2026 Outstanding Recent Alumna
The Outstanding Recent Alumna Award was established in 1992 to honor an alum still in the early stages of their life鈥檚 work, but who nonetheless has 鈥渦sed her Scripps education in the quest for personal excellence; demonstrated a willingness to seek out challenges and take risks; and has maintained loyalty to the Scripps community.鈥� The award is presented each year during Reunion Weekend. Read about past recipients here.
Christina Noriega Bambrick 鈥�13 is the Filip Family assistant professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. Her research and teaching interests include comparative constitutionalism and political theory.
In 2025, Bambrick published her first book, Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere: A Comparative Inquiry, with Cambridge University Press. Although jurists have traditionally understood the constitution as a separate kind of law that obligates only the state, courts increasingly understand constitutions as creating obligations for private entities as well. Bambrick examines this phenomenon, known as 鈥渉orizontal rights,鈥� in the United States, India, Germany, South Africa, and the European Union. The book was nominated for the 2025 Book of the Year prize by the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism.
Bambrick has won awards for her academic articles on rights and duties. Her work has been presented internationally and she aims to bring her global approach to research into the classroom. She challenges her students to consider ideas from beyond their own time and place and, inspired by her own Scripps education, makes space for dialogue in her classes.
At Scripps, Bambrick was a Writing Center tutor, a tour guide in the Admission Office, and Kimberly Hall鈥檚 resident assistant. She dual majored in philosophy and legal studies, and studied abroad in Rome. Bambrick was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. She wrote her senior thesis on civil disobedience and graduated summa cum laude.
Bambrick received her doctorate in political science from the University of Texas at Austin and taught at Clemson University before arriving at Notre Dame. She lives in South Bend, Indiana with her husband and three children.