Participating presidents will include shared themes in their 2025 commencement addresses to remind graduates—and the public—why higher education matters: it equips students not just for careers, but to help solve today’s pressing societal and community challenges.

As Rajiv Vinnakota, President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, notes “By uniting our voices at commencement and beyond, we signal a collective commitment to democracy, dialogue, and the truth-seeking mission of higher education.”

The campaign includes presidents from over sixty institutions of all sizes and types—urban and rural, public and private, faith-based and secular—underscoring the shared urgency and bipartisan support for renewing civic purpose on campus.

Participating institutions include:

Jon Alger, American University
Andrea Talentino, Augustana College
Garry Jenkins, Bates College
Roslyn Artis, Benedict College
Laura Walker, Bennington College
Farnam Jahanian, Carnegie Mellon University
Hiram Chodosh, Claremont McKenna College
David Fithian, Clark University
Laura Bloomberg, Cleveland State University
David Greene, Colby College
Adam Bush, College Unbound
Manya Whitaker, Colorado College
Larry Johnson, CUNY, Stella & Charles Guttman Community College
Sian Beilock, Dartmouth
Douglas Hicks, Davidson College
Michael Gavin, Delta College
Adam Weinberg, Denison University
Lori White, DePauw University
Hilary Link, Drew University
Michael Davis, Fairmont State University
Barbara Altmann, Franklin & Marshall College
Robert Iuliano, Gettysburg College
Rebecca Stoltzfus, Goshen College
Anne Harris, Grinnell College
Steven Tepper, Hamilton College
James Mullen, Hartwick College
Harriet Nembhard, Harvey Mudd College
Karen Petersen, Hendrix College
Ben Vinson, Howard University
Chris Reber, Hudson County Community College
Julie Kornfeld, Kenyon College
Daniel Allen, La Salle University
Suzanne Rivera, Macalester College
James Birge, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Jonathan Koppell, Montclair State University
Kathleen Harring, Muhlenberg College
Matthew vandenBerg, Ohio Wesleyan University
John Comerford, Otterbein University
Marvin Krislov, Pace University
Frank Shushok, Roanoke College
Grant Cornwell, Rollins College
Jonathan Holloway, Rutgers University
John Keenan, Salem State University
Cristle Collins Judd, Sarah Lawrence College
Marc Conner, Skidmore College
Kathryn Morris, St. Lawrence University
Susan Singer, St. Olaf College
Heidi Macpherson, SUNY Brockport
Jonathan Green, Susquehanna University
Anne McCall, The College of Wooster
Mark Ginsberg, Towson University
Vanessa Beasley, Trinity University
Eric Spina, University of Dayton
Jeremy Haefner, University of Denver
Troy Paino, University of Mary Washington
Seth Bodnar, University of Montana
Joanne Li, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Joan Gabel, University of Pittsburgh
Jacqueline Edmondson, University of Southern Maine
Jennifer Mnookin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Elizabeth Bradley, Vassar College
Scott Miller, Virginia Wesleyan University
Susan Wente, Wake Forest University
William Dudley, Washington and Lee University
Paula Johnson, Wellesley College
Michael Roth, Wesleyan University
James Limbaugh, West Los Angeles College
Michaele Whelan, Wheaton College
Colleen Hanycz, Xavier University