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Student Research
Nora Murphy ’22
Garrett Pacholl ’24 Through the Nanovic Institute, Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to participate in research projects offered over the winter and summer break periods. These projects have covered a variety of topics related to Europe including “Belarus: Media Dissidences in the Face of Authoritarianism,” “Europe Responds to the 2020 U.S. Election,” and “The Road to Europe: Exploring European Union Candidacy in the Western Balkans.” This new style of guided group research began in the winter of 2020, as a result of the pandemic, in lieu of the independent research in Europe that the Institute traditionally supports. These projects have proven to be an effective way for students to gain valuable research skills in a supported environment. The Institute will continue to fund group research projects, bringing together like-minded students to examine and address some of the most pressing and complex issues facing Europe today. Nora Murphy ’22 highlighted the importance of such projects: “Over the past two years, I have worked on three Nanovic Institute projects, researching topics as diverse as Spain’s reaction to the 2020 U.S. election, North Macedonia’s path to the European Union, and the consolidation of authoritarianism in Belarus. The first of these was particularly fascinating and rewarding because of the project’s timeliness. Writing and researching in the immediate wake of the election, our team explored a constantly evolving issue through primary sources and made original conclusions and predictions. We were also conducting our research in the context of the January 6th riots at the U.S. Capitol, and I watched events unfold on TV not just as a concerned American citizen but as a curious researcher, pulling up Spanish news sources to see how they were covering the event and its global implications.
The project helped me become a more responsible researcher as I learned how to conduct broad and thorough research that encompassed opinions from across the political spectrum, not just those echoed on major media platforms. Taking such a deep dive into Spanish media and government also taught me a great deal about Spain’s political landscape, which inspired me to research the Vox party as a case study for my senior thesis. As I make plans to move to Barcelona next year, these insights into contemporary Spanish politics will leave me better equipped to appreciate the political and social reality of my host country. The Nanovic Institute research projects were among the highlights of my academic career at Notre Dame, inspiring in me a love for political research, a deeper understanding of European politics and society, and a desire to combine these passions as I move forward in my career.” Garrett Pacholl ’24 highlighted how this experience honed his research skills: “I had the privilege of working with the Nanovic Institute on their student research initiative ‘Belarus: Media Dissidences in the Face of Authoritarianism.’ This project looked into the role of the media in the development of modern-day Belarus, especially in the context of the controversial 2020 election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko. My role involved researching the collapse of the Soviet Union in Belarus and how it affected the development of the modern-day Belarusian state.
I am a history major and European studies minor, so I was fascinated by this topic. I did not know much about Belarusian history before working on this project but I am aware of Belarus’ complex political climate and was interested in finding out more. Over the span of six weeks, I researched factors leading to the formation of Soviet Belarus and the years surrounding its collapse. For me, the most surprising lesson was that nationalism did not play a significant role in the collapse of Soviet Belarus. This contrasts with the experience in many former Soviet states, such as Ukraine, where a leading factor in internal movements against the Soviet Union was nationalist sentiments – a desire for a polity that was representative of their own, unique national history, rather than being grouped under a collective Soviet identity.
This project challenged me to use different methods of finding source material to find substantial evidence and helped me practice concision, as I needed to present a significant amount of material in a limited number of words and in an infographic format. I am grateful to the Nanovic Institute for giving me an opportunity to learn and to develop my research and presentation skills.” ◆
“The research projects were among the highlights of my academic career at Notre Dame, inspiring in me a love for political research and a deeper understanding of European politics and society.” — Nora Murphy
RIGHT: Crowds gather in Minsk to protest the Belarusian government and President Aleksandr Lukashenko, August 2020.
1992-2022
Ivy grows up the side of the courtyard gate of Brownson Hall, the Nanovic Institute’s home for 15 years. Inspired by the Brownson gate, the phrase “Your door to Europe” was used to encourage students and faculty to explore the opportunities offered over the years. After Brownson Hall was replaced by the new Remick Family Hall, the original iron gates were relocated to the Maine home of founding benefactors Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic. O ver the last three decades, an initiative that began as a lecture series has developed to become a vital, flourishing European studies institute within a new school for global affairs. The generosity, vision, and presence of its founding benefactors, Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic, have helped the Institute maintain consistency of purpose with a mission focused on the student experience and on building a vibrant home for European studies at the University of Notre Dame. The Nanovic community – comprising students, faculty, and European partners, as well as its directors and staff – has enriched the Institute’s founding goals with its commitment, creativity, and intellectual curiosity.
The Institute views Europe not as a fixed and unalterable fact or space, but as a region shaped by evolving ideas, cultures, beliefs, and institutions. In recent decades, this evolution has taken the form of such ruptures and processes as genocide in the Balkans, mass migration, the rise of populism, Brexit, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since 1992, the Nanovic Institute has observed and discussed these transformations, striving to help its community develop a relationship with and a deeper understanding of Europe.
Becoming an Institute During its first decade, Nanovic grew from a center to an institute under the leadership of its founding director J. Robert Wegs. Two goals defined Nanovic’s work during this period and remained at the heart of its mission over the next 30 years: providing an interdisciplinary home for European studies at Notre Dame, and keeping people – especially students – at the center of its activities. As a professor of modern European history, Wegs envisioned a center that would connect Notre Dame’s scholars of European studies across the liberal arts and humanities and, as he explained, “create a critical mass for European studies, building on the existing strengths in the Arts and Letters College.”
Nanovic’s earliest initiatives revolved around intellectual exchange and bringing European scholars to campus to engage with Notre Dame faculty and students. The first such event was a two-day conference on European unification in April 1993 involving faculty from Germany, Austria, and elsewhere in the U.S. Subsequent conferences and lecture series focused on such themes as post-war Europe and the expansion of the European Union.
In 1997, the Center became the Institute, thanks to Bob and Liz’s continued generosity, and student programming took
COUNTRIES STUDENTS VISITED
Albania Armenia Austria Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Lituania Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine The United Kingdom Vatican City (Holy See)
Since it was established, the Nanovic Institute has sent students to undertake research and/or training in almost all European countries demonstrating the breadth of the interest in Europe that the institute has fostered.
TIMELINE: A HISTORY OF THE NANOVIC INSTITUTE
1992
An initial gift of $25,000 from Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic helped create the Committee for European Studies within the Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters, with J. Robert Wegs, professor of history, as organizer.
1993
The Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic Center for European Studies is established with Wegs as director.
1996
Wegs organizes the first meeting of faculty members who would support the development of the Institute, paving the way for what later became the Faculty Fellows program.
1997
The Nanovic Center becomes the Nanovic Institute for European Studies thanks to additional financial gifts from the Nanovics. The Institute moves to a larger suite in the newly refurbished Flanner Hall.
1997
The Nanovic Scholars Program is initiated, building upon and expanding existing programs for scholars from Italy, Poland, and Germany that had become part of the Institute’s portfolio.
center stage. Director Wegs shared the Nanovics’ commitment to helping students know and understand Europe and initiated grants for students and faculty to travel and research in Europe. The first summer grants, awarded in 1998, helped six undergraduate and graduate students travel to Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the UK to research such topics as the economics of EU social policy and forced labor in occupied France during World War II. In 2001, Nanovic established the first iteration of the minor in European studies, which Wegs proposed would promote both interdisciplinarity and Notre Dame’s drive to internationalize its activities.
Bringing Notre Dame to Europe and Europe to Notre Dame The Nanovic Institute entered a remarkable period of growth in 2002 when A. James McAdams, the William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs, began his 16-year term as director. McAdams expanded and diversified the Institute’s existing programming for students and faculty and cultivated new collaborations that reached across the university and across Europe. With McAdams at the helm, the Institute brought Notre Dame to Europe and Europe to Notre Dame. Undergraduates learned in and from Europe, graduate students had access to professionalization, and an interdisciplinary community of >>
1998
The institute awards its first grants for summer research in Europe to three undergraduates, three graduate students, and one faculty member.
2001
The Institute initiates the European Area Studies Minor with the first students graduating in 2003.
2002
A. James McAdams, William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs, begins his 16-year term as director.
—Bob Nanovic
BOB AND LIZ NANOVIC
Before the summer of 1987, when a tour of Central and Eastern Europe sparked the idea for a Notre Dame center for European studies, Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic were already great friends of the university. For a number of years, Bob (an investment counselor and graduate of the Class of ’54) and Liz (a graduate of Hofstra University) had made donations to the university in honor of his father Nicholas who, with his parents and siblings, emigrated to the U.S. in 1913 from near Bratislava in present-day Slovakia. Following his father’s sudden death, a teenage Nicholas became the family breadwinner and went on to support three of his brothers’ educations, all of whom graduated from Notre Dame. The Nanovics wished to continue this family legacy of supporting education and opportunity, particularly for deserving students with fewer resources, and combine it with their deep curiosity and passion for European history, culture, traditions, and experiences. Bob Nanovic remembers that they wanted to do something that was more than just a name on a building. “I wanted to do something that would allow students to take a piece of it away with them,” he explained. “Buildings you leave behind, but the idea of a program that could grow, evolve, and have an impact on the lives of students appealed to me.” In May 1992, Bob and Liz Nanovic built upon their collaboration with Professor J. Robert Wegs and made the gift of $25,000 that created the Nanovic Center for European Studies. Over the past thirty years, the Nanovics have remained committed to and involved in the growth of the Institute that bears their name. As active members of its Advisory Board, Bob and Liz take an unfailing interest in the wide array of Institute programs and events. Their generosity and vision continue to shape the Nanovic Institute as it enters its fourth decade.
faculty fellows and visiting scholars engaged in the pursuit of truth, knowledge, and understanding.
Consistent with Nanovic’s origins and the vision of its benefactors, much of this growth focused on student programming. As McAdams explained, “we seek to infuse the entire university experience with well-integrated European content and interdisciplinary scholarship.” Opportunities for research and learning in Europe multiplied and became more tailored to immersing and professionalizing students in a European context. Students continued to receive support for self-directed research trips, but the Institute also funded language training, service learning, and seminars led by Nanovic’s dedicated faculty fellows. Thanks to these seminars, students stood beneath World War I monuments in Belgium and explored the site of a Transylvanian Saxon village in Romania.
The Institute also enriched its calendar of campus activities focused on bringing European culture, experience, and leadership to Notre Dame. The Nanovic Forum became the Institute’s marquee event, bringing to campus European political and cultural leaders like former President of Germany Horst Koehler and Ambassador of the European Union to the United States David O’Sullivan. Since its
TIMELINE
2002
The first Nanovic film series runs with the theme of “The New Rebels in European Film.” Anthony Monta (above in 2008) and Don Crafton grew the film series during their time at Nanovic.
2003
The Institute convenes its inaugural Advisory Board meeting in April.
2003
The Institute and four Catholic universities in Central and Eastern Europe form the Catholic Universities Partnership.
2004
Archbishop Charles J. Brown, then a monsignor working under Cardinal Ratzinger (who would become Pope Benedict XVI), delivers the first Terrence R. Keeley Vatican Lecture at Notre Dame, titled “Notre Dame, the Vatican, and the Papacy of John Paul II.” Brown, pictured above with Terry Keeley, returned to give a second Keeley Vatican Lecture in 2010.
inception, the Forum’s itinerary has included ample time for visitors to engage and converse directly and informally with Notre Dame students and faculty.
While Nanovic already had a history of bringing European cinema to campus, the Institute initiated its annual film series in 2002. From 2005, Nanovic partnered with the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center to bring films, actors, and directors to campus. Memorable screenings and visitors include the Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi, German film director Margarethe von Trotta, and the father-son partnership of Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. The success of this annual series is largely owed to the creativity of former Nanovic Associate Director Anthony Monta and Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre Donald Crafton, a Nanovic faculty fellow who also served as interim director in 2012-13.
Nanovic established an Advisory Board in 2003 and its members joined the Nanovic community with a generosity that funded new initiatives and grant opportunities and a dedication that extended far beyond annual meetings. Board member Terrence Keeley ’81 established the Keeley Vatican Lecture, the Tobin and Annese families created year-long fellowships for doctoral students, and Stephen ’75 and Ruth Barrett initiated the Barrett Family Grant for the best undergraduate >>
2005
The Institute awards the first of its dissertation fellowships, which have been supported by the Tobin and Annese families. Paul Tobin is pictured above in 2007 with dissertation fellow James Helmer.
2010
The first Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies is awarded to Roberto M. Dainotto for Europe in Theory (Duke University Press, 2007).
2010
The University celebrates the achievements of the Nanovic Institute and pays tribute to the generosity of Bob and Liz Nanovic with the unveiling of a new portrait, which now hangs at the entrance to Nanovic Hall.
J. ROBERT WEGS
When J. Robert Wegs, a scholar of modern European social and economic history, met Bob and Liz Nanovic in 1987, he was already developing a program for European studies at Notre Dame. The native of Quincy, Illinois, was a prolific scholar and a sought-after lecturer who had joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1977. His wife, Dr. Joyce Wegs, recalls meeting the Nanovics during the cruise down the Danube River in the summer of 1987, during which her husband delivered lectures on the region’s history and culture. His audience of Notre Dame alumni included the Nanovics who befriended the Wegs early in the trip, forging a lifelong bond between the two families. Wegs explained Notre Dame’s great strengths and potential in the area of European studies and the Nanovics offered to make a gift, which would initially support campus visits by specialists in European studies. As the Nanovic Center’s founding director, Wegs created a new minor in European studies for undergraduates, convened a series of academic conferences in history, economics, and political science, and laid the foundations for future programming. Professor Wegs passed away in July 2010. In 2012, the institute presented the first annual J. Robert Wegs Prize for the best capstone essay written by a graduating minor in European studies. Each May, when the prize is awarded at a celebratory graduation breakfast, Joyce and their daughter Alison are warmly welcomed back to Nanovic to take part in the presentation.
research proposal and, later, the Barrett Family Lecture. In 2010, the Institute inaugurated the Laura Shannon Prize, now one of the preeminent book prizes in European studies, thanks to the benefaction of Laura Shannon and her husband Michael ’58.
Perhaps the greatest legacy of McAdams’ service as director was the creation of the Catholic Universities Partnership (CUP) in 2003. This initiative grew at the intersection of the Institute’s long-standing interest in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union and its commitment to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission. The CUP is now approaching two decades of fostering mutual support, elevation, and development of Catholic higher education and civil society in post-communist and post-Soviet Europe. It is a partnership firmly rooted in reciprocity, respect, faith, and friendship, one in which the Institute is privileged to participate. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this partnership has gained even more significance and has been the foundation of Notre Dame’s substantial support of the Ukrainian Catholic University. To Promote, Inform, and Deepen International Understanding With the advent of the new Keough School of Global Affairs in 2014, the Nanovic Institute deepened its commitment to the mission it had pursued since its earliest days. The creation >>
TIMELINE
2012
Kyle Collins ’12 is awarded the inaugural J. Robert Wegs Prize for the best capstone essay by a minor in European studies.
2014
Nanovic co-organizes and presents “The Digital Future of World Heritage,” the first major academic symposium at Notre Dame’s Rome Global Gateway.
2014
The Nanovic Institute becomes a unit within the new Keough School of Global Affairs.
The fact that she and other staff remained at Nanovic for so long is a testament to the Institute’s strong spirit of collegiality.
SHARON KONOPKA
In September 1996, South Bend native Sharon Konopka responded to an ad for a part-time administrative role at a new center for European studies at Notre Dame. She could hardly have imagined then that she would spend 24 years at the Nanovic Institute. As administrative assistant to Director J. Robert Wegs, Konopka became Nanovic’s first and, to date, longest-serving employee. From two rooms in the basement of the Hesburgh Library to a suite in Nanovic Hall, Konopka says she has done it all. Konopka says the mission of the Institute has always been to connect students to Europe and to bring Europe to Notre Dame, particularly those students who may not have been able to apply to the existing study abroad programs because of finances or class commitments. As a member of the staff, Nanovic gave Konopka opportunities to visit Europe, encounter European cinema, help scores of students travel to Europe, and welcome dozens of visiting scholars and guest speakers to Notre Dame. Konopka retired in August 2019, a decision she describes as “incredibly tough.” She knew she would miss the Institute’s collegiality, within the broader Nanovic community of faculty, students, and visiting scholars but, in particular, among the staff. This camaraderie, Konopka says, was on display when the team came together to deal with delayed flights, tackle a huge mailing, or, memorably, bring donuts and coffee to the construction team building Nanovic Hall. She says that the fact that she and other staff — including Monica Caro, Jenn Lechtanski, and Melanie Webb — have remained at Nanovic for so long is a testament to the Institute’s strong spirit of collegiality. This is a spirit that Konopka — considered “the soul of the Institute’s hospitality” — played no small part in fostering. In recognition of her service to the institute, Bob and Liz Nanovic announced an endowment in Konopka’s name in 2019.
TIMELINE
2015
The Barrett Family Lecture series is inaugurated at the Notre Dame Dublin Global Gateway with a lecture by Peter D. Sutherland on “European Integration and the Rise of Nationalism.”
2017
The Institute moves to the newly built Nanovic Hall.
2018
“Fighting for Freedom of Thought” video, focusing on the work of Jim McAdams and the Catholic Universities Partnership, is screened at halftime during Notre Dame’s first home football game of the season.
JANE HEIDEN
Nanovic Advisory Board Chair Jane Heiden was introduced to the Institute through her kids. The founder and former CEO of Compulit recalls how Jim McAdams made a strong impression on her oldest son Sean when he took a history class with the then Nanovic director in 2013. The Heidens formed a friendship with McAdams and thus a connection to the Institute. In 2014, Jane Heiden was invited to join Nanovic’s Advisory Board and soon became its chair. Heiden describes the Nanovic Institute, with its focus on both academic excellence and critical world affairs, as “essential.” This value, she says, has been on full display most recently in Nanovic’s response to the war in Ukraine, but also on many occasions in the past, including during one of her own favorite events from the last decade: the “Elite Athletes and the Cold War” symposium in December 2015. A lifelong hockey fan, Heiden recalls the athletes’ moving stories of their defection from the USSR, fleeing across fields or hidden in cars, and the fun and joy of the hockey game between the alumni of the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. “It was at that symposium,” she says, “that I was most proud of my service to the Institute.” Heiden is grateful to the members of the Advisory Board — especially long-standing members like Steve Barrett and Terry Keeley — who enthusiastically welcomed her as a colleague and who “do it all with their full hearts.” She is proud of the Institute’s relevance and transformative influence, and expresses her gratitude for an experience that “has just enriched me more than anything.”
of the Keough School contributed to Notre Dame’s aspirations to be a global university while also serving the university’s mission to “place scholarship in service to the common good.” As a member unit within the Keough School, Nanovic continued to pursue its commitment to fostering student education and providing an interdisciplinary home for European studies at Notre Dame, but it also more explicitly positioned itself as an institute that would, as Jim McAdams explained, “bring its strengths in the humanities and arts to bear more directly on the study and practice of international affairs, to promote, inform, and deepen international understanding.”
With this vision in mind, the Institute has brought existing programs to a new maturation: strengthening and expanding collaborations, exploring new pedagogies, and continuing to build a vibrant, inclusive community. In 2018, William Collins Donahue, Cavanaugh Professor of the Humanities, became the Institute’s third director. Donahue initiated new EURO courses as part of the Institute’s concentration in transnational European studies, an important component of the Keough School’s supplementary major in global affairs, and created the Nanovic Graduate Fellows program.
In 2021, the Institute launched a new strategic plan, inspired and led by its fourth director, Clemens Sedmak. The plan
This mosaic, titled “Swords into Ploughshares” is installed at the doors to the Nanovic Institute in Nanovic Hall. It was designed and created by Conrad Schmidt Studios as a tribute of friendship between Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic and Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C.
TIMELINE
2018
William Collins Donahue, Rev. John J. Cavanaugh C.S.C. Professor of the Humanities, becomes the Institute’s third director.
2019
Nanovic founds its Graduate Fellows Program with an interdisciplinary cohort of six doctoral students
2019
At a ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine, Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., presents the Notre Dame Award to Archbishop and President of Ukrainian Catholic University Borys Gudziak for his work for religious and academic freedom. The Institute launches the Faith and Freedom initiative following the ceremony.
2021
The Institute launches the new Minor in European Studies curriculum.
reflects both Bob and Liz Nanovic’s original vision of a center that would support students to learn in and from Europe and Sedmak’s knowledge and insights as a scholar of social ethics. Entering its fourth decade, Nanovic views European issues as global, human issues, and asks big questions in a European context, mindful that these are also questions about the planet, our common home. Following Pope Francis’ call to pay special attention to “the peripheries,” the Institute is committed to enlarging the map, cultivating inclusiveness and a more diverse and nuanced understanding of what it means to be European. With intentionality, Sedmak has broadened Nanovic’s service learning offerings in partnership with Caritas Europe, integrated diplomacy scholarship into the European studies curriculum, and deepened research initiatives with the CUP, particularly through its Faith and Freedom project.
For thirty years, the Institute’s mission, animated by its research, scholarship, and creative works, has been transformative. Facing the future, the Nanovic Institute will continue to build bridges between Notre Dame and Europe, connecting the Notre Dame community, especially its students, with European people, places, art, policy, and scholarly works in ways that develop the whole person, enliven the University’s mission in the world, and create artisans of a new humanity. ◆
2021
Clemens Sedmak, professor of social ethics, is appointed the Nanovic Institute’s fourth director.
2021
Nanovic launches its 2021-26 Strategic Plan, “Engaging Big Questions and ‘Peripheries’ in Europe.”
2022
The Nanovic Institute staff is awarded the Presidential Team Irish Award, primarily in recognition of the team’s work with Ukraine and the Ukrainian Catholic University, which exemplified Notre Dame’s core values.
JENNIFER FLANAGAN
Jennifer Flanagan ’14 first encountered the Nanovic Institute in her sophomore year while researching language training opportunities to support the French concentration of her major in international economics. Flanagan still remembers receiving the email from the Institute that confirmed she had received a grant to spend six weeks learning French in Tours, and the ecstatic phone call to her mom to share the good news. This was Flanagan’s first experience traveling, living, and studying abroad independently. The experience provided her with new friends and proficiency in French, “but also an understanding of what cultural immersion meant: to live and be part of a new experience and understand the world, even briefly, from that perspective.” When she returned, Flanagan knew she wanted to make Nanovic a pillar of her Notre Dame experience. She worked at the Institute as a student assistant during her junior and senior years, and secured Nanovic funding to undertake an internship in Dublin. Flanagan says that the skills, knowledge, resilience, and self-confidence that she gained through Nanovic programming have played a decisive role in the path she has followed since graduation. From her role as a consultant in the Strategic Innovation and National Security accounts at Booz Allen Hamilton to her policy work with Washington DC-based nonprofits to her sense of independence and lifelong curiosity for Europe, Flanagan credits the investment Nanovic made in her as an undergraduate. In 2021, Flanagan joined the Institute’s Advisory Board for a one-year term as its recent alumna representative, which was, she says, her way of giving back to Nanovic. “The Institute was the single most transformational element of my undergraduate experience, and to contribute in a small way to its governance, even for only a year, was a privilege.”
