Graduate School History

Located north of the city of South Bend, Indiana, the University of Notre Dame was founded in 1842 by the Rev. Edward F. Sorin, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The state of Indiana chartered the University by a special act of the legislature. Combining the style of the French “college” and the seminary where Father Sorin and his congregational fellows studied for the priesthood, Notre Dame began as both a secondary school and a four-year college offering the baccalaureate degree in the liberal arts. It soon adapted to the style and structure of the typical nineteenth-century American university, introducing a science curriculum in 1865, the first American Catholic law school in 1869, an engineering college in 1873, a graduate program in 1918, and a college of business in 1921. The North Central Association first accredited the University in 1913. Notre Dame first began to award advanced degrees in 1918; the Graduate School was instituted in 1944. Since 1990, it has been administered by a dean, several associate and assistant deans, and the graduate council. It has four divisions — humanities, social sciences, science, and engineering — and the School of Architecture, and includes approximately 30 departments and programs that offer master’s or doctoral degrees. There are about 10,000 undergraduates and 1,700 graduate students at Notre Dame, in addition to post-doctoral fellows, and another 1,500 in the law and business schools. Over 85% of graduate students receive some form of financial aid. They come from all fifty states and over 100 nations.

Administration

From 1918 to the present, the University’s Graduate School has developed into four divisions — humanities, social sciences, science, and engineering — and the School of Architecture, and includes 30 departments and programs offering master’s and/or Ph.D. degrees in most of the major humanistic, scientific, and engineering disciplines.

Administered originally by a graduate committee of faculty members, the Graduate School was organized formally in 1944 with a graduate dean and graduate council. In 1971, the newly created position of vice president for advanced studies underlined the University’s intense focus on building quality in the graduate programs. The position's title was changed in 1990 to vice president for graduate studies and research, and several assistant and associate dean positions were created to assist the vice president. In 2007, the research office was separated from the Graduate School, and the new position of dean of the Graduate School, with exclusive responsibility for graduate studies, was created.

The University’s total student population of more than 10,000 includes nearly 1,700 graduate students and 1,000 professional students. Approximately 800 graduate and professional degrees are awarded annually.