Letter from the Executive Director: May 21, 2026

Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,

Earlier this month, I sat across from Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman as he invited his mom, Chong, on stage. We were in South Korea, where she had grown up, and on the eve of Mother’s Day, Coach Freeman watched with utter admiration as she spoke to a full ballroom of alumni, parents and friends from eight clubs and 10 countries from around the region.

It was on a similar trip visiting a domestic Notre Dame club when Coach Freeman first asked me if we had a club in Korea. Despite his mother’s Korean heritage, he’d never been to the country. It was a casual chat that might have ended there. Instead, it spurred a months-long, cross-campus collaboration with the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Notre Dame Global, the Law School and others to bring a piece of Our Lady’s University to the Notre Dame family in the Asian Pacific.

What started as a simple conversation turned into an incredible weekend featuring speakers from campus, including vice president and associate provost for internationalization Michael Pippenger; a UND Celebration with the Joseph A. Madsen Dean of the Notre Dame Law School, G. Marcus Cole; and a Hesburgh Lecture on ethical leadership by Liu Institute faculty fellow Jessica McManus Warnell. It was an inspiring three days that not only strengthened Notre Dame’s ties in the region, but left the Notre Dame family there eager to seek out more opportunities to connect with each other.

So, as I watched Coach Freeman and Chong share that special moment in the country where she grew up, I couldn’t help but feel grateful. To think it might not have happened at all without the love between a mother and her son.

All the best,