Washington and Lee University to Celebrate 239th Commencement, Baccalaureate W&L celebrates its 239th undergraduate Commencement at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 28.

Commencement 2025

Washington and Lee University will celebrate its 239th undergraduate Commencement on Thursday, May 28.

University President William C. Dudley will address the graduates at the 10 a.m. ceremony on the Front Lawn of the main campus. This will mark Dudley’s 10th and final Commencement at Washington and Lee, as he will assume the presidency of Claremont McKenna College this summer. Meaghan Endres ’26, the 2026-2026 president of the Executive Committee of the Student Body, will speak on behalf of the Class of 2026.

Commencement festivities begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 27, on the Front Lawn with the traditional Baccalaureate service, featuring speaker Stacy McLoughlin Taylor ’02.

McLoughlin is the vice president of policy at Propel, Inc., where she oversees government affairs, partnerships and communications to advance innovative solutions that improve access to essential benefits and services for low-income households. Prior to joining Propel, McLoughlin held management positions with organizations focused on social policy and program development and founded SMTaylor Consulting in 2015 to advise nonprofits and philanthropic organizations on strategy, partnerships and impact measurement.

After graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and sociology and anthropology, McLoughlin remained at W&L to work for the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. She stepped in as interim director of the Shepherd Program in 2005 after its founding director, Harlan Beckley, was appointed to serve as acting president of W&L. She earned her MBA in public management and social innovation from Stanford University in 2009 and a Master of Public Administration in urban policy from Princeton University in 2011.

An active W&L alumna, McLoughlin received the Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 2012, recognizing her contributions to the university, community service, and personal and professional achievements. She served as a Career and Professional Development recruiter for W&L’s Social Impact Summit in 2018 and has been an ex officio member of the Shepherd Advisory Board since 2019. McLoughlin lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Claiborne Taylor ’02, and their three children.

Also speaking at the Baccalaureate service is this year’s recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, Evan Foster Clark ’26. Clark was selected by the faculty as the individual who best demonstrates high ideals of living, spiritual qualities and generous service to others.

During the Commencement ceremony on Thursday, W&L will recognize 23 retiring members of the faculty and staff, who represent a total of 582 years of service.

Seven graduating seniors have received Fulbright Program grants for postgraduate international work.

• Celeste Álvarez, a sociology and anthropology major from Hereford, Texas, will work as an English language teaching assistant in Guatemala.
• Molly Biggs, an environmental studies major from San Francisco, California, will work as an English language teaching assistant in Germany.
• Janie Harrison, a history major from Marietta, Georgia, will work as an English language teaching assistant in Spain.
• Grayden Holliday, a biochemistry and German double major from Midlothian, Virginia, will conduct biochemical research at the Graz Institute of Technology in Austria.
• Juyoung Kim, a physics major from Palisades Park, New Jersey, will work as an English language teaching assistant in South Korea.
• Sarp Sahin, a chemistry major from Plano, Texas, will pursue a master’s degree at Cardiff University in Wales. Sahin was also named the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leader of the Year for Academics and Research.
• Patrick Solcher, an economics major from Houston, Texas, will work as an English language teaching assistant in Spain.

11 seniors accepted scholarships to pursue postgraduate work.

• Darby Burgett, an environmental studies major from Waxhaw, North Carolina, earned a Boren Scholarship to study Indonesian with the Southeast Asian Flagship Languages Initiative at the University of Wisconsin and the State University of Malang, Indonesia.
• Dax Citron, a cognitive and behavioral science and German double major from Charlottesville, Virginia, received a U.S. Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Nona David, an English major from Morgantown, West Virginia, received a U.S. Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Elly Dyer, a cognitive and behavioral science and sociology double major from Lexington, Kentucky, received a position in the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).
• Tom Finnegan, an environmental studies and economics double major from Washington, New Jersey, received a U.S. Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Connor Lafo, a biology and East Asian languages double major from North Port, Florida, was selected for a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship to study molecular biology at the University of Michigan.
• Jack McClure, an economics major from Spartanburg, South Carolina, earned a Boren Scholarship to study Indonesian in Malang, Indonesia.
• Ciel Morrill, a computer science and Japanese double major from Draper, Utah, received a Critical Language Scholarship to study Japanese in Okayama, and a Boren Scholarship to study Japanese at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan.
• Chuck Rutberg, a politics and French double major from Rochester, New York, received a position in the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).
• Margaret Schweppe, a business administration and German double major from Shelby, North Carolina, received a U.S. Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Austria.
• Hamza Zia, an engineering major from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, earned a FAO Schwarz Fellowship to work at Reading Partners nonprofit in New York City.

In the event of rain, events will be held at Virginia Military Institute’s Cameron Hall, and the W&L community will be notified by broadcast e-mail, a notice on the university’s website and other means. Full details on all Commencement activities at W&L can be found at https://my.wlu.edu/commencement. The Commencement ceremony will also be streamed online at https://go.wlu.edu/livestream.