First Lecture Series
The First Lecture Series, a partnership between the Center for University Advising and colleges and schools at Notre Dame, invites first-year students to engage with the scholarly life of our distinct university community, integrating intellectual passion and a keenly developed moral responsibility.
Each Welcome Weekend, Notre Dame faculty join you in your first moments on campus. While offering a glimpse into their own personal and academic journeys, these expert scholars will challenge you to begin to form your unique response to the lectures' animating questions:
What matters?
What should we do about it?
This Welcome Weekend, witness a model of scholarship driven by passion and a desire to serve the Common Good. In turn, ignite your engagement with the Notre Dame scholarly community, imagine your distinct academic journey, and look forward to your entire undergraduate educational experience.
Watch the First Lecture Series Video Overview
Registration will open July 24, 2024
Beginning July 24, you can browse the Fall 2024 First Lecture Series and register for one First Lecture. All lectures take place simultaneously and each lecture is limited according to space capacities. Since registration is on a first-come basis, we encourage you to explore options and register as soon as possible. Registration will close on August 5, 2024.
You will be automatically assigned a First Lecture if you did not register for a First Lecture.
Explore all Lectures
All students can register for any lecture across any college or school. We encourage you to embrace your sense of curiosity and discovery as you step into this new community of scholars. What sparks your interest? What have you never heard of before? How will you best utilize this chance to explore?
Connect with Others
Since the First Lecture Series invites you to register for a preferred lecture based on your curiosity, this registration process is an opportunity for you to connect with classmates of similar academic and intellectual interests. Here, we hope to help you initiate formative relationships with not only Notre Dame faculty, but with each other.
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Accounting for Success
This First Lecture will discuss adjustments to college life at Notre Dame, and how you define "success" at Notre Dame and in your business career.
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AI and the Future of Labor
How will AI affect workers, organizations, and the labor market? This lecture discusses the evolving labor market conditions as AI permeates into all aspects of our economy and society.
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Avoiding 'Bullshit,' Burnout, and Alienation: A Philosophical Guide to Purposeful Work
In this lecture, we will shed light on three primary barriers to flourishing at work: "bullshit" tasks, burnout, and alienation.
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Bandaids on bullet wounds? Providing effective, dignified, and ethical mental health care in conflict-affected settings
Using examples from our team's work in Egypt, Palestine, and Peru, we will discuss questions regarding the contextual and cultural adaptation of mental health care and next steps towards providing ethical and dignified care for those affected by violence.
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Be Good and Do Good: The Role of Marketing in Making a Difference
Join Susan Kleiser, Teaching Professor of Marketing, to discuss making a positive impact on the Notre Dame community, the field of marketing, and beyond.
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Chemical Engineering Past and Future
Humankind has reached the point of changing our environment on a global scale. How did we get here? How will we (you!) address the consequences?
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Chemistry and the Opioid Crisis
During the lecture there will be a hands-on activity where we will use lateral flow immunoassay strips to test samples for fentanyl, and I’ll describe how undergraduates can get involved in research projects and community service.
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Cultivating and Embracing Common, But Differentiated Responsibility in a Changing World
This lecture discusses the origins and trajectory of Common, But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) in Environmental Politics. We will consider why it matters and what our responsibilities are to help each other in a connected world.
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Data, Decisions and Doubts: Living in a 3D World
Data collection is all around us—from signing up for a new credit card to buying groceries to playing games on electronic devices. This information is then used to bombard us with coupons, ads, and more offers.
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Flipping the script: It’s not about the world of design, it’s about the design of the world
Many of today’s solutions cause more problems than they fix, but good design can catalyze disruptive innovation.
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From Curiosity to Discovery: A Guide to Engaging with the Research Mission of the University
Notre Dame encourages students to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, and make meaningful contributions to your respective fields of interest. So let’s get started down that path.
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Habitat: Creating Architecture for an Affordable, Sustainable Future
How architects can make the world a better place, one family at a time.
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In Bust and Boom! Confronting Barter Myths; Revealing How Contemporary Barter Benefits Business in Community
Barter is considered obsolete in a powerful market economy like the United States. It is characterized as a coping mechanism for individuals living in extreme crisis. But this is not the case!
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Knowing the Power of Sports
Sports is often the vehicle that reflects inequalities in American society, but it also provides avenues for change.
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Life as an Engineer
This will be a story of the life an engineer - sharing common experiences and helping students identify some of the professional and personal challenges and opportunities that may come their way.
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Making a Difference through Social Entrepreneurship
This session will introduce social entrepreneurship as means for producing innovative solutions to big challenges such as poverty, human trafficking, literacy gaps, or environmental degradation.
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Making a positive impact through business and artificial intelligence (AI)
Many young people want to make a positive impact on the world, but are not sure how.
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My scientific journey: from agriculture, to bioremediation, to cell biology, to fungal infections. Can you tell what is my intellectual passion?
I want to briefly go over my non-traditional educational journey... or was it? What is traditional? What is expected? How I was able to find research opportunities in seemingly disparate areas?
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Navigating University Life and How to Make the Most of the Next Four Years
Philippe Collon, Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Physics, will offer a First Lecture on the transition to Notre Dame and the preciousness of this undergraduate opportunity.
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Persistence in preservation
Examining the economics of climate change, and the value of an open mind.
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Powerful Means: Finding and living your purpose through academic engagement
We will explore what it means to serve as a Powerful Means, by identifying ways you can live your values and purpose through intentional academic engagement, while addressing complex problems facing the world.
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Riding the Robotics Wave and Putting it to Good Use
The landscape of robotics and AI is evolving rapidly, with unprecedented financial investments in both academic and private sectors.
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The Craft of Computing, the Beauty of Physics and the Joy of Music and a Few Other Things I Learned in College
Come learn about some of the connections between math, computing, science, music, and more. I'll tell you a little bit about my career path (and hobbies) as an engineer and share some thoughts on how to get the most out of college.
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What does Mendoza offer to Undergraduates Interested in Finance?
What does finance have to do with "growing the good?"
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You've Made it to College... Now What? Navigating Academic Rigor and Staying Whole in the Process
None of us can continually "do more" to "stay ahead"... that strategy is simply not sustainable. You are invited to come explore some common internal challenges many of our students have faced in their transition to university life.