This will be a one-hour conversation and Q&A session between NBC’s Anne Thompson '79 and former South Bend mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who is now a Fellow at Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study. Pete will be discussing his new book Trust: America’s Best Chance.
Pete Buttigieg served as the mayor of South Bend for two terms, from 2012-2020. A Harvard graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg mounted a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign that captured national attention and won the Iowa caucus. Prior to the campaign, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was deployed to Afghanistan.
Buttigieg is currently working on two research projects at the NDIAS, one that explores how to restore trust in political institutions and another that considers the forces distinctively shaping the 2020s. He will also teach an interdisciplinary undergraduate course on the importance of trust as understood through different fields. He recently published a book called Trust: America’s Best Chance.
Moderator:
Anne Thompson ’79 is currently NBC News’ chief environmental affairs correspondent, and notably has covered Pope Francis’ papal tour, the United States-China climate deal, and the BP oil spill. Her reports appear across all platforms of NBC News, including NBC Nightly News, TODAY, and MSNBC. Before being named an NBC News correspondent, Thompson had been an award-winning general assignment reporter for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, since 1986. In recognition of her contributions to the Notre Dame community and beyond, Anne Thompson ’79 was presented with the 2019 Rev. Edward Frederick Sorin, C.S.C., Award, one of the University’s highest honors.
Bridging the Divide is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, in partnership with the Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy.