Before the end of our summer semester, our university had the opportunity to host Dr. Clemens Sedmak, the interim director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

It was his first visit in Ruzomberok, during which he had a chance to meet the leadership of our university and its faculty members. On June 18, 2021, he first met with our rector Jaroslav Demko and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Marek Babic. They discussed both existing as well as possible future cooperation between the Nanovic Institute and our university. Over the last decades, Nanovic Institute has been relentlessly supporting development of the Catholic higher education institutions in the Central and Eastern Europe and it is committed to future support of these institutions.

In the afternoon, Dr. Sedmak had several meetings at the Faculty of Arts and Letters. First, he met with the members of the research project he leads. Faith and Freedom: Research Initiative is a new research project investigating the role of religious actors in the transition from the Communist regime. Later, he informally talked with the alumni of the Visiting Scholars Program. This is a program organized by his institute, which offers research stays at the Nanovic Institute for faculty members from the Catholic universities in our region. Finally, Dr. Sedmak discussed “The Challenges of Relativism” during a workshop with a research team of the VEGA project on conceptual relativism.

The Nanovic Institute for European Studies supports the interest in European topics at the University of Notre Dame and it helps the Catholic universities in Europe in their growth via various initiatives such as Catholic Universities Partnership, Visiting Scholars Program or Summer Leadership Program. Dr. Clemens Sedmak is the interim director of the Institute and professor of social ethics in the Keough School of Global Affairs. He has background both in philosophy and theology and he is interested in various issues related to the Catholic social tradition, the question of human dignity and issues of poverty.