The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture congratulates the 235 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2025. In all, 150 undergraduates and 85 graduate and professional Sorin Fellows participated in commencement ceremonies this year, joining more than 800 existing Sorin Fellow alumni.
“We are proud to graduate our largest class of Sorin Fellows to date,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture and the John J. Cavanaugh Professor of the Humanities at the University of Notre Dame. “We at the de Nicola Center have been blessed to accompany this incredibly accomplished cadre of young scholars by supporting their research, providing opportunities for spiritual formation and vocational discernment, and helping them discover and integrate the rich Catholic moral and intellectual tradition into their lives. We wish them all our best as they head out into the world to ‘make prayers of their educations,’ in the words of Blessed Basil Moreau.”
Among the undergraduate Sorin Fellows, 55 graduated with academic honors of cum laude or higher (3.783 G.P.A.). Gregory Stoffel ’25 was honored with the Patrick J. Niland, M.D. Award, given to “the preprofessional studies student who has demonstrated a high level of academic achievement, professionalism, and integrity,” and Andrew Condra ’25 received the Ken and Joan Milani Award, given to accountancy majors “for outstanding service to the department, programs, and community.”
Maria Murinova ’25 won a Fulbright Scholarship to Slovakia, where she will teach English. Lauren Douglas ’25 was honored with the Otto A. Bird Award, given to the author of the best senior thesis in the Program of Liberal Studies. Dawson Kiser ’25, a finalist for class valedictorian, received the Charles G. Morrow Award for Business Excellence and the Robert Vecchio Leadership Award.
Among the 29 graduating Sorin Fellows in Notre Dame Law School, Olivia Lyons ’25 J.D. received the Dean Joseph O’Meara Award, given to a member of the graduating class for outstanding academic achievement. Gwendolyn Loop ’25 J.D., recipient of the de Nicola Center’s Polking Family Fellowship, was honored with the Joseph Ciraolo Memorial Award and the Thomas L. Shaffer Public Interest Fellowship, which will underwrite her two-year placement as an immigration attorney at the Catholic Multicultural Center in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.
Ewa Rejman ’25 JSD was a prize winner in the inaugural Global Human Rights Practice Writing Competition for her paper titled “Limitations of Socioeconomic Rights During Armed Conflicts: The ‘Maximalist’ Perspective,” currently under review for publication by the Law Journal. At least nine law students will begin clerkships at the state and federal level of the judiciary.
Among the 56 graduate Sorin Fellows, Ana Luisa Campos Valle ’25 MNA received the Dean’s Graduate Business Award. Others graduating from the Ph.D. program are going on to teaching positions elsewhere: Benedict Shoup ’25 Ph.D. and Rev. Kenneth Amadi ’25 Ph.D. both secured tenure-track positions in theology—Shoup at Creighton University, and Amadi at the Augustine Institute. Lucas Christiansen ’25 Ph.D. will teach theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and Jacob Zoromski ’25 Ph.D. will serve as a visiting professor of mathematics at the University of Scranton.
Twenty-eight graduating members of the Class of 2025 are heading to graduate schools to pursue further studies. Eight members of the class received commissions to enter into military service: four in the US Air Force, two in the US Army, and one each in the US Navy and US Marines. Seven are entering seminary studies and religious life with the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Dominicans, the Jesuits, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Wedding bells will ring for at least seven Sorin Fellows over the next few months.
The de Nicola Center's Sorin Fellows student formation program, now in its 11th year, provides Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College undergraduate and graduate students opportunities and resources to integrate their social, intellectual, and spiritual values in the context of their collegiate experience and in the discernment and pursuit of their vocations. More than 800 students participated in the program in 2024–25. Learn more about the Sorin Fellows.