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VOLUME 58, ISSUE 50 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2024 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
President-elect Dowd anticipates duties Fr. Robert Dowd views presidency as another opportunity to serve Notre Dame community By PETER BREEN Associate News Editor
In professor Phil Gleason’s Core course during the mid-1980s, Fr. Robert Dowd could tell he was cared for. Gleason, who taught history at Notre Dame for 47 years and died in January, inspired students to think about important issues and the meaning and purpose of life, Dowd added. “He was somebody who I think modeled what is best about Notre Dame. And that is just a deep commitment to growth and insight — and also, I think, an openness to ideas,” Dowd, who is succeeding current University President Fr. John Jenkins on July 1, told The Observer in an interview last week. Like many Domers, Dowd’s affinity for Notre Dame began young.
He grew up a 45-minute drive west of campus in Michigan City, Indiana. His mom and his dad, a 1956 Notre Dame alum, would bring Dowd and his little sister to football games when they were kids. As an undergraduate student, Dowd majored in economics and psychology. He lived in Grace Hall and played in the dorm’s intra-hall basketball league. The Oak Room on the first floor of South Dining Hall, with its free coffee refills, was his go-to hangout. “It was a great time. It doesn’t mean it was easy,” Dowd said about his undergraduate years. “There was a lot of soul searching that I did, probably not unlike a lot of students today.” Dowd considered becoming a high school teacher or going on to graduate school and pursuing life
in academia. Ultimately, he entered Moreau Seminary after finishing his bachelor’s degree in 1987. “I decided to enter the seminary and that brought me a lot of peace. It really did,” Dowd said. “It really felt like I was in the right place, and that never really went away.” Africa was in political upheaval when Dowd requested to spend some of his seminary formation on the continent. In 1991, he relocated to Nairobi, Kenya for 18 months and became fascinated by what was going on. “I was especially interested in the role that religious institutions might play during the time of political change,” Dowd said. “Would they support efforts to develop democratic institutions or would they hinder those efforts?” see DOWD PAGE 4
Courtesy of Rob Baranko
Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees elected associate provost Fr. Robert Dowd to be University President Fr. John Jenkins’ successor in December 2023.
Students bring science to public library event By SOPHIA DAVIS News Writer
The main branch of the St. Joseph Count y Public Librar y hosted its 32nd Science A live event Saturday, becoming a hub for children to exclaim at bubbling test tubes and create their “brain” in a bottle. From stage events like Pa leo Joe’s techniques of fossil collection to tables discussing the Great La kes ecosystem, k ids and parents of a ll ages opened their minds to the expanse of science. Wanda Dudley, a program coordinator for the event who tries to “add a little spark le” wherever she goes, worked a longside a team to inv ite more than 40 ex hibitors in an effort to teach the communit y the “ama zing things that science has to offer.” “We tr y to bring a little more diversit y to the stage shows,” Dudley said. “A ny thing from the physics of ba llet to science you can do at home to an awardw inning pa leontologist. [The event is there to] engage the
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audience, the k ids, the parents and have fun learning at the same time.” Dudley said the event had an ama zing turnout. She added that while this is her first year coordinating it, Notre Dame has been a part of the event for many years. Indeed, Notre Dame clubs, departments and lab groups were found throughout the librar y to create looks of wonder and curiosit y. The Universit y’s Rocketr y Club took participants to new heights show ing off their latest rocket. W hile the Universit y’s participants were there to prov ide a glimpse into science at Notre Dame, many of the groups said they had a goa l of becoming more engaged w ith the South Bend communit y as well. Diane Wright, a program coordinator for Notre Dame’s neuroscience and behavior major, led an activ it y where k ids hit a target while wearing glasses that distort v ision. Wright spoke about the
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“group of students who are rea lly dedicated to ta k ing neuroscience into the communit y and show ing people just ever yday things you can do to improve your brain hea lth.” Doctorate student Joshua Mora les ta lked about the importance of outreach for the Jaffe Lab, which has participated in Science A live in the past, bringing solid-state chemistr y to new audiences. This year, the group made batteries out of limes and da zzled people w ith fool’s gold. “Ta lk ing w ith the people, and seeing the smiles on their faces, that’s the reason why we do a ll of this,” Mora les said. The Notre Dame Chemistr y Club president, Cecilia Leber, and v ice-president, Julia Florek Carlson, said there was push to prov ide members more volunteering opportunities. “It seems like we have a lot of excitement w ith people see SCIENCE PAGE 3
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South Bend plans intake center By AYNSLEE DELLACCA News Writer
Mayor James Mueller inv ited the South Bend communit y to an open discussion Tuesday evening about the placement and overall concerns for the New Day Intake Center. The meeting took place at LaSalle Academy, a public middle school, in dow ntow n South Bend. Mueller hosted this meeting as a result of a postponement from last Thursday, Feb. 1, when fire marshal Gerard Ellis arrived one hour after the original meeting began and forced communit y members to clear the building. The gathering at the Beacon Resource Center was so large, it had exceeded the capacit y limit for the building. The project to launch South Bend’s first homeless shelter has been in progress since 2016 and began under former mayor Pete Buttigieg. It took a large step for ward when the South Bend Communit y School
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Corporation approved the cit y’s purchase of a threeacre plot of land to host the center. Before this plot of land, several locations in different areas of the cit y had been offered and all had been turned dow n by the count y. According to executive director of the Department of Communit y Investment, Caleb Bauer, the plot of land used for this project must adhere to the follow ing requirements: the site must be located w ithin cit y limits, at least three acres, located w ithin a quarter mile of a bus stop or bus line, be an undeveloped or vacant lot, not contaminated w ith chemical pollution or categorized as a wetland zone and available for the cit y to purchase. The location under debate is located on North Bendix Drive, roughly a quarter a mile away from the Bendix Drive bus stop. The New Day Intake Center, see SOUTH BEND PAGE 3
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