Gettysburg College honored 194 graduates of its Gilder Lehrman M.A. in American History program, celebrating their dedication to lifelong learning and educational leadership.
Before returning to classrooms and learning spaces around the nation to share newfound knowledge and expertise, Gettysburg College celebrated the accomplishments of nearly 200 educators who recently completed their degree requirements for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman Institute Master of Arts in American History. Members of the Class of 2025 were recognized in a special Commencement ceremony held at The Majestic Theater on July 17.
“We are so excited that you can join us for this celebration,” remarked Gettysburg College President Bob Iuliano to the graduates. “It is an extra special occasion because you are only the third class to graduate from Gettysburg College as part of this remarkable partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute. It speaks to your passion and commitment, and the ability to inspire your students as they think about their own careers.”
Launched in September 2022, the online, fully accredited program is open to K-12 educators, community college instructors, district supervisors, museum professionals, and National Park Service employees affiliated with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
This year’s class of 194 graduates represented 38 states as well as Washington, D.C., Italy, and England. The cohort attended a vast array of undergraduate institutions, ranging from private liberal arts institutions like Elizabethtown College to large state universities like the University of Tennessee. Included among this year’s class were also five students who completed their undergraduate work at Gettysburg College.
“To see that this kind of academic curiosity is alive and well, and it’s something that Gettysburg is nurturing, is really exciting to have been a part of and continue to be a part of,” said Sarah Rafferty Garcia ’02, M’25, a geography and history teacher at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “I think it's really valuable—this idea that learning is a lifelong endeavor. That’s something I really want to model to the students.”
Echoing Gettysburg’s long commitment to undergraduate education, the master’s program provides participants with a deeper and more holistic understanding of American history. Led by distinguished educators from across the country, including some of Gettysburg’s own faculty members such as History Prof. Michael Birkner ’72, P’10, the master’s program provides graduates with the information and tools to inspire the next generation of student scholars.
“You are all graduating into a world where teachers, great teachers, are more needed than ever.”
– Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University
James Basker, president and CEO of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, introduced this year’s featured Commencement speaker, Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University. The author of five books, including most recently “How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in American,” Winterer took the graduates and audience members on a journey back to 1838 to explore a consequential commencement speech delivered by acclaimed philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson at his alma mater, the Harvard Divinity School.
In his speech, Emerson spoke about the new creed of American Transcendentalism, inferring that we as a people are one with everything. According to Winterer, that speech spoke to something much greater and far-reaching in terms of an educational experience, one that enlightens the mind and enhances the capacity to act.
“Emerson instead advanced the idea that a school—say one awarding a master’s degree in American history—prepares you to do anything in the world,” she said.
Winterer highlighted Emerson’s use of the term “inly” in his graduation remarks at Harvard, noting the implication of being true to one’s self and the subsequent impact that simple approach to life can have on future generations of students.
“You are all graduating into a world where teachers—great teachers—are more needed than ever,” Winterer noted as she gestured to the graduates. “We can give [our students] the tools to go forward in life, so that in the years of dreary routine … they can remember the time with you, their teachers, as times that made their souls wise, that gave them the capacity to trust themselves, to be what they ‘inly’ are, and to yearn for true communication with the other human beings who walk the earth at the same time.”
Following Winterer’s remarks, President Iuliano returned to the stage to recognize the master’s graduates and give them a special Stole of Gratitude. A Gettysburg tradition going back more than a decade, the Stole of Gratitude recognizes people who were instrumental in the graduate’s success. Upon recessing out, many master’s graduates bestowed the blue stoles on supportive family members in attendance.
With the graduates ready to enjoy the remainder of their time in Gettysburg with their families and friends, President Iuliano issued one final charge, imploring the assembly to “shine brightly” as they go back to their classrooms as educational leaders empowered to help their students discover the possibilities in the world around them.
“May you encourage your students to step forward with courage and conscience,” he said. “May you challenge them to question, to explore, and to seek truth in all that they do—and may you always teach them to be who they inly are.’”
Expand your potential as an educator by applying to the Gettysburg-GLI M.A. in American History.
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By Corey Jewart
Photos by Shannon Palmer
Posted: 07/18/25