Marketing Across the Globe and Close to Home (and the Heart)

Morgan Engates first heard of the University of Notre Dame during her sophomore year of high school, when she accompanied her older sister on a road trip to 19 different colleges.

The University made an impression among all these schools, and her sister Lauren Engates ’26 chose Notre Dame that fall. After Morgan visited for a football weekend and joined a Notre Dame Summer Scholars session, "it became hard to imagine attending university anywhere else," she said.

Two years later, she made her own journey from San Antonio, Texas, to Notre Dame as an incoming marketing major. Later, she added a business analytics major to complement her studies. 

“With analytics becoming increasingly important to marketing on the management side,” she said, “I think the two fields complement each other well, and my knowledge in both of them will help me become a valuable teammate and leader in my future work.”

In addition to her business disciplines, Morgan is pursuing a minor in French. Her skill with languages, which has equipped her to explore her career and interests on a global scale, extends even further; she is now studying (and using) Korean, too.

Morgan's Notre Dame Experience

While she has had many exceptional classes, Morgan specifically called out her Introduction to Marketing course with Mitch Olsen as one she will never forget. She valued the quick pace and how the course rewarded hard work.

“The information will stick with you,” she said, “and you’ll recognize it when it comes up in more depth in future marketing courses.”

Outside the classroom, she has participated in several Student International Business Council (SIBC) projects and trips. On one such trip to Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she presented to company leaders and made connections with Notre Dame alumni. These new contacts took time out of their day to make Morgan and her team feel welcome and supported, and she cannot wait to offer that same experience to Notre Dame students as a future alumna.

She also previously worked with the marketing and communications team at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies in Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. This role offered her the chance to continue developing her connections to Europe, established through her French studies and first study-abroad trip to Paris, while contributing to a variety of marketing efforts, including social media, graphic design, video editing, and more. It served as a valuable foundation for her internship.

Learning at Home and Across the Globe

During the summer of 2026, Morgan served as a digital marketing intern at SNIPSA, a nonprofit organization in her hometown of San Antonio devoted to supporting and finding homes for pets in need. Her role exposed her to a wide range of marketing experiences, including writing animal bios for the website, creating graphics for social media, newsletters, and print materials, producing Instagram Reels and videos, writing blog posts, and more.

This opportunity also helped her connect with the broader team beyond marketing, supporting the front office team with the in-between tasks of events, adoptions, and customer service. She credits this cross-functional teamwork with improving her “confidence in communicating” and allowing her to support a cause she is passionate about at an organization she has known for years.

To sum up the internship, she said that on any particular day, you would find … 

“Morgan’s mind occupied by spreadsheets, Canva graphics, and Meta analytics; Morgan’s lap occupied by a small dog.”

A highlight of the summer was the chance to appear on the local news network KENS 5. “The moment went by in a flash, but it’s an experience I’ll never forget,” Morgan said.

The unforgettable experiences only continued when the fall semester began.

Morgan is currently studying at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, on her second study abroad experience. The courses she is taking are giving her a chance to deeply engage with Korea’s language, cinema, and modern history.

In addition to the educational experiences this fall, she mentioned the incredible opportunities to engage with Seoul's music, which fits perfectly with her role at Notre Dame as president of the ASCEND: K-Pop Dance Club.

Morgan expressed her gratitude to Mendoza and Notre Dame Global for the support and opportunities that have enabled her to expand her studies in Paris and, now, in Seoul as a student.

Looking Ahead

After all her marketing experiences around the world as a Notre Dame student, she plans to jump “head-first” into the field after graduation. She hopes to continue pursuing her interests in music, culture, and the arts by working in the entertainment industry or directly with artists, but she says she will not limit herself.

“I love that the work in marketing has so much range,” she said, “and I’m excited to see where it takes me.”

Whether in San Antonio, South Bend, Minneapolis, Paris, Seoul, or beyond, Morgan has developed business skills, a strong commitment to doing good, and a deep love of culture and art.