At the Class of 2026 Master’s Hooding and Awards Ceremony, held Monday in McCarter Theatre, Amaney Jamal, dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, cited former President Barack Obama’s observation that service “embodies our sense of shared values and reflects our drive to serve a cause beyond our own” and praised the School’s master’s degree graduates for making “the courageous decision to pursue the public interesting over self-interest.”
“In coming to Princeton SPIA to study public affairs and public policy, you rejected the cynicism and nihilism of naysayers,” she said. “Instead, you chose commitment, leadership, and resilience – traits that will serve you well in your next endeavors as policymakers and public servants. Perhaps most importantly, you chose hope – believing that the world you are about to enter is well worth saving – and saving you will do.”
At the ceremony, 69 graduating Master in Public Affairs students and 20 graduating Master in Public Policy graduates received their ceremonial hoods from Jamal. As customary, many of the graduates who are parents were accompanied to the stage by their children, whom Jamal assisted in placing the hood around their neck.
The student speakers – the co-chairs of the Princeton University Policy Student Government – touched on the importance of community amid troubling trends within the country and around the world.
Benton Coblentz observed that during his cohort’s two years at Princeton SPIA, the world had thrown them numerous challenges, including “the attacks on democracy in this country and around the globe, the erosion of academic freedom and attacks on freedom of speech, the vilification of immigrants, the weaponization of visas, illegal and unjustly waged wars.”
“In the face of both global crises and personal challenges, our community of students has stood in solidarity with each other, defended one another,” Coblentz said. “A community like ours is not the norm. It has been an enormous privilege to be part of a community that cares and that has the resources to care. It’s been a privilege, and today that privilege becomes responsibility. A responsibility not just to ourselves, but to the communities we choose and the communities who choose us. A responsibility to give more people the kind of opportunity we’ve been granted.”
Mackenzie Hempe, a PUPSG co-chair, noted that the world she and her fellow graduates were about to enter was much different than the one they left when they came to Princeton. Despite the large number of what she called “transnational challenges,” Hempe struck an optimistic note.
“We have also changed in that time,” she said. “And we have grown, and we have transformed. … We’ve studied and researched and written. We’ve argued, we’ve debated, we’ve honed our own thoughts and challenged each other’s beliefs to continue growing. We’ve been exposed to new ways of thinking, new relationships and dynamics that we hadn’t noticed before. And to historical legacies and patterns that we’ll now be able to use to understand the world as it continues to evolve in front of our eyes.”
Delivering closing remarks was Steven Petric MPP ’17, assistant dean for global outreach, admissions, and alumni engagement. Earlier, when Jamal had noted that Petric was participating in his final hooding ceremony at Princeton SPIA, the graduating students first groaned in disappointment and then delivered a standing ovation.
“Students may remember me telling you all that you earned your spot here on the way in,” said Petric, who is leaving to take a position at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s true. Today, it is my pleasure to also tell you that you have earned your degree on the way out.”
Petric told the graduates they would always be welcome to return to Robertson Hall, adding, “Magic happens in these hallways. It’s not abstract. You’ve lived it. Not just in the classrooms, but in conversations, late nights, group projects, quick check-ins that turn into something much bigger. What you’ve built here, this cohort – that’s not automatic. That’s something that you did.”
The graduating class included two recipients of joint MPA/J.D. degrees and one recipient of a joint MPA/MBA. Four served in the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative. Seventeen supplemented their degrees with a certificate in health and public policy, urban policy, or science, technology, and environmental policy.
The graduate award winners were:
- Bradford Prize, awarded to the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy student who has achieved both a distinguished academic record and a record of service to the STEP program: Dylan Nezaj
- Diversity and Inclusion Leadership and Service Award, which recognizes exemplary student leadership, initiative, and advocacy for D&I issues at SPIA: Surujdai Mukhram
- Somers Prize, awarded to a student with domestic policy interests who has a distinguished academic and public service record: Joshua Varcie
- MPP Prize, awarded to the MPP student who has achieved an outstanding academic record and demonstrated a commitment to public service: Anna Ruth
- Stokes Prize, which recognizes both academic achievement and public service leadership, and is awarded to the graduating MPA students whose achievements best exemplify the life and work of the late Donald E. Stokes, dean of the School from 1974 until 1992: Sarah Bryant and Hana Rajap
- Preceptor Award, for going above and beyond precepting for SPI 512b: to Alicia Zhang, an economics Ph.D. student
Princeton SPIA’s 133 bachelor’s degree recipients celebrated their achievements at the Class Day ceremony in Richardson Auditorium that afternoon. Nearly every seat was taken in the 891-person concert venue in historic Alexander Hall, which over a century ago was the site of the University-wide graduation but is now just big enough for the School’s community of faculty, staff, students, and their loved ones.
Jamal began her remarks by asking friends, family, and mentors of the graduates to rise to be applauded for their efforts in getting the students to this day.
“These students would not have made it today without your love and support,” Jamal said, prompting a second round of applause.
As she spoke, Jamal acknowledged the numerous challenges that this year’s graduates face.
“In some influential quarters, public service has come to be seen a negative, as something not worth pursuing, but you, great Class of 2026, know otherwise,” she said.
Class speaker Preston Ferraiuolo ’26 emphasized that there are many paths to public service.
“I know that all of us, no matter where we find ourselves after walking out of FitzRandolph Gate tomorrow, will take the commitment to public service and our policy-creation and -implementation training from SPIA to truly do something,” he said.
Ferraiuolo also paid tribute to the late Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, founding director of Princeton SPIA’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, who passed away in February.
“At the start of every dinner, presentation, coffee chat, or negotiation, WFD, as we love to call him, asked every person in attendance, from the top-level officials, diplomats, and academics to the SPIA undergrad taking notes at the end of the table, to introduce themselves with a description beyond their title or affiliation. In his trademark Austrian accent, he always asked, ‘But who are you, really?’”
The ceremony concluded with the recognition of Princeton SPIA award winners and a procession of the graduates across the stage.
The award winners were:
- Richard H. Ullman Prize, awarded to the senior who writes the best thesis on a subject with foreign policy implications for the United States: Samantha Reeves
- Lieutenant John A. Larkin Memorial Prize, awarded to the senior who writes the best thesis in the field of political economy or on a broadly interdisciplinary subject in which economics plays the most important part: Sander McComiskey
- School of Public and International Affairs Thesis Prize, awarded to the seniors who write the best thesis on racial justice: Olivia Sanchez
- Myron T. Herrick Prize, awarded to the writer of the best senior thesis in the School of Public and International Affairs: Jeanna Raphael
- Class of 1924 Award, awarded to a senior whose contribution to a policy seminar has been judged most outstanding: Sol Seo Choi
- Gale F. Johnston Prize in Public Affairs, awarded to a senior who has demonstrated scholarly growth and leadership combined with excellence in work: Vivian Bui
- Donald E. Stokes Dean’s Prize, awarded to a senior who has displayed extraordinary leadership and made the most significant contribution to the undergraduate program and to the School of Public and International Affairs: Aishwarya Swamidurai
Also on Monday, the Princeton University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa presented its annual awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching, one of which went to James Raymond Vreeland, a professor of politics and international affairs. Vreeland’s joined Princeton’s faculty in 2018. Students have routinely called his signature course, “International Organizations,” the “best class I’ve taken at Princeton.” One said, “This is one of the courses where you truly feel like this is what college is supposed to be like.”
Left Photo: Undergraduate students, Joe Wahba (left) and Yousif Mohamed (right) during the SPIA Class Day ceremony.
Right Photo: MPA student, Hana Rajap, celebrates with fellow graduate and Ph.D. students during the SPIA Hooding ceremony.
Photo by Melissa Kelly Photography