[9] Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic religious order of priests and brothers, the main campus of 1,261 acres (510 ha) has a suburban setting and contains landmarks such as the Golden Dome main building, Sacred Heart basilica, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, the 134 foot tall Word of Life mosaic mural (nicknamed "Touchdown Jesus" because of the Christ figure's upraised arms), and Notre Dame Stadium.

[16] Stephen Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States, had come to the area invited by Potawatomi chief Leopold Pokagon to minister to his tribe, and had bought these 524 acres (212 ha) of land in 1830.

In 1842, the bishop of Vincennes, Célestin Guynemer de la Hailandière, offered the land to Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross, on the condition that he build a college in two years.

[36] The movement towards a research university was championed subsequently by John W. Cavanaugh, who modernized educational standards and dedicated himself to the school's academic reputation and to increasing the number of students awarded bachelor's and master's degrees.

[38] James A. Burns became president in 1919 and, following in the footsteps of Cavanaugh, he oversaw an academic revolution that brought the school up to national standards by adopting the elective system and moving away from the traditional scholastic and classical emphasis in three years.

[45] Walsh expanded the College of Commerce, enlarged the stadium, completed South Dining Hall, and built the memorial and entrance transept of the Basilica.

During their tenures at Notre Dame, they brought many refugees and intellectuals to campus, such as W. B. Yeats, Frank H. Spearman, Jeremiah D. M. Ford, Irvin Abell, and Josephine Brownson for the Laetare Medal, instituted in 1883.

O'Hara strongly believed that the Fighting Irish football team could be an effective means to "acquaint the public with the ideals that dominate" Notre Dame.

[55] John J. Cavanaugh, president from 1946 to 1952, devoted his efforts to raising academic standards and reshaping the university administration to better serve its educational mission and an expanded student body.

"In American college education," explained Charles E. Sheedy, Notre Dame's dean of Arts and Letters, "certain features formerly considered advantageous and enviable are now seen as anachronistic and out of place. ...

[75][76][77] He added more than 500 professors and the academic quality of the student body improved dramatically, with the average Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) score rising from 1240 to 1460.

[81] Announced as an integration of "the academy, student life and athletics,"[82] construction on the 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m2) Campus Crossroads project began around Notre Dame Stadium in November 2014.

[87] It is consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the United States and around the world, and it is noted particularly for the Golden Dome, the Basilica and its stained glass windows, the quads and the greenery, the Grotto, the Hesburgh Library with its Word of Life stone mural (nicknamed "Touchdown Jesus" by students), and its statues and museums.

[89][90][91][92][93] Notre Dame is a major tourist attraction in northern Indiana; in the 2015–2016 academic year, more than 1.8 million visitors, almost half of whom were from outside St. Joseph County, visited the campus.

Prominent venues include the Edmund P. Joyce Center, with indoor basketball and volleyball courts, and the Compton Family Ice Arena,[108] a two-rink facility dedicated to hockey.

[116] Notre Dame's dining service sources 40 percent of its food locally and offers sustainably caught seafood and many organic, fair-trade, and vegan options.

[177][178] In 2019, Notre Dame announced plans to rename the Center for Ethics and Culture, an organization focused on spreading Catholic moral and intellectual traditions.

[179] The university is also home to the McGrath Institute for Church Life, which "partners with Catholic dioceses, parishes and schools to address pastoral challenges with theological depth and rigor".

[220] Yves Simon brought the insights of French studies in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of philosophy to the university in the 1940s; his teacher, Jacques Maritain, was a frequent visitor to campus.

[224] In 1939, Waldemar Gurian founded The Review of Politics, which quickly emerged as part of an international Catholic intellectual revival, offering an alternative vision to positivist philosophy.

[228] Recent research includes work on family conflict and child development,[229][230] genome mapping,[231] the increasing trade deficit of the United States with China,[232] studies in fluid mechanics,[233] computational science and engineering,[234] supramolecular chemistry,[235] and marketing trends on the Internet.

[244][245][246] Each hall is led by a rector, a full-time, live-in professional who serves as leader, chief administrator, community builder and university resource to the residents, and is a priest, religious sister or brother, or a layperson trained in ministry or education.

[247] Rectors direct the hall community, foster bonding, and often coordinate with professors, academic advisors, and counselors to watch over students and assist them with their personal development.

[275] In the fall, the Notre Dame Women's Boxing Club hosts an annual Baraka Bouts tournament that raises money for the Congregation of the Holy Cross Missions in Uganda.

The newspapers have varying publication interests, with The Observer published daily and mainly reporting university and other news,[288] staffed by students from both Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College.

[289] In 2003, when other students believed that the paper had a liberal bias, they started The Irish Rover, a print and digital newspaper published twice per month that features regular columns from alumni and faculty and coverage of campus matters.

[294] Notre Dame men compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field; women's sports are basketball, cross country, fencing, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

[346] Notable alumni from the College of Science are Eric F. Wieschaus, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in medicine,[347] and Philip Majerus, discoverer of the cardioprotective effects of aspirin.

[349][350] Alumni in media include talk show hosts Regis Philbin[351] and Phil Donahue,[352] and television and radio personalities such as Mike Golic[353] and Hannah Storm.

[354] A number of sports alumni have continued their careers in professional sports, such as Joe Theismann, Joe Montana,[355] Tim Brown, Ross Browner, Rocket Ismail, Ruth Riley, Jeff Samardzija,[356] Jerome Bettis, Justin Tuck, Craig Counsell, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brett Lebda, Olympic fencing gold medalist Mariel Zagunis and two-time bronze medalist Nick Itkin, professional boxer Mike Lee, former football coaches such as Charlie Weis,[357] Frank Leahy and Knute Rockne,[358] and Basketball Hall of Famers Austin Carr and Adrian Dantley.