The Keough School of Global Affairs honored its graduating Class of 2026 — 37 undergraduate global affairs majors, 43 master of global affairs students and its newest cohort of Ph.D. recipients — during a series of commencement weekend events at the University of Notre Dame.
Undergraduate diplomas in global affairs
At the undergraduate diploma ceremony at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Tia Mittle, a graduate from Mumbai, India addressed her classmates. Mittle reflected on how her peers had immersed themselves in global experiences from the Netherlands to Peru to Zambia.
"The Keough School called on us to engage directly with the world," she said.
Mittle emphasized that the interdisciplinary nature of the global affairs program provided the graduates with essential tools for the current unpredictable global landscape.
"Our classes prepared us to navigate complexity, to ask difficult questions, and to sit with uncertainty instead of avoiding it," she said.
Mittle urged her fellow graduates to embrace their roles as change-makers and to stand up for marginalized groups.
"Class of 2026, it is time for us to 'be loud,' ” Mittle said. “Be loud for those who cannot. Be loud for those who have been forgotten."
Mary Gallagher, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School, recognized the pioneering spirit of the 2026 class, the first to complete the full four-year path of the undergraduate global affairs major.
"You are the vanguard,” Gallagher said. “You joined a young school because you saw something the rest of the world is only starting to realize: that the challenges of our time do not stop at borders, and neither can our solutions."
Gallagher highlighted the school's mission to train leaders capable of addressing multifaceted global crises, from climate change to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.
"The world is hungry for people who can think across cultures, speak across disciplines and keep human dignity at the center of their work," Gallagher said, adding that the graduates’ training in integral human development is a vital tool for justice.
In her final charge to the graduates, Gallagher underscored the moral responsibility that comes with a Notre Dame education in global affairs.
"Your education means you don’t just ask if a policy is efficient; you ask if it is worthy of the people it serves and whether it reflects their lived reality," she said. Gallagher encouraged the Keough School’s newest alumni to act as witnesses to human dignity and bridge-builders in an increasingly divided world.
Master of global affairs graduates
The Keough School also honored the Master of Global Affairs Class of 2026, a diverse group of 41 graduates from 27 countries who received their degrees at a Notre Dame Graduate School ceremony on Saturday, May 16. This year’s master of global affairs graduates come from Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, The Gambia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United States and Uzbekistan.
At a Friday evening reception, Dean Mary Gallagher spoke to the graduates about the difficult global landscape they are entering, emphasizing the importance of Keough School’s unwavering mission.
"We are more than ever committed to our passions of addressing the world’s challenges, especially as those challenges are made more complex by geopolitical competition, weaponized interdependence and a deep sense of uncertainty about the future," Gallagher said.
Professor Yong Lee, recipient of the Keough School’s Excellence in Graduate Teaching award, addressed the class, urging them to utilize the intellectual foundation they gained over the past two years.
"The skills and knowledge you attained are yours,” Lee said. “Continue to nurture them." Acknowledging current geopolitical turbulence, he emphasized the importance of finding stability.
"The world is chaotic ... In these chaotic times, maybe hold onto what's valuable,” Lee said. “Find your own path and keep your center ... Don't let the noise of a random world shake you. Find your inner calm amidst chaos."
Gallagher concluded by focusing on both the extensive knowledge the graduates had acquired as students and also the community that will continue to support them long after they leave Notre Dame’s campus.
"You leave Notre Dame with many tools: quantitative analysis, research and statistics, ethnographic interviewing, project evaluation and more,” Gallagher said. “But most importantly for responding to these challenges, you leave Notre Dame with the Notre Dame family at your back. We will hold you up, support you, and keep you close as a member of the Notre Dame family."
Ph.D. graduates
The Keough School’s Ph.D. graduates also received their degrees during the Notre Dame Graduate School ceremony at the Compton Family Ice Arena, marking the successful completion of the highest levels of scholarship within the Keough School.
This year’s Ph.D. graduates are:
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Alyssa M. Paylor, Peace Studies and Anthropology
Dissertation: “The Materiality of Respect in Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding”
Director: Catherine Bolten -
Diana Isabel Güiza Gómez, Peace Studies and Political Science
Dissertation: “Landing Peace: Rural-Poor Mobilization and Land Redistribution in Civil War Transitions”
Directors: Caroline Hughes, Guillermo Trejo -
Flora Xiao Tang, Peace Studies and Theology
Dissertation: “Multidirectional Pasts, Diasporic Futures: An Eschatology from the Middle”
Director: Mary Catherine Hilkert, O.P.
The Class of 2026 will now embark upon applying their skills in government, the private sector, academia, global nongovernmental organizations and in many other diverse professional settings.
Congratulations to all of this year's graduates!