Catherine Townsend, private investigator, journalist, and host of the hit podcasts Hell & Gone and Blood Money will discuss her experience with cold case investigations, victimology, and podcasting.

Bring the whole family for a series of fun-filled drop-in events that give kids an opportunity to collaborate with one another to solve engineering and design tasks! This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by NDMU’s School of Education and is run by the Leadership in Teaching: STEM program’s faculty and students.

headshot of Juliann

Juliann Dupuis

Associate Professor & Associate Dean
410-532-5148
jdupuis@ndm.edu

Join NDMU's School of Nursing Living Learning Community (LLC) to say goodbye to midterms and enjoy facemasks and scrubs before finals! 

NDMU is hosting an Art Therapy Graduate Program Shadow Night on Wednesday, November 1 for all students who are interested in completing their master's degree in art therapy!

During this Shadow Night, you will:

  • Sit in on an art therapy class
  • Meet with the art therapy department chair, Cathy Goucher
  • Q&A with the art therapy faculty
Cathy Goucher

Catherine Goucher

Associate Professor/Department Chair
410-532-5382
cgoucher@ndm.edu

Go PHARMD

Submitted by hwang on

The pharmacy profession is evolving, and NDMU is helping to push that evolution. Our School of Pharmacy combines the latest practices and philosophies with a distinct focus on leadership development, and it lays the foundation to further your pursuit of the field through our Doctor of Pharmacy program. 

April 2023
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Message from the Alumnae and Alumni Engagement Team

Greetings Alumnae and Alumni,

Your next edition of Tower Talk is here to provide access to fellow alums, opportunities to share your news and achievements, register for upcoming events, and learn a little about what’s happening at Notre Dame. Spring Break for our students was last week, and it’s always more enjoyable to see our campus alive again with activity we can see from our windows in Noyes House, so we are happy to have them back!

The Alumni Engagement Office is recruiting alumni from the following classes to assist with their reunion planning: 2018, 2013, 1998, 1993, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1973, 1968, and 1963! 1998 celebrates its 25th reunion, and 1973 celebrates its 50th reunion! If you are interested in getting involved in any way, please make sure you contact the Alumni Engagement Office at ndmalum@ndm.edu today.

The Alumni Council will be restarting this summer in our new fiscal year. We are so grateful to the current Council members, especially President Nikki Gatewood ’01, for their steadfast support, and we are thrilled to welcome new alumni volunteers into the Council as we restructure and relaunch our efforts. If you’d like to learn more about the Council and the work we plan to do together, please email Alexandra DeJohn, Director of Alumni Engagement at adejohn@ndm.edu.

Spring is in the air and our seniors are taking their final steps as students until Commencement, when we can welcome them into the alumni family. Be on the lookout for how you can celebrate our seniors on social media this May.

We hope to see you at an upcoming event soon!

Warmly,
Alex & Rose
Your Alumni Engagement Team

Interview with Connie Matsumoto '94

Constance Hays Matsumoto '94 graduated from Notre Dame with her Bachelor of Arts in Business through the Weekend College. After Notre Dame, she went on to earn her Master of Science in Business from Johns Hopkins University. Connie has worked in the corporate sector, she has been an interior designer, and now she is an author and writer. Connie and her husband, Kent Matsumoto, wrote Of White Ashes together, which is inspired by true stories of the authors' families.

Connie and Kent MatsumotoWhat is your favorite memory of Notre Dame from when you were a student?

I was having a bad day with an economics professor and went to Sr. Doris Ann for support. She just grabbed my hand and asked, "Connie, how can I help you? What do you need from me?" She helped me to understand I could take the class as pass/fail to take the pressure off of me. I thought she was so amazing, kind, caring, and empathetic. Overall, Notre Dame really instilled in me the confidence to take risks, both professionally and personally.

What has your experience been with Notre Dame since graduating? 

I owe everything good in my life that has happened since leaving Notre Dame to my education. It's also the place I go to re-center myself and it's always very restorative for me to be on campus. Around 2000, I began teaching some adjunct classes in the Business department on campus. I was also involved in the First Impressions program, so I helped students prepare for their professional life after graduation. 

What inspired you and Kent to write this story? Was it difficult to write about something so personal?

Everything for me starts with our first date to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where we saw an exhibit on Dorothea Lange's photography. I was looking at a photo of a young Japanese-American girl waiting to board a bus to go into a WWII Japanese American Incarceration Camp when Kent came up behind me and said, "That was my mother's story." Later, he explained that his mother had been incarcerated in the camps as a young teenager, and his father, also an American, was a Hiroshima survivor. I believed this story of two people meeting after horrible events to fall in love and live the American Dream would be an extraordinary story for a book We decided on a novel over a nonfiction book so we could address the strengths and flaws of their humanity.

Can you discuss the process of writing Of White Ashes? What research went into developing this story?

We tried several routes before deciding to write the book ourselves. First, there was a local nonfiction writer who wanted to write the story, but Kent's parents dismissed him. Next, we looked into having a documentary made. We assembled a team with a filmmaker from the West Coast, but his parents wanted nothing to do with them either. I then encouraged Kent to write the book, but after a few years I decided to initiate the writing process. I closed my business at the time, took creative writing classes at the local community college, and spent almost a year learning and researching how to be a writer.Of White Ashes Cover

Kent and I traveled together to significant places in his parents' lives. We went to Hiroshima and stood where Kent's father was when the bomb dropped at a rifle factory, where he worked as a 16-year-old making rifles for the Emperor. Then we went to Hiroshima Station, which is where Kent's grandparents were when the bomb fell. We walked up the steps and stood there, and we looked around and imagined what that was like for them to come out of the station and see their entire city gone. We traveled to Hawaii, where Kent's mother was born. We also went to several museums, including the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles. We've been to the Tule Lake Incarceration Camp in California and the Jerome Incarceration Camp in Arkansas, which was the first camp that my mother-in-law went to.

After the research, the book was brought together in stages: first Hiroshima, then Hawaii. Kent provided the cultural lens and helped brainstorm scenes in the book that supplemented the character development and plot. Then it was learning how to structure a love story. Kent played a big part in the wordsmithing, editing scenes, and story development. My business skills helped me to structure the book when it came to building the foundation and timeline, and thinking through what is being achieved in the story. It was important for us to write a book that was really grounded in solid historical research without being dry like a textbook.

Are there any closing thoughts you'd like to share to your fellow alumni?

We wrote this book to honor Kent's parents and their remarkable stories, and the many Japanese Americans whose lives were decidedly shaped by the events of World War II. We really hope that this book inspires hearts and minds, engages people's curiosity, expands their knowledge, generates empathy for other races and cultures, and reminds them of how fragile the world is.

Of White Ashes will be released on May 1, the first day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Ivy Bookstore will be hosting an event for Connie and Kent to discuss their new book on May 30. You can find more information here.

Are you interested in being interviewed for an upcoming edition of Tower Talk? Sign up by clicking the button below!

Tower Talk interview request form

Shannon Bachmann
Providing Hope to Others: NDMU Alumna Continues Lifelong Passion for Service in Malawi

Shannon (Berry) Bachmann ’13 has always had a passion for service. Her volunteer work dates back to middle school, and attending Notre Dame of Maryland University on a service scholarship gave her additional opportunities to give back to surrounding areas. Getting married and moving to Switzerland in 2017 initiated the next step in Bachmann’s commitment, as she now serves as a board member for Extending Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing long-term, sustainable growth opportunities to communities in Malawi.

"I’ve been interested in service since middle school. Attending Notre Dame and seeing how much service was valued there helped me pursue it even more. As a member of the swim team, the Athletics Department sponsored me for summer work experience trips volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Wilmington, Delaware. After graduation, as an assistant for the swim team, I organized our service activities, including a partnership where we volunteered with Blue Water Baltimore," said Bachmann. "I think throughout my whole career at Notre Dame, I felt the passion and ability to develop my service work further. Especially after the summer trips to Wilmington, I knew service was always going to be a big part of my life."

Visitor Center at Fourier Hall
NDMU Launches Promise Program to Help More Students Earn a Degree

Notre Dame of Maryland University is expanding access to higher education for students with a new need-based financial aid program that provides an institutional grant to bridge the gap between state and federal grants and NDMU’s tuition and fees. Both in-state and out-of-state students admitted for the 2023-24 academic year can be considered for NDMU’s Promise Program after completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The University anticipates that first-time, full-time students with significant financial need, when admitted to the program, will receive a combination of institutional, federal, and state grant aid to cover their full tuition and fees. All students in the Promise Program will be eligible for the Federal Pell Grant program, as determined by the FAFSA.

“We are excited to be able to offer the Promise Program to make a transformational college experience a reality for more students,” said Scott Briell, senior vice president for enrollment and student services. “NDMU’s Promise Program allows more students to gain the knowledge, skills, and values to become their best selves.”

Two students holding Damozel
Damozel Literary Magazine Earns National Award for Excellence

Notre Dame of Maryland University’s annual student literary magazine earned additional recognition on the national stage, as the 2021-22 edition of Damozel achieved the Excellent distinction through an awards program organized by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The NCTE’s Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) Awards publicly highlight high-quality literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. Damozel was one of less than 250 submissions from the United States, Canada, the Virgin Islands and American schools abroad to receive a ranking of Excellent or higher. This is the second national award for Damozel, which was previously selected in December as the third-place winner of the Outstanding Literary Arts Journal Award by Sigma Tau Delta, The International English Honor Society.

Damozel is a student-run magazine which showcases any form of creative writing, art, or photography by current NDMU students and alumni. The latest issue was produced by senior literary editors Lindsey Pytrykow '22 and Rochelle Thompson '22; editors April Boss '24, Maia Giafes '22, Eden Lewis '22, and Cassandra Thompson '25; alumna editor and advisor, Micah Castelo '18; and faculty sponsor Dr. Jeana DelRosso. It contained 30 submissions created by a group of 14 NDMU community members.

Campus News and Updates

Pharmacy Grads Return to NDMU as Faculty Members

As Notre Dame of Maryland University’s School of Pharmacy celebrates the 10-year anniversary of graduating its first class of students back in 2013, some of the program’s alumni have returned to campus to help educate the next generation of future leaders in the profession. Dr. Alyssia Dyett D’18 and Dr. Ahmed Eid D’15 work as assistant professors in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences.

Dr. Dyett was hired for her current role in September 2021. She teaches on a variety of topics in the School of Pharmacy’s care lab sequence, includingAlyssia Dyett and Ahmed Eid blood pressure measuring, immunizations, point of care testing and patient counseling, and she also educates on additional subjects in the school’s pharmacotherapeutic sequence. “I went through all of these courses,” she said. “I know what they’re supposed to look like, and I know how hard they can be. I’ve also reached out to former classmates to ask what worked for them and what they wish had been done differently, and I try to incorporate all of that feedback as I shape my lectures.”

When Dr. Eid decided to enroll as a student at NDMU, he was in the midst of a major career change. Born and raised in Egypt, he graduated from medical school in 2008, and he intended to work as a physician after moving overseas to Baltimore the following year. “The culture here is what really drew me to Notre Dame as a student,” Dr. Eid said. “I came from an educational background where the class sizes were 20 times larger – you had your book, you had your lecture, and good luck. Here at NDMU, you are able to talk to the professors, you ask them questions, and you don’t leave until you’re fully understanding the material. I can’t tell how many times I walked into their offices, and they all knew me by my first name.” Notre Dame has had a major impact on Dr. Eid’s life on both a professional and a personal level. He met his wife, Dr. Shefali Patel D’15, during his time as a student, and the pair spent six years working together at Johns Hopkins after graduation.

Registration Open for 2023 Summer Camps at NDMU

Notre Dame of Maryland University is offering a wide variety of youth programming on campus in summer 2023, including a new Arts and Activism Immersion experience scheduled for late June. Registration for each of the six camps listed below is now available. Spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis with the exception of the Arts and Activism Immersion experience, which will interview applicants during the spring.

NEW: Arts and Activism Summer Immersion
June 26-30, Orientation on June 23, Move-in to dorm on June 25
Rising high school seniors
Deadline: Applications are due by April 14, with interviews to take place in late April

Arts and Activism Immersion students will participate in a week-long immersion experience which includes a variety of activities, including field trips to New York City and Philadelphia, panel discussions, seminars, and experiential workshops in art, teamwork and leadership.

A Child’s Place Summer Camp
Five two-week sessions beginning June 12, June 26, July 10, July 24 and August 7
Ages 2 to 6
Camp Day: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Before Camp Care: 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. (no additional cost) | After Camp Care: 3 to 5:30 p.m. (no additional cost)

Sessions offer an entertaining and age-appropriate educational and play-based experience for children ages 2 to 6 (those entering first grade in the fall). The camps will provide opportunities to stimulate curiosity, creativity, and imagination through water play, daily indoor and outdoor play, STEAM activities, cooking, play-based learning, daily exploration and investigation, and more.

Camp Notre Dame
Four two-week sessions beginning June 20, July 5, July 17 and July 31
Ages 5 to 11
Camp Day: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

With rotating sessions throughout the day, campers will have the opportunity to participate in explorations, arts & crafts, sports & games and a mix of instructional and recreational swimming.
STEM Camp
Cooking with SAGE Summer Camp
August 14-18
Ages 5 to 11
Camp Day: 1 to 4 p.m.

Cooking with SAGE is a fun opportunity for campers to come together and learn new recipes and cooking techniques with a SAGE chef! Each day, campers will learn about the cooking topic and recipe or how and why each step in the recipe is important. At the end of the week, recipes will be assembled for a final product and campers will have the opportunity to share their creations and explain why they chose their favorite ingredients. Daily themes include pizza making, cake decorating, sushi making, dumplings and truffles.

Pharmacy Summer Camp
June 26-30
Grades 9-12
Camp Day: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Pharmacy Camp is designed to help high school students entering grades 9-12 discover exciting topics and career paths in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences from the School of Pharmacy faculty at NDMU. Campers will explore precision medicine and the pharmacists role in research and patient care, learn about medication therapy management, and discover which pharmacy career best fits them. They will also make medications in the School of Pharmacy’s lab and get tips for applying to pharmacy school.

STEM Camp
Adventures in Agriculture: July 17-21
Grades K-10
Camp Day: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For this year’s agriculture theme, campers will investigate different methods of growing plants, and they will learn about and interact with various farm animals. They will be engaged in a variety of age-appropriate hands-on activities to help them build their knowledge and skills of agricultural education.

Spring and Winter Athletics Summary

Basketball- The women's basketball team won its first-ever CSAC Championship after defeating Clarks Summit by an 83-57 final in front of a packed MBK Sports Complex. Two Lacrosse students chest bumpingThat clinched the Gators’ second NCAA tournament appearance in program history. NDMU finished the year with a record of 23-5 (17-1 CSAC), setting new team records for both overall and conference victories. 

Lacrosse- The women's lacrosse team fell to defending CSAC Champions Bryn Athyn in last week’s conference opener. The Gators picked up their first victory of the season with a 20-0 triumph over Trinity Washington on March 25.

Softball- The softball team is off to a 3-1 start in CSAC play this season, including a doubleheader sweep over Valley Forge on April 5. The Gators have won seven of their last eight games to improve their overall season record to 8-8.

Tennis- The tennis team opened CSAC play with a big 6-3 win over Clarks Summit on Tuesday, as the Gators earned their first conference victory since 2018. That was the first of five scheduled CSAC matches for NDMU this spring.

Want more NDMU Stories? Read the Bulletin, a bi-weekly newsletter with more student, staff, and faculty updates!

Save the Dates

Busta Business Forum

April 13 | 6 PM | LeClerc Theatre
RSVP here

The Charles J. Busta III Business Forum is designed to showcase the thoughts and experiences of business leaders, especially women, to encourage creativity and personal growth. The series was created in memory of Charles J. “CB” Busta, a Notre Dame trustee and marketing executive who died in 1999. This event is open to all alumni, students, faculty, and staff.

Tailgators and Brunch

April 15 | 10 AM | Noyes House
RSVP here

Student Athletic Advising Committee (SAAC) and Student Alumni Leadership Council (SALC) are teaming up and need our alumni to help knock this event out of the park! Join current students for brunch and share your wisdom and professional insight from your industries while reflecting on the transition from student to professional leader. In addition to brunch, there will be a photo booth and gifts for alumni participants. Following this event, all guests are welcome to join us as we cheer on the NDMU women's lacrosse team during its home game against Sweet Briar at 1:00 p.m.

DC Happy Hour

May 4 | 5:30 PM | Metrobar
RSVP here

Join us at Metrobar to relax after work, drink your favorite beer, and grab food from a local food truck, all while hanging out with other NDMU alums. All alumni and their guests are welcome. Metrobar will be hosting trivia starting at 7pm for any alumni interested in participating. The Alumni Engagement Office will be providing one free drink per guest over the age of 21 years.

Orioles Game for NDMU Alumni

Summer 2023 | Camden Yards

Join us at Camden Yards to watch the Orioles! Get together with family, friends, alumnae, and alumni to cheer on the home team. Your discounted ticket will include a pre-game picnic (all you care to eat and drink) and reserved seats overlooking third base.

View all upcoming events here! 

July 2023
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Message from the Alumnae and Alumni Engagement Team

Greetings Alumnae and Alumni,

We hope those of you stuck in this heat wave are staying cool! Another fiscal year has come to an end and we want to take a moment to thank all of our incredible alumni who generously made gifts ranging from $5 to over $100,000. It's not the amount you give; it's the fact that you give every year that makes a difference. Thank you so much for your steadfast support.

Rose and I are looking forward to another great year with local and regional events, new and exciting volunteer opportunities, and more collaboration across campus to bring students and alumni together.  We are so lucky to have the volunteers we do! Alumnae and Alumni Weekend kicks off on September 22, and our Reunion Committee is reaching out to classmates with class years ending in the 3's and 8's. This Alumnae and Alumni Weekend features several very special receptions for the School of Pharmacy, Athletic Alumni, Damozel’s 100th Anniversary, and the Morrissy Honors Program. That’s why it’s so important to remember that ALL alumni and their families are welcome at our events from September 22 – September 24.  

As always, we are anxious to hear from you! Please share with us your news and life updates whenever you can. Are you a writer or a movie producer? Have you earned a new degree? Are you proud of your latest promotion, or have you changed companies or job fields? Have you gotten married? Moved abroad? Welcomed a grandchild into the world? We want to know. Also, we would like to hear about trips, vacations, and get-togethers you're doing with friends and classmates. We know our Notre Dame alums get together, so if you do, send us a photo with everyone’s names and get a thank-you gift from our office!

We hope your summers are filled with fun and relaxation whenever possible, and we hope we see more of you this coming year back on campus, at an event, or virtually.

Thank you for making our Notre Dame Alumni Community so incredible.

Warmly,
Alex & Rose
Your Alumni Engagement Team

Get Ready for Alumnae and Alumni Weekend 2023!

Photos from previous A&AW


Are you excited to be back on campus this fall? Alumnae and Alumni Weekend will be held on September 22 -24, and registration is now open! We have a jam-packed weekend full of the events you know and love mixed with brand-new activities. The weekend is open to all of our alumni from any class year! It's a time to reconnect with old friends and make new memories.

Follow along on our Facebook and Instagram pages to meet the Reunion Committee! The committee is comprised of alums celebrating their reunion year, class years ending in a 3 or 8, who help the Alumni Engagement Team plan the weekend.

Check out our website for more information on the schedule of events, FAQs, registration, and more!

Photos from previous A&AW


Are you interested in being interviewed for an upcoming edition of Tower Talk? Sign up by clicking the button below!

Tower Talk interview request form

2022 Class Competition Winners
Class Competition

Did you know that there is a competition every year at Alumnae and Alumni Weekend between all of the classes? Alums compete to see which class can win the highest attendance, highest giving participation, and highest total giving. The three winning classes will rename three circles on campus with their class year. In addition to attending, giving is a significant part of "showing up" at Alumnae and Alumni Weekend. Why? When individuals support Notre Dame financially, it shows the strength of our alumnae and alumni community to prospective students. It also increases our community’s opportunities to receive grants, which help support current students’ needs.. Showing up in person is additionally important to form new bonds with alumni and students, and to reconnect with old friends.

This year’s participation goal for reunion giving for each class ending in a 3 or 8 has been set to 10%. Any gift made between now and September 22, 2023, counts double for both reunion and Go Beyond: The Campaign for NDMU, so making a gift for your reunion year will have twice the meaning!

Curious to find out who won last year? Check out the 2022 winners below.

  • Highest Class Attendance: Class of 1971
  • Highest Class Participation: Class of 1962
  • Highest Class Gift Total: Class of 1967
Three students in Caroline Tower
Congrats to the Class of 2023!

Congrats to our newest alumni who graduated on May 24 at the Baltimore Convention Center! Leading up to commencement, they enjoyed various celebratory events, including the Senior Brunch and Tower Photos event hosted by the Alumni Engagement and Student Life offices. Awards were given out to our undergraduate seniors, the School of Pharmacy had an on-campus Doctor of Pharmacy Hooding Ceremony, and many additional events recognized our newest alumni.

Several Class of 2023 spotlights highlighting graduates from a variety of programs across campus were also posted to the NDMU website in the week leading up to commencement. We're so excited to welcome every single graduate into our alumni family!

Campus News and Updates

Coming Soon- Alumni Learning Consortium Webinars

The Alumnae and Alumni Engagement Office is providing a new opportunity for Notre Dame alums to webinars with speakers who are thought-leaders and bestselling authors with national or international profiles. We have heard from our alums that something you miss the most is the ability to continue your education. Notre Dame is well-known for inspiring lifelong learning, so we are thrilled to announce a new opportunity to do just that! There will be 3-4 virtual webinars each month, with a Q&A with the presenter. Webinars are recorded and remain archived for future on-demand access by the alumni community. Some possible topics include career, professional and personal development, health, wellness, life stages. More information will be sent in the coming months, so keep an eye out!

Notre Dame Alumni Continue to Impress

Nafi DieneNafissatou “Nafi” Diene '23 earned her degree after immigrating to the United States as a non-English speaker 26 years ago. She accomplished that feat while dedicating an equal amount of effort towards building a school in the West African nation of Senegal where she grew up. After witnessing many young children walking miles to get to school during her elementary years, Diene had always hoped to one day build a school in Senegal which would allow them to stay and study in their own community. That dream has now been realized, as a facility sponsored by Diene and others completed its first year in operation in June 2023.

Diene’s experience with faculty members at NDMU gave her the knowledge needed to excel in her own career as an educator, and it also provided her with ideas to enhance the relationships between students and teachers at her planned school in Senegal.

“Coming to Notre Dame and seeing all of the ways that they support students – the teachers in Senegal want to provide that as well. They just don’t have the materials available. I wanted to build a school where the children wouldn’t have to worry about sharing supplies or not having materials to facilitate their learning. I want them to be able to just focus on their education.”

Read More Here

Dr. Nephthalee Edmond Tefera D’13 took a leap of faith when she enrolled as a student in the inaugural Nephthalee Edmond TeferaClass of 2013 for Notre Dame of Maryland University’s Pharm.D. program. Dr. Tefera currently serves as MedStar Montgomery Medical Center’s pharmacy operations supervisor. She is also a current board member of the Maryland Society of Health-System Pharmacy, and she serves as a preceptor for several schools in the area, including NDMU.

“Notre Dame focused greatly on professionalism and compassion in service, which undergirded my leadership journey. Leadership development, professionalism, and community outreach come to mind when I think about my experience at Notre Dame.”

Dr. Tefera will be back on campus this September, as the School of Pharmacy celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its inaugural graduates during Alumnae and Alumni Weekend on September 22-24. A reception highlighting everything that the school and its alumni have achieved since the program’s inception will be held in Knott Science Center on Saturday, September 23.

Read More Here

Alumna Impact on Notre Dame's Academics

Professor Cathy Krastel Goucher '94 is the founding director and department chair of the BA and MA in Art Therapy programs at NDMU. Goucher has been a Maryland art therapist for the past 28 years, working primarily in special education and disability settings. She is also a co-founder and associate director of the Make Studio Art Program, Inc in Baltimore, a progressive Cathy Krastel Goucher, Brianna Garrold, Stacey Nelsonart studio that supports the vocational goals of adults with disabilities who wish to work as professionally practicing fine artists.

The MA in Art Therapy program that Goucher founded at NDMU in 2018 was awarded initial CAAHEP accreditation in November 2022. The accreditation, which will be in place through 2030, is due to the continued incredible work of faculty members and clinical training partners, including other alumni who are licensed and credentialed art therapists: Elizabeth Howard Shaner '83, Stacey Nelson '95, and Brianna Garrold '10. Notre Dame is the perfect place for Maryland's only graduate art therapy training program and undergraduate major, as both are firmly rooted in a shared mission to build inclusive communities, engage in service to others, and promote social responsibility. To date, the master's program has launched 20 new art therapists (LGPAT) into the mental health workforce, advancing access to art therapy services across the state.

Professor Goucher will be leading a session at Alumnae and Alumni Weekend on September 22 titled Art Therapy in Maryland: NDMU's Unique Training Role. Click here to learn more and register.

Morrissy in Paris

Calling all Morrissy alums! Dr. Evelyn Spratt, Director of the Morrissy Honors Program, is planning a trip to Paris from January 5-14, 2024 open to current Morrissy students and the alumni community! The theme of the trip will focus on the Romantic movement in Paris through art and literature. Some of the sites visited will include: The Louvre, Victor Hugo's house, Père La Chaise cemetery, and some non-themed attractions, such as Versailles and a ride on the Bâteaux Mouches.

The price is $3,185, which includes airfare, all breakfasts and dinners, accommodations in a sophisticated hostel in Montparnasse, and tickets to all events included in the itinerary. To secure your participation, a deposit of $550 is due as soon as possible; the last two payments are due at the end of September and November. For more information, please contact Dr. Spratt at espratt@ndm.edu. We hope you can join us!

Be a Lifelong Learner at the Renaissance Institute

Continue your Notre Dame connection through the Renaissance Institute (RI), an active and engaging community of lifelong learners. In its 34th year, RI is the premier lifelong learning organization in the metropolitan Baltimore region, with courses and activities on campus at NDMU, and Zoom classes that have attracted both regional and national participants.RI members

Many Notre Dame alums, or relatives of alums, have been members. Alumna Christine Bentley '78 is a great example. Bentley is both a member and RI instructor, where she has taught courses such as Isabella of Spain, Gustav Klimt, and the Hapsburg Empire.

"I am, and always will be, grateful for the values and love of learning that Notre Dame instilled in me when I was a student. NDM prepared me well for a challenging career, and I was very happy to learn about The Renaissance Institute from a friend and member prior to my retirement in 2016. The Renaissance Institute has given me an incredible opportunity to continue my quest for ongoing learning, and it has exposed me to an amazing community of fellow lifelong learners. These are people from whom I can learn and with whom I can build a sense of community. Additionally, The Renaissance Institute has given me a creative channel to give back to the organization through teaching classes there myself, which is an important NDM value." - Christine Bentley '78

Intriguing classes, special events, clubs, and camaraderie make RI an affordable experience for people over age 50. The catalog is now available. Please contact RI’s Program Coordinator, Sandy Adams at sadams@ndm.edu with any questions.

Loyola Notre Dame Library Celebrates 50 Years!

The Loyola Notre Dame Library celebrated its 50th anniversary on March 30th, 2023. The celebration set the stage for a year of special events highlighting achievements of the Library, including when poet and author Lia Purpura spoke about her deep appreciation of libraries and gave event attendees an intimate view of LNDL. You can read Lia Purpura’s speech from the event here.

The Library invites all alumni in the area to visit LNDL and to view the physical exhibit in the Ferguson Gallery, which will be up through August 31. Please also enjoy this online timeline of the Library’s history, which includes images and videos. In addition, the Library would love to hear your memories of working, studying, and spending time at LNDL, so that your recollections can be added to the Archives. Please email your memories of the Library to archivist Jenny Kinniff at jkinniff@ndm.edu.

LNDL logo and picture from event

Want more NDMU Stories? Read the Bulletin, a bi-weekly newsletter with more student, staff, and faculty updates!

Save the Dates

New Student Move-in Day

August 25 | 8 AM - 2 PM | Campus
RSVP here

Please register now to indicate your interest and availability to join us as part of the welcoming committee to our newest alumni-in-training! We would love for our alums to volunteer with us to help move new students into their residence hall rooms. Breakfast will be provided.

Alumnae and Alumni Weekend

September 22 -24 | All Day | Campus
RSVP here

Registration opens on July 5 and closes on September 17 at midnight. Register by August 20 to receive early bird pricing and a guaranteed alumni gift at check-in!

View all upcoming events here! 

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