O. Carter Snead, Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, will conclude his directorship of the de Nicola Center at the end of June 2024, a position he will have held for twelve years.

“Serving as director of the de Nicola Center for the past twelve years has been one of the greatest privileges and blessings of my life,” Snead said. “While I am certainly sad to see that time come to a close, my heart is filled with gratitude for what our team has been able to accomplish.”

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, in partnership with the Ratzinger Foundation and the Benedict XVI Institute, is hosting a series of academic panels discussing “Benedict XVI’s Legacy: Unfinished Debates on Faith, Culture, and Politics,” with the first event to be held November 29, 2023, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.…

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More than 1,100 scholars, students, and guests from around the world registered to attend the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s Fall Conference, “‘Dust of the Earth’: On Persons.” The 23rd annual fall conference begins today, Thursday, November 2, and concludes on November 4, featuring nearly 150 presentations across three days of conversation on questions relating to the concept of persons.…

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Dr. Elvira Parravicini, founding director of the Neonatal Comfort Care Program and professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, will receive the 2024 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—at a Mass and dinner on April 27, 2024, at the University of Notre Dame.…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture welcomed a cohort of 46 leaders working to build a culture of life both nationally and internationally for its annual Vita Institute, June 11–16, 2023.

The Notre Dame Vita Institute is an intensive intellectual formation program at the University of Notre Dame that provides participants the opportunity to study the fundamentals of the life issues with world-renowned scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including social science, biology, philosophy, theology, law, communications, and counseling. The lectures led participants to explore the ways in which various fields intersect in building and supporting a culture of life. …

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On this anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we pause first to give thanks for the tens of thousands of lives saved—babies who would not be here but for the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. We also celebrate the Court’s courage in declaring that our nation’s founding document does not, in fact, preclude the legal protection of the unborn from the violence of abortion.…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture congratulates the 126 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2023. In all, 63 undergraduates and 63 graduate and professional Sorin Fellows participated in commencement ceremonies this year.

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On June 24, America will mark the first anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which restored the right of the American people to create laws and policies that protect human life at all stages of development and offer comprehensive support to women, children, and families. In the year following the decision, the de Nicola Center has hosted more than 15 presentations, panel discussions, and conversations examining how best to support women, children, and their families in the new post-Dobbs landscape.

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Two senior staff leaders of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture have received promotions, following the Center’s extraordinary success and increased impact, catalyzed by its five-year strategic plan.…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 2023 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—to acclaimed legal philosopher and constitutional and political theorist Robert P. George at a celebration attended by more than 500 guests on April 29, 2023.…

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"Most of my life, to my amazement, has been spent studying in, teaching at, writing about, and administering now, Catholic institutions. On an almost daily basis, I get asked, ‘How did we get here?’ And so I became interested in that long sweep of the 19th-century Catholic revival," said John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost and Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, during a March 6 panel discussion entitled “Global Catholicism: The Past, Present, and Future of the Church.”…

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On Thursday, January 19, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will mark the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in Washington, DC, with an expert roundtable discussion on how best to care for and protect mothers, babies, and families in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome more than 1,000 scholars, students, and friends to its 22nd annual Fall Conference, hosted at the University of Notre Dame, November 10–12. Entitled “And It Was Very Good: On Creation…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome its newest Mission Fellows, graduate and professional students at the University of Notre Dame who share the de Nicola Center's passion for research and engagement with the moral and intellectual tradition of the Church. Mission fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to one incoming student in both Notre Dame Law School and the PhD program in the College of Arts and Letters with a proven track record of academic excellence and enthusiasm for the unique mission of the University.

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Acclaimed legal philosopher and constitutional and political theorist Robert P. George will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2023 Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—at a celebration hosted by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on April 29, 2023.

George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of Politics at Princeton University and the founding director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture welcomed two new staffers to the office in mid-August. Brooke Tranten and Phil Tran join the team to support and further develop the Center's student formation, culture of life, and academic research pillars.…

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O. Carter Snead, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, has extensively discussed the Supreme Court's case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the leak that preceded the final decision, and the wider questions about human flourishing that underlie so much of the public debate about abortion. Here is a comprehensive catalog of his scholarship, writing, interviews, and media mentions on these topics (list updated 10 August 2022)…

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Statement from O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School, concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and director of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture:

“In today’s historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture congratulates the 103 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2022. In all, 68 undergraduates and 35 graduate and professional Sorin Fellows participated in commencement ceremonies earlier this month.…

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A new article in the New York Times has recommended O. Carter Snead’s book What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…

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The University of Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 11th annual Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Dr. John T. Bruchalski, founder of Tepeyac OB/GYN, one of the largest pro-life clinics in the United States, at a Mass and dinner attended by more than 450 guests and friends on April 23, 2022.

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More than 700 students, faculty, administrators, alumni and friends gathered on a seasonably cold day at the University of Notre Dame for a Day for Life on Jan. 21 to bear joyful witness to the inalienable and equal dignity of every member of the human family, born and unborn.

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome David Younger to the staff as its new Student Formation Program Manager, where he will oversee the more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students affiliated with the dCEC through its highly successful Sorin Fellows Program…

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The St. Thomas More Society of the Diocese of Dallas honored O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, at its annual Red Mass on October 9, 2021. The Society’s Red Mass invokes the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the securing of justice, and is celebrated each Fall to mark the beginning of the new legal term for the Texas courts.…

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The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will present the 2022 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Dr. John T. Bruchalski, MD, founder of Tepeyac OB/GYN, one of the largest pro-life clinics in the nation, at a celebration on April 23. (Dinner registration is closed, as we are at capacity.)…

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O. Carter Snead, professor of law and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, was cited in a landmark dissent…

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July 29, 2021 – O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, has filed (with Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, emerita, Harvard University) an amici curiae…

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O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, will receive the 2021 Expanded Reason Award in Research for his book What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…

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Center Director O. Carter Snead's latest book, What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…

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de Nicola Center director O. Carter Snead joined leading pro-life Catholic scholars on a statement regarding the moral acceptability of receiving the currently-available COVID-19 vaccines…

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