Alumni Association Honors Outstanding Alumni
During halftime of the Notre Dame-Navy football game on Saturday, Nov. 7, Brig. Gen. Michael M. Brogan ’80 will receive the Rev. William Corby, C.S.C. Award for distinguished military service, and Ronald W. Zamber, M.D. ’83 will receive the Harvey G. Foster Award for his distinguished involvement in civic initiatives—especially those involving children.
Shortly after graduating from Notre Dame, Brogan completed the Assault Amphibian Officer’s Course as an honors graduate and was assigned as an Assault Amphibious Platoon commander at Kaneohe Bay, Hi. While serving in Hawaii, he completed two six-month deployments to the western Pacific.
From 1984 to 1987, Brogan served as a guard platoon commander, operations officer, guard officer, and executive officer at the Marine barracks, Naval Weapons Station, in Yorktown, Va. He moved to Quantico, Va. in 1988, and was an honors graduate of the Advanced Communications Officer Course. In 1989, he assumed command of Company A, 3d, AABn, which was part of Task Force Ripper during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
In 1991, Brogan moved to the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch in Camp Pendleton, Calif. He remained there until 1994 when he returned to Quantico, Va.
Brogan was a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He spent four years working on the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle program before returning to the 1st Marine Division to command the 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion.
Brogan has received the Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Navy Commendation Medal with Gold Star, the Navy Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.
In response to receiving this award, Brogan offers these words of thanks:
Attending Notre Dame was a childhood dream. I remember my family’s annual trips to visit cousins who lived a couple of hours south of the University. My parents, aunt, and uncle would go to a game while we watched the games on TV. I set my sights on going to Notre Dame, and because of a Naval ROTC scholarship, I was able to attend.
For me, the ethical outlook I gained from my Catholic education, both in grade school and then at Notre Dame, has served me well as a career Marine officer. And even though I never became a practicing chemical engineer, the technical education allowed me to understand the engineers and scientists I oversee and made me far more effective as a program manager.
Zamber and his wife, Suzan, co-founded International Vision Quest (IVQ), a non-profit organization that provides free eye care to men, women, and children in developing countries, and provides financial resources to entities that care for children living in poverty.
Prior to founding IVQ, Zamber and his wife funded, organized, and participated in medical and surgical mission trips to Ecuador, Nepal, Malawi, and Costa Rica. During these trips, Zamber performed free sight-restoring surgeries and sight-preserving medical care on thousands of impoverished adults and children.
Not only does IVQ provide free eye care, but it also helped fund the Rotary Netra Rural Eye Hospital in Vizag, India; supported the construction of classroom and kitchen facilities at the Malawi Children’s Village in Malawi, Africa; and has provided donations for more than 100,000 meals for destitute children through the Feed My Starving Children Organization. In addition, IVQ has contributed funds to the O’Hana Heritage Foundation to aid construction of a respite home for medically fragile children in South Bend, Ind.
In response to receiving this award, Zamber offers these words of thanks:
It is a tremendous honor to receive this award. It has been one of the great privileges in my life to be a member of the Notre Dame family. I want to express my deepest gratitude to Chuck Lennon and the Alumni Association for honoring the work that my wife, Suzan, and I have been blessed to undertake in poverty-stricken communities around the world. I also want to thank the countless people who have helped us with our endeavors to reverse blindness, restore the gift of sight, and provide medical care and basic necessities to impoverished adults and children in Malawi, Nepal, Ecuador, India, and Costa Rica. I am very thankful and proud to accept this award on behalf of all the hardworking men and women in the Notre Dame family who strive to make a positive difference in our world. We invite everyone to share in this privilege of service to those in need. It continues to be my hope that we can all truly change the world, one life at a time. Date: 11/3/2009
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