Outreach Archives

Notre Dame theologian Father Groody to advise Vatican conference on migration
Section: religion
While human migration is as old as human history, there are more migrants today than ever before. Displaced from their homelands by wars, genocide, famine, natural catastrophes, and collapsed or withering economies, there are 200 million such people worldwide, roughly the equivalent of the population of Brazil, according to Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., assistant professor of theology and director of the Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture in the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies. Read More

Elmhurst College Honors Champion of the Poor
Section: religion
Elmhurst College will present its highest honor, the Niebuhr Medal, to Gustavo Gutiérrez, the Roman Catholic priest and acknowledged "Father of Liberation Theology," for his lifetime of service to humanity, especially the poor.

A renowned theologian and champion for the rights of the world's "poorest of the poor," Gutiérrez challenges Christians to join in a sustained fight against material poverty. Read More

Hispanic Catholic leaders gather at Notre Dame for conference on the Bible in church life
Section: Religion
Hispanic Catholic leaders from around the world are meeting Friday and Saturday (July 31 and Aug. 1) at the University of Notre Dame for a conference titled “Camino a Emaús: The Word of God and Latino Catholics.”

The conference, sponsored by the American Bible Society and Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, is intended to deepen appreciation of the Bible and its role in the life and mission of the Church.

Speakers at the conference include Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Carmen Cervantes, of the Instituto Fe y Vida; Archbishop Nikola Eterović, general secretary of the Synod of Catholic Bishops; Renata Furst of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio; Archbishop José Gómez of San Antonio; Hosffman Ospino of Boston College; and Liana Lupas of the American Bible Society. Read More

Vive Ligero
Section: Health
Vive Ligero is an initiative of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) in conjunction with the Office of Minority Health, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. This campaign aims to increase awareness among Latinos about issues of weight and healthy living in an effort to break the pattern of obesity in our society today.</p><p>Features of Vive Ligero include ideas for incorporating exercise into daily life, information about nutrition and healthy cooking practices, and facts about the short- and long-term health risks of obesity. The site also provides links to other health related programs in both English and Spanish, audio clips from a radio series about obesity held on Latino USA, and images from the project's poster campaign, among other resources. Read More

Poet Brings Bicultural Work to Penn State
Section: Creative/Art
Francisco Aragón, director of Letras Latinas, the Institute's literary program, interviewed prior to his poetry reading at Penn State, April 2009. Read More

Obama Pledges to Help Mexico Fight Flow of Drugs, Guns
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
During a visit to Mexico, President Barack Obama pledged renewed U.S. support to help curb the country's drug-related violence. Analysts mull the possible policy changes. Read More

Associate Director Allert Brown-Gort: U.S. and Mexican governments closer than ever
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
As President Obama pledged during his visit to Mexico to help the country fight the flow of drugs and guns, Allert Brown-Gort, associate director of the University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino Studies, said the two governments are closer than ever.

"There is an idea of mutual responsibility," Brown-Gort said on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS last night. "I think President Felipe Calderón began this with his first meeting with President Bush, but I think it really took the Obama administration to come in - particularly Secretary Clinton's visit to Mexico City last month - when we really started to see that the dialogue was one of accepting that the responsibility lay on both sides of the border." Read More | Watch Video

A new glimpse of an ancient image
Section: Creative/Art
Among the most arresting aspects of Maria Tomasula's work is the refulgence–"magic realism," as some critics call it–of her technique. Meticulously rendered flowers, berries, beads, twigs, rodent skulls and bone fragments fairly swell and glow as they bulge from the painted wooden panels so vividly that even a forerunner like Georgia O'Keefe might look twice, and approvingly, at them.

These commonplace objects are often so anomalously arranged in her widely viewed and reviewed oil paintings that the assortments invite a reverent attention, much as religious icons are able to do. Read More

Hispanic Magazine Ranks ND #16
Section: Education
Hispanic Magazine has ranked the University of Notre Dame 16th on its 2009 list of "Top 25 Colleges for Hispanics," the seventh year the University has made the list since its debut in 1999.

The magazine based its evaluations on academic excellence, Hispanic enrollment and achievement, selectivity, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio, percentage of Hispanic faculty, financial aid, cultural programs, and support for Hispanic students. It gathered information from numerous sources, including the universities, Hispanic scholarship organizations, U.S. News & World Report's annual survey "America&#x27;s Best Colleges," and Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, which publishes a list of the top 100 institutions that award bachelor's degrees to Hispanics. Read More

Sueños sin fronteras: Making College Dreams a Reality
Section: Education
Sueños sin fronteras is a program that brings South Bend high school and eighth grade students to the campus of Notre Dame to learn more about the realities of college. It is a conference entirely initiated, planned, and run by Notre Dame students and focuses on leadership, self-esteem workshops, and real university experiences. The conference is planned, organized, and conducted entirely by Notre Dame undergraduates and is sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies in order to encourage and support local Latino youth in the pursuit of higher education. Read More

British Poet Inspired by Exhibition on Immigration Cosponsored by the Institute and the Snite Museum of Art
Section: Creative/Art
John Wilkinson calls his latest collection of poetry, Down to Earth, "a Midwestern book" but says that if the book's development had a decisive moment, it was seeing an exhibition, Caras Vemos, Corazones No Sabemos/Faces Seen, Hearts Unknown:The Human Landscape of Mexican Migration, at the Snite Museum of Art. (Go to www.carasvemos.org:8082 to see the virtual gallery.) Professor Wilkinson, a British poet who now teaches in Notre Dame's Department of English, finds no contradiction here: "The exhibition fed into a developing preoccupation with the idea that borders are everywhere. I was interested in worldwide circulations of people, of labor, of ideas... Indiana is so often thought of as 'the heartland'. But Indiana is also a crossroads—as it advertises, it's a place through which many people move." Read More

Latino Leadership Internship Program
Section: Education
The initial Leadership Intern Program began in 1996. The summer of 2007 found Latino Leadership Interns Jaime Luna and Linette Aguirre serving at St. Pius V/Casa Juan Diego in Chicago, Pamela Ruiz with the Resurrection Project in Chicago, Lauren Lyman and Ilse TerrazasOrtega at Interfaith Leadership Project in Berwyn and CiceroDanielee Espinoza at CorazÛn Community Services Edianys Deynes with Schwab Rehab Hospital, and Eddie Gutierrez worked with Little Village Community Development Corporation in Chicago. Read More

Writer/Poet Francisco Aragon brings love of Spanish language and culture to Park University.
Section: Creative/Art
Francisco Aragon knew he was going to be a writer, he was just not certain if he was going to be a fiction writer or a poet.

"At U.C. (University of California) Berkeley you had to apply to be admitted into these [creative writing] workshops because the demand was always greater than the slots for students." Aragon applied for the short fiction and the poetry workshops. "I was perfectly content with doing either one of them, and it just turned out I was not admitted to the short fiction workshop but I was admitted to the poetry workshop. The decision was sort of made for me." Read More

Gallery Exhibition Helps Support La Casa de Amistad Women's Group
Section: Community
The Institute for Latino Studies held an opening reception for the exhibition "Mariposas" on November 15, 2008 at the Notre Dame Downtown Crossroads Gallery. The exhibition appeared in conjunction with a program sponsored by La Casa de Amistad also entitled "Mariposas." The exhibition was on display for only four days in November 2008, but the turnout rivaled all other exhibitions.

"Mariposas" featured the photographic works of a women's group from La Casa de Amistad. The images in the exhibition, personal snapshots of everyday life, gave expression to the experiences and struggles of immigrant women and served to empower them to aid in the process of healing.

Over 100 people turned out for this gallery opening, the largest crowd the Crossroads Gallery has ever seen. Music, food, dancing, and a slideshow accompanied the reception. Fifteen women in La Casa de Amistad were presented with certificates for their participation, and the Institute received an "Appreciation Award" from La Casa de Amistad for hosting the reception. This exhibition gave the program an opportunity to create a leadership group and promote solidarity with other women in the community.

Mexico Under Calderón
Section: Community
As Barack Obama begins his transition into the White House, Mexican President Felipe Calderón approaches his two-year anniversary in office. Mexico is struggling to respond to the devastating financial crisis, the urgent need for energy reform, and an alarming increase in drug-related violence, and will figure prominently in the Obama administration's approach toward immigration, border security, and Latin American policy generally. Oil production, a key component of the Mexican economy, has dropped substantially at a time when the peso has lost twenty percent of its value in the last month, and rising consumer prices place a huge burden on Mexico's substantial working classes. Despite a government crackdown involving the deployment of 36,000 troops across the country, an estimated drug-related violence in the past two years. How will President Calderón's governmentwhat are the implications for the United States as a new administration takes power? Read More

Olivas Speaks on Important Supreme Court Case
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
Professor Michael A. Olivas gave a lecture entitled "'Colored Men' and 'Hombres Aqui': Hernandez v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican American Lawyering" on November 3, 2008 as part of the Institute's lecture series "A Public Policy Agenda and a New Vision for the Future." Professor Olivas discussed the litigation history of Hernandez v. Texas, a 1954 US Supreme Court case that was decided within ten days of the Brown v. Board decision. The case involved jury selection in Jim Crow Jackson County, Texas, following the 1951 shooting of Joe Espinosa by Pete Hernandez in Edna, Texas. Decided 50 years ago and overshadowed by the Brown case, Hernandez v. Texas is not well-known, but is in many respects more significant than the more famous Brown case.

When Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by an all-white jury, his lawyers argued that he had not been tried by a jury of his peers, and that no Mexican American had ever been called to jury duty in the county. While the State's highest court of Criminal Appeals sided with the State, the US Supreme Court unanimously overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial. This was the first case ever tried by Mexican American lawyers in the US Supreme Court.

Professor Olivas explained that the case revealed how a nascent minority group organized itself without legal organizations or ethnic machinery such as that created by Blacks to attack segregation. The case also revealed Jim Crow conditions for Mexicans in the South and had resonance for the larger issue of how minorities fare in the criminal justice system.

The lecture was co-sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Graduate School, the Kellogg Institute for International Relations, the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Science, the Program in American Democracy, and the Hesburgh Program in Public Service.

ILS Welcomes Antonio Turok
Section: Creative/Art
This fall the Institute for Latino Studies is honored to welcome internationally known documentary photographer Antonio Turok as a visiting fellow. For the last 35 years Turok has documented the human condition of people in Central America, Mexico, and the United States. This semester he is teaching a class entitled, "Images of Mexico: A Photographer's Journey" in which he challenges students to look deeper into what a single photo expresses.

As part of his visit Turok took part in the Fall 2008 ND Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar Series on October 13. At this seminar, entitled "A Visual Imaginary Retrospective Look at Immigration," Turok recounted the stories behind many of his images. A reception followed the seminar to celebrate the opening of Turok's thirty-six piece exhibition entitled "35 years of Photography" at the Galería AmÈrica in McKenna Hall. The exhibition will continue through the beginning of January 2009.

Contrasida-aids.org
Section: Health
Prevenir es Vivir National Poster Campaign aims to promote health education for Latinos about HIV/AIDS. In cooperation with the Office of Minority Health, the Institute for Latino Studies and the Inter-University Program for Latino Research have launched an HIV/AIDS project as part of a national campaign to promote health education on Latinos and AIDS. Targeting diverse and traditionally hard-to-reach audiences- including women and youth- the project hopes to use the power of the Internet, public radio, and community art to help prevent AIDS in the Latino community. Read More

The ILS Library Participates in Archives Alive
Section: Community
On Saturday, October 11, 2008, the Institute's Library and Archives was one of nine local public, private, and academic archives displaying "secrets/treasures from the collection" at the first of a series of annual Archives Alive! events celebrating National Archives Month. Taking Hispanic Heritage Monthówhich overlaps with National Archives Monthóas its theme, the Institute's display focused on the research projects based at our library and the initiative the library is undertaking to preserve the records of Midwestern Latino arts and culture. Archives Alive! was held on the Indiana University South Bend campus at Wiekamp Hall, and the other participants in the event were the Brothers of Holy Cross Archives, Indiana Province Archives of Holy Cross Priests, Indiana University South Bend Archives and Special Collections, Northern Indiana Center for History, Saint Joseph County Archives and Records Center, Saint Joseph County Public Library's Local and Family History Services, the Studebaker National Museum Archives, and the University of Notre Dame Archives.

Sam Quiñones' Antonio's Gun
Section: Creative/Art
The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies Working Group on Migration and the Institute for Latino Studies were proud to present, Sam Quiñones, author of Antonio's Gun, at the Hesburgh Center Auditorium on September 23, 2008.

Called "the most original American writer on the border and Mexico out there" by one reviewer, Quiñones is the winner of prestigious fellowships and prizes in journalism, including the Alicia Patterson Fellowship and the Cabot Prize. He is the author of True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx (2001) and Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration (2004). Antonio's Gun has been hailed as "genuinely original work, what great fiction and nonfiction aspire to be, these are the stories that stop time and remind us how great reading is."

After taking questions from the audience, Quiñones participated in a book signing followed by a reception in the Hesburgh Center Great Hall.

The Institute Welcomes Professor Hortense Spillers to the University of Notre Dame
Section: Creative/Art
The Institute for Latino Studies invited the Notre Dame and Saint Mary's community and the general public to a welcoming reception in the Galería AmÈrica at McKenna Hall for Professor Hortense Spillers, world-renowned African-Americanist, during her visit to Notre Dame as a Provost's Distinguished Women's Lecturer. The reception was held on September 8, 2008, prior to her lecture "The Idea of Black Culture: Afro-Latino/as and the Americas." Accompanying Spillers' lecture was an exhibition displaying works of Latino/a and Caribbean artists that depicted the Latino/a-African heritage in the Americas.

Grant Ramsey's "Nicaragua" Exhibition gets a Large Turnout
Section: Community
The Institute for Latino Studies announced the opening of the exhibition "Grant Ramsey: Nicaragua" on display in the Crossroads Gallery for the 2008 fall season. The opening reception held on September 17, 2008 at the Notre Dame Downtown Crossroads Gallery saw over eighty guests who came to see the work on display. Ramsey offered an introduction to his work and answered questions about his work and experiences.

Ramsey is a self-trained photographer and assistant professor of philosophy at Notre Dame whose images of post-revolutionary Nicaragua pulse with an inner rhythm and vitality. He first traveled to Central America as a student and solidarity activist in the mid-1990s. He later accompanied his wife, an anthropologist, during her field research in Nicaragua. His photographs are rooted in the tradition of documentary street photography and blur the boundaries between photojournalism and fine art photography.

The images in his exhibit were candid, reflecting fleeting public encounters on urban sidewalks, at the market, political rallies, or popular and religious festivals. Ramsey focuses his photographic eye on the forms of labor and leisure in Nicaragua: images ostensibly of play also expose violence, pain, loneliness, and sadness. And the most mundane forms of work–laying bricks, washing laundry by hand–are, at times, graceful, wistful, or even comical. His work reveals the paradoxical beauty and rich humanity of daily life in one of the hemisphere's most impoverished countries.

For further press on Ramsey's exhibition, click here

The ILS Crossroads Gallery sees its First Spring Art Walk
Section: Community
The Institute for Latino Studies joined up with the Circa Arts Gallery and the South Bend Regional Museum of Art to celebrate local artists in the 2008 annual Spring Art Walk.

Located in downtown South Bend, the Institute for Latino Studies Crossroads Gallery was one of nine galleries that participated in the 2008 Art Walk. On display at the gallery was the exhibition Journeys of Migration, which explored the theme of journeys, borders, crossings, and settlement. Focusing in particular on the US-Mexico border, Journeys of Migration provided a glimpse into the different historical moments, issues, and debates that have shaped US immigration policy.

During the Art Walk we had a wide range of participants of all ages battling the windy weather to experience the exhibition. College students, parents, and grandparents all viewed the exhibition, while children could be found at the coloring and mask making station.

The Institute for Latino Studies is grateful for being part of this event that reaches out to the community, and we look forward to taking part in the Art Walks to come.

USCIS Welcomes 199 New Citizens During Special Naturalization Ceremony at the University of Notre Dame
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
A group of 199 South Bend-area residents representing 50 countries from around the world became United States citizens at a special naturalization ceremony on September 12, 2008 at the University of Notre Dame's Washington Hall. Twelve of the new citizens were affiliated with the University of Notre Dame, either as professors, students, or staff.

The Honorable Robert L. Miller, Chief Judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, presided. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Jonathan "Jock" Scharfen delivered the keynote address for this special event and administered the Oath of Allegiance and Alfonso Aguilar, USCIS Office of Citizenship Chief addressed the new citizens. Both are Notre Dame alumni. Josh Diaz, a current Notre Dame student, gave a heartwarming performance of the national anthem.

The ceremony was organized in conjunction with the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. This past year, the Institute has organized numerous programs about immigration. Following the ceremony, Director Scharfen unveiled a poster of Knute Rockne, the first in a series of posters honoring famous foreign-born US citizens. Rockne, a Norwegian immigrant, is known as one of the great football coaches of Notre Dame. The Institute for Latino Studies is honored to have been part of this ceremony granting citizenship to nearly 200 new citizens.

Latino Poetry Review
Section: Creative/Art
Established in 2008, Latino Poetry Review (LPR) publishes book reviews, essays, and interviews with an eye towards spurring inquiry and dialogue. Read More

Best Stories Second Year Appearance
Section: Community
The Institute for Latino Studies announced the exhibition "Best Stories" on display at the Crossroads Gallery from August 18 to September 12, 2008. An opening reception was held on August 28.

This was the second year for the popular Best Stories exhibition at the Crossroads Gallery, which showcases stories and illustrations created by children in the Best Stories project of the 2008 Migrant/Bilingual Summer School Program. The project was organized by the Bilingual Services Department of the South Bend Community School Corporation. Additional assistance for the project was provided by RMB Creative Associates & Lifetime Education and Research Network.

This year's exhibition featured the work of seventh and eighth grade students. The ten stories in the exhibition included "The Polar Bear and the City," "The Vampire Who Turned Out Nice," "Jack Roars," "Next Time Listen 2 Your Mother," "The Best Friends," "Soccer Girls," "A Problem With Candy," "Being Just a Witch," and "The Lost Treasure and Prince Fish." We would like to thank the South Bend Community School Corporation for once again allowing the Institute be part of this fantastic program.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass
Section: Community
Every year in December, a Mass is celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Associate Director Allert Brown-Gort to give opening address at an Institute-sponsored US Immigration Conference, Elkhart, Indiana, June 16-17, 2008
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
The Learning Generation Initiative of Elkhart and LaGrange counties, Indiana, is working with the Elkhart County Human Rights Commission, the Institute for Latino Studies at Notre Dame, and the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning at Goshen College to create a program of study that will inform community leaders about the history, current status, and future of US immigration law. This program will also provide information on the demographics of the immigrant community in Indiana and explore the factors driving the increase in Indiana's immigrant population. View the Agenda

Dr. Kevin Johnson Speaks on Immigration
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
On Wednesday, March 26, 2008, Dr. Kevin Johnson was the guess speaker for the final lecture of the series "A Public Policy Agenda and a New Vision for the Future."

Dr. Johnson, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California at Davis, spoke on his newest book, Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Laws, at McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame.

According to the NYU Press, "Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, particularly on the eve of a presidential election. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how US borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration."

The series was sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies and cosponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Science, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Program in American Democracy, and the Hesburgh Program in Public Service.

ILS Hosts the Final Roundtable of the Task Force on New Americans
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
The Institute for Latino Studies has been asked to host the final roundtable discussion by the Task Force on New Americans. Created in June 2006 by President George W. Bush, the Task Force on New Americans is an inter-agency effort to help immigrants learn English, embrace the common core of American civic culture, and fully become American. The Task Force works to develop a more cooperative federal approach to assimilation, one of the five pillars of the President's comprehensive immigration reform plan.

This event will convene representatives from foundations and philanthropic and civic organizations to discuss their engagement with immigrant communities in the United States. The series of roundtables started in February 2007 have been held across the United States to learn more about successful immigrant integration practices. The Task Force will present its findings and recommendations in a formal report to the President.

Immigration Policy in U.S. Is Criticized by U.N. Aide
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GENEVA (AP) ó The United States is not doing enough to protect immigrants' rights, a United Nations human rights expert said Friday. The adviser, Jorge A. Bustamante, said immigrants were often subject to indefinite detention and forced deportation.

Mr. Bustamante, an expert on migrant rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council, said he had "serious concerns" about immigrants' condition in the United States, "especially in the context of deportation and detention policies." He was presenting a report to the council about a visit to the United States last May. Read More

Roger Knight presents at a Brookings Institution Workshop
Section: Public Policy/Social Justice
The Institute's Roger Knight, senior research analyst, presented at a 2009 Brookings Institution workshop on Local Employment Dynamics data from the US Census Bureau. See More Images