Programs
Shakespeare at Notre Dame
The Shakespeare at Notre Dame program celebrates the power and imagination, the excitement and challenge of Shakespeare’s works—both on the page and on the stage. With a local focus and international reach, we are advancing ways to explore his enduring importance through interdisciplinary exploration of "Shakespeare in performance."
Devers Program in Dante Studies
The William & Katherine Devers Program in Dante Studies promotes the study of Dante through a vibrant and diverse program of research activity and scholarly collaboration. It also supports rare book acquisition and publication in Dante Studies through the Devers Series published by the University of Notre Dame Press, and an annual program of research and travel grants for faculty and students.
Snite Museum of Art
Samuel H. Kress (1863–1955) founded the S. H. Kress Co. five and dime chain of department stores in 1896. With the fortune he amassed from his retail business, he collected European art dating between 1300 and 1900. In 1929, he established the Kress Foundation and began distributing his collection of over 3,000 works, mostly Italian renaissance and baroque paintings and sculptures, to museums and galleries in the many small towns across the county where his stores were located. The University of Notre Dame’s Art Museum received eighteen objects as part of Kress’s philanthropic efforts.
Renaissance Books in Special Collections
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections houses a variety of Medieval and Renaissance materials. The manuscript collections are comprised of 60 codices and a number of single leaf or extracted fragments spanning the late eleventh to early sixteenth century. Of special interest is the Dante Collection and a substantial collection of incunabula.
Italian Studies
Italian is now the second most-studied language at Notre Dame, and the students enrolled in what is arguably the country’s strongest undergraduate program in Italian language and literature have demonstrated a deep scholarly commitment to their studies. At the graduate level, a PhD in Italian and MA degrees are offered.