Harvey Mudd Awards Degrees at 2025 Commencement Ceremony 

Harvey Mudd College awarded 216 bachelor of science degrees to graduating seniors at its 67th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18, in Claremont, California.

In her commencement keynote address, Reshma Saujani, CEO and founder of Girls Who Code, spoke about the power of human connection and how lifting up others is an effective and important leadership strategy.

“You are scientists, engineers, designers, builders,” Saujani said. “You will build new code, new companies, new platforms, and new policies. So, build them with integrity. Build them for all of us. If what you’re building brings more people in, keep going. If what you’re building makes people feel smaller, angrier, more divided, start over.”

“Real power comes from connection,” Saujani told the graduates. “When we commit to one another’s success, we don’t just survive, we soar. So go build a world where everyone rises. Build a world that looks like Harvey Mudd. Where gender isn’t a battleground, but a force for building something better. Where the best solutions aren’t the ones that dominate and divide, but the ones that unite. You’ve got the tools. You’ve got the values. I know you have the courage. And now, you’ve got the moment. Let’s go.”

Thomas J. Watson Fellowship recipient and campus leader Moyo Oyedeji-Olaniyan ’25 gave the student keynote address. She recounted beginning her first months of college at her home in Lagos, Nigeria, during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the support she received from faculty, staff and her classmates on-campus helped her feel a sense of belonging and community. “Looking at you,” she said, “I see resilience. I see strength.”

“If you remember just one thing I said today, let it be this: We have agency,” said Oyedeji-Olaniyan. “We are in charge of our lives and our extraordinary minds. Looking at all of you, I see future leaders, innovators, voices of change, a handful of inevitable Shark Tank contestants. Give yourself permission. Start that company. Get that other degree. Serve and sacrifice for your needs. If Mudd has taught us anything, it’s that engineers are still creatives, computer scientists are still leaders, and we are intersectional humans whose ideas deserve to be empowered.” 

“As we spread out across the world—moving to different states and countries, starting new jobs, meeting new people, and discovering who we are beyond our college selves—let’s hold on to community,”  Oyedeji-Olaniyan said.

Kathy French ’97, president of the HMC Alumni Association, welcomed the graduates into the alumni community. 

“Graduates, welcome to being a Harvey Mudd College Alumni,” said French. “You now join the ranks of the other 8,090 of us, and on behalf of all the other alumni, it is great to have you among our ranks.”

The ceremony also included the presentation of the Henry T. Mudd Prize, which recognizes the outstanding service contributions of the College’s faculty and staff. Chemistry professor Hal Van Ryswyk, holder of the John Stauffer Chair, was lauded for his nearly four decades of extraordinary service to the College “through inspired teaching, impactful research and steadfast dedication.”

President Harriet B. Nembhard closed the ceremony with an address to the graduates. 

“Today we celebrate a proud moment—one that honors your persistence, your brilliance and your choice to take on new challenges in the company of others,” Nembhard said. “In a world so often divided by speed and certainty, you have practiced something much rarer: curiosity across difference. You leave here not just with valuable skills, but with an almost sacred responsibility to solve not only equations, but problems that matter. To be accountable not only for results, but for the ripples your work will send into the world. 

“May you stay bold enough, brave enough to take on what seems impossible,” said Nembhard. “May you remain generous enough to include others on your journey. And may you never forget that your brilliance is magnified when it is used in service to something greater than yourself. Congratulations, Class of 2025. The world needs what you know—and even more, who you’ve become.”

According to preliminary data from the senior survey, 61% of graduates expect to enter the workforce full-time in fall 2025, and 21% of graduates expect to be enrolled in graduate school.

Of those students who expect to be employed, 63% have accepted a position. The top employers are Microsoft, Nutshell Labs & Mc-Master-Carr, Bloomberg, Amazon, Webflow, SpaceX, Meta, AWS, Apple, Google and Higher Ground LLC.

Seniors who applied to graduate school for the fall plan to enroll in graduate programs at UCLA, UC San Diego, CU Boulder, Northwestern, Stanford, University of Chicago, UC Santa Barbara and USC, among others.

View the 2025 Commencement ceremony.