PRESS RELEASE
June 22nd, 2017
Constitutional Studies Visiting Fellow Daniel Mark Named USCIRF Commission Chairman
NOTRE DAME, IN - On June 13th, Daniel Mark, a Visiting Tocqueville Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, was elected chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is “an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission…[that] reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.” Dr. Mark was first appointed to the Commission in 2014 by then Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH-8) and re-appointed in 2016 by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI-1). Vice Chairs Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga were also elected with Chairman Mark. Dr. Mark will serve as a Visiting Tocqueville Fellow for the 2017-2018 academic year with the Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies and Tocqueville Program for the Inquiry into Religion and Public Life.
Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program in Constitutional Studies and the Tocqueville Program, remarked, “We are thrilled for Professor Mark and thrilled for ND’s Con Studies Program. Daniel is one of the nation’s brightest and most promising political scientists. We are extraordinarily pleased that he will spend his first year as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom at Notre Dame’s Program in Constitutional Studies.”
Chairman Mark commented on his election, "I am honored that my colleagues have entrusted me with this responsibility. It is a great privilege to serve as chairman of USCIRF, as it has been to serve with my fellow commissioners for the past three years. I look forward to spending the next year helping the United States government confront the challenges to religious freedom abroad."
The Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies is the home of the Constitutional Studies minor, which encourages students to confront fundamental questions concerning justice, the rule of law, and human flourishing. The Tocqueville Program for the Inquiry into Religion and Public Life fosters the study of the role of religion in America’s constitutional republic through public lectures, debates, conferences, and fellowships. For more information, contact Jennifer Smith at jsmith70@nd.edu.