Keough School faculty and staff honored with promotions and service awards

Keough School leadership, faculty and staff recently gathered on May 5 in Jenkins Nanovic Halls for a celebration of promotions and awards for faculty and staff. The following individuals were honored for their research, teaching and other professional accomplishments at the Keough School of Global Affairs and the University of Notre Dame.

Faculty

• Julia Kowalski was promoted, with tenure, to associate professor of global affairs. An anthropologist who specializes in gender, kinship, development and transnational women’s rights activism, Kowalski is the author of the book “Counseling Women: Kinship Against Violence in India.” The book was awarded the Michelle Z. Rosaldo Prize by the Association of Feminist Anthropology, a coveted award in feminist scholarship. Kowalski’s research on women’s counseling centers in Jaipur, India also has won praise from gender justice advocates, resulting in a better appreciation of the contributions of grassroot workers in the cause of gender justice. More broadly, her work has been commended by her peers for being “theoretically sophisticated, ethnographically illuminating and practically impactful, in the vein of the best work anthropology and gender studies have to offer.”
• Susan Ostermann was promoted, with tenure, to associate professor of global affairs and political science. A political scientist who also has a law degree, Ostermann’s research probes the question of whether law can be used to change social norms, especially those that affect marginalized groups. By engaging in scholarship that is relevant to both the academy and the policy realm, she has distinguished herself by publishing work in top peer-reviewed journals and prominent policy-relevant publications. Ostermann is the author of “Capacity beyond Coercion: Regulatory Pragmatism and Compliance along the India-Nepal Border,” a book that provides extensive qualitative and quantitative data on an understudied region.
• Gwendolyn Purifoye was reappointed as assistant professor of global affairs. An urban sociologist who researches the intersection of race, class and technology, especially transportation systems and their construction, she is one of few scholars who examines how space and neighborhoods affect different groups, especially African-American men. Purifoye has published research in leading journals in her discipline and subfields and her forthcoming book, “Race in Motion: Public Transportation and Restricted Mobile Spaces,” will be published by New York University Press, a leading university press specializing in urban studies.

  

• Lakshmi Iyer was honored with the Keough School’s Excellence in Master of Global Affairs Teaching Award. Known for her deep expertise, high standards and her steady commitment to her students, Iyer is described by her students as teaching with rigor, clarity and empathy. “She has incredibly high expectations, but she’s always willing to go above and beyond to help us feel confident with the material,” one student said in her nomination. Iyer’s students praised her for creating a learning environment that is challenging yet also empowering.
• China Scherz received the Keough School’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Scherz won praise for making a profound impact on her students, bringing intellectual depth, ethical nuance and a deep commitment to student learning, all during her first year at the Keough School. Students describe Scherz as both inspiring and deeply supportive and commended her for cultivating their best thinking while guiding them through the challenges of research, writing and reflection. One student wrote: “Through her guidance, I was able to focus on a more human-centered side of my project and go into my research and interviews in the field with humility and respect.”

  

• Paul Winters was the recipient of the Keough School Dean’s Faculty Award. For the past three years, Winters has served the Keough School as associate dean for academic affairs. Marilyn Keough Dean Mary Gallagher commended Winters for his leadership in faculty searches and also for his efficiency, his responsiveness, and his dedication to the Keough School.

Several additional faculty were also recognized for the renewal of their appointments: Assistant Professor of the Practice T.J. D’Agostino, Associate Teaching Professor Dory Mitros Durham, Assistant Teaching Professor Alexander Hsu and Associate Advising Professor Kasey Swanke.

Staff

• Tim Checkley, the Keough School’s audio visual professional, was honored with the Excellence in Service Award for consistently and effectively providing superb technical expertise for a wide range of events that advance the school’s research, educational and outreach initiatives.

  

• Rebekah Go, program and communications manager at the Keough School’s Ansari Institute for Engagement with Global Religion, was honored with the school’s Collaboration Award for her role engaging in remarkable teamwork and collaboration with faculty, staff and students in the Keough School and the wider Notre Dame community. Go was praised specifically for her work supporting this year’s Notre Dame Forum and for extending the reach of the Ansari Institute as a "force for good" in South Bend.
• Danice Brown Guzmán, associate director of research at the Keough School’s Pulte Institute for Global Development, received the Outstanding Supervision Award for providing exceptional mentorship and professional development support to Pulte Institute staff.
• Caesar Montevecchio, assistant director of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, was the recipient of the Impact Award in recognition of his contributions to scholarship on Catholic peacebuilding and for his work fostering collaboration among Catholic universities, Vatican departments, episcopal conferences and international development agencies dedicated to peacebuilding.
• Holly Rivers, associate director of the Keough School’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies, received the Innovation Award for her visionary leadership in creating a series of innovative, thoughtfully sequenced international research programs for undergraduate students.

Congratulations to all of the Keough School’s honorees!

Originally published by Renée LaReau at keough.nd.edu on May 07, 2025.