Notre Dame's Main Building (the Golden Dome) as seen from the south

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Why Notre Dame

Don’t let the photo fool you: Notre Dame is a lot more than a beautiful campus.

It is a place where you can pursue the intellectual passions that animate your research and scholarship alongside word-class colleagues and some of the most talented and thoughtful students you will ever meet.

Below you will find brief overviews of research and teaching resources, our commitment to diversity and inclusion, the University’s Catholic character, and the local community beyond Notre Dame, all of which are designed to help you get to know us a little bit better.

And if you do want to see how beautiful it is here, we invite you to:

Explore the Notre Dame Campus

Support for Research

Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor of Life Sciences, and Mayland Chang, research professor of chemistry and biochemistry, in their office in McCourtney Hall

Notre Dame is committed to supporting its faculty as they deliver cutting-edge, globally significant research, scholarship, and creative endeavor that is a force for good in the world.

To that end, Notre Dame Research provides a full suite of tools and services for faculty pursuing research opportunities. These resources include information on identifying funding opportunities, guidance on preparing proposals, and training to ensure that faculty will be successful in their research.

The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts provides similar resources with a particular focus on the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Explore Our Academic Community

Support for Teaching

David Hooker, associate professor of the practice of conflict transformation and peacebuilding, teaching at a whiteboard with students looking on

We hold the success of our students, both undergraduate and graduate, as a priority that is second to none.

Consisting of the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the Office of Digital Learning, Notre Dame Learning brings together teaching and learning expertise to serve as the central hub of learning excellence and innovation at the University. Working in collaboration with instructors, departments, and colleges, its goal is to enable effective and engaging learning for all students through research-based strategies, technologies, and modalities. 

Explore Notre Dame Learning

Diversity and Inclusion

Dolores Huerta joins Luis Fraga for a conversation and Q & A as part of the Institute for Latino Studies' Transformative Latino Leadership Lecture Series

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion arises from our aspirations about the community we want to be, the educational environment we hope to provide our students, and the moral character they will develop during their time with us. It goes to the heart of our mission, to who we are, and to what we want to be.

Our principles of diversity and inclusion call on us to:

  • Respect the dignity of every person.
  • Build a Notre Dame community in which all can flourish.
  • Live in solidarity with all, particularly the most vulnerable.

Explore Diversity and Inclusion

Catholic Character

the seal of the University of Notre Dame on a campus sign with a blooming tree in the background

Notre Dame was founded in November 1842 by Rev. Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C., a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a French missionary order.

To be sure, the University’s religious character is much more than a page in its history; Catholicism and Catholic intellectual tradition continue to animate the scholarly, residential, and spiritual life of the campus on a daily basis.

At the same time, Notre Dame is not sectarian but welcomes all persons of good will, defending the absolute necessity of academic freedom and turning outward to embrace the larger world.

Explore Notre Dame’s Catholic Character

The Community

Sculpture by Rev. Austin Collins, C.S.C., in the Bartlett St. roundabout in South Bend

Notre Dame is located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, the state’s fourth-largest city and part of the South Bend-Mishawaka-Elkhart metropolitan area, with a population of more than 300,000.

Like many Midwestern cities, South Bend’s history includes a period of heavy reliance on industry, most famously as the center of manufacturing for Studebaker automobiles. While the area still boasts notable industrial strengths (such as the booming recreational vehicle manufacturing found in neighboring Elkhart), the South Bend of today is characterized by smart growth and 21st-century innovation that marks a re-emergence from past economic distress.

The list below provides helpful links for learning about some of the attractions and resources in the area. You can also:

Explore Living Around Notre Dame

Arts and Entertainment

Attractions and Recreation

Colleges and Universities

Schools and Government

Notre Dame in the Community