Dr. Gabrielle Girgis ‘12 joined the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government this fall as the center’s newest postdoctoral teaching scholar.
Having earned her B.A. in Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies with a minor in philosophy, Dr. Girgis has returned to campus in hopes of continuing her teaching and research.
“My first introduction to the philosophy of government was here, at Notre Dame,” Dr. Girgis says. “Ten years on, I couldn't be more excited to be back again and affiliated with this new Center. Its outlook on the study of our constitutional traditions perfectly matches my own, and offers the best home I can think of for research on religious freedom in America.”
Dr. Girgis recently completed her doctorate in Politics at Princeton University, with concentrations in political theory and public law.
Convinced of the importance of religious liberty for the common good, she researches and writes on religion’s special protection in American law. Her dissertation on that topic was nominated in 2020 by Princeton’s Politics Department for a Distinguished Dissertation Award given annually to “original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.”
“Gabby Girgis is one of the nation’s most promising young scholars,” says CCCG Director Prof. Vincent Phillip Muñoz. “We are delighted to have her join the Center and to bring forward a leading voice from the next generation to the fight to preserve our ‘first freedom.’”
She has written and published on religious liberty topics for conferences, academic journals, and other academic and popular venues. Prior to graduate study, Dr. Girgis served as Managing Editor of Public Discourse.
Within the CCCG, she is eager to follow her former professors' example in helping Notre Dame students form themselves intellectually and spiritually.
“I'm particularly excited about a paper I'm writing on alternatives to our current free exercise jurisprudence,” she says, “and my long term goal is to turn my dissertation into a book on religion's special protection in American law. But more than anything, I'm looking forward to working with Notre Dame students, whose exceptional brightness and virtue will help me grow as a scholar and teacher.”
Dr. Girgis returns to South Bend with her husband, Sherif Girgis (Associate Professor, Notre Dame Law School) and their two daughters.