Notre Dame's Global Leadership
Mary Gallagher, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs, recognized something distinctive about Notre Dame from the moment she arrived—the University’s unique ability to lead on the global stage with vision and purpose, guided by its Catholic mission and its unwavering commitment to human dignity. Join us as Dean Gallagher shares her vision for the future of the Keough School—and explains why the world needs Notre Dame’s leadership now more than ever.
Experience the Episode
Mary Gallagher, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs, recognized something distinctive about Notre Dame from the moment she arrived—the University’s unique ability to lead on the global stage with vision and purpose, guided by its Catholic mission and its unwavering commitment to human dignity.
In this episode of For Good, Gallagher reflects on the Keough School’s first decade, the opportunities to build on its strong foundations, and the School’s integral role in helping Notre Dame become the leading global Catholic research university.
Join us as Dean Gallagher shares her vision for the future of the Keough School—and explains why the world needs Notre Dame’s leadership now more than ever.
This episode was originally released on July 24, 2025. To explore more, please visit their website.
Meet the Faculty: Mary Gallagher
Mary Gallagher is professor of global affairs and the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. Previously she directed the International Institute at the University of Michigan where she was also the Amy and Alan Lowenstein Chair in Democracy, Democratization and Human Rights.
Gallagher has published extensively in leading academic journals as well as in prominent media outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. She is the author or editor of five books: “Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers and the State” (Cambridge University Press, 2017); “Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China” (Princeton, 2005); “Chinese Justice: Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China” (Cambridge, 2011), “From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China” (Cornell, 2011) and “Contemporary Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies” (Cambridge, 2010).
Gallagher earned her Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and her B.A. in government and East Asian studies from Smith College. Her international experience includes teaching at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing and visiting professorships at East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai and at the KoGuan School of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Over the course of her career, Gallagher has received multiple honors for her research, including two Fulbright awards and grants from the National Science Foundation and the Luce Foundation.
She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and a consultant for the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Labor and many other nongovernmental and international organizations.