UNC MPA students graduate in spring 2025 MPA Commencement

By Andy Bradshaw

Recent graduates from the UNC Master of Public Administration program gathered with faculty, family, friends, and staff on Saturday, May 10, 2025, to celebrate their commencement and coming next chapter in their public service careers.

In total, 41 students graduated from the program during the ceremony, receiving their diplomas from UNC-Chapel Hill.

As the ceremony began, UNC MPA Director Willow S. Jacobson took to the podium. She addressed the students and reminded them of the importance of their public service higher education: “You’ve done more than earn a degree,” she told them. “You have answered a calling.”

Jacobson shared three wishes with her new graduates: to treasure the bonds formed in graduate school—both with their peers and external support systems, to carry the flame of public service forward, and to celebrate victories—even the small ones.

School of Government Dean Aimee Wall echoed the same conviction, reminding the students their education and skillsets position them uniquely well to meet this moment in the public sector landscape.

“You’re stepping into roles that shape how communities live, thrive, and grow,” she said. “Whether you’re stepping into local government, nonprofits, state government, federal government, private public policy, anywhere you’re heading, you are precisely the kind of leader that this time calls for.”

During the ceremony, James E. Holshouser Jr. Distinguished Professor of Public Administration and Government Carl W. Stenberg presented the annual Deil S. Wright Research Paper Award. This year’s award went to graduate William Summer for his paper, “Emotional exhaustion in the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department.”

Commencement keynote speaker Valerie Lemmie stepped up to the podium to address the graduates before her—urging them to stay steadfast in their public service conviction and not let obstacles impede their sense of purpose in leading public sector change.

“Leadership is, quite frankly, harder than management. You don’t always see results. But you keep going. You bring your courage, your convictions, and your creativity.”

In her closing, Lemmie spoke to the graduates about the importance of keeping touch with the bigger picture of why they felt the call to serve the public in the first place.

“Remember that it is all about the vision. You want to inspire your people to want to do something bigger than themselves, to want to be with you and others that you aspire,” she said. “This means you have to think big, think new, think ahead, and stay in touch with your creative potential.”

The School of Government congratulates the most recent UNC MPA graduates and wishes them well in their future public service endeavors.