Bill Mattison

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Bill Mattison ’03 Th.D. is the Wilsey Professor of Theology at Notre Dame and author of Growing in Virtue: Aquinas on Habit. Hear him discuss his background and book, a comprehensive account of growth in virtue in the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

The work of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is aimed at one goal: to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and dialogue, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines. In so doing, they enrich Notre Dame’s distinctive intellectual ecology—and they bring the University’s voice into the academic and public conversations concerning the most vital and complex matters of ethics, literature, art, music, social sciences, philosophy, theology, history, political theory, applied and theoretical science, public policy, and law.

This episode was originally published by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on August 12, 2025. To explore the entire library of Ethics and Culture Cast podcast episodes and for more information, please visit ethicscenter.nd.edu

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Meet the Faculty: Bill Mattison '03 Th.D.

Prof. Bill Mattison ’03 Th.D. completed his doctoral studies at the University of Notre Dame. During these years he studied Thomistic moral theology under Dr. Jean Porter, and spent a year on a Fulbright Fellowship in Fribourg, Switzerland doing dissertation research under the guidance of Fr. Servais Pinckaers, O.P. He then spent two years as a Visiting Assistant professor at Notre Dame, and another two at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD before joining the faculty at the Catholic University of America’s School of Theology & Religious Studies.

Prof. Mattison spent ten years at The Catholic University of America. After tenure he served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, and one year as Interim Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies. He also began to write and speak on Catholic higher education. He returned to Notre Dame in 2016 with a joint appointment as Wilsey Family Associate Professor in the Department of Theology as well as Senior Advisor for Theological Formation in the Alliance for Catholic Education, where he helped prepare Catholic school teachers.

Prof. Mattison is now the Wilsey Professor of Theology, and he continues to write and to teach students at the doctoral, Masters (including seminarians), and undergraduate levels. He was also named in 2023 the Faculty Director of the Moreau First Year Experience, leading the reconception and implementation of the Moreau seminars, part of the Core Curriculum for all Notre Dame undergraduates.  

Besides having served in leadership roles in the Ethics and Catholic Theology Group and Moral Theology Groups at the Society of Christian Ethics and Catholic Theological Society of America, respectively, Prof. Mattison co-founded and served as Executive Director of the annual New Wine, New Wineskins symposium for pre-tenure Catholic moral theologians.