Alumni Spotlight: Michael Waddell (Ph.D. ’00)

The Medieval Institute is pleased to present our Spring 2026 Alumni Spotlight. In this series, we feature the career paths of medieval studies alumni. Look for a new installment each semester, and follow our weekly news features regarding Medieval Institute-supported programming, events, and guest lectures on our news and events feeds.

This semester's alumni spotlight features Michael Waddell, Professor at Saint Mary's College, where he holds the Edna and George McMahon Aquinas Chair in Philosophy. He is also the founding director of the institution's Autism Studies program. Prof. Waddell completed his Ph.D. in Medieval Studies at Notre Dame in 2000. His dissertation was titled “Truth Beloved: Thomas Aquinas and the Relational Transcendentals,” and was written under advisor Professor Ralph McInerny, beloved past director of the Medieval Institute.

We asked Prof. Waddell to share some thoughts on his work at Notre Dame and beyond.

What initially interested you in the Middle Ages?

My interest in the Middle Ages was born during my time as an undergraduate at Cornell College. I was a history major and took a course on "Europe from 400 to 1600" with William Carroll, a Catholic intellectual historian (and Notre Dame alum). That was where I first encountered the writings of people like Augustine and Aquinas. I still remember getting migraines from trying to read Aquinas in that class! I found the way that these thinkers worked to reconcile and integrate faith and reason to be fascinating. When I decided to pursue an academic career, I was torn between studying philosophy and studying theology. Then one day, while I was studying in the basement of the library, Professor Carroll came bounding over to me—which was quite a sight, with his 6'7" frame—and told me that he had solved my problem: if I went into medieval studies, I could study both philosophy and theology! Since I was already studying history and literature, in addition to philosophy and theology, the idea of an interdisciplinary program was very attractive to me. And I've always been kind of a history nerd, so the prospect of being able to gain a deep knowledge of the historical context in which great thinkers were working was really attractive too. I was fortunate to get offers from Notre Dame, the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and Boston College. But a visit to Notre Dame (facilitated by Professor Carroll) made it clear to me that Our Lady's university was where I wanted to go to study the Middle Ages.

"People often ask me whether I ever used my training as a medievalist in my work with autism studies, and I tell them that I use it every day: it's precisely in virtue of my training as an interdisciplinary scholar and my study of St. Thomas's writings about human nature that I am able to work with psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists, and physicians to provide autism expertise to students today."

What initially interested you in the thought of Thomas Aquinas?

From the very beginning, I appreciated Aquinas's desire to integrate faith and reason. To be honest, though, I was not initially a fan of his particular approach to doing it. In fact, I usually found myself arguing against him, and I was really more interested in working on Augustine than Aquinas. The more I tried to argue with Aquinas, though, the more I realized that he was usually right and I was usually wrong. So I decided that maybe I should try to be his student rather than trying to refute him. As the old saying goes, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

When did you become interested in autism studies, and why?

My twin daughters were diagnosed with autism right after they turned two years old. Once our family got our balance with that—managing 80 hours of therapies per week, etc.—I couldn't help thinking about autism from philosophical and theological perspectives. And I soon realized that the ways in which people, including therapists, thought about human existence in general had a deep impact on how they responded to autism. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I also noticed that the various professions that aimed to help people on the spectrum were incredibly siloed, and their inability to communicate effectively across professional lines often had a negative impact on the therapeutic support they were able to provide. From those two observations, I developed a vision for an interdisciplinary approach to autism education grounded in a Catholic anthropology. People often ask me whether I ever used my training as a medievalist in my work with autism studies, and I tell them that I use it every day: it's precisely in virtue of my training as an interdisciplinary scholar and my study of St. Thomas's writings about human nature that I am able to work with psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists, and physicians to provide autism expertise to students today.

What was it like working with Prof. Ralph McInerny as a student, and what was it like working with him as a peer?

I would never say that I became a peer to Professor McInerny: he was an intellectual giant, and he had few true peers in that regard. Working with him as a student was an extraordinary opportunity, though. I only wish that I had been more prepared to take full advantage of his erudition and wisdom than I was as a twenty-something. When I began working with doctoral students at Villanova—about five years after completing my Ph.D.—I grew to have a deeper understanding of what an extraordinary mentor he was, and I really looked forward to talking more with him about the kinds of issues I was wrestling with at that stage of my career. Unfortunately, he died before our relationship was able to go to that level, and I've always regretted that lost opportunity.

How have the people you met and the experiences you had at the Medieval Institute influenced you as a researcher and educator today?

My experiences and relationships at the Medieval Institute were absolutely formative for me as a scholar and as a person. I was blessed with the opportunity to learn not only from some of the world's leading experts in medievalia, but also from other graduate students who have gone on to become leading scholars in their own right. And I still count many of those people amongst my best friends. I'll always be grateful to the MI for the education and the career it gave me, but especially for the people it brought into my life.