Happy graduation season! While I couldn’t find any commencement speakers quite as anticipated as Kermit the Frog at the University of Maryland, North Carolina colleges still have an impressive line-up.

Gov. Josh Stein will speak at Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to honor graduates’ “determination and grit” following Hurricane Helene. Durham Mayor Leo Williams will address graduates at Shaw University and North Carolina Central University. Paul Tazewell, who recently won an Academy Award for his costume designs in “Wicked,” will speak at the UNC School of the Arts. And Mia Hamm, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former U.S. women’s national soccer team player, will take the mic at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Hats off to the class of 2025 (and to you all for making it through this wild academic year)!


—Erin Gretzinger […]

Matt Hartman is a higher education reporter for The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. He was previously a longtime freelance journalist and spent nearly a decade working in higher ed communications before joining The Assembly in 2024.

Erin Gretzinger is a former higher education reporter at The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. She was previously a reporting fellow at The Chronicle of Higher Education and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.