Alumni
Notre Dame anthropology students have gone and done spectacular things! Be sure to check out their stories recounting their accomplishments and adventures in the stories below.
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New study first to define link between testosterone and fathers’ social roles outside the family
Lee Gettler, associate professor of anthropology at Notre Dame, led a team that worked with the BaYaka and Bondongo societies in the Republic of the Congo.
Department of Anthropology at Notre Dame's Statement of Solidarity
The students, faculty, and staff of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame stand in solidarity with the local, national, and global movements against systemic racism and state and police violence against Black communities in the United States. As anthropologists, it is our responsibility to actively dismantle false ideas about race within and outside of academia, and to remove systemic barriers that exclude Black people in our field and dehumanize them in our work.…
At a Chicago museum and a South Bend kindergarten, anthropology and Spanish major discovers a future in research and education
Firing a portable X-ray fluorescence scanner at 2,000-year-old artifacts last summer, Claire Stanecki discovered the value of hands-on education. A 2020 graduate who majored in anthropology and Spanish, Stanecki’s Arts and Letters education has been defined by exploring nontraditional forms of learning — from conducting research at a museum to studying the benefits of bilingual education in a local school. “The ability to learn about something and actually go interact with it is so incredibly mind-blowing,” she said.
My non-traditional senior thesis: a podcast series on Mayor Pete
Using ethnographical techniques from both anthropology and journalism, I completed around 50 hours of interviews and transcribed hundreds of pages of notes by the end of January. My focus turned to the podcast, starting with his childhood in South Bend and finishing with his concession speech at the Century Center in March. In the end, I made a five-episode series called “Spotlight on South Bend.”
A business major fell in love with anthropology, and found her career path in the process
As a senior associate at KPMG, Madeline Boyer’s background in anthropology often sparks curiosity. “Everybody’s always fascinated,” said Boyer ’09. “It’s an immediate conversation starter for people.” But more than that, Boyer’s anthropology major — and her entire Arts and Letters experience — gives her an edge in her career.
Notre Dame study shows fathers’ postnatal hormone levels predict later caregiving
Dads whose cortisol levels were elevated while they held their newborns on the day of their birth – either skin to skin or clothed – were more likely to be involved with indirect care and play with their infants in the first months of their lives.
New Book by Alum Emily Bieniek '13!
With striking beauty and emotional frankness, On the Great Land weaves together thirteen vibrant short stories that explore community, loss, trauma, and healing in one of the most mesmerizing and demanding places in the world.
Physician relies on anthropology background when treating patients in trauma center
As an orthopedic resident at Loyola University Medical Center, Daniel Schmitt ’11 sees a wide variety of patients. Schmitt, who majored in anthropology and biology, relies on his liberal arts education to connect with his diverse patient base and treat them comprehensively at the Level I trauma center — a hospital providing the highest level of surgery to trauma victims.
A Long Climb for Orphans
Kevin Rahill ’12 likes challenges. He liked them when he was on the swim team at Notre Dame, and he must have especially liked them when he decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013. But he didn’t attempt the feat for the physical challenge alone.