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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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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Libby Hasse ’08 always knew she wanted to join the Peace Corps. She just didn’t realize what an impact it would have on her career. The experience still resonates today in her work as an attorney at the Tahirih Justice Center — a national nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services to immigrant women.
A children's book by Notre Dame anthropology alumna Jessica Fries-Gaither '99 will be read aloud from the International Space Station as part of the Story Time From Space program.
A trio of Notre Dame students and alumni have been named Yenching Scholars, a globally competitive award that provides a full scholarship and stipend to pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree at China’s top university. Teresa Kennedy ’16, an anthropology and peace studies major from Wilbraham, Massachusetts; senior Jenny Ng, a political science major from Sai Kung, Hong Kong; and Dominic Romeo ’14, a political science and Chinese major from Turlock, California, were named to the third cohort entering the Yenching Academy, based at Peking University in Beijing.
