Class of 2025 Includes 3,500 Graduates from Teaching Programs, 1,800 From Nursing and 5,000 Graduates Who Are Also Parents 

Honorees Include Civil Rights Icon Shirley Chisholm, Comedian Colin Jost, Global Public Health Advocate Laura Magaña and Multiple University Supporters 

The City University of New York this week will kick off graduation season for the Class of 2025, celebrating nearly 50,000 graduates at more than 25 commencement ceremonies across New York City. The University will fete graduates from more than 2,800 academic programs, many of whom go on to serve New York through careers in high-demand industries such as health care, education and public administration, filling the ranks of the city and state’s teachers, nurses and social workers. 

“We know that New York will come together with pride in celebration of this talented class of graduates as they go on to serve our city, our country and our world,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “I always enjoy commencement season because it represents the culmination of CUNY’s mission to provide a transformational opportunity to its graduates. The CUNY Class of 2025 represents great resilience, and we look forward to celebrating their many successes as part of our alumni family.” 

Recent studies speak to the life-changing impact of a CUNY degree. Compared to New Yorkers with only a high school degree, students with a CUNY associate degree on average earn 67% more. That figure jumps to 106% for CUNY’s baccalaureates and nearly 200% for master’s graduates. 

The Class of 2025 includes Eilyn Zuniga Marquez, a Salvadoran immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 2018 not speaking English. Seven years later, she is valedictorian for The City College of New York’s Class of 2025, graduating summa cum laude in January. After her arrival in the U.S., Marquez took English as a Second Language classes during the two years that she attended Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers before enrolling at City College. She credits CUNY’s Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK program, which offers academic support and financial assistance to students who show potential for success but don’t meet traditional admissions criteria, for seeing her through. Marquez, whose goal is to obtain a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, recently accepted a two-year Civil Service Pathways Fellowship, a paid program for CUNY graduates designed to create a pipeline from college to a career in civil service.  

The University’s graduates also include more than 5,000 students who attended classes while raising children and cite the support of CUNY’s 17 child care centers as integral to their success. The students being celebrated at CUNY commencement ceremonies also include more than 5,000 students who are graduating from teaching and nursing programs; these graduates will go on to comprise half of the city’s new nurses and one-third of new teachers as they help address the statewide staffing shortages in both critical disciplines. 

Award Winners 

CUNY’s standout community college graduates this year include nine recipients of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the largest group of the University’s students to receive the award in a single year. Previous CUNY recipients of the scholarship went on to pursue baccalaureate studies at universities including Cornell, Princeton and Columbia, along with CUNY’s four-year colleges. 

The entire CUNY Class of 2025 will celebrate their accomplishments in over 25 commencement ceremonies taking place at iconic New York locations, including Barclays Center and the Ford Ampitheater at Coney Island in Brooklyn; the Apollo Theater, Bryant Park and Lincoln Center in Manhattan; and the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, Long Island. 

A Star-Studded Guest List 

An inspirational set of dignitaries will receive honors or serve as keynote speakers at the ceremonies. Here is a selection of this year’s honorees: 

  • Civil Rights icon and Brooklyn College alumna Shirley Chisholm will receive a posthumous Presidential Medal of Honor from Brooklyn College on May 23. The Rev. Al Sharpton will accept the award on behalf of Chisholm, who was the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Black candidate to seek a major political party’s nomination for president. 
  • Longtime Saturday Night Live head writer and comedian Colin Jost, an advocate for the families of fallen public servants who also supports creative writing initiatives for youth, will receive an honorary degree from College of Staten Island on May 28. 
  • Global public health advocate Laura Magaña, president and CEO of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, will receive an honorary degree from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy on June 5. CUNY SPH will also award the Dean’s Champion of Public Health Award to Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. 

Chancellor Matos Rodríguez will also confer honorary degrees from the University to four philanthropic leaders who have long supported CUNY and its students: 

  • Jeffrey H. Aronson and Shari L. Aronson, founders of the Jeffrey H. Aronson and Shari L. Aronson Family Foundation, will receive honorary degrees at John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Commencement on May 28. The Aronsons have a history of supporting CUNY initiatives, including the launch of the Chancellor’s Emergency Relief Fund and the expansion of the CUNY Census Corps during the NYC Census 2020 efforts. Jeffrey Aronson also co-founded Centerbridge Partners, a leading collaborator in CUNY’s efforts to improve career outcomes for graduates, while Shari Aronson serves on the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Jewish Life. 
  • Distinguished civic leader Ronay Menschel will receive an honorary degree at Hunter College’s Commencement on May 30. Menschel served as deputy mayor for intergovernmental relations under Mayor Ed Koch and continues her dedication to public service as chair of the board of Phipps House and vice chair of the board of the Museum of the City of New York. As president of the Charina Endowment Fund, which she runs with her husband Richard, Menschel has been a staunch supporter of the University’s efforts to boost the career outcomes of graduates, providing $1.5 million to the CUNY Office of Careers and Industry Partnerships and Hunter College since 2022. The fund also contributed to the Chancellor’s Emergency Relief Fund in 2020. 
  • Entrepreneur and investor Anthony E. Meyer will receive an honorary degree at Macaulay Honors College’s Commencement on June 4. Meyer is chairman of merchant banking company Meyer and Co. as well as the president of investment management company Ocean Road Advisors, both of which he founded. Meyer has also served on the board of the Macaulay Honors College Foundation for 20 years, including as its chair since 2019. A longtime supporter of the honors college, Meyer gave $1 million in 2015 to form the Meyers Scholar Program and support students as they study abroad. 

Below is a list of the University’s main 2025 commencement ceremonies: 

Thursday, May 22 

  • CUNY School of Medicine 
    The City College of New York – Great Hall, Manhattan, 11 a.m. 

Friday, May 23 

Tuesday, May 27 

  • Lehman College (graduate students) 
    Lehman College – Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, The Bronx, 6 p.m. 

Wednesday, May 28 

Thursday, May 29 

  • Lehman College (undergraduate students) 
    Lehman College, The Bronx, 10 a.m. 

Friday, May 30 

Wednesday, June 4 

Thursday, June 5 

Tuesday, June 10 

Tuesday, June 17 

Wednesday, June 18 

Friday, June 20 

One CUNY college, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, holds its annual commencement ceremony in December at The Times Center in Midtown Manhattan as a result of the school’s academic program length of three semesters. 

– Story courtesy of CUNY Communications