Class of 2025 Celebrated in Joyful Commencement Ceremony
May 19, 2025
On May 19, 2025, the Johns Hopkins SAIS community gathered at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2025. More than 3,000 people—the graduates, family members and friends, as well as SAIS faculty, staff, and alumni—came together to share the joy of the school’s 81st graduation ceremony, which was followed by a reception at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
Over 600 students walked across the stage as graduates in the Master of Arts in International Relations; Master of International Public Policy; Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance; Master of Arts in Global Policy; Master of Arts in Global Risk; Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy; Master of Arts in Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Intelligence; Doctor of International Affairs; and Doctor of Philosophy programs.
Amna Nawaz, a prominent journalist and co-anchor of the PBS News Hour, delivered the commencement speech. While introducing Nawaz, SAIS Dean James Steinberg noted why he thought it would be appropriate to have such a well-regarded journalist as the day’s speaker.
“We scholars and journalists have a lot in common,” Steinberg said. “Both are dedicated to the rigorous pursuit of knowledge, following facts where they lead. There is one important difference, though: I think journalists are probably more thick-skinned than scholars.”
In her remarks, Nawaz noted how the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001—the year she graduated from college—helped to motivate and shape her career in journalism. She urged the students to be nimble and willing to adapt to the shifting challenges of a changing world.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school, but the world that I inherited demanded certain things of me,” Nawaz said. “So, when I found work that I loved to do—and work I was good at, work that made me feel like I was making some kind of difference—I leaned in, and I never looked back. It wasn’t the world that I expected to step into, but it was the one that I got. And this may not be the world that you expected to step into, grads, but it’s the one that you got, and it’s the one that needs you now.”
Driving her point home, Nawaz stated: “Now is not the time to step lightly or to hold back. This is the time to lead boldly, to speak bravely. This is the time to use everything you have gained here [at SAIS] and bring it to bear.”
She called on the SAIS graduates to hold on to “the same hope, the same courage that brought you to this day.” She added: “It will be enough to carry you forward. It will be enough to lift your voice above a chorus of cynics. It will be enough to light your way along darkened paths. It will be enough to stiffen your spine when all seems lost.”
The 2025 commencement ceremony at SAIS Europe took place in Bologna, Italy on May 17. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s commencement will be held in Nanjing, China on June 13.
2025 Commencement Awards
Commencement Photo Album
