barbara johnston nd · • the default setting on any social media app is public. if you want to...

12
News for Notre Dame faculty and staff and their families INSIDE Health Success Story Pages 4 Campus Tree Project Page 5 Staff Picnic Page 12 ND JULY 2018 NOTRE DAME BARBARA JOHNSTON Creating a 3D Map of Campus Assistive technology for the visually impaired Pages 6-7 ADAM HEET digital projects specialist Hesburgh Libraries

Upload: others

Post on 06-Jun-2020

5 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

News for Notre Dame faculty and staff and their families

INSIDE Health Success StoryPages 4

Campus Tree ProjectPage 5

Staff PicnicPage 12

NDNDJULY 2018

N O T R E D A M E

N O T R E D A M E N O T R E D A M EN O T R E D A M E

BARB

ARA

JOH

NST

ON

Creating a 3D Map of CampusAssistive technology for the visually impaired Pages 6-7

ADAM HEET digital projects specialist

Hesburgh Libraries

Page 2: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

Comments or questions regarding NDWorks? Contact NDWorks managing editor Carol C. Bradley, 631-0445 ([email protected]) or Gwen O'Brien, editor and associate director of Internal Communications, 631-6646 ([email protected]). For questions regarding TheWeek@ND or the University calendar, contact electronic media coordinator Jennifer Laiber, 631-4753 ([email protected]). Brittany Kaufman serves as copy editor ([email protected]). NDWorks is published 10 times per year. 2018-2019 publication dates are June 28, Aug. 16, Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Dec. 6, Jan. 17, Feb. 21, March 21, April 25 and May 23.

CONTACT US @

Tweed

BARB

ARA

JOHN

STON

NEWSBRIEFS

WHAT’S GOING ONSTAFF PICNIC

For the first time, the annual staff picnic will be held in the Notre Dame Stadium concourse. The event will take place Monday, July 9, and the rain date is Tuesday, July 10. Shuttles will run continuously from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, see page 12 of this issue.

NEED TO RENT A CAR? Beginning Monday, June 25,

faculty and staff can reserve a rental vehicle for University business online through the Vehicle Reservation System on InsideND or through the Transportation Services website. Users can visit the Car Rental task on InsideND or Transportation Services website to register their profile and reserve a rental vehicle.

CAMPUS NEWS MILITARY AND VETERAN INITIATIVES RECOGNIZED

For the first time, Notre Dame has been named as a 2018 “Top Veter-an-Friendly School” by U.S. Veterans Magazine. The list, which consists of 175 colleges and universities, includ-ing Duke, Vanderbilt and Cornell, will appear in the August issue of the magazine.

LEO RECEIVES $10 MILLION TO FUND NEW FACULTY

The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) has

received $10 million to fund two new faculty positions and grow the center’s Social Innovation Fund. LEO is a research center in the Department of Economics that works to reduce domestic pov-erty and improve lives through evidence-based programs and policies. The Social Innovation Fund provides seed capi-tal to support pilot projects and fund the scale-up of programs that have shown early evidence of promising interventions.

PEOPLETWEED NAMED DIRECTOR OF ANSARI INSTITUTE

Thomas Tweed, a historian committed to improving public understanding of religions, has been named founding director of Rafat and Zoreen Ansari Institute for Glob-al Engagement with Religion in the Keough School of Global Affairs.

Tweed came to Notre Dame in 2013 as the Harold and Martha Welch Professor of American Studies and professor of history, roles he will retain. He is the former president of the American Academy of Religion, the largest society for scholars of religion in the world, and has served on the international advisory board for Notre Dame’s Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem.

SIMONS BOOK EXAMINES THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY PROFESSION

Marcy Simons, organiza-tional development librarian at the Hesburgh Libraries, has published a book titled “Academic Library Meta-morphosis and Regenera-tion” (Rowan & Littlefield)

in which she explores the remark-able transformations in the academ-ic library profession over decades and outlines how this complex history can prepare the industry for future change.

BOTERO NAMED AATSP TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Tatiana Botero, associate teach-ing professor of Spanish, has been named 2018 Indiana teacher of the year for university-level instruction by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP).

Botero teaches a communi-ty-based learning course called “Im-migration and the Construction of Memory” in which undergraduate students work with South Bend-based Latino immigrant families to document and preserve their his-tories, enhancing the students’ lan-guage skills and civic engagement.

2 | NDWorks | July 2018

In today’s collaborative environ-ment, file storage requirements have escalated at Notre Dame. The ability to provide more file space, collaborate globally and have reliable access to files on many devices are among the top requests from faculty, staff and students.

To be able to provide appropriate support for teaching, learning and research initiatives, a new type of file storage was needed.

Since February, the Office of In-formation Technologies (OIT) has rolled out a transition plan to relocate your individual files stored in NetFile to Google Drive. You may know Net-File as the “N” drive or some other drive name.

Now in the final phase of the transition plan, anyone with files remaining in their individual NetFile space will need to relocate them to Google Drive by Tuesday, July 31. The OIT has developed a migration tool designed to help relocate your files quickly and easily.

For additional information on the ND file storage transition and the migration tool, go to ntrda.me/netfile.

If you have any questions about this transition, contact your depart-mental IT support staff or the OIT Help Desk at 631-8111, [email protected] or chat online at help.nd.edu.

ND file storage transition update

Simons

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

Botero

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) recently hosted a lunch and learn focused on social media privacy. Members of OIT’s Information Security team led the session and packed a lot of content in a short time. Key takeaways were:

• Social media’s primary purpose is to sell ads, not to give you a forum for

sharing your vacation pictures.• Social media apps track not just what you click on or who you follow, but

where you go, what type of device you are using, what times you log in, what you search for and much more. This helps them sell ads to you.

• The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your posts as visible to only a small group of friends, the app will still collect data from you.

Keeping your data private is up to you

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

BY CARRIE GATES, COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

Laura Dassow Walls, the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English and a leading Thoreau schol-ar, has won the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biogra-phy for her latest work, “Henry David Tho-reau: A Life,” published by the University of Chicago Press on July 12, 2017, Thoreau’s 200th birthday.

“Thoreau: A Life” is the first comprehensive biography of the life of Thoreau since Walter Harding’s “The Days of Henry Thoreau” was pub-lished in 1965.

Walls, a scholar of American transcendentalism, environmental

literature and the intersection of sci-ence and literature, received a Gug-genheim Fellowship in 2010 to begin work on the book. She was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2015 to complete the project.

The first edition sold out before its official publication date, and the book has been praised in reviews by the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and others.

“Thoreau carries a deeper, wider message than many other writ-ers. He is an American

icon who stands for so many differ-ent things — many of them contra-dictory,” she says.

In the biography, Walls combats popular misperceptions about Tho-

reau — that he lived in the wilderness as a hermit and a misanthrope — that persist in the public imagination but scholars have known to be not true. Previous accounts of Thoreau’s life also showed hostility toward the women in Thoreau’s family.

“Doing research into his family, I discovered what strong, innovative, real leaders the women in his family were — and not just one or two, but really all of them,” Walls says. “And they clearly profoundly inspired and influenced Thoreau, including his abolitionism.”

The Thoreau she chronicles has much to say about our own time, too. In “Walden,” she says, he writes of the need to push through the mud and slush of opinion in order to find the solid rocks at the bottom. Tho-reau was frustrated with newspapers taking false or loaded stances on events of his day, such as slavery.

“There’s this sense that you’ve

got to somehow ground yourself and leave the voices behind for a bit and really think carefully through what the foundation for truth and ethical action would be,” she said. “He says there has to be some-thing deeper and older than this current froth, and he comes away feel-ing that he has found it — and urges us to pursue a similar kind of quest.”

According to Walls, Thoreau’s legacy endures today in part because of “his ability to seamlessly integrate concern for the nonhuman environ-ment and concern for human rights and social justice.”

“Despite his lifelong effort to demonstrate in words and action that these two forms of justice are tightly intertwined, after his lifetime they drifted apart, until today they are

too often assumed to be indifferent to each other or even in conflict,” Walls says. “Nothing could be farther from the truth, as Pope Francis makes eloquently clear in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, in which he calls for ‘integral ecology.’ I’m fascinated by how many of the pope’s teachings are par-

alleled by Thoreau’s life and writings, in ways that suggest a strong conver-gence of spiritual traditions.”

Writing “Thoreau: A Life” was “like writing a novel with a cast of hundreds of characters and riveting events, suspense and crises and res-olutions, and triumphs and tears,” Walls says, “and it’s the most fun I have ever had writing.”

Thoreau biography wins Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Walls

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

Page 3: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

July 2018 | NDWorks | 3

BY DEANNA CSOMO MCCOOL AND BRENDAN O’SHAUGHNESSY

A blend of dedication to the com-munity and a joyful work ethic land-ed three Notre Dame professionals into the 2018 Michiana Forty under 40 class.

The inductees include Regan Jones, director for military and veter-ans affairs; Nancy Michael, assistant teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies, neuroscience and behavior; and Jenifer Prosperi, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and member of the Harper Cancer Research Institute, as well as assistant professor of biochemistry and mo-lecular biology, Indiana University School of Medicine–South Bend.

The local Forty under 40 program is in its 12th year, and recognizes the area’s most talented and dedicated young executives, professionals and leaders who demonstrate career suc-cess and community engagement.

Regan JonesThe Office of Military and Veter-

ans Affairs (OMVA) at Notre Dame launched in September 2017 with Marine veteran Regan Jones at the helm. Providing strategic direction on behalf of the provost for the Uni-versity’s veteran and military-related programs, Jones works closely with faculty, administrators and staff.

Simply put, it’s Jones’ job to ratchet up the recruitment of veterans to Notre Dame.

He notes that veterans bring diversity of thought and firsthand experience into the classroom, as well as self-discipline and a dedication to teamwork. He says professors have told him, “We love these students and want more of them.”

Jones volunteered for the Marines after college, inspired after the 9/11 attacks his senior year. He was de-ployed to Iraq near Ramadi, where he was hit by IEDs twice and received a

Purple Heart for gunshot wounds in the shoulder.

A former Division I athlete, with degrees from the University in Albany-SUNY and Florida State University, Jones is leading the Uni-versity’s first Storm the Stadium event on Wednesday, July 4 (stormthesta-dium.nd.edu). The stair climbing challenge and walk will be held in Notre Dame Stadium. “It’s a family-

fun event with activities for all abil-ity levels and ages. There will even be inflatables on the field for children,” he said. All proceeds will go to the Notre Dame Veterans Fund, which helps offset tuition and living costs for military-connected students to con-tinue their education at Notre Dame.

Nancy MichaelKnown in the College of Sci-

ence for her down-to-earth, unique teaching style, Nancy Michael takes students in her Intro to Neuroscience Lab class for a day of cardio at the gym, relating what they learned back to science of the brain. “She makes each lesson relevant to the world at large,” said Meredith Hollender ’18, who recently graduated with a degree in neuroscience and behavior.

She also gives freely to the com-munity when called upon to share her knowledge, says Sunny Boyd, professor of behavioral neuroen-docrinology in the Department of Biological Sciences. Michael involves undergraduates with the Robinson CommunityLearning Center, the Juvenile Justice Center and the South Bend Community School Corp., and also holds public “brain awareness” events.

Michael earned her doctorate in just four years from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The program usually takes five years to complete.

She is fascinated by things like how children who grew up in close prox-imity, with similar family situations, can experience varied degrees of

success by their late 20s.“In ‘neuroscience speak,’ it’s

about the difference between mo-tivated behavior, habit behavior and decision making … and neu-ral mechanisms that are involved in all those different components.”

Jenifer ProsperiA breast cancer researcher,

Jenifer Prosperi focuses her work on chemotherapy resistance, par-ticularly in a type of cancer called triple-negative breast cancer. This type of cancer does not respond to hormonal therapies. It is treated by broad-spectrum, conventional chemotherapies that work well initially. Later, however, the cancer develops resistance to those treat-ments.

“We’re trying to understand why they’re developing resistance. If we can understand why, then hopefully we can target some of those pathways to prevent resis-tance,” says Prosperi, who earned her doctorate in integrated bio-medical science from Ohio State University in 2006.

Emily Astarita ’20, a biochem-istry and supplemental Spanish major, works in Prosperi’s lab and described her as enthusiastic and encouraging.

“Professor Prosperi inspired me to take on a project by showing me the importance of the work and the potential significance of our findings to help cancer pa-tients,” Astarita says. “She showed me that even if the project is un-successful, we will be able to learn from it.”

All the inductees expressed gratitude for being selected as one of this year’s Forty under 40 in Michiana. But they’re not letting the honor go to their heads.

“They key is making sure I stay the same person who earned it in the first place,” Michael says.

Three of ‘Forty under 40’ class are Notre Dame professionals

The Notre Dame Alumni Association hosted 3,368 guests for Reunion 2018, including 406 alumni from 1968, the 50-year reunion class, and one unidentified alumnus who brought along a Tyrannosaurus rex costume.

REUNION 2018

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

Parking Services has announced more options for visitor parking, in-cluding visitor parking pay stations and single-day guest parking permits. All parking permits need to be displayed on the vehicle dashboard or hung from the rearview mirror, so they are visible to parking enforcement staff.

Visitor parking pay stations

In response to feedback about visitor and guest parking, Parking Ser-vices has installed two additional visitor pay stations on the southern part of campus. There will be no change to the current visitor parking lot, located near the Walsh Family Hall of Architecture. (See map.) The pay stations will allow visitors to the University to more easily obtain parking passes and park in the Joyce, Compton, Baseball or Walsh Hall parking lots.

● One new pay station is in the Compton Family Ice Arena parking lot near the bus shelter off Holy Cross Drive.

● An additional pay station can also be found in the Joyce Center Lot, just south of the entrance to the Purcell Pavilion.

Single-day guest parking permitsUniversity departments and offices can purchase one-day guest parking

permits by completing an online form on the visitor and guest parking page of ndsp.nd.edu. You are encouraged to buy and distribute permits to guests in advance of their visits. The permits are valid for the specific date that is scratched off, so some departments may choose to keep a small inventory on hand. These passes are valid in the following parking lots: Joyce, Compton, Walsh Architecture, Bulla Student, Lake and Dorr Road.

Please visit ndsp.nd.edu for more information.

New visitor pay stations and guest parking permits

PHOT

O PR

OVID

ED

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

PHOT

O PR

OVID

ED

BEHIND THE SCENES

9

8

7

5

4

2

1

PRACTICEGREEN

TEE

TEE

TEE

TEE

TEE

TEE

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

GREEN

TEE

ST

GOLF COURSE

3

B

D

Irish Green

Purcell Pavilion

Ricci Family Fields

Holy CrossCemetery

Eck South Field

Eck North Field

Basilica

Snite Museum

St. Joseph’s Lake

St. Mary’s Lake

HammesBookstore

Eck Visitors Center

DeBartolo PerformingArts Center

Joyce Center

Eddy StreetCommons

Cedar Grove Cemetery

East Gate

Main Gate

Main Entrance

Compton Family Ice Arena

Grotto Main Building

HesburghLibrary

Notre DameStadium

Bookstore Basketball

Courts

A18

MOREAUNOTRE DAM

E AVENUE

EDDY STREET

JOYCE DRIVE

LEAHY DRIVE

ANGELA BOULEVARD

ANGELA BOULEVARD

HOLY CROSS DRIVE

CORBY DRIVE

HOLY CROSS DRIVE

MOOSE KRAUSE CIRCLE

IND.

933

( US

31/3

3)

CARROLL DRIVE

ST. MARY’S ROAD

STEPAN DRIVE

HOLY CROSS DRIVE

CAVANAUGH DRIVE

TWYCKENHAM

DRIVE

ST. JOSEPH’S DR.

JUNIPER ROAD

BULLA ROAD

COURTNEY LANE

HOLY

CROS

S DRI

VE

LEAHY DRIVE

WILSON DRIVE

EDISON ROAD

PALMER STREET

VANESS

TOLL ROADEXIT 77

IVY COURT

TWYC

KENH

AM D

RIVE

WARRENGOLF COURSE

ENTRANCE

DOUGLAS ROAD

Sculpture Park

DORR ROAD

Reserved Lot

PARISHHOLY CROSS

HOUSE

TRANSPORTSERVICE

STEPAN

GRACE

RUGBY

WILSON (STUDENT)

DUNNE

BULLA(STAFF &FACULTY)

LIBRARY

ROTC

ITC

ROLFS

BASEBALL

JOYCE

STADIUM

WALSH ARCH.COMPTON

LEGENDSSTAYER

BOOKSTORE(PUBLIC)

BOOKSTORE(GATED)

MORRIS INN

SOUTHDINING

LYONSLAKE

IUSM

DORR ROAD

INNOVATIONPARK

GROTTO

MAINBUILDING

ST. LIAM

BULLA(STUDENT)

WILSON (FACULTY & STAFF)

VISITORPAY LOT

WHITE FIELDRESEARCH

POSTOFFICE

ECK TENNIS

FlannerHall

Grace Hall

McKenna Hall

N

$

$$

NOTRE DAME SHUTTLES

BULLA MAIN

BULLA LIBRARY SNITE

BASEBALL MCKENNA

FACULTY/STAFF

FACULTY/STAFF

OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT

ON-CAMPUS STUDENT

VISITOR PAY STATION$

A

B

C

D

Page 4: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

4 | NDWorks | July 2018

Full-time, benefit-eligible faculty and staff and spouses can get a discounted

Weight Watchers membership.

ntrda.me/weightwatchers

DID YOU

Know ?

Gene Heyse lost 7 percent of his body weight in four months

BY ELLEN CROWE FINAN, FOR NDWORKS

After Gene Heyse’s annual health screening in 2015, Notre Dame Wellness Center staff contacted him to discuss his high blood pressure (150/100) and encourage him to consider working with a wellness coach.

With his family history, Heyse de-cided it was time to get serious about lowering his blood pressure. “Both of my grandfathers died from heart attacks, one in his 40s, and my uncle

To learn how to schedule a Biometric Health Screening, visit  hr.nd.edu/benefits/screenings

Big improvements — with a little help

died in his 60s of complications from diabetes,” says Heyse.

“I met Maureen Jamieson, and she gave me some great advice,” says Heyse, machine shop manager in the engineering machine shop at Hessert Aerospace Laboratory. “She said if I could lose just 7 percent of my total weight, all my numbers would change. And she was right.”

Jamieson, the chronic condition management nurse and dietitian at the Wellness Center, also encouraged Heyse to stop eating before he felt full, eat less red meat and add a few more fruits and vegetables to his diet.

Just four months into the plan, he reached his goal of losing 7 percent of his body weight. “I was very encouraged,” says Heyse. “My

numbers were better, and I thought, ‘Hey, what Maureen is saying is really working.’’’

Three years later he’s still meeting monthly with Jamieson (“She keeps me accountable,” he says). He’s lost 50 pounds, and his blood pressure is down to 132/80.

Heyse has always been a runner, but before he began working with Jamieson, he was inconsistent. Now he runs six days a week early in the morning. He has also participated in three Notre Dame recreational cross-country sports events. “When I signed up, I thought it would be a mix of faculty, staff and graduate stu-dents,” says Heyse. “In reality it was mostly undergraduate students. I was the grandpa in the group.”

The young contestants were slow to warm up to Heyse in the first race, but by the time they ran the third race, they were cheering him on. Out of approximately 150 contestants, Heyse finished about 80th, he says.

Jamieson also encouraged Heyse to “breathe and appreciate” to reduce stress in his life. Now when he’s stuck in traffic, he breathes deeply and thinks about the blooming flowers or people and things he appreciates.

Heyse has a lot of appreciation for Jamieson and for the way he feels today. If he could have a wish, he says, “I’d wish that every person who goes through this program could feel like I do. I feel like a teenager.”

A plan for your daily wellness journey

BY CAROL C. BRADLEY, NDWORKS

Did your annual health screening show elevated blood sugar or cho-lesterol levels? Are you dealing with a chronic medical condition such as asthma or diabetes? Do you want to stop smoking or lose weight?

The Notre Dame Wellness Center offers wellness coaching and assistance with chronic condition management free of charge to benefit-eligible faculty, staff and their dependents.

“And if your primary care phy-sician is not at the Wellness Center, we can coordinate with them,” says Maureen Jamieson, chronic condi-tion management nurse and dietitian.

Her job, Jamieson says, is to assist patients on what she views as a “well-ness pathway.”

That means creating a plan — a roadmap — for your wellness jour-ney. If you have asthma, what are the triggers? Do you carry an inhaler with you? What do you need to be aware of daily? Is your nutrition optimal?

The goal, Jamieson says, is to set

people up to be successful every day in managing a chronic medical con-dition.

Conditions for which patients might seek help include high blood pressure, diabetes (both Type I and Type II), elevated blood sugar, obe-sity, coronary artery disease and dys-lipidemia (elevated triglycerides and cholesterol).

In the Wellness Center’s pharma-cy, Walgreen’s pharmacist Vincent Workman is also available for private medication consultations. Make an appointment for a medication well-check — a review of current medi-cations, whether they’re being taken properly, if they’re compatible with each other and whether generics are available.

“There are many people who would benefit from a medication review, especially those with multiple conditions or medications,” Work-man says. “Patients who are diabetic may not realize that their medica-tions for blood sugar control are free when diabetic supplies and medica-tions are filled or refilled on the same day. And whenever anyone gets a new blood glucose monitor, we can walk them through how to use it.”

Wellness coach Martha Vander-heyden, a certified coaching profes-sional who specializes in helping peo-ple change behaviors, is also available for consultation. Wellness coaches don’t offer medical advice, but can help you identify issues and make positive changes in your life, whether it’s reducing stress, stopping smoking or just being happier and healthier.

Referrals are not necessary to make an appointment with Jamieson or Vanderheyden, and appointment are free — there are no co-pays or insur-ance billing. Make an appointment by calling the Wellness Center, 574-631-9355.

Wellness Center hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays (on home football weekends, the center is closed Saturday and open Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.).

Walgreens Pharmacy hours in the Wellness Center and at the drive-through window are 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Satur-days (on home football weekends, the pharmacy is closed Saturday and open Sunday 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.). Call 574-271-5622.

Managing chronic medical conditions

“I’d wish that every person who goes through this program

could feel like I do. I feel like a teenager.”

– Gene Heyse

Jamieson and Heyse

CARO

L C.

BRA

DLEY

Page 5: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

July 2018 | NDWorks | 5

Chronicles the present, informs decisions later

BY MARISSA GEBHARD, OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

When Lauren Carey planned her December 2015 wedding to hus-band, Tim, she wanted to commem-orate the occasion with something that would last through the years. Being quite the planner, Lauren be-gan her search for a special gift about eight months before their big day.

Tim was a student in Mendoza’s Executive MBA program and would be graduating in May 2016. He would be the 25th person in his family to graduate from Notre Dame, and she knew the significant role the University has played in his family history and development.

When she heard about the Univer-sity’s tree and bench program, some-thing clicked: a tree. How perfect!

“Myself being Jewish,” she says, “trees play a really important role in the Jewish religion as a symbol of life and fruitfulness, and the planting of a tree represents a high blessing for mankind and our relationship with and respect for the natural environ-ment. Combine that with the tree being placed in the most meaningful place to my husband and his Irish Catholic heritage, I felt I had a win-ning idea. It wasn’t just for Tim, but for us as an interfaith, newlywed couple together.”

Every year, up to 10 memorial trees are planted on campus to celebrate an event in honor of a loved one.

The wedding treeWorking with Teri Vitale, a lead

coordinator in Special Events and Stewardship in the Development office, Lauren chose a young, small-leaved European linden tree near the Hesburgh Library reflecting pool, and tenderly wrote the following message to be engraved on the plaque: “To my loving husband Timothy J. Carey, Jr. on our wedding day, December 12, 2015. For every time you tell me you love me, know in your heart, mind and soul that I love you more. Let us be forever grateful for the infinite blessings we found in each other.”

On their wedding day in Delray Beach, Florida, Lauren gave Tim a

handmade booklet with photos and captions, like this one, explaining her gift: “On our first trip to Notre Dame together, you walked me around the beautiful grounds telling me about the history of the school, your family, the people and so on. Your aura lights up when you speak of this incredible place.”

The gift meant more to Tim than any other, and when their family comes to campus it’s the first place they visit.

It is the story of just one tree cat-aloged among 7,156 trees at Notre Dame.

If that number seems strangely specific, you may not know that a plantings census was recently com-pleted over 97 percent of campus.

Trees are part of Notre Dame’s story

In November 1842, Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C., first laid eyes on the 524 acres bequeathed to the Con-gregation of Holy Cross to build a Catholic university. He must have ap-preciated the ash trees, oaks, hickories and maples that surrounded St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s lakes.

Sorin also knew what new trees could do for the landscape. The double-maple-lined paths leading

from Notre Dame Ave-nue to the Main Build-ing represent his idea of a lush, green “grand avenue” linking South Bend to campus.

All these years later, the flora on campus remains integral to its beauty — so much so that a couple of biol-ogists were inspired to conduct a census of plantings to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the University’s founding.

It would be the second time that Barbara and Ron Hellenthal, both biological sciences faculty, would conduct such research. In 1993, to celebrate the University’s sesquicen-tennial, their work was published in the book “Trees, Shrubs and Vines on the University of Notre Dame Campus.” Ron managed the data and Barbara was a co-author.

About two years before the 175th anniversary, campus leaders caught wind of the Hellenthals’ project and considered how it could be expanded to also catalog the condition of each planting as well as the locations of donor memorial tree plaques, among other things.

A gift to Landscape Services from

Tom and Lucy Korth for campus beautification got things started by covering the cost for the undergradu-ate researchers who worked with Bar-bara and Ron. The expanded project would make data work harder for the University and is a shining example of synergism between academic and administrative offices.

“Notre Dame is among the first universities to develop a project of this magnitude. It’s one of the most comprehensive surveys of trees and plants on any campus,” Ron proudly notes.

A tree census expands Jessica Woolley, who managed the Work Control Center, where all campus maintenance requests are submitted, is among those who

provided vision for the project. She saw the opportunity to utilize the data visualization and analysis tools of the University’s dataND program to make the tree survey information accessible to the campus community.

This would enable Landscape Services to electronically track and assess the condition of trees from one corner of campus to the other. De-velopment would be able to pinpoint locations of benefactor trees and the corresponding memorial plaques. Facilities Design and Operations could use the visual tool to reference trees while managing the planning, design and construction of buildings. Meanwhile, the Office of Sustainabil-ity would use it to maintain a healthy green footprint on campus.

“Proper care of the University’s trees not only enhances the experi-ence of students, alumni and visitors, but it also helps in our efforts to keep our campus green in every way,” says Carol Mullaney, senior director of the Department of Sustainability and Continuous Improvement.

The timing was perfect. The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) had begun to centralize data storage across campus through dataND to allow for better analysis of informa-tion for key decision-making. While dataND focuses on four core areas — faculty, staff, students and space (e.g., buildings, land) — the campus tree project aligned directly with the mission of dataND.

Dana Schrader, an OIT business intelligence analyst, partnered with Woolley on this part of the project.

Putting that tree data to work

After the Hellenthals and the stu-dents recorded each tree, plant and vine, they entered all the information into a database. With the help of OIT’s Campus Admin Solutions, the Work Control Center then manip-ulated the data into the format and fields used in AiM, the University’s work-order system. Tableau software turned it into information that users across campus, with varying interests and needs, could retrieve.

Utilizing Tableau’s mapping ca-pabilities and the GPS coordinates collected from the tree study, a cam-pus map was created displaying the tree location and tree details such as its species, measurements and overall health. The next step was to trans-form the map into the interactive, informative dashboard that shows users the abundance of campus’ natu-ral beauty in its trees and shrubs.

Pat McCauslin, superintendent of Landscape Services, values the tree inventory database. “It will aid our staff arborists and tree crews to protect and preserve the diversity of tree species on campus. Many of the trees were planted years ago by Holy Cross priests and brothers. Our team is dedicated to ensuring they remain healthy and vibrant for years to come.”

Campus trees are treasured in No-tre Dame’s history, and even in the histories of Notre Dame families.

When Lauren thinks back about her gift of a tree, she says, “It remains the best gift I’ve ever given anyone, and quite frankly, I don’t have any intention of trying to top it. It holds such incredible and meaningful sig-nificance for each of us.”

To read more about this project, visit nd.edu/features/campus-trees.

Specimens of campus trees in the herbarium.

Landscape Services staff work on an ornamental tree on Main Quad.

PHOT

OS: M

ATT

CASH

ORE

Campus partners collect tree/plant data

Trimming and maintenance keep trees healthy. At right, campus trees are planted in the fall.

Page 6: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

CARO

L C.

BRA

DLEY

6 | NDWorks | July 2018

BY ELLEN CROWE FINAN, FOR NDWORKS

As rising junior Madeline Link prepared to attend Notre Dame as a freshman, her father helped her learn the lay of the land. He built a card-board model of campus for Made-line, who has visual challenges.

Not stopping there, her dad con-tacted the University architect’s office about the availability of a tactile cam-pus map to help Madeline navigate campus. Craig Tiller, senior director of project management at Notre Dame, connected the family with the Architecture Library.

Adam Heet, digital projects spe-cialist at the Center for Digital Schol-

arship and the Architecture Library, met with Madeline and her family. Heet began to think about creating a topographic model of the campus that is useful for people with disabil-ities. He knew that he and architec-ture students could make models of campus buildings because they had been doing 3D modeling for a num-ber of years. The challenge was find-ing a way to depict sidewalks, paths and curbs in the map board.

“Our initial concepts were made using scissors and X-acto knives to create the detail in the map and were a bit clunky,” Heet says. When he realized they could have access to the computer-assisted design files for the campus, he knew he could use the

laser printer to cut very precise details in the mat board that were faithful to the actual layout of campus. “It was fantastic,” he says.

The map is a combination of 25 square tiles, each representing a sec-tion of campus, that fit together to make the large tactile campus map. It breaks the information down in smaller increments for students to digest more easily. “They might first learn the campus areas around their dorm,” Jennifer Parker, head of the Architecture Library, says. “And later, they can focus on another section of campus like the areas where they attend classes or the library.”

To complement the large tactile campus map, Heet also created small-er portable campus map tiles that fit in a student’s backpack. “The two tactile maps are meant to be used in tandem,” says Heet. “Students can easily take four to five segments of the portable map and and carry them around while they learn them.”

The timeline for completing the project extended beyond the date Madeline started classes her freshman year. Nevertheless, she’s served as a

Architecture Library creates tactile map of campus to assist those with visual challenges

valuable consultant on the project throughout its development. “Mad-die has been our inspiration,” he says. “We started working on ideas before she came to campus. It’s turned into a project to help other students and Maddie’s been our go-to person.”

Madeline enjoys her work with Heet and the architecture students. As the project consultant, she ensures buildings are to scale, and someone without sight can follow the side-walks and feel the textural difference between sidewalks, parking lots and streets.

“I think it’s incredible,” says Made-line. “Notre Dame is the first insti-tution to create a tactile campus map like this. It’s a wonderful way to use technology to make the campus more accessible for everyone.”

It’s been a fun project for the

architecture students, too. “It not only teaches students how to make 3D models of buildings,” says Heet, “but it also teaches them to think about how the campus can be presented. Students and faculty who have been on campus for years are still surprised by the scale and relationship between buildings they use every day.”

Madeline, Heet and Notre Dame architecture students have especially enjoyed working on a project that is doing good for the campus. “It’s been like designing and creating the game of LIFE,” Heet says, “but it’s the No-tre Dame campus.”

Heet is delighted to use the library’s 3D technology to create something that makes campus more accessible for Madeline and others with similar challenges, which may include faculty and staff.

When completed, the map will be donated to the Sara Bea Learning Center for Students with Disabilities on campus.

Madeline’s mother, Kathy Link, adds, “I cannot say enough about the people in the architecture library. Adam and Jennifer were wonderful. The map will not only be helpful to Madeline, but also to other students who have trouble getting the lay of the land.”

Above, the 3D campus map took two years to create, but now can be printed in about 3 ½ weeks.

The map is a combination of 25 square tiles, each representing a section of campus, that fit together to make the large tactile campus map.

“Students can easily take four to five segments of the portable map and and carry them around while they learn them.” – Adam Heet

The smallest details, such as the Basilica’s cross and the Virgin Mary atop the Main Building, can’t be printed at this scale. Left, Maddie Link.

BARB

ARA

JOHN

STON

BARB

ARA

JOHN

STON

Left, the 3D map will help visually impaired students learn the placement of buildings, sidewalks, curbs and streets on campus. Above, small portable segments of the map can be carried in a backpack by a student.

CARO

L C.

BRA

DLEY

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

Page 7: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

July 2018 | NDWorks | 7

Need for accommodations has grown

BY ELLEN CROWE FINAN, FOR NDWORKS

Facilitating accommodations so all

students have equal access to the No-tre Dame academic experience is the core mission of Sara Bea Disability Services.

A formal process to provide ac-commodations for students with impairments began in 1995 when Scott Howland was hired to create a centralized office of disability ser-vices. The first offices were housed in Badin Hall.

A generous gift from Javon and Vita Bea in 2006, in memory of their daughter, Sara, made it possible to renovate the building where the Sara Bea Learning Center for Students with Disabilities is today, just north of the Main Building. “We went from just a couple of offices in Badin Hall to a facility that could accom-modate all our needs,” says Howland.

Over the years, the need for ac-commodations has grown. Today, the center serves 8 percent of the Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate student population. “We are serving a lot more students who have mental health and chronic medical condi-tions,” says Howland. “In turn, we have developed strong relationships with key campus partners.”

In addition to Howland, the Sara Bea Center is staffed by Mandie Waling, associate coordinator, who oversees testing accommodations and ancillary aids such as providing note-takers or converting textbooks into electronic formats that sync with special adaptive software.

In addition, the center’s staff facilitates academic adjustments for students who may need an accom-modation, such as short extensions for completing coursework or a modification of an attendance pol-icy. They also work with physically

disabled students to provide housing accommodations when needed.

Students seeking accommodations must provide medical documenta-tion that the center’s staff uses in the determination process. In addition, the staff meets with each student to discuss the academic or physical accommodations they believe they need. “We collaborate closely with the Counseling Center and Health Services to determine the impact the diagnosis has on the student’s ability to perform a task or skill that will qualify him or her for an accommo-dation,” says Howland.

The next step in the process is for Howland or Waling to talk with the course instructor to gather informa-tion about the standards and require-ments of the course to determine if the accommodation a student is requesting is reasonable.

Howland works closely with his campus partners. “I collaborate with dean’s offices across campus to pro-vide accommodations for students,” he says. Howland emphasizes that the accommodations cannot interfere with the essential nature of the class.

For example, if a student’s impair-ment makes it difficult to satisfy a participation requirement, Howland works with the faculty member to determine if there is alternate way to satisfy the requirement. “If it’s a seminar class, where in-class discus-sion and participation is an essential component, there may not be a rea-sonable accommodation we can pro-vide,” he says. “We have to balance the need for an accommodation with the purpose of the class.”

Howland is proud of the way the center’s services have evolved and become better over the course of his tenure. For example, in the early 2000s the University used a remote captioning service in California to provide a real-time transcript of class discussions for hearing-impaired students.

“We had problems with the

Assuring equal access to the Notre Dame experience

microphones not picking up all the discussion going on in class,” he says. “When we hired local court report-ers to come to the class and provide real-time transcripts, the students were able to fully participate in class discussions.”

The center also has arranged ac-commodations so students can partic-ipate in study abroad experiences in locations such as London, Jerusalem and Rome.

The center recently developed a new strategic plan to improve how it serves students. “One of the goals was to be fully inclusive for all stu-dents on campus,” says Howland. “We want to provide more formal educational programming regarding the accommodation process across campus.”

Howland and Waling get a lot of personal satisfaction from watch-ing the students they serve gain the ability to take full advantage of their

BY ELLEN CROWE FINAN, FOR NDWORKS

“It’s the right thing to do.” That’s what Kate Russell, senior

experience analyst with Hesburgh Li-braries, says about the Campus-Wide Website Accessibility Initiative started

last fall. The campus grassroots effort will make the University’s more than 600 websites more accessible for the blind, deaf, physically challenged, cognitively challenged and others. The initiative is led by Russell and Erik Runyon, technical director, Marketing Communications, and

includes 25 other employees.

When Hesburgh Libraries re-launched its website in the fall of 2017, Russell de-cided to look deeper into improving the accessibility of all campus websites. “I always cared about the is-sue,” she says, “but I never really had a real chance to

pursue it beyond sharing some point-ers in Conductor training sessions.”

She knew Runyon, her former colleague, would be a good advocate as well. “Kate and I had been talking about campus website accessibility for five years,” says Runyon. “In the fall, we made it a more personal goal.”

Russell met with Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves to discuss the goals of the initiative. He referred Russell to Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications Paul Browne and the since-retired vice president for information tech-nology and chief information digital officer, Ron Kraemer. “They have been very supportive of our grassroots movement, and offered to help us as they could,” says Russell.

The goals of the Campus-Wide Website Accessibility Initiative are to increase awareness of the need for website accessibility, educate website content providers to ensure accessibil-ity of content and strive toward full accessibility of all University websites.

Making the web accessible to the disabled is a federal and even global effort. The Notre Dame group re-viewed the World Wide Web Consor-tium’s (www.w3.org/WAI) standards for web accessibility and developed a list of 13 guidelines that each campus website should follow. Guidelines include:

• Providing appropriate alternative text for images• Captioning or providing transcripts for videos• Formatting headings, lists and other structural elements to aid keyboard navigation• Ensuring users can complete and submit all forms

Accessibility will improve the user experience for all who visit campus websites, Russell notes.

The group has developed a website (accessibility.nd.edu) that offers resources, guidelines and pertinent information to help content pro-viders and web developers make the University’s websites more accessible. They also plan to increase aware-ness through workshops and special events. To learn more or get involved with the initiative, visit the website or contact Russell, [email protected].

Grassroots initiative to improve accessibility of campus websites

Notre Dame academic experience. “It’s great to see their progress in their day-to-day academic lives,” says

Howland, “and see them go on to their future careers.”

At top, the Sara Bea Learning Center is located just north of the Main Building.Above, Scott Howland, program director.

PHOT

OS: M

ATT

CASH

ORE

Page 8: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

16 | NDWorks | November 20178 | NDWorks | July 2018

BY ERIN BLASKO, MEDIA RELATIONS

When Tiana Mudzimurema joined the Robinson Shakespeare Company at the Notre Dame Robinson Community Learning Center in 2010, she knew very little about William Shakespeare or his work — she was just following in her older sister’s footsteps. “My mom was always pushing us to try new things,” Tiana says. “And one of the things I saw my sister do was Shakespeare, and I thought, ‘Well, if she can do it, I can do it.’” But as Shake-speare himself wrote, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” And so, deter-mined to blaze her own path, Tiana traveled to New York in April to compete in the National Shake-speare Competition at iconic Lincoln Center Theater in Manhattan. There she finished as a semifinalist. Hosted annually by the English-Speak-ing Union of the United States, the National Shakespeare Competition helps students in grades 9-12 develop commu-nication skills and an appreciation of the power of language and literature through the study of English language arts and Shakespeare. Tiana, who graduated in June from South Bend’s John Adams High School, advanced to nationals after winning the

Indianapolis Shakespeare Competition at Butler University in February. There she performed a monologue from “Romeo and Juliet” and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 100 — “Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long to speak of that which gives thee all thy might?” “It was beautiful and heartbreaking and strong,” Christine Burgess, Shake-speare outreach director at the Robinson Community Learning Center, says of Tiana’s performance. “And when she took

the stage … she was a presence in the room and she looked fear-less.” Tiana’s success reflects her growth as a student and per-former of Shakespeare over the past eight years, during which time she has portrayed a number of the bard’s most iconic char-acters — the alternately vile and sympathetic Richard III is her favorite — and developed a deep appreciation for his mastery of rhythm and language. “He’s so intentional about what

he writes and how he writes it,” she says of Shakespeare. Tiana is the second Robinson Shake-speare Company actor to win state. She prepared for nationals with Scott Jack-son, executive director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame and Burgess’ husband, by studying from a book of more than 80 monologues. She needed to be ready to perform a monologue at random if she made it to the finals. According to Burgess, Tiana’s skill as an actor stems from her “openness on stage,” her ability to “really share with the audi-ence, to be vulnerable and be present and take the audience on that journey.”

And Tiana’s success is not limited to the stage. She recently placed second in the In-novate WithIN 2018 Pitch Competition, a statewide business competition, with an idea for an Uber-like peer-to-peer tutor-ing app called NetWork. She will attend Northeastern Universi-ty in Boston in the fall as one of 12 full-ride Torch Scholars — diverse, talented first-generation college students from across the U.S. Upward Bound, a Notre Dame TRiO Program that equips local high school students to enter and succeed in higher education, recommended Tiana for the scholarship, which includes a full summer immersion program, intensive academic planning and assessments, in-depth peer and professional mentoring and a wide array of social events that foster group identity and camaraderie. Tiana plans to major in international business, minor in the arts and act out-side of the classroom at Northeastern. Ultimately, she says, she would like to travel and engage with other peoples and cultures as part of any future career. She credits the Robinson Commu-nity Learning Center and Robinson Shakespeare Company, in addition to her family, friends and educators, for her development as a student and a performer over these past eight years. “Being a part of Shakespeare has allowed me to find who I am with the people that I love, because it’s so safe and I’ve been part of it since such a young age,” she says. “Being around such loving people allowed me to develop my loving personality, my fearlessness.”

Robinson Center sends Shakespeare performer to nationals

PHOT

OS: O

MG

PHOT

OGRA

PHY

Tiana plans to major in international business, minor in the arts and act outside of the classroom at Northeastern University in Boston. At left, Paul Ferguson

Mudzimurema

BY BRITTANY KAUFMAN, INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

Shakespeare tends to follow Christy Burgess and Scott Jackson home.

If, for example, Jackson happens to say something about “crushing it” while in their kitchen, Burgess immediately follows with “Crushing it like a cup of the Capulets’ wine!” (an obscure reference to Scene II of “Romeo and Juliet”).

“Scott will be like, ‘No, Christy. We have to have boundaries,’” Burgess says as she laughs.

Burgess and Jackson, who are married, already spend their days with the bard. In 2008 Burgess founded the Robinson Shakespeare Company at the Robinson Community Learning Center, where she leads youth through three productions a year and offers after-school programs.

Jackson is the Mary Irene Ryan Family Executive Director of

Shakespeare at Notre Dame, leading, among other things, the annual summer Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. He also teaches a weekly Shakespeare course at Michigan City’s Westville Correctional Facility.

Shakespeare is what brought them together. They met one summer in Alaska, while performing “Julius Caesar” with the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre. The two hit it off before going their separate ways, Burgess to an internship at

Perseverance Theatre in Juneau and Jackson on a world tour with the Fairbanks Theatre. Then, on Burgess’ birthday, Jackson drove eight hours to see her. They’ve been together ever since.

In 2007, Jackson was invited to become the first executive director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame.

“Christy was really encouraging me to go,” he said. “I was actually a little bit reluctant because I grew up in Elkhart and didn’t want to go back home. I’d been on the West Coast for years and years; I’d lived in the U.K. for years and years. Little did I know how much growth there had been here, especially in terms of the performing arts and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.”

While mulling over the decision, Jackson and Burgess took their dogs for a walk on a beach in Alaska. “We went on this hike, and it was on that beach that the two of us, without saying it, both realized that we were going to be together forever,” Jackson said.

“It was honestly just one of the best days of my life,” Burgess said. Together, they decided that Jackson would come to Notre Dame. Burgess joined him a few months later to work at the Robinson Community Learning

Center, where she later founded the Robinson Shakespeare Company.

Although Jackson and Burgess’ roles don’t often overlap, they both appreciate being able to support each other in the work they do. And they both love their work.

“I think what’s special about us working at Notre Dame is that both of us got into theater for something larger than entertainment or performance,” Jackson said. “Both of us view the performing arts as this change agent, this way to be a positive force for change in the community. Notre Dame is so unique in its Catholic mission, and it allows us to mold programs that look to serve.”

Both the Robinson Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare at Notre Dame are heavily involved in the community. In the spring, Burgess and Jackson went to New York City with Tiana Mudzimurema, a Robinson Shakespeare Company student who competed in the National Shakespeare Competition — the RSC’s second trip to nationals (see related article above). Burgess and her team also teach more than 20 weekly in-class drama integration workshops and after-school programs in South Bend schools.

Jackson leads Shakespeare at Notre

Dame’s Westville Correctional Facility Shakespeare performance course and is one of the founders of the Shakespeare in Prisons Network, which promotes the production and study of the bard’s plays and builds foundational skills including literacy, teamwork, self-confidence and hope.

This fall, the RSC and Shakespeare at Notre Dame are teaming up with the South Bend Civic Theatre to create a world premiere of an “As You Like It” adaptation based on the Hunter Heartbeat Method.

“The Hunter Heartbeat Method is a series of drama games that bring Shakespeare stories to audiences with autism, and Shakespeare at Notre Dame is one of the first companies in the world to bring that work here on a community level,” Jackson said.

“We’re unique in our field because we’re able to take this idea of service and further it within the community in a way that our peers at Shakespeare theaters around the world kind of marvel at,” Jackson said. “We both kind of stick out because of the opportunities that Notre Dame encourages us to take on.”

To be (together) or not to be? It was a short-lived question…

CONNECTIONS Family

Jackson and Burgess

OMG

PHOT

OGRA

PHY

Page 9: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

July 2018 | NDWorks | 9

A career in reverse order

BY CAROL C. BRADLEY, NDWORKS

“When it comes to career strategy, you probably shouldn’t come to me,” says Alan Hamlet, assistant profes-sor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (CEEES). He likes to say that his ca-reer trajectory has run more or less backward.

Hamlet, who joined the faculty in 2013, directs the Land Surface Hydrology and Water Resources Management Lab-oratory in CEEES, with a concurrent appointment in biological sciences.

His career path has been circu-itous.

Hamlet graduated from the University of Rochester in Monroe County, New York, with a degree in math, burnt out and predicting at the time he’d never go back to school. He’d been very involved in theater in high school and college, and decided after graduation to pack up, move to Seattle and pursue a career as a pro-fessional actor.

Seattle was familiar territory to him — he’d moved there as a child with his parents, who were both Ph.D. students at the University of Washington. “We drove across the country in our VW Microbus, my 3-week-old sister sleeping in a cardboard box. I was 5. Dad was in computer science at a very early time — in addition to being a Ph.D. stu-dent in math, he also worked as the system administrator for the univer-sity’s mainframe, which at that time was as big as a basketball court,” he says. “After a few years taking care of kids, Mom joined the Ph.D. program in speech science.”

After they graduated both parents found jobs at the University of Mary-land and the family moved when he was 12 — he stayed on the east coast until he finished his first degree at the University of Rochester.

Seattle, when he moved back in

1981, had a very fertile art, theater and music scene. “There was a lot of fringe theater there at that time,” he says. “I did pretty well, and over time I got a lot of good roles and worked with some great actors and directors. I did quite a few new plays and wrote

some too. Although I was pretty successful, the money was just terrible. So like most artists, I had to have a day job to survive.”

For a while he did odd jobs, including working at a bike shop, and doing singing strip-o-grams (down to a red spee-do) for a singing telegram company. Eventually, however, he migrated towards car repair. In college, he’d had a summer

job at an Austin-Healy restoration shop (Hemphill’s Healy Haven), and in Seattle he developed those skills further, first as a mobile mechanic working in the street, and later as a Volvo mechanic in an independent specialty shop.

“There was good money in repair-ing cars, and every day the work was piecemeal,” he says. “I could take three weeks off for a production and come back.”

In 1984 he met his wife and fellow actor/director Carys Kresny in a production of “The Memorandum,” a black comedy that parodies bu-reaucracy and conformity, written by Václav Havel (who later served as president of Czechoslovakia and sub-sequently the Czech Republic).

After Hamlet and Kresny got mar-ried in 1988 (this year marks their 30th anniversary, he notes) he found himself working more and more at the Volvo shop and doing less and less theater. Ironically, he says, that was about the time people started calling him for more serious parts.

“I had a very small role in the Rob-ert Altman movie ‘The Caine Mutiny Court Martial’ based on the play of the court martial of Captain Queeg. I made more money doing that one movie than in my entire stage career. I had a chance at a role on ‘Northern Exposure’ as the younger version of an older actor, but they wanted me to take three days off work and travel at

my own expense to audition. I was so irritated I said no — I was getting fed up with the acting scene in Seattle.”

He went back to repairing Volvos. He applied to the University of

Washington and completed a bach-elor of science in mechanical engi-neering in two years. “I had planned to work for a couple of years before graduate school, but in 1992 — two weeks before I graduated — Boeing laid off about 10,000 engineers. Once again, I went back to work fixing cars.”

At the time, Kresny was working on an MFA in theater, and (in just one example of how times have changed) they bought a two-bed-room starter home in Seattle for $135,000. They realized that with Kresny’s graduate school stipend, if Hamlet had one they could manage. “I thought, why don’t I just go back to school too?”

As an environmental engineering master’s student, he worked building water resources models for the “Tri-State Water Wars,” a long-running battle between Alabama, Florida and Georgia over the allocation of water

in two river basins, the Alabama-Co-osa-Tallapoosa and the Apalachico-la-Chattahoochee-Flint. He complet-ed a master’s degree in 1996.

In a moment of pure serendipity, Prof. Dennis Lettenmaier (director of the Land Surface Hydrology Research Group at UW), “needed someone to do the kind of work I’d done for my master’s degree,” Hamlet says.

“He had money from the Climate Impacts Group (CIG), and was way behind schedule. He just grabbed me as I was walking down the hall. And it proved to be a great opportunity. The CIG, led by Prof. Ed Miles, was the first Regional Integrated Scien-tific Assessment (RISA) team funded by NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The group did a lot of cutting-edge research on climate and natural re-sources management.”

Hamlet worked with the CIG for 16 years, finishing his Ph.D. in 2006, and served as a research faculty member for another five years. When the funding for the CIG changed, he applied for the job at Notre Dame. “It was a great fit,” he says. “So I got a master’s, did the equivalent of a postdoc and published extensively, then finished my Ph.D., was pro-moted to associate research faculty, moved here in 2013 and became an assistant professor. I basically did it all backwards.”

His wife Carys is a theater director who teaches acting, directing and script analysis and directs produc-

tions for the Department of Film, Television and Theatre (most recently Blood Knot). They have two children, Anya Kresny, who this fall will study dance at the University of Illinois, and Rhys Hamlet, a senior at Case Western Reserve University studying mechanical engineering.

At Notre Dame, Hamlet’s lab focuses on the complex relationships

between climate, land surface hydrol-ogy (the movement, distribution and quality of water on Earth) and water resources management in both the built and natural environment. He teaches environmental hydrology, re-quired for environmental engineering juniors, and an advanced graduate course on hydrologic modeling and analysis.

Regarding his acting career, Ham-let says, “It was a great thing to do in my 20s, and I don’t regret any of it. I took the time to follow a dream. When I left school the first time, my prediction was that I’d never go back — and I was in school off and on for 17 years after that. Become a profes-sor? I didn’t have a clue.

“I think Notre Dame students need to hear this message,” he says. “Life is not over when you finish your degree and graduate. The choic-es you make as an undergraduate are not set in stone, and life is not pre-determined when you’re 22. You can try new things, pursue your dreams (even if they may not be all that prac-tical in the end), and you can change your mind.”

And the final — and obvious —question for a (former) actor named Hamlet?

“Out of the 30 or so shows I did in Seattle, maybe six were Shakespeare, including one full production of Hamlet,” he says. “But I played Hora-tio, not Hamlet.”

Professional Company

The Tragedy of Othello,the Moor of VeniceAugust 14-26

Touring Company

The Merchant of VeniceJuly 15-August 20

Community Company

Shakespeare After HoursJuly 13

ShakesScenesJuly 14

“I think Notre Dame students need to hear this message,” he says. “Life is notover when you finish your degree and graduate. The choices you make as an

undergraduate are not set in stone, and life is not predetermined when you’re 22.”

–Alan Hamlet

Hamlet

CARO

L C.

BRA

DLEY

ALAN HAMLET, actor (no, he never played Hamlet), auto mechanic, civil engineer Getting to know ...

Page 10: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

10 | NDWorks | July 2018

IN MEMORYThe University extends sympathy to the families and friends of these recently deceased employees and retirees:

Col. John D. Miles, retiree, May 16.Eugenia Mazurkiewicz, retiree, May 19.Aleksey Komor, former employee, May 23.Mary Jane Nowak, retiree, June 1.George Leighton, emeritus trustee, June 6.

35 yearsPeter J. Lysy, HesburghLibrariesHolly E. Martin, First Year of Studies

30 yearsTerry S. Donze, Office ofVP-University RelationsStephanie L. Fuson, PhysicsAndrew G. Welding, RiskManagement and Safety

25 yearsMichelle T. Shakour,DevelopmentRoger C. Woodbury,Campus Technology Services

20 yearsPaula A. Bales, HesburghLibrariesJeffrey A. Diller, MathematicsKenneth W. Dye, MusicAnnette M. Edwards,Recruitment and CommunicationsLaura E. Gekeler, IT Service DeliveryTara A. Horvath, Center forSocial ConcernsScott E. Kachmarik, CampusDining AdministrationAdnan Kobaslija, North Dining HallAndre M. Ratasepp, KrocInstitute for International Peace StudiesRamiro Rodriguez, Snite MuseumPaul H. Schultz, Finance

15 yearsGary A. Anderson, TheologyGabriel H. Brown, AdmissionsPeter Easton, AccountancyBrian C. Fremeau, Office ofCampus SafetyRobert D. Goulding, Program ofLiberal StudiesBrad S. Gregory, HistoryVicky Hernandez, Community RelationsSandra L. Kemp, Office of Human ResourcesJulia K. Sama, Campaign for NDMike VanDusen, SecurityAaron Wright, CampusTechnology Services

10 yearsJose Almaguer and Josh M.Maron, Legends

JULY SERVICE ANNIVERSARIESThe University congratulates those employees celebrating significant service anniversaries:

George A. Ambrose, KanebCenter for Teaching and LearningAndrea S. Amoni, ITAdministrative ServicesKhaled Anatolios andMichael T. Novick, TheologyLissa M. Bill, Office ofStrategic PlanningYing Cheng and LijuanWang, PsychologyPatrick J. Clauss, UniversityWriting ProgramKristen Collett-Schmitt,FinanceDavid B. Cortright, KrocInstitute for InternationalPeace StudiesJeffrey L. Critchlow, CampusTechnology ServicesMichael Desch, Political ScienceMary L. Donnelly, ResidenceHalls StaffMary A. Fisher, Special Eventsand StewardshipDonelle M. Flick, BandDavid B. Go, Aerospace andMechanical EngineeringAdam L. Heet, HesburghLibrariesMary Jane Herb and AnthonyC. Holter, Alliance forCatholic EducationDawn M. Howard, Morris InnNathaniel M. Jones, Huddle

Kenneth Kelley, IT Analyticsand OperationsGregory R. Madey, ComputerScience and EngineeringLinda J. Major, Medieval InstituteMark P. McKenna, Law SchoolRachel S. Novick, Biological SciencesAtalia Omer, Keough Schoolof Global AffairsRyan C. Palmer, User ServicesRoslyn Palusci and MaribethL. Spittler, DevelopmentNaomi G. Penney, MS in Global HealthThomas G. Pratt, Electrical EngineeringLeShane O. Saddler,AdmissionsDouglas Smith, Associate VPUndergraduate EnrollmentKaren S. Srmek, Film,Television, and TheatreJohn B. Swarbrick, Athletic AdministrationAaron Wilkey, IT Service DeliveryConsuela G. Wilson, Office ofStudent EnrichmentDamrongsak Wirasaet, Civil and Environmental Engineeringand Earth SciencesVictoria Wood, Custodial Services

Alicia L. Chapman, Event ManagementPatrick L. Chatman Sr.,George L. Kennach andChristina L. Smith,Custodial ServicesDaniel E. Cook, Irena N.Johnson, Cody J. Kankeland Sarah W. Rucker, Centerfor Research ComputingAndrew T. Craker, Customer IT SolutionsCaitlyn J. Daus, Human ResourcesElizabeth A. Elston, Alliancefor Catholic Education

Bianca C. Gureralp, AthleticsTicketingJill A. Jackmovich, Morris InnMary B. Klemczewski, Office ofGeneral CounselMelissa J. Lechlitner,DevelopmentElizabeth A. Loughran, Graduate Career ServicesJoan M. Mcclendon, NPD AdministrationKennedy A. McGill, Morris InnPhillip A. Miller and Justin C.Paton, Utilities - Operations

Maria G. Ortuzar, Lab forEconomic OpportunitiesCorey Pennycuff, ComputerScience and EngineeringHeather M. Pixley, Food Services,Holy Cross HouseKatherine E. Richards, VP andAssociate Provost for InnovationAlthea A. Sutherland, HuddleMichael Z. Szopiak, Institutefor Educational InitiativesDawn M. Verleye, Chemistryand Biochemistry

The University welcomes the following employees who began work in May:

MAY NEW EMPLOYEES

RecSports and athletics will share space

BY MAGGIE ROGERS ’18

The North Dome of the Joyce Center has a whole new look.

The University completed the renovation in January of this year, just in time for the spring semester and the Walk the Walk Week luncheon. Facilities project manager Jamie LaCourt led the project, which began in August 2017.

Sixty-eight thousand square feet of new, durable, multipurpose athletic flooring (26,000 square feet of wood court floor and 42,000 square feet of athletic sport flooring) now covers the floor in the fieldhouse, also known as the North Dome. Additionally, electrical service has also improved to meet the needs of the wide range of groups that use the fieldhouse.

The RecSports facilities can be accessed through Gate 3. This area, utilized by University faculty,

staff and students, includes three basketball courts divided by a retractable netting system to allow for flexible use of the space. Convertible volleyball and badminton courts are available as well as three pingpong tables. While faculty, staff and students have the opportunity to enjoy pickup basketball games throughout the day, basketball and volleyball recreational leagues are often scheduled in the evenings.

RecSports shares the space with Athletic Department users. The

fieldhouse is also home to the Castellan Family Fencing Center, and varsity volleyball uses one of the wood courts as its practice venue. In the summer, various summer camps are scheduled in that space.

“We pride ourselves on having the best fencing facility in the country, if not the world,” said fencing program head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia. “The installation of the new sport floor in the Joyce Center fieldhouse makes our facility

almost perfect. It provides an optimal surface for practice and competition, enabling our student-athletes to train and compete in safety and comfort. It humbles us that our athletic department has made such an impressive investment in, and given a fantastic endorsement of, our program.”

More information about the hours of availability of the courts in the North Dome can be found at recsports.nd.edu.

North Dome sports new flooring, facility upgrades

MAT

T CA

SHOR

E

Page 11: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

July 2018 | NDWorks | 11

Page 12: BARBARA JOHNSTON ND · • The default setting on any social media app is public. If you want to choose who sees your postings, you must change the setting. But even if you mark your

12 | NDWorks | July 2018

Shuttles will run continuously from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Route 1: Library, Grace/ Flanner, StadiumRoute 2: Center for Culinary Excellence, Mason, South Quad

MONDAY, JULY 9 STADIUM CONCOURSE ENTRANCE AT GATE E 1 1:00 A.M.–1:00 P.M.RAIN DATE: TUESDAY, JULY 10

#NDProud#NDStaff#workatND

STAFF PICNICF I R S T T I M E E V E R I N T H E S TA D I U M