4 Letters from the directors From Our Directors Tracy Kijewski-Correa William J. Pulte Director, Integration Lab (i-Lab) Academic Director, and Professor of Engineering and Global Affairs Michael Sweikar Executive Director There has never been a more important time to be a part of the work of the Pulte Institute. In 2023, Notre Dame reaffirmed its institutional commitment to human dignity in its Strategic Framework. Intended to guide the University’s larger work in the world for the next ten years, the Framework identifies the fight against poverty as an institutional priority—an extension of our Catholic mission to serve the common good. Through the Notre Dame Poverty Initiative, University resources around research, student formation, and the implementation of meaningful policies and programs among vulnerable populations will be amplified. The Pulte Institute is honored to have been named as a partner in this work; at the same time, we recognize our unique responsibility to it. Since 2012, our team has researched and implemented programs around poverty related issues that separate billions of the world’s population from their ability to live fully: sustainability, education, migration, health, and just governance. The Pulte Institute’s demonstrated experience driving evidence to impact in local communities is possible only through our established network of more than 400 engaged institutional partners. These relationships are necessary to understand the tangle of factors keeping people in poverty and to unravel them, creating transformative opportunities in collaboration with marginalized populations. This, combined with our ability to support student formation through Integration Lab (i-Lab) and other curricular opportunities that engage future leaders with real-world challenges on-site around the world, uniquely positions us to support the goals of the Poverty Initiative. In 2023-24, the Pulte Institute added nine Core Affiliated Faculty who bring their scholarship and enthusiasm to the vital interdisciplinary collaboration that is necessary to transform lives. Multi-country studies in the Global South explore the connection between poverty and sustainability issues. New research examining the impact of health conditions in children and adolescents on student success and economic outcomes continues our strengths in global education research and suggests a rethinking of current policies around the world. And we are excited to stand at the forefront of work on the measurement of dignity—assessing elements of well-being, rights, and intrinsic value to evaluate a quality essential to the human experience in all its multidimensional complexity. We have so much to share about our work over the last year to dismantle the systemic barriers to human flourishing; you will read about it in these pages. But we already look forward to the promise of the year ahead and the possibility for the Pulte Institute to drive discovery and impact policy for a world struggling to overcome injustice, conflict, and climate crisis. We are grateful for the new dimensions of this opportunity to fight alongside our institutional partners, one in which we stand in “closely united ranks,” as called upon by Congregation of Holy Cross founder Blessed Rev. Basil Moreau, members of one family committed to the best life of every member. In Notre Dame, Advancing Notre Dame’s Initiative to End Global Poverty The Pulte Institute for Global Development 02 | From Our Directors
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