Rev. Kevin Sandberg, C.S.C., has been appointed Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, effective July 1. He has served as acting director of the center during academic year 2017-2018 while Rev. Paul Kollman, C.S.C., has been on research leave. Father Kollman has served as the center’s executive director since 2012 and will resume full-time teaching and research in the Department of Theology on June 30.
“Father Sandberg’s innovative teaching and ambitious vision for the role of Catholic social teaching at Notre Dame and beyond make him well-suited for leadership of the center,” said Christine M. Maziar, vice president and senior associate provost for budget and planning. “And we want to thank Father Kollman for five years of faith-filled leadership that helped the center expand its many important contributions to the University’s mission.”
“I am very grateful for the confidence that Father Paul and the Office of the Provost have in my ability to continue to lead the Center for Social Concerns,” said Father Sandberg. “Our vision is to be the pre-eminent academic institute in the academy that provides a place to gather, form and nourish people in the study and practice of engaged Catholic social teaching. Together we learn more fully what it means to understand the Gospel mandate that the love of God enjoins us to the love of neighbor.”
Since joining the center in 2014, Father Sandberg has directed the Common Good Initiative, a Catholic social teaching immersion course for graduate students with sites in Haiti, Cuba, Uganda, Jerusalem and Detroit. In a previous stint at the center, he taught immersion seminars in Hispanic ministry and education. He regularly teaches a development of theology course for undergraduate students who have participated in service learning.
He is a Fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, a member of the board of Ave Maria Press and a past board member of the Religious Education Association.
Father Sandberg received his B.A. in economics and an M.Div. from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in theology from the Graduate Theological Union/Jesuit School of Theology and his doctorate in religion and education from Fordham University. His research interests include theological reflection, the principle of the common good in Catholic social teaching and the neglect of listening and its restoration through religious education.
Prior to pastoral ministry as a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Father Sandberg was a trust officer with the Northern Trust Bank and a financial economist with the U.S. Treasury Department. He was the founding director of Young Adult Community at St. Clement Church in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Contact: JP Shortall, director of communications and advancement, 575-631-3209, jshortal@nd.edu
Originally published by at conductorshare.nd.edu on April 2.