Symposium Events

Meghan Sullivan, Ph.D.
Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy; Director: Notre Dame Ethics Initiative
6:30 p.m. – Fireside in the Mueller Hall Commons

The Love Ethic: Aristotle, Jesus, and an Ancient Debate on Who You Let In To Your Life
This Fireside Symposium will look at philosophical arguments for loving strangers and enemies and consider advice from ancient virtue ethicists about how to improve our love lives.

Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as Director of the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is the founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ethics.nd.edu). The university hub for research and teaching in ethics, the Institute includes the new Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C, Center for Virtue Ethics and the Notre Dame–IBM Technology Ethics Lab. The Institute is home to faculty program chairs, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and undergraduates and runs several residential fellowship programs for faculty, nonprofit leaders, and faith leaders.

Sullivan is deeply interested in the ways philosophy contributes to the good life and the best methods for promoting philosophical thought. She has served as PI for over $15M in grants to advance ethics and human flourishing, from agencies including the John Templeton Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Mellon Foundation, and the NEH. Time Biases, her 2018 book with Oxford University Press, offers philosophical guidance about how to navigate the puzzles that the passage of time poses to rational planning. It was featured in a 2021 New Yorker piece. In 2022, Sullivan published The Good Life Method with Penguin Press (co-authored with her teaching collaborator Paul Blaschko) based on a wildly popular introductory philosophy course she developed at Notre Dame called “God and the Good Life.” Since 2016, “God and the Good Life” has accompanied thousands of Notre Dame students through the process of developing a philosophical plan for their lives. In the past, Sullivan has collaborated with faculty in other departments to offer courses on NBC’s The Good Place, Ted Chiang’s science fiction, and Thom Browne’s fashion empire.

Sullivan is currently working on a book about the role of love in our moral lives. She is also directing a major grant project with scholars and nonprofit leaders to expand the love ethic, as well as a major planning grant considering the role of Christian thought in AI ethics. Sullivan will be a featured speaker at the 2025 TED Next Conference.

Sullivan has been honored with one of Notre Dame’s Joyce Awards for Teaching, with the Provost’s All-Faculty Team Award, and with the City of South Bend’s 40 Under 40 Award. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia (B.A.: Philosophy and Politics, Highest Distinction), Oxford (B.Phil: Philosophy), and Rutgers (Ph.D.: Philosophy), and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (Balliol College). Sullivan enjoys cooking, building elaborate Lego sets, reading science fiction, and traveling the world. She cheers for the Fighting Irish and Virginia Cavaliers in all of their endeavors, and when they play each other she has a rational crisis.

Thomas Albert Howard, Ph.D.
Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics; Professor of Humanities and History

6:30 p.m. – Refectory
Rethinking Religion, Secularism, and Violence
What is the relationship between religion and violence? What is the relationship between secularism and violence? What is the relationship between religion and secularism? This lecture by Tal Howard, Duesenberg Chair in Ethics, will explore all three questions, based on his new book, Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History (Yale University Press, 2025).

Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard (Ph.D, University of Virginia) is professor of humanities and history and holder of the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University, where he is affiliated with Christ College, Valparaiso University’s humanities-based honors college. He also serves as a senior fellow for the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities. Prior to coming to Valparaiso, he taught at Gordon College, where he founded and directed the Jerusalem and Athens Forum honors program and led the Center for Faith and Inquiry. He is the author or editor of many books, including The Faiths of Others: A History of Interreligious Dialogue (Yale University Press, 2021), The Pope and the Professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the Quandary of the Modern Age (Oxford University Press, 2017), Remembering the Reformation: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Protestantism (Oxford University Press, 2016), and (edited with Mark A. Noll) Protestantism after 500 Years (Oxford University Press, 2016). His writings have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the History of Ideas and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and in more general venues such as Hedgehog Review, Wall Street Journal, Modern Age, Touchstone, Inside Higher Ed, National Interest, Christian Century, First Things, and Commonweal. His work has been translated into German, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. A new book, Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History is recently out from Yale University Press. He is currently working on another entitled “Modern Christian Theology: An Intellectual History” (under contract with Princeton University Press) in addition to a collection of travel essays and an essay on the Christian conception of wisdom.

Katelyn Stermer ’14 Donnelly, M.D., M.P.H.
Resident Physician in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo

6:30 p.m. – Refectory 

The Human Rights Initiative: How a Humanities Education Shaped my Medical Career
How does a humanities education impact the practice of 21st century medicine? Does the physician’s role extend beyond the exam room to promote human dignity in the face of injustice? We’ll explore the concept of humanism in medicine and how its practice can lead to compassionate, justice-driven care for our most vulnerable populations. Specifically we’ll examine the work of Physicians for Human Rights and the Human Rights Initiative of Western New York amid a growing tension between medical ethics and federal immigration policy. The Human Rights Initiative is a medical student-run asylum clinic founded in 2014 at the University at Buffalo that collaborates with licensed healthcare professionals to provide forensic medical evaluations for survivors of torture and/or persecution seeking asylum in the United States.

Katelyn Donnelly is resident physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. She received her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, where she additionally served as the director of research and publications for the Human Rights Initiative of Western New York. In 2016, she received a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was the recipient of a David L. Boren Fellowship for public health and isiZulu language studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Katelyn graduated from Valparaiso University in 2014 with a B.S. in chemistry, international service, and humanities with Christ College Scholar honors. She was VP of public relations for the Panhellenic Council, a member of Kappa Delta sorority, participated in the medical mission trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and spent a semester abroad in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Symposium Symposium – Night One

6:30 p.m. – Mueller Hall Commons

CC students and faculty, join us for The Symposium Symposium, a two-night pop up discussion of Plato’s The Symposium. All CC faculty and the first ten students who opt in to participate will receive a complimentary copy of the text! You must read the full text to participate. RSVP at bit.ly/ccplato2025.

First-Year Production Talkback
6:30 p.m. – Refectory
Join us for the annual talkback and reflection on the first-year production.

Christ College Holiday Gathering
5:30–7:30 p.m. – Harre Union Ballrooms
Christ College students, faculty, and staff: join us for the annual Christ College holiday gathering! In addition to a delightful dinner, attendees will enjoy skits by the sophomores, juniors, TAs, seniors, and CC faculty. We may even sing a carol or two! The dean’s office will send an RSVP link via email in November.
Please note the revised date.

Student Scholarship Symposium
6:30 p.m. – Refectory
Three CC students will present research that they have done in one of their classes from anywhere in the university. Presentations will be approximately 15 minutes in length, and papers can be from any field or major — though students should be able to present their work to a general audience. Interested students should write a 250-300 word abstract to be submitted per the emailed instructions (TBA later in the Fall 2025 semester). Students who are applying for NCUR 2026 may also apply for the symposium.

Study Abroad Symposium
6:30 p.m. – Refectory

Oxford Debate One
6:30 p.m. – Refectory

Oxford Debate Two
6:30 p.m. – Refectory

Oxford Debate Three
6:30 p.m. – Refectory

Oxford Debate Four
6:30 p.m. – Refectory

TBA

Got Stress? Try Mindfulness

Stress is a natural response to life; we need it to get stuff done. But add homework, deadlines, and high expectations to climate crisis, political polarization, and the need for justice and healing … and stress quickly floods and overwhelms our systems. Mindfulness practice can help. Learn how to work with your thoughts and pay attention to your breath in this 30-minute session. Leave with resources to continue exploring mindfulness. Your nervous system will thank you for it.

Register for your preferred session via the links below:
Wednesday, September 4, 10:05-10:35 a.m. Central – limit 25 registrants
Wednesday, September 4, 8-8:30 p.m. Central – limit 25 registrants

Please register by September 3. Should this event hit capacity, please join the waitlist by emailing christ.college@valpo.edu and specifying which time you’d like to attend. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link to join your session.

Note: If you don’t see the email after 10 minutes or so, check Updates, Promotions, Spam, or any other categorical folders you may use in your inbox.

Stephanie Slade
Senior Editor at Reason Magazine

Mueller Hall Refectory, 4:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, September 10, Stephanie Slade will deliver a lecture on “The Role of Religion in the American ‘New Right’” to illuminate the interplay between right-wing politicians, religious leaders, and the political objectives of religious communities.

Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason magazine, where she covers the intersection of religion and politics, and a fellow in liberal studies at the Acton Institute. In 2016, she was selected to the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. In 2013, she was named a finalist for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. Her writing has also appeared in America magazine, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and elsewhere. She’s working on a book about fusionism—which probably isn’t what you think!

In November, Americans will participate in one of the most contested events in our national history – the presidential election. Heated debates on reproductive rights, racism, immigration, foreign policy, the role of religion in public spaces, and educational curriculum reveal an ominous polarization threaded throughout society. Conservatives complain of leftist wokeism and the agenda of a deep state, while liberals sound an alarm on right-wing nationalism and religious favoritism. Religion continues to play an important role in communicating with voters. A moderated Q and A session will follow the lecture.

Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, Ph.D.
Professor of Humanities and Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics

Mueller Hall Refectory, 4:00 p.m.

Duesenberg Ethics Chair Lecture: “Wisdom: One or Many?”

Over the centuries, wisdom has served as a master concept in Christian learning, invoked once again in one of Valparaiso University’s new taglines: “grounded in wisdom.” But what exactly is wisdom? Is it a disposition of mind, an abstract idea, a philosophical ideal, a virtue, a character trait, or what? Can the recovery of a robust vocabulary about wisdom breathe new life into the challenged enterprise of church-related higher education?

Join Thomas Albert Howard, Ph.D., professor of humanities and history and the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair of Christian Ethics, for this lecture.

Red, Blue, Purple: Mindfulness Practices for Polarized Times
Friday, October 18, 2024 – 2:30-4 p.m. Central via Zoom

Do you feel particularly activated this election year? Do fear and worry lurk beneath your excitement? Every day, the media offers up more evidence of danger and division to our already stressed out nervous systems. It is possible to shift away from the habit of catastrophizing and live with more freedom. Join me in this 90-minute session to explore mindfulness practices that can support you in broadening your view and cultivating compassion without forsaking your values.

Register via this link. Limited to 20 registrants.

Please register by October 11. Should this event hit capacity, please join the waitlist by emailing christ.college@valpo.edu. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link to join your session.

Note: If you don’t see the email after 10 minutes or so, check Updates, Promotions, Spam, or any other categorical folders you may use in your inbox.