page_title: University of Notre Dame
section_title: Graduate and professional schools
hierarchical_section_title: University of Notre Dame / Academics / Graduate and professional schools
caption_attribution_description: English: A wintry day at the Notre Dame Law School.
context_page_description: The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. It was founded in 1842 by Edward Sorin. The main campus covers 1,261 acres in a suburban setting; it contains a number of recognizable landmarks, such as the Golden Dome, the Word of Life mural, Notre Dame Stadium, and the Basilica.
  Notre Dame has been recognized as one of the top universities in the United States, in particular for its undergraduate education. The university is organized into seven school and colleges. The School of Architecture is known for teaching New Classical Architecture and for awarding the annual Driehaus Architecture Prize. The university offers over 50 yearlong study programs abroad and over 15 summer programs. Notre Dame's graduate program has more than 50 master, doctoral and professional degree programs offered by the six schools, including the Notre Dame Law School and an MD–PhD program offered in combination with the Indiana University School of Medicine. It maintains a system of libraries, cultural venues, artistic and scientific museums, including the Hesburgh Library and the Snite Museum of Art.
context_section_description: The university first offered graduate degrees, in the form of a Master of Arts (MA), in the 1854–1855 academic year. The program expanded to include Master of Laws (LLM) and Master of Civil Engineering in its early stages of growth, before a formal graduate school education was developed with a thesis not required to receive the degrees. This changed in 1924 with formal requirements developed for graduate degrees, including offering doctorates.
  Each of the five colleges offers graduate education in the form of master's and doctoral programs. Most of the departments from the College of Arts and Letters offer PhDs, while a professional Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program also exists. All of the departments in the College of Science offer PhDs, except for the Department of Pre-Professional Studies. The School of Architecture offers a Master of Architecture, while each of the departments of the College of Engineering offer PhDs. The College of Business offers multiple professional programs including MBA and Master of Science in Accountancy programs. It also operates facilities in Chicago and Cincinnati for its executive MBA program. Additionally, the Alliance for Catholic Education program offers a Master of Education program where students study at the university during the summer and teach in Catholic elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools across the South for two school years. The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, founded in 1986 through the donations of Joan B. Kroc, the widow of McDonald's owner Ray Kroc, and inspired by Hesburgh, is dedicated to research, education, and outreach on the causes of violent conflict and the conditions for sustainable peace. It offers Ph.D., master's, and undergraduate degrees in peace studies. It has contributed to international policy discussions about peacebuilding practices.
  Notre Dame Law School offers a professional program for students. It was the first law program at a Catholic university in the United States when it was established in 1869. Today the program is consistently ranked among the top American law schools by to U.S. News & World Report. The law school grants the professional Juris Doctor degree as well as the graduate LL.M. and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees.
  Although Notre Dame does not have a medical school of its own, it offers a combined MD–Ph.D. though the regional campus of the Indiana University School of Medicine, where Indiana medical students may spend the first two years of their medical education before transferring to the main medical campus at IUPUI.
caption: The Law School in winter
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