The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs awarded 92 graduate students and 118 undergraduate students with degrees at its May 27 commencement ceremony and through the 2024-25 academic year.

At a moment of unprecedented challenges in public service, speakers at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ graduate hooding and awards ceremony and undergraduate Class Day were unequivocal in their advocacy for the field.

“Public service, embodied by every graduate here today, is a commitment – to seeing every member of our society's humanity as sacred,” said Katie Deal, co-chair of the Princeton University Policy Student Government. “It’s a commitment to building institutions that honor human dignity and restore faith in the promise of the public good.”

Deal was one of 68 Master in Public Affairs (MPA) graduates; together, they comprised the 75th anniversary cohort of the program. The Class of 2025 also included 24 Master in Public Policy (MPP) graduates and 6 Ph.D. students.

The graduating class included three recipients of joint MPA/J.D. degrees and one recipient of a joint MPA/MBA. Three served in the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative. Thirty-two supplemented their degrees with a certificate in health and public policy, urban policy, or science, technology, and environmental policy.

Steven Petric, the School’s assistant dean for global outreach, admissions, and alumni engagement, called on the graduates to serve as uniters in a deeply divided society.

"There are so many complex, consequential policy challenges to solve,” Petric said. “My hope is that each of you will look for common ground, build bridges, use the power of persuasion and what you learned at Princeton, and work for ways forward that bring as many people along as possible.”

In her remarks, Princeton SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal added, “Class of 2025, you give me hope. In this time of great uncertainty, your dedication to service and your desire to effect positive change are reasons for optimism. These are the things that will see us through the current moment and into a brighter, more just future. As my favorite poet, Khalil Gibran, reminds us: ‘A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.’”