What Would You Fight For? 20 Years of Storytelling

Experience the Event

Presented by The Office of the President

To commemorate two decades of the iconic What Would You Fight For? series, the University of Notre Dame recently hosted a panel discussion centered on the University Forum theme, “Cultivating Hope.” NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico moderated the panel discussion, which featured Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of NBC Sunday Night Football; Notre Dame 2011 alumna Lindsay Schanzer, supervising producer of NBC Sports; Meenal Datta, the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame; and Notre Dame undergraduate Lauren Eglite, a chemical engineering major. Led by Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., the event underscored the strategic importance of the 20-year partnership between Notre Dame and NBC Sports. This collaboration utilizes the high-visibility platform of collegiate athletics to bridge the gap between stadium excitement and Notre Dame’s profound academic mission. It is a strategic alignment of brand values that welcomes a global viewership of millions into the heart of Notre Dame’s research and service.

“The campus community’s foundation is the faculty, professors and staff, and to be able to share their stories, not just of what it means in the Notre Dame community, but what it means globally — that’s the power of Notre Dame,” Tirico said. “And what better place to share that for the last two decades than the ultimate front porch of the University? Because athletics is the front porch. … When you can marry those two vehicles, now it’s more than just a football team and a little commercial during the game. It’s a story of what an institution is all about.”

To read a recap of the event, click here.

Since its establishment in 2005, each year the Notre Dame Forum invites campus-wide dialogue about issues of importance to the University, the nation, and the larger world.

This year’s theme is Cultivating Hope. In a world where hope is too often in short supply, our goal is to invite reflection about how each of us can be “seekers of truth, sustainers of hope, and builders of bridges.”

To learn more about the Notre Dame Forum 2025-26, please visit the Forum website.

Meet the Speaker: President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.

In December 2023, the University’s Board of Trustees elected Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., as Notre Dame’s 18th president, effective June 1, 2024. He also serves as professor of political science. Prior to serving as president, he was vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives.

In his role as vice president and associate provost, he oversaw the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, iNDustry Labs, the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, the ROTC programs, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. He also directed the approval and review process of institutes and centers more generally.

Father Dowd was previously an assistant provost for internationalization with Notre Dame International, where his primary responsibilities included leadership of the Dublin Global Gateway, Kylemore Abbey Global Centre, and the São Paulo Global Center along with planning for future engagement with Africa.

The author of the book Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from sub-Saharan Africa, Father Dowd focuses his research on African politics, ethnic politics, and the relationship between religion, political institutions, national identity, and human development. His current research explores religion and the integration of migrants/refugees in Europe and North America and the effects of faith-based schools on citizenship and civic engagement in Africa.

He is the founder of Notre Dame’s Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity and a fellow of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies in the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs.

A Notre Dame alum, Father Dowd earned an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 1994. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from UCLA.

Meet the Speaker: Mike Tirico

Mike Tirico is the voice of NBC Sports’ biggest events, handling play-by-play for Sunday Night Football and the NBA on NBC, and serving as the primetime host for NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympics.

In February 2026, Tirico called Super Bowl LX on NBC and Peacock and served as NBC’s primetime host of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, becoming the first U.S. broadcaster to call the Super Bowl and host a Winter Games in the same year. The unprecedented broadcast double marked Tirico’s first Super Bowl in the booth (an assignment achieved by only 12 television announcers before him) and his fifth Olympics as NBC’s primetime host (third-most in U.S. TV history: Bob Costas 11, Jim McKay 8).

Following Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, 2026, Tirico hosted the Primetime in Milan Winter Olympics broadcast from the field at Levi’s Stadium.

In January 2026, Tirico completed his fourth season as the play-by-play voice of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, alongside Cris Collinsworth. In October 2025, he became lead NBA play-by-play voice as the NBA returned to NBC Sports.

Tirico, who joined NBC Sports in July 2016, also hosts NBC Sports’ coverage of the Kentucky Derby, and golf’s U.S. Open and Open Championship, among other major events.

To read Mike Tirico’s full bio, please click here.

Meet the Speaker: Rob Hyland

The lead producer on many of NBC Sports’ most high-profile properties, Rob Hyland was named coordinating producer of Sunday Night Football – “the crown jewel of TV” according to The New York Times Magazine – in May 2022. In Jan. 2026, he completed his fourth season leading primetime’s #1 show.

On Feb. 8, 2026, Hyland served as the coordinating producer of Super Bowl LX on NBC and Peacock – his first Super Bowl as the lead producer. Hyland became the first person to serve as both the lead Super Bowl producer and a primetime Olympics producer since NBC Sports’ Tommy Roy in the 1990s.

For the four NFL seasons (2018-21) prior to leading SNF, he served as the coordinating producer of Football Night in America – sports’ most-watched weekly studio show. Hyland also led the network’s Notre Dame Football coverage for 13 seasons, and served as coordinating producer of horse racing for a decade.

To read Rob Hyland’s full bio, please click here.

Meet the Speaker: Lindsay Schanzer '11

Lindsay Schanzer ’11 is NBC Sports’ senior producer of horse racing and college football studio.

She was promoted to the position in April 2022 and oversees all coverage of horse racing, including NBC Sports’ presentation of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup and Royal Ascot. In May 2023, Schanzer was honored with a prestigious Gracie Award for her work on the 148^th Kentucky Derby, which was won by 80-1 longshot Rich Strike.

Schanzer, who has worked on NBC Sports’ horse racing team since 2012, has served as the lead producer of NBC Sports’ Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup and Royal Ascot production since 2020, and produced the 2021 and 2022 Belmont Stakes. She was an integral part of the team that chronicled the historic Triple Crown runs of American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018.

Beginning with its debut in Sept. 2023, she produces NBC Sports’ college football studio show, Big Ten Saturday Night. On NBC Sports’ football coverage, she worked on Sunday Night Football, Football Night in America, and Notre Dame Football from 2014-20. Schanzer also oversees the award-winning “What Would You Fight For” campaign with the University of Notre Dame.

A seven-time Sports Emmy winner, Schanzer joined NBC Sports in 2011 and has worked on Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and Premier League. She was part of production teams for eight Olympic Games and one Super Bowl

Schanzer is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

Meet the Faculty: Meenal Datta

Meenal Datta is the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on deciphering the atypical tumor microenvironment that drives disease progression and treatment resistance in incurable cancers. By understanding and overcoming the biological, chemical, electrical, and mechanical abnormalities found in solid tumors, new therapeutic approaches can be discovered. Dr. Datta also researches health science in space (e.g., in microgravity environments) to benefit patients on Earth.

She also holds a concurrent position in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Meet the Speaker: Lauren Eglite '28

Lauren Eglite ’28, now a sophomore majoring in majoring in chemical engineering, shared how watching the What Would You Fight For? piece “Fighting to Cure Food Allergies” in Notre Dame Stadium in 2017 inspired her to come to Notre Dame, and inspired her father to work alongside engineering professor Başar Bilgiçer to advance his research and create a safer future for millions living with allergies.

Her story was featured in the 2025 piece “From reaction to resolution: The future of allergy treatment.”

Fighting to Cure Brain Cancer

Each year, more than 12,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer. The disease grows rapidly, adapts quickly, and evades the immune system—making it one of the most difficult cancers to treat. At the University of Notre Dame, Meenal Datta, the Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and her research team are pushing the boundaries of cancer research by taking the fight to space. In 2024, they launched a first-of-its-kind glioblastoma experiment to the International Space Station, using microgravity to grow more realistic tumor models and accelerate testing for new therapies. Their groundbreaking work is helping scientists understand glioblastoma in new ways—and bringing us closer to a cure here on Earth.

Fighting to Cure Food Allergies

Sarah McKenzie knows the deadly potential of food allergies all too well. Her young son, Gunner, has a peanut allergy, and while the family is attentive, the smallest mistake can endanger him. But at Notre Dame, Professor Basar Bilgicer hopes to make allergies, and the accompanying anxiety and trauma, a thing of the past. He has created an inhibitor which will prevent allergic responses entirely by blocking them at a molecular level. For the Food and Allergy Research and Education organization, Bilgicer’s discovery is, in and of itself, fantastic news. But what’s better is that Bilgicer’s method is a platform that could be applied to many other different allergens including penicillin, wheat, dairy, eggs, etc.

The potential is exciting, even life-changing, but the timeline is long. By collaborating with physicians and allergy specialists, like Dr. Wayne Shreffler from MassGeneral Hospital and Dr. Manish Butte at Stanford Medical School, he is evaluating the potential of his technology to translate to the clinic. But Bilgicer underscores that a typical timeline for therapeutics is eight to ten years from lab to market. And that’s without any hiccups. While diagnostic technology may move a little faster, it still won’t be available to the public for years yet. But Bilgicer believes strongly in his products and is determined to move them along.