Leaders Of Dunne
Collins Hess hails from Madison, Alabama. He grew up with two loving parents and three siblings and spent much of his youth playing football, basketball, and baseball. In 2020, he graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering and immediately entered the seminary for the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama. For the past six years, he studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. During that time, Collins ministered to a variety of people in numerous pastoral assignments throughout Alabama and Ohio, where he especially enjoyed building friendships, fostering community, and teaching and leading discussions on philosophy and theology. Most recently, he served for a year as a pastoral assistant at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Homewood, Alabama, where he taught moral theology at the local Catholic high school. Collins loves a good cup of coffee in the morning, traveling, reading, exercising, and playing sports with friends.
Karen Deak, PhD, is the Academic Advancement Director for the Office of Research and the Notre Dame Idea Center. She received her PhD in Genetics from the University of Chicago in 2008, and a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000. She has previous taught Patent Law at Notre Dame. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Karen worked in the St. Louis office of an AmLaw 100 law firm, helping clients patent their inventions. Karen enjoys anything outdoors, especially paddle boarding; and more broadly, standing on wobbly things. She also runs half marathons and leads Dunne Hall in training regularly for the Holy Half Marathon each April.
John Deak, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History. He received his PhD in History in 2009 from the University of Chicago, and a BA in History in 1998 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He teaches Modern European History at Notre Dame and his research focuses on the History of the Habsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary) before the First World War. He is currently writing a book (his second) on the collapse of the Habsburg Empire in the First World War. He speaks German and he maintains an interest in learning other continental European languages. Currently, he is struggling with Italian. He plays Xbox when Karen isn't watching. He will happily squad up with you on Battlefield
Ziggi is a black and silver mini Schnauzer. She’s hypoallergenic, and (as you can tell from her profile pic) loves to break social-distancing rules! Ziggi is full-grown at about 14 pounds. She loves to play fetch with tennis balls, disposable water bottles, and anything with a squeaker in it. She loves living in Dunne Hall and the 200 best friends she has here! She really does get to know her Sents, and if she sees (smells?) you out and about on campus she will definitely want to come say hello. Ziggi is a big sweetheart but also can be a little timid in the hallways of Dunne (you can be so big and scary sometimes!). We are trying to help her work through this fear. So if you see her cowering as you’re coming towards her, the best way to warm her up is to stop where you are, squat down like a baseball catcher, and talk sweetly to her. She’ll come to you, slowly -- just be patient. Ziggi was featured in a ND Magazine article during the COVID year; you can read more about her and some of the other campus pets here. Feel free to follow her on Instagram as well @ziggi.goes!
Austin Marchand (left)
Will Higgins (center) and Braiden Tedesco (right)