined it, my hunch was correct: it was a long-lost codex last known to have been belonged to the library of the Count-Duke of Olivares.

This discovery is one of those amazing moments in one’s scholarly career when your contribution might revolutionize a field of knowledge. The codex I discovered, which I am now editing for publication, will shed light on the momentous transition from customary laws to territorial laws across medieval Europe.

Participating in the International Moot Court Competition in Law & Religion in Venice, Italy, gave me the opportunity to explore the dynamics of legal argument and legal education in a European setting.

Traveling to a foreign country with legal briefs and cases in my bag simulated the experience of an international lawyer traveling beyond American jurisdiction. As part of a four-person team from Notre Dame, I competed with teams from Belgium, Italy, England, and the United States. Together, we represented the world’s two main legal traditions: common and civil law. We were asked to argue whether freedom of religion was really necessary to build a society and how our societies might best pursue equality by including, and not excluding, what may be different. The day of arguments was exhilarating and mind-opening. European law professors from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Cardiff

University, and Central European University Budapest, sat as mock judges on a European Court of Human Rights. The arguments made by law students before that court consisted of twenty-minute speeches, read with great elegance and aplomb.

In addition, I was able to speak with Italian professors who had visited or been fellows at Notre Dame’s Law School. Seeing scholars in Italy who not only appreciated their own experience at Notre Dame, but had a deep love for its tradition and scholarship brought home how wide Notre Dame’s reach is and how our University is itself a commonality that transcends cultures and languages.

Nanovic Graduate Professional Development Grant

Felicia Caponigri Juris Doctor Candidate

Francesca Genova, Christina Jones, Paul Quast, and Felicia Caponigri represented Notre Dame Law School at the competition in Venice, Italy.

This fellowship gave me opportunities that were crucial to my development as a scholar and to my future in academia.

In short, I had what I needed to compose my dissertation and present my research to an international academic community. My dissertation covers a long period of time, contains texts from multiple linguistic traditions, and focuses on histories produced by major historians of medieval Spain. I needed time to accumulate, digest, and articulate the research I had accumulated, much of it from Spanish archives. The fellowship allowed me to produce a more ambitious project that will be competitive on the job market.

The fellowship also gave me the time to write and publish my first peer-reviewed article in a prominent journal in my field. I was also able to participate in two important international conferences, where I met a number of senior academics in my field and built relationships with my emerging peers. Without the fellowship, I would have produced a far less ambitious dissertation and not had the advantages that make me more competitive in a tough professional market.

The Paul G. Tobin Fellowship for European Studies

Bretton Rodriguez Doctoral Candidate in the Ph.D. in Literature Program

Laura Bland Doctoral Candidate in History & Philosophy of Science

Without a fellowship, I would not have been able to develop this research to the degree that I have been able to do this year, and I would not have had the opportunity to meet as many wonderful colleagues, and to enter into so many fruitful collaborations, as I have.

2014-2015 Student Funding

123 Undergraduate Student GrantsFrom 42 majors out of 205 applications

62 Graduate Student GrantsFrom 17 academic departments out of 111 applications

The Nanovic Institute for European Studies

Keough School of Global Affairs

211 Brownson Hall

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

nanovic.nd.edu

574-631-5253

nanovic@nd.edu

For more stories of student excellence supported by the Nanovic Institute, visit nanovic.nd.edu/spotlight.

Emily “Emmie” Mediate (‘15) Africana Studies and Arts & Letters Pre-Health

Emmie received a Senior Travel and Research Grant for her project “Lessons from the Netherlands and Sweden: What Works for HIV/AIDS Interventions in Uganda?” Building on her research funded in part by the Institute, she was awarded an American Rhodes Scholarship for 2016.

Front Cover: Allison Barry ‘15 in Vienna, Austria

The mission of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies is to enrich the intellectual culture of Notre Dame by creating an integrated, interdisciplinary home for students and faculty to explore the evolving ideas, cultures, beliefs, and institutions that shape Europe today.

nanovic.nd.edu