Each year at Notre Dame is filled with highlights, achievements and accomplishments. Here are some of the significant moments from 2006:
- In the first full calendar year of the presidency of Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., he, his administration and the Board of Trustees ventured off campus for two historic meetings. In February, the Board gathered in Rome to meet as a body, interact with Vatican officials, and hold an academic convocation. Father Jenkins met briefly with Pope Benedict XVI following a general audience. During the Boards May meeting in Washington, D.C., Father Jenkins, Board Chair Patrick McCartan and several other University representatives met with President Bush.* Father Jenkins hosted his second annual Notre Dame Forum in September. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Paul Farmer and Ugandan physician Dr. Miriam Laker Opwonya were the featured speakers in a presentation titledThe Global Health Crisis: Forging Solutions, Effecting Change.In conjunction with the forum, University Trustee Raymond Chambers made a gift to the Millennium Project in Notre Dames name. Father Jenkins will lead a group of Notre Dame officials to Uganda in January to analyze how best to proceed with the project.* A new era in science education at Notre Dame began Sept. 14 with the dedication of the Jordan Hall of Science, a building that contains the most advanced scientific and educational teaching instrumentation of any university facility in the nation. The $70 million, 201,782-square-foot structure is the largest building devoted solely to undergraduate education at the University.* Notre Dame raised a record $180.7 million in cash contributions in the fiscal year ending June 30, and set several other fund-raising records. The total, which does not take into account pledges of future gifts, exceeded the previous high of $173.7 million set in 2004.* Mary McAleese, president of Ireland, became the fifth foreign head of state to serve as the Universitys Commencement speaker. Also at Commencement, jazz legend Dave Brubeck received the Laetare Medal and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee was among the honorary degree recipients.* Notre Dame was one of nine schools in the nation to receive a Katrina Compassion Award for Excellence in Hurricane Relief Service from the Corporation for National and Community Service.* In its inaugural survey of undergraduate business programs, BusinessWeek magazine ranked Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business No. 3 in the nation. The magazine also ranked Mendozas Executive MBA Program 20th among 241 programs worldwide, and the Aspen Institute rated the MBA Program fifth worldwide for its commitment to issues related to social and environmental stewardship.* Hispanic Magazine ranked Notre Dame 13th on its most recent list of Top 25 Colleges for Latinos.* In a Princeton Review survey, Notre Dame was ranked fourth among parents as thedream collegefor their children.* The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame celebrated its 20th anniversary in October.* Historian Mark Noll, newly appointed to the faculty this year, received the National Humanities Medal from President Bush in an Oval Office ceremony in November.* The Keough-Hesburgh Professorships, a new endowment to support chaired faculty members who are both world-class leaders in their field of expertise and who demonstrate a commitment to the Catholic mission of Notre Dame, was funded by a gift from Board chair emeritus Donald Keough, his wife, Marilyn, and their children.* Notre Dame was the site for the presentation of the $1 million Opus Prize in November. The award went to Brazilian pediatrician Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann, founder and director of the Pastoral of the Child, an innovative public health program that works with more than 265,000 volunteers to help poor families in her native Brazil. The prize is affiliated with the Opus Group, a $1.4 billion national real estate development company in Minnesota.* Notre Dame was cited for posting ahuge percentage gainin African-American freshmen this year in a survey by The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education.* Notre Dames study abroad programs continued to be among the best in higher education. The University has the sixth-highest percentage of students participating in international study among American research universities, according to a report from the Institute of International Education.* The Universitys Task Force on Catholic Education – a national group of Catholic educators, administrators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists, and investment specialists – issued a report in December on the challenges and opportunities confronting primary and secondary Catholic schools in the U.S.* To fund repairs to historic Notre Dame Stadium, the University announced in September a plan to make 5,000 season tickets available.* For the second consecutive year, the Notre Dame football team earned a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game, this time in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 against LSU.* The most successful year in Notre Dames stories athletic history ended in June with a school-high sixth-place finish in the DirectorsCup standings. A conference-record 13 teams from Notre Dame won Big East championships, 24 of the Universitys 26 programs qualified for post-season competition, nine teams achieved top-10 end-of-the-year rankings, 13 finished in the top 15, and 16 teams earned final top-25 rankings. In addition, a school-record 44 Irish athletes were selected All-Americans, and 14 student-athletes were selected Academic All-Americans.
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