Susanna De Stradis ’22, Ph.D. from the Department of History, is the winner of the Graduate School's Shaheen Award in the Humanities.
De Stradis and all the other 2022-23 award-winners will be formally recognized for their achievements May 20 at the Graduate School Commencement Ceremony at Notre Dame Stadium. For full award-winner profiles, refer to The Graduate School 2023 Commencement Citation Book.
Susanna De Stradis is an award-winning historian of religion whose widely published scholarly work has upended and reframed traditional understandings of the complex interplay between American Catholicism, democratic values, notions of religious freedom, and mid-twentieth-century Vatican authorities. In fall 2020, De Stradis was among the first cohort of scholars to access the newly available records of Pope Pius XII’s pontificate (1939–1958) at the Vatican Archives. Her findings in Rome received a great deal of attention from scholars around the world and led to significant publications in both Italian and American journals, as well as in public-facing venues such as Commonweal and The Immanent Frame. Current University provost Dr. John T. McGreevy served as De Stradis’s adviser and considers her a true rising star in the field. “Few U.S. scholars have her linguistic capacity and intellectual drive,” he said. “Virtually no one is as well positioned to deepen our understanding of both global history and global religion. Eventually, everyone at Notre Dame and the Graduate School will bask a bit in her reflected glory.” She is a postdoctoral research associate at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. In the fall, she will take up an appointment as assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University.
Originally published by at graduateschool.nd.edu on May 10, 2023.