Illustrations by Emmett Baggett
Emily Voorde ’15, ’17M.Ed., who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic condition that makes bones brittle and impacts growth, uses a wheelchair and learned growing up that she had to advocate for herself. Her influence with U.S. transportation secretary and former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, with whom Voorde has worked since she was a high school student, has extended her advocacy much farther. A February profile in The 19th, a nonprofit news website focused on gender, politics and policy, details her impact from South Bend to the White House, where she served as a liaison between the Biden administration and people with disabilities. Voorde managed relationships with disability rights leaders and oversaw the hiring of the White House’s first full-time, on-site sign-language interpreters. She left the White House in August 2022, saying she had a “nagging sense that in staying in the role, I wasn’t doing best by my community.” She has since started her own disability consulting firm, INTO Strategies. . . . Their relationship got off to a rocky start as roommates. “Our first year was spent arguing with each other, which we did constantly,” Erin Dwyer ’77 says of his Keenan Hall antagonist at the time, Jim Sullivan ’77, in a We Are ND story. Differences in personality, politics, even smoking preferences (Sullivan a hearty yes, Dwyer an emphatic no) divided them. In time they bridged the conflicts, becoming close friends who stayed in touch for years, a bond that deepened last year when Sullivan donated a kidney to Dwyer. The process was arduous. As Sullivan underwent testing to become a donor, he lost his 27-year-old son, Danny, a lifelong athlete who died of a sudden cardiopulmonary attack while exercising in a pool. Dwyer experienced health complications that had to be resolved before the transplant surgery, and Sullivan’s viability as a donor also came into question. But on August 2, 2023, Sullivan had his kidney removed in Michigan and it was flown to Florida where Dwyer received it the same day. “My contribution to this whole thing was just getting sick,” Dwyer said in praising Sullivan’s selflessness and perseverance through his own ordeal, a tribute to which the donor objected — they still don’t agree on everything — with a dismissive, “Let’s not start the canonization too early.” The process marked at least the second time one former Notre Dame roommate donated a kidney to another. Chris Nagle ’79 was a match for G. David Miller ’79 in 2009. . . . Mel Price ’03, CEO and principal of Work Program Architects in Norfolk, Virginia, has been named to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows. Only 3 percent of AIA members earn this distinction, the organization’s highest honor, which recognizes “exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society.” WPA, which Price co-founded in 2010, has held Norfolk’s urban design contract for a decade and focuses much of its work on civic gathering places — educational, municipal, commercial — which it designs in collaboration with the community. . . . Theologian David Fagerberg’s course about G.K. Chesterton was the first in a series of events that led Brady Stiller ’20, ’21MNA to the March publication of his book, Your Life is a Story: G.K. Chesterton and the Paradox of Freedom. Stiller studied in London the semester after taking Fagerberg’s course, further studying the English author’s life and work. After choosing to write a thesis about Chesterton, Stiller received a grant from the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, returning to England to research his subject in Notre Dame London’s newly acquired collection of Chesterton’s books and personal effects. Stiller’s book mines Chesterton’s ideas and forges them with his own insights into a meditation on how people perceive meaning in their lives. . . . Samuel Hazo ’49, a prolific and versatile writer, has published fiction, drama, essays and works of translation, but he’s a poet at heart. “Poetry is the ultimate expression of human feeling,” Hazo says. In April, the former Pennsylvania poet laureate received a Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service, alongside Today show weatherman Al Roker and Hall of Fame NFL coach and broadcaster Dick Vermeil. Hazo joins a list of previous Common Wealth literary honorees that includes Gabriel García Márquez and Toni Morrison. The awards honor people “who have enriched modern culture through their professional and personal endeavors.” Though gratified to be recognized, the 95-year-old Hazo said, “It’s the kind of thing that throws me off. I can’t work or write when I’m surrounded by that kind of flattery.” . . . Joe Donnelly ’77, ’81J.D., announced that he would step down in July as ambassador to the Holy See. The former United States senator from Indiana, who also served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, has held the top diplomatic post at the Vatican since his confirmation in 2022. “It’s been an amazing privilege to serve the country and the president,” Donnelly told Politico, saying he would return to his home in Granger, Indiana. . . . Joseph Earl Thomas ’19MFA, acclaimed author of the 2023 memoir Sink, published his debut novel in June. God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer tells the story of Joey, an Iraq War veteran employed in a Philadelphia emergency room who grapples with memories of his military service and childhood. Thomas blends elements of social realism and surrealism in a novel that Kirkus Reviews calls “astonishingly accomplished.”. . . Phil Donahue ’57, who hosted a nationally syndicated daytime television talk show for nearly three decades, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Donahue, 88, one of 19 recipients honored by President Joe Biden at a White House ceremony May 3, began his eponymous show in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967, later moving production to Chicago, then New York. The program ran until 1996. . . . Joseph J. McCarthy ’93 became the University of Pittsburgh’s provost and senior vice chancellor in March. McCarthy, an engineering professor and interim provost since July 2023, was named to the permanent position in March after a national search. “His commitment to leading during transition exemplifies his dedication to the university,” said Robin Kear, president of Pitt’s university senate. A Pitt faculty member since 1998, McCarthy has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, and in 2008 he received the Carnegie Science Center’s University Educator Award in recognition of his innovative and influential chemical engineering curriculum for undergraduates.