Nearly 900 graduates crossed the stage at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday as Barnard marked its 133rd Commencement. In her address, President Laura Rosenbury reminded the Class of 2025 that, while their time on campus may be ending, their connection to Barnard is lifelong.
“Now, you join a long line of graduates who lead, build, and break barriers, in every field you can name and in many that are still being created. And that’s not a coincidence. That’s Barnard,” Rosenbury told the graduates and their families. “Our community doesn’t fade. It strengthens. And in moments of change or uncertainty, we’ll be here no matter what. To push you. To raise you up. And to remind you that you belong in every room — especially those rooms that were not made for you. We are proud of what you’ve done here. Inspired by who you’ve become. And ready — truly ready — to see what you do next.”
The Class of 2025 reflects the best of a Barnard education: academic excellence, intellectual rigor, and an unwavering belief in the power of women’s education.
Ninety-one percent of the class graduated in four years or less, 145 are the first in their families to graduate from college, more than 40 percent are graduating with STEM-related degrees, and 19 are student-athletes.
For a complete list of names, download the digital program here.
“It’s going to be a very surreal moment — all the work and sweat and tears I put into the last four years is really going to come to an end and a close. And I feel like Barnard has definitely set me up for a really great future,” said Shannon Geraghty, an economics major.
Check out the celebratory photos and video from the Barnard 2025 Commencement Day Flickr album:
Keynote Address by Shabana Basij-Rasikh
The 2025 Commencement speaker, Shabana Basij-Rasikh — a fearless advocate for girls’ education and the visionary co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) — has devoted her life to one powerful belief: that educating girls and women transforms societies, a value at the core of Barnard’s mission.
Basij-Rasikh graduated magna cum laude from Vermont’s Middlebury College and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford. She has earned global acclaim for her tireless efforts to expand access to education and opportunity and was named one of CNN’s “Top 10 Visionary Women,” one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Shake the World,” as well as a “National Geographic Emerging Explorer.”
As a young girl in Kabul, Basij-Rasikh would disguise herself as a boy to escort her older sister to a secret school, because she was required to have a male escort with her by Taliban rule, which also forbade girls from attending school. Later, she founded SOLA, the first and only boarding school for Afghan girls, to give them a future their country often denied them. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she orchestrated the evacuation of her students from Kabul, relocating SOLA’s operations to Rwanda. Today, the school continues its bold mission to educate a rising generation of Afghan girls, ensuring that young women have the opportunity to pursue their dreams in safety and with dignity.
“Bold ideas challenge. Bold ideas frighten. And some bold ideas, like the one that motivated the creation of SOLA and the creation of Barnard College — some bold ideas have the power to benefit not just some of us, but all of us,” said Basij-Rasikh. “Educated girls become educated women, and educated women have agency. They can uplift economies, improve the health of their families, they can neutralize the threat of extremism. They can do all these things and benefit everyone on Earth.”
Remarking on the dedication of Barnard students, from the hard work they put in from the day they step onto campus to the moment they receive their degree from the nation’s most prestigious women’s college, Basij-Rasikh said, “The girls of SOLA will help create the future for Afghanistan. The women of Barnard have their own future to create. And all of you are the bold champions the world has been looking for. Those are the paths we’ve been on. And now here we are. The paths that were laid side by side are crossing here today, at Radio City Music Hall.”
A Student’s Perspective
In her Charge to the Class of 2025, senior class president Aurelia Tan spoke enthusiastically about how her peers created a sense of community and a supportive network at Barnard, even as they faced the challenges of entering the College during a global pandemic: “Each and every one of us in this room right now has worked hard to forge our own paths, empowered by the amazing people around us right now and the resources this school and city has to offer.”
Shared values and kindness, Tan added, have guided the Class of 2025 throughout their time at Barnard. “These are skills that we have been cultivating for the past four years. And now we’re here, about to cross this stage and off to a new chapter of our lives.”
She urged her peers to continue cultivating these life skills and thanked faculty, staff, and loved ones for cheering them on throughout their journey. “As we leave Barnard as students and come back as alumni, I hope we will all stay bold and stay beautiful.”
Presidential Remarks
President Rosenbury told graduates that Barnard pushed them to meet the highest academic standards and that they leave ready to lead and take on challenges ahead.
“Today, you graduate from the best women’s college in the nation … and one of the very best liberal arts colleges in the world. But Barnard is more than a college. And you are more than graduates. We are a lifelong community. Of leaders. Of trailblazers. Of people who don’t wait for the world to change but — like our medalists — work each and every day to create the world they want to see,” said President Rosenbury. “You’re not leaving our community today. You’re carrying it forward. You now join a network of almost 40,000 living alumnae.”
The speakers — from Board of Trustees chair Cheryl Glicker Milstein to Basij-Rasikh — stressed the importance and power of women’s education and praised Barnard for its role in women’s lives as not just a college but a lifelong community.
Awards and Recognition
At this year’s ceremony, the College awarded its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, to Basij-Rasikh and to Helen M. Berman ’64, pioneering scientist and founding force in structural biology and computational chemistry; Jeanine Tesori ’83, visionary composer and the most awarded woman composer in Broadway history; and Judith Weisenfeld ’86, acclaimed scholar of African American religious history whose work has reshaped the study of race and religion in American life. This marked the first time in the College’s history that three Barnard alumnae were awarded this distinction in a single year, a powerful reflection of the lifelong connection between Barnard and the women it helps shape.
Leslie Grinage, Dean of the College, presented Aurelia Tan ’25, the senior class president, with the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize, an award voted on by classmates to the senior who contributed their time and service to Barnard over four years.
Aurelia Tan ’25 also received the Alicia L. Lawrence Memorial Award, named after the late deputy dean and honoring “a student who has made significant contributions to the College and who exemplifies Alicia’s values and honors her memory by leading with light and strength.”
Community Remarks
Provost Rebecca L. Walkowitz, speaking on behalf of faculty, remarked on the critical skills, friendships, and knowledge that students gained during their time at Barnard. She recalled the lessons she learned about “the challenge of sustained thinking” from reading Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway as a first-year in college. “Thinking needs community. There is nothing more valuable than the lifelong friendships you make in your teens and twenties and which support you throughout your life. … Graduates, I hope you will embrace the friendships, the uncertainty, and the curiosity you have developed here,” she said.
Board chair Cheryl Glicker Milstein ’82, P’14, who concludes her tenure as Board Chair in June, gave an emotional speech to the seniors, noting that she, too, was graduating after 26 years of service to the College. “Barnard doesn’t stand still,” she said. “It grows with you. And when you come back — because you will — Barnard will meet you wherever you are and say, ‘Let’s keep going.’”
As Commencement came to a close, the Barnard community, family, and friends celebrated the achievements of the College’s newest graduates, cheering them on as they transitioned from students to proud alumnae.
Congratulations to the Class of 2025!