Notre Dame Stories
Notre Dame Stories highlights the work and knowledge of the University's faculty and students. This podcast features interviews with Notre Dame faculty members who can lend insight into some of the major national and international stories of the day, as well as pieces that show the breadth of the life and research at the University. Notre Dame Stories is the official podcast of the University of Notre Dame.
Episodes
September 23, 2026 • 22 mins
At Notre Dame, Bookstore Basketball isn't just an intramural tournament—it's tradition. For more than 50 years, generations of the Notre Dame family—students, alumni, priests, seminarians, and campus ministers—have found community and connection, one game at a time.
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, host Jenna Liberto talks with student co-president Mia Keener ‘26, Bookstore veteran Tim Frank ‘93...
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May 5, 2026 • 15 mins
For seven hours, Notre Dame alumna Kelsey Young ’09 sat in NASA mission control, listening as astronauts described the moon in real time from a vantage point no human had ever experienced before.
Young is NASA’s first science officer and the lunar science lead for the Artemis II mission. In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, she explains how her role is shaping the future of human space exploration and how human obser...
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April 7, 2026 • 14 mins
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, Melissa Kearney, economist and director of the Strengthening Families Research Initiative, explores the decline in marriage, the rise of single-parent households, and falling fertility rates in the United States. Drawing on decades of research, she connects these trends to economic inequality, child well-being, and public policy—making the case that strengthening families is essential to...
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March 11, 2026 • 13 mins
What does it really mean to be successful?
Joe Holt has lived enough lives to make most résumés look boring—including time as a Jesuit priest, a stockbroker, a corporate attorney, and even an Ironman triathlete—and he’s convinced that success can’t be measured by titles, prestige, or what you can show for your work.
In this podcast episode, Holt joins host Jenna Liberto, and together they explo...
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February 6, 2026 • 17 mins
What can extreme cold teach us about the human body—and ourselves?
In this episode, Director of the Human Energetics Laboratory and anthropologist Cara Ocobock takes listeners inside her research on human adaptation, from subzero fieldwork in Finland with reindeer herders to lab studies on metabolism, cold exposure, and hunting unicorns.
She also unpacks popular cold-plunge trends, what science actually says about them, a...
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December 4, 2025 • 13 mins
Questions about artificial intelligence are everywhere—shaping public debate, influencing industry, and surfacing deep uncertainties about what it means to be human. At Notre Dame, philosopher Meghan Sullivan is helping lead that conversation. In this episode, she explains the DELTA framework, a human-centered approach to AI ethics—and why the choices we make today will define how this powerful technology shapes our fut...
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November 5, 2025 • 14 mins
On a family farm in Ohio, more than a million hens produce eggs that fill grocery shelves across the Midwest. Behind the scenes, farmers like Jordan and Thomas Hertzfeld are working tirelessly to keep their flocks healthy and thriving.
Now, researchers at Notre Dame are helping them do just that—developing an “electronic nose” that can detect disease before it spreads, turning science into a lifeline for farms, f...
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October 1, 2025 • 13 mins
How do you improve hurricane forecasts? By studying one of the most powerful and destructive forces on Earth up close—where the ocean meets the atmosphere.
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, Professor David Richter explains how new drone technology is helping scientists better understand what happens inside a hurricane close to the ocean’s surface—and why this research is vital for improving forecasts. Rich...
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In this episode, Kathleen Kolberg, Ph.D., Associate Dean, College of Science, Office of the Dean, Assistant Director of the Center for Health Sciences Advising, shares how Notre Dame helped set the standard for NICU design and care.
We also hear from Ainee Martin '25, a recently graduated chemical engineering and pre-med student whose passion for helping others was born of her past experience with medical professionals following t...
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April 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Notre Dame is committed to educating a different kind of lawyer—one rooted in Catholic social teaching. From real-world clinics to high-stakes cases like protecting the sacred Apache Oak Flat, students are prepared to serve with both skill and conscience.
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, shares why protecting religious freedom&mdas...
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March 24, 2025 • 41 mins
This podcast episode features Heather Reynolds, Managing Director of the Notre Dame Poverty Initiative and the Michael L. Smith Managing Director, Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO), who shares how Notre Dame’s research has shaped policy changes—such as expanding access to high school diplomas for adults—and helped nonprofits implement programs that truly work. With more than 100 projects in ...
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February 17, 2025 • 38 mins
In the United States, a disease must affect fewer than 200,000 people to be considered rare, but there are over 8,000 known rare diseases. That leaves the chances of being diagnosed with a rare disease in the U.S. at around 1 in 10, yet research and funding remain scarce.
Rare diseases, commonly referred to as "orphan diseases," are often overlooked. As a result, effective treatments exist for less than 5% of all rare diseases, lea...
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January 23, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, University President Reverend Fr. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. and Reverend Dr. Hugh R. Page, Jr., vice president of institutional transformation and advisor to the president, join host Jenna Liberto to discuss their shared commitment to creating a welcoming environment for all.
Together, they explore the University's mission, the importance of bridging differences, and how faith informs their ...
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December 16, 2024 • 30 secs
It’s a story so familiar to many that you may not even realize there’s more to be discovered. The Bible describes an event that led so-called wise men to Jesus.
Scripture calls it a star, but what was it really? That’s the question Grant Mathews, director of the Center for Astrophysics at Notre Dame, set out to answer. He believes the Christmas star was actually a planetary alignment. He shares his research with u...
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November 25, 2024 • 36 mins
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, Nitesh Chawla, Founding Director of the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, discusses the transformative potential of artificial intelligence. Amid growing concerns about AI’s societal impacts, Chawla emphasizes a proactive and inclusive approach to leveraging this technology for good. From addressing biases in AI systems to creating global solutions for healthcare and pover...
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October 23, 2024 • 26 mins
In this episode, Micki Kidder, vice president of undergraduate enrollment, highlights Notre Dame's new no-loan financial aid packaging and expanded need-blind admissions as part of the new Pathways to Notre Dame initiative, ensuring that students from all financial backgrounds can access a Notre Dame education without the burden of debt.
As a Notre Dame alumna, staff member, and now a Notre Dame parent, Kidder shares her perso...
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September 23, 2024 • 57 mins
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, we go deep on a topic featured in the University’s award-winning series, “What Would You Fight For?” In an in-depth conversation, Sarah Mustillo, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, discusses the bold University initiative around mental health. She talks about her own research into childhood trauma, and how it helps to inform h...
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In October, it was announced that Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., would step down from his role as the 17th president of the University of Notre Dame. He has shaped and grown the University and its impact over the past 19 years in research, global engagement and by attracting super faculty and the highest caliber students, just to name a few.
In this special episode of Notre Dame Stories, Father Jenkins reflects on his tenure with ho...
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March 22, 2024 • 16 mins
The University of Notre Dame has experienced transformational growth in research over the past decade. The evidence is everywhere on campus, both in the talent of the faculty and the resources devoted to making Notre Dame a leading research institution.
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, host Jenna Liberto talks to Vice President of Research Jeff Rhoads who shares his plans for expanding the University's impact g...
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February 23, 2024 • 20 mins
What comes to mind when you think about the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame? Likely, an image of traditional Roman Catholicism. But the Church is a global body with diverse traditions and people who lead them. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the life story of the chair of Notre Dame’s Department of Theology, Father Khaled Anatolios.
In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, w...
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