The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome its newest Mission Faculty members to the University of Notre Dame: Paul Scherz has joined the Department of Theology as the Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor, and China Scherz will serve as the Kristin Yudt Professor of Global Affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs.
Through generous support from de Nicola Center benefactors, and working in close collaboration with University faculty and administration, the de Nicola Center’s Mission Stewardship Initiative funds the hiring and retention of elite scholars who augment the mission of Notre Dame, enrich the University’s engagement with the Catholic tradition, and contribute to her reputation for unparalleled academic excellence.
“Attracting and retaining world-class faculty who are committed to the Catholic mission of the University is one of the pillars of the dCEC’s work and the raison d’etre of our Mission Stewardship Initiative,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. “We are delighted that Paul and China have come to Notre Dame, where they will be an integral part of the community of scholars that forms the core of this great research university.”
Paul Scherz, Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology
The Our Lady of Guadalupe professorship, created through the generosity of members of the de Nicola Center’s Executive Advisory Committee, supports an eminent scholar in the field of bioethics with a demonstrated commitment to the distinctive Catholic mission of the de Nicola Center and the University. “Paul Scherz is a well-respected professor and scholar who has published important works in the fields of moral formation of scientists, the ethics of artificial intelligence, and bioethics at the end of life,” said Sarah Mustillo, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “His addition to the faculty of our Department of Theology further strengthens a department that is globally renowned for its research excellence.”
Scherz holds a Ph.D. and M.T.S. in moral theology from the University of Notre Dame (2014, 2010), a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University (2005) and a B.A. in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley (2001). He has taught at the University of Virginia and the Catholic University of America, was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He has authored or edited four books, including the forthcoming The Ethics of Precision Medicine (Notre Dame Press, 2024) in the de Nicola Center’s series “Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics and Bioethics.”
“I’m excited to be joining the theology faculty at Notre Dame,” Scherz said. “The department, and the university as a whole, is such a vibrant intellectual community and a great resource for the church. I’m particularly grateful to the de Nicola Center and its benefactors for this opportunity. Through their support, I look forward to pursuing teaching and research that brings pressing questions in bioethics into conversation with the great intellectual tradition of the Church, in the way that only Notre Dame can do.”
“Paul Scherz has achieved international recognition as standing among the front ranks of scholars in the field of Christian bioethics, and he is now doing groundbreaking work on the impact of artificial intelligence on medical theory and practice,” said Rev. Khaled Anatolios, John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology and chair of the Department of Theology. “His addition to our faculty further solidifies and enhances the prestige of our department, which has been repeatedly ranked as the top theology department in the world. More importantly, his work will greatly contribute to the Catholic mission of our department and our University in bringing the vision of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into careful and rigorous dialogue with modern thought and culture.”
China Scherz, Kristin Yudt Professor of Global Affairs
The Kristin Yudt professorship was created to support a faculty member with a demonstrated commitment to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and the mission of the de Nicola Center. China Scherz, the inaugural Kristin Yudt Professor, is a medical anthropologist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco & Berkeley (2010). She has taught at the University of Virginia, Reed College, and Indiana University South Bend. Her first book, Having People, Having Heart: Charity, Sustainable Development, and Problems of Dependence in Central Uganda (University of Chicago Press, 2014), explored how aid-workers and recipients involved in orphan support projects in Uganda negotiate relations of hierarchical interdependence as they pursue moral and material ends. Her most recent coauthored book, Higher Powers: Alcohol and After in Uganda’s Capital City (University of California Press, 2024), draws on four years of collaborative fieldwork carried out with Ugandans working to reconstruct their lives after attempting to leave behind problematic alcohol use.
“China’s extensive fieldwork in how health and wellbeing are fostered through care, connection, and community is a fantastic addition to the mission of the Keough School,” said Mary Gallagher, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs. “Her professional collaborations with international researchers to explore questions of social connection and wellbeing are consonant with the role of Notre Dame to be a global force for good. We are delighted to welcome her to Notre Dame.”
“I’m excited to use my skills as an anthropologist to further the Keough School’s commitment to promoting integral human development,” Scherz said. “The same set of Catholic Social Teachings that lies behind this concept are what originally led me to pursue my interests in developmental and medical anthropology. The vision of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture also brings these commitments into conversation in a unique and exciting way, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to pursue my research with their support.”
Paul and China Scherz join nine other faculty members across the University who are funded through the de Nicola Center’s Mission Stewardship Initiative, including O. Carter Snead (Charles E. Rice Professor of Law), Stephen Ogden (Tracey Family Associate Professor of Philosophy), Christina Bambrick (Filip Family Assistant Professor of Political Science), Rev. John Paul Kimes (Notre Dame Law School), Brian Mulholland (Department of Mathematics), and Kathryn Mulholland (Department of Mathematics).
“In each of their own disciplines, the Mission Faculty of the de Nicola Center enrich the intellectual life of the University and contribute to Notre Dame’s reputation as the place for serious engagement of pressing questions in ethics, theology, philosophy, law, and beyond, all in conversation with the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition,” Martin said. “We are honored to support these brilliant scholars and deeply grateful to the generous benefactors who helped make their positions a reality.”