The Right Honorable Dame Jacinda Ardern — who at age 37 became New Zealand’s 40th prime minister — will be Yale’s 2025 Class Day speaker, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis announced today.
As prime minister from 2017 to 2023, Ardern was widely praised for her inclusive and empathetic approach to leadership and for successfully guiding her nation through unprecedented global and domestic challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To have a visiting dignitary on our campus is always an exciting moment,” Lewis said. “But for our graduates to hear from this particular world leader — someone who embodies empathy and excellence, character and commitment, innovation and inclusion — will be special indeed. I look forward to listening alongside the Class of 2025 as she shares her wisdom and perspective with us.”
Class Day celebrates the Yale College graduating class with a program of student performances, awards, and long-held traditions. This year’s ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 18, on Old Campus. The event, headlined by Ardern’s address, is open to the public.
Information for those planning to attend can be found on the Yale Commencement website.
During her time in office, Ardern championed women’s empowerment and led the country in navigating significant challenges, including a live-streamed domestic terror attack targeting New Zealand’s Muslim community, a volcanic eruption, and a global pandemic. With a people-first approach grounded in kindness, she helped New Zealand achieve one of the lowest losses of life during the pandemic among developed nations; led an administration in which New Zealand reached a historic 50% representation of women in Parliament and on government-appointed boards; and secured historic international trade agreements. Ardern is also the second woman in history to have given birth while leading a country.
Today, Ardern is an active advocate for climate action, serving on the board of The Earthshot Prize and as a distinguished fellow at Conservation International, helping provide solutions to climate change and environmental challenges. She currently serves as the Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow, Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership, and senior fellow of the Women and Public Policy Program, all at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is an active patron of the Christchurch Call to Eliminate Violent Extremism Online, which she created in 2019. In 2024 she founded the Field Fellowship for Empathetic Leadership.
“It’s deeply humbling to be this year’s Class Day speaker,” Ardern said, “not only for the privilege of spending time with a new generation of leaders who will shape the future of their communities and countries — but because they will also change what leadership itself will look like.”
Past Class Day speakers include former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ’73 J.D.; poet, educator, and philanthropic leader Elizabeth Alexander ’84; and former U.S. surgeon general Vivek H. Murthy ’03 M.D., ’03 M.B.A.
