The College of Arts & Letters has appointed new leaders to run a program that helps Notre Dame students explore the meaning of work and discern their vocations at the intersection of the liberal arts and business.
Richard Clark, assistant professor of political science and Kellogg faculty fellow, has been appointed director of the Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, effective July 1. He succeeds Paul Blaschko, assistant teaching professor of philosophy, who has directed the program for the past four years. Chris Hedlin, an assistant teaching professor and the Sheedy program’s assistant director, has been appointed associate director.
Clark joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2024 after spending two years as an assistant professor of government at Cornell University. A Notre Dame alumnus who majored in political science and IT management, he earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and is the author of Cooperative Complexity: The Next Level of Global Economic Governance (Cambridge, 2024).
“I’m really excited to help lead the Sheedy Program and to work closely with such a thoughtful and engaged group of students,” he said. “As someone who studied both political science and business as an undergraduate, I’ve always valued opportunities to connect liberal arts and business perspectives. I see the program as a unique space for students to engage big questions about markets, institutions, and their own vocational discernment, and I’m looking forward to building on its strong foundation while continuing to grow its reach.”
Since the College of Arts & Letters founded the program in 2022 with a gift from Arts & Letters alumnus Charles Sheedy ’69 and his wife, Ellen, it has proven to be a popular choice for students interested in deepening their understanding of how to apply their liberal arts education to the business world. The selective program accepts students who have majors or minors in both the College of Arts & Letters and the Mendoza College of Business, placing them in cohorts of 30 students.
The program features three required courses — the introductory class Business in Context; Work, Meaning, and Happiness, which takes a philosophical approach to questions of vocation and purpose; and Investing and the Good Life, a two-semester capstone that examines topics surrounding finance and stewardship.
Beyond the classroom, the Sheedy Program hosts monthly dinners for students with guest speakers, an annual retreat, professionalization workshops and seminars, and business treks to Chicago, where students visit employers, engage with alumni, and build their professional networks. The program also offers summer funding to students to defray the cost of unpaid or low-paying professional experiences.
“I believe so wholeheartedly in the goals of the Sheedy Program and its model of education, and I'm eager to think about how we can continue to grow its impact,” Hedlin said. “I love getting to think alongside Sheedy students. We talk a lot in the program about what makes work meaningful, and I'm lucky to get to experience it firsthand.”
Hedlin, who holds a bachelor's degree from Augustana College and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will oversee Sheedy’s existing programming, while Clark will develop new opportunities and programs for current and future cohorts, with a particular focus on connecting the social sciences to work in the corporate, financial, and government sectors.
“We are confident and enthusiastic that the successful foundation of the Sheedy program will be sustained while it grows in exciting new directions under the leadership of Professors Clark and Hedlin,” said Kenneth Scheve, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “All of these efforts will only further our students’ ability to meaningfully connect the liberal arts to the world of business.”