The Types of Discussions, Debates, and Inquiries that Take Place at the University

Notre Dame is committed to creating a culture of inquiry imbued with the lived experience of Catholicism. While the University seeks to attract and retain greater numbers of Catholic scholars, scientists, and artists, it also believes that faculty members of all faiths are absolutely indispensable to promoting scholarship, building community, provoking debate, and ensuring a diversity of perspectives at Our Lady’s University. As Notre Dame endeavors to fulfill its vision to be a great Catholic university for the 21st century and one of the preeminent research institutions in the world, seekers of truth who hold a variety of beliefs and opinions are vitally important, especially if it is to meet the Ex Corde Ecclesiae requirement that a Catholic university exists as a “privileged place for a fruitful dialogue between the Gospel and culture.”

“ … being both a University and Catholic, it must be both a community of scholars representing various branches of human knowledge, and an academic institution in which Catholicism is vitally present and operative.”

Ex Corde Ecclesiae

The University of Notre Dame’s leadership recognizes that a critical aspect of its Catholic mission is the ongoing effort to recruit and retain a predominant number of Catholic faculty members.

When categorizing faculty hires, the University uses two definitions: “Junior” faculty is composed of assistant professors and instructors, and “senior” faculty consists of associate and full professors.* Hiring cohorts are synced with the University’s academic calendar. Thus, faculty members starting in the fall of 2010 or the spring of 2011 would both be included in the 2010–11 cohort.

Faculty counts are based on the annual November 1 census date. Tenured and tenure-track faculty includes all ranked faculty, including those serving in an executive administrative capacity. Unranked instructional faculty counted are those who teach at least two courses during the fall semester.