Letter from the Executive Director: February 6, 2025

The following message appeared in the February 6, 2025, edition of the Alumni Association’s Echoes e-newsletter.

Dear Alumni, Parents, & Friends,

If you’ve been part of the Notre Dame family for any amount of time, you know what a supportive place this can be. It’s in our DNA. We see it in residence hall communities that become families, in mentorships that guide students to new heights, and in programs that enrich our souls and aim to make the world a better place. At the Notre Dame Alumni Association, we exist to spark and foster these connections — to be safeguards of that legacy of support, one sown before we arrive here and that we hope will remain long after we’re gone.

Even today, I continue to be blown away by it. Not just because I get to witness the support our alumni, parents, and friends extend to each other and the world around them (often, but not always, facilitated by Alumni Association programming), but because we experience it first-hand, too. It may be in the form of a kind email from someone who attended an event, or a phone call of gratitude for a piece of content that reminded them just how much Notre Dame means to so many. Other times, it looks like 250 enthusiastic volunteers coming together to help us improve the lives of at-risk children and teenagers.

Support is a two-way street, and having yours means the world to us. You make us want to be better, so we can continue with the vital work of nurturing this strong, caring family of loyal sons and daughters. We couldn’t do it without you.

All the best, 

Dolly Duffy ’84
Executive Director
Notre Dame Alumni Association