May 30, 2026
President Robert W. Iuliano
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Our people make the place. As Gettysburgians, we choose one another. We support one another. We cheer for one another. We uplift one another.
Laurie [Baty ’76]and Jeff [Siegfried ’81, P14] are shining examples of this in every way. Will you please join me in giving one more round of applause for our Meritorious Service Award-winners?
I actually have one additional award to give out today.
By his actions, I have come to believe that our next recipient is trying to exhaust the words in my lexicon to express appreciation, amazement, and affection.
He has done so much for the College, in so many different ways, over so much time, that we would spend several hours simply listing the many ways he and his family have supported the College.
We can’t do that, but I’ll note that he and his wife—who herself served on our Board of Trustees—have been philanthropically generous, supporting financial aid, athletics, and career-related experiences for first-generation students.
He has raised his hand for just about every volunteer role at the College, including serving as Chair of the Orange & Blue Advisory Council.
All of this, and more, resulted in his receiving our Meritorious Service Award in 2013. That award seemed to have inspired our recipient to do yet more, and to do so in ways leaving a deep and profound impact. He has been instrumental in the Garthwait Leadership Center, working directly with generations of students and helping them hone their leadership skills.
This past year, with colleagues in HR and the GLC, he helped establish an extraordinary program at the College. They conceived, organized, and ran a remarkable 18-month program for more than 50 senior administrators at the College, called ELEVATE. The program helped emerging leaders who shape the College’s present and future to see their potential in new and yet more inspiring ways. As the College responds to a singularly challenging moment for higher education, our recipient has also given freely of his time to work individually with several members of the President’s Council.
Perhaps his greatest sacrifice is the time he spends with me, where he calmly, wisely, and magically recenters me.
I am speaking of Neil Bryant, Class of 1982. Neil, will you please join me on stage?
Neil, in honor of all that you’ve done and continue to do for the College, we are proud to award you with the first-ever Presidential Award for Lifetime Impact.
In doing so, we not only thank Neil, but hold him up as the exemplar of what a dedicated Gettysburgian can do. Through all of his service, he has made us a better, more human, and more connected community. I can think of no higher praise.
Neil agreed to be honored mainly on the hope that others would see through his work a path for their own way of contributing to the College.
Please join me in thanking and congratulating my friend and this remarkable Gettysburgian, Neil Bryant.
Congratulations, Neil—very well-deserved!
All of our incredible award-winners today are leading truly consequential lives out in the world. This is precisely what we want for our students as well. This message was a common refrain at this year’s Commencement ceremony.
Two weeks ago, we gathered in front of Pennsylvania Hall and were joined by one of our very own: Kate Anderson, Class of ’09—an acclaimed songwriter for stage, film, and television. She delivered a rousing address to our graduates.
Let’s take a look at a few of the highlights from this unforgettable ceremony.
Throughout our Commencement Weekend, our graduates often reflected on the people and the personal connections that made their Gettysburg experience so rewarding. For many of our student-athletes, this included their teammates and our dedicated coaches.
We had another remarkable year in our Athletics program. Seven teams were represented in NCAA Division III championship events. Three teams won Centennial Conference titles: men’s lacrosse, men’s
basketball, and women’s basketball. In fact, women’s basketball won its fifth consecutive conference title—something that never before has happened in the conference.
It was another incredible season for another incredible group of student-athletes.
This year, thanks to the generous support of our Orange & Blue Club, Gettysburg was ranked No. 3 in the nation by the Princeton Review for Best Athletics Facilities. And we have even more exciting initiatives planned for our Athletics facilities in the years ahead. Stay tuned!
This spring, we were also proud to announce the addition of three new varsity sports over the next two academic years: women’s wrestling, women’s acrobatics and tumbling, and women’s flag football.
Under the leadership of our new women’s wrestling coach, Chris Haines, the team will host its inaugural season this fall, while women’s acrobatics and tumbling and flag football will begin competing in Spring 2028.
These new teams represent a meaningful commitment to our Athletics program and to attracting the most driven competitors—both in and out of the classroom—to our campus community. It also makes us yet more attractive to talented students deciding where they want to spend their formative college years. I can’t wait to cheer on our new teams from the stands!
But undoubtedly, our students’ greatest supporters on this campus are our devoted faculty. I’m sure even today, you have memories of a Gettysburg professor who profoundly shaped your life.
What is so transformative in my eyes is that our professors are intentional about partnering with our students to help them see the connections between their many passions and in encouraging students to reach even higher in their pursuits.
Indeed, it is our faculty’s belief in our students to Do Great Work, that in turn inspires that great work.
We see this on vivid display every day across our campus, including in the students drawn to our Eisenhower Institute.
Just take Chloe Migut.
She is emblematic of a Gettysburg College student: As a first-year, she is pursuing a political science and public policy double major in our pre-law program. And if that isn’t ambitious enough, she also was the president of her class and one of its student senators, a Bullets cheerleader, a member of the debate society, and countless other activities across campus.
Let’s hear more about Chloe’s early journey here at Gettysburg.
This is what Gettysburg College is all about—helping students to realize their dreams. And this is what we’re seeking to build upon in the years ahead.
At the heart of our Strategic Direction and our ongoing comprehensive campaign is a promise—a promise we have made to our students since the College’s founding in 1832, but one we now are being even more purposeful in naming and living: the promise of A Consequential Education.
We’re putting this promise to practice in so many remarkable ways.
We’ve continued to shape our academic offerings to resonate with the interests of today’s students. We introduced three new majors—in finance, public health policy, and communication studies—that are inspiring a new wave of high school students to say “yes” to Gettysburg.
We launched a new online Master of Education program with a focus on educational design and inquiry, and established several exciting master’s program partnerships, including with Lancaster University in the UK, Loyola University Maryland, Penn State College of Medicine, Villanova University, and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University—the top-ranked program in the nation for public affairs. These partnerships, and many others, will give our students a clear and prestigious route to advanced study in the years ahead.
And then there’s the meaningful investments we are making to our student experience.
If you saw the fencing outside, you know that we’re updating our West Quad residence halls. In recent years, when the 50th Reunion classes would note that the first-year dorms look exactly as they remember it, well, maybe that’s a sign it is time to upgrade!
We were excited to open our first renovated residence hall before the start of the spring semester, Stine Hall. The feedback from the students has been incredibly positive. I hope you have the opportunity to tour it while you’re on campus—it’s a further statement of our commitment to a student-centered education.
We’re also reimagining student social spaces, including in Plank’s lower level, featuring our Rogers Center for Innovation and Creativity—and we added a new beer garden overlooking Memorial
Field, which we’re confident will become a fixture for student and alumni gatherings into the future.
And, of course, this year is our first Reunion Weekend in our breathtaking new Ballroom. Isn’t it remarkable! Together with our Admissions building, the Ballroom is in many ways the front door to the
campus. We’re excited that it now reflects the exceptional educational experience we offer here.
All of this progress—inside the classroom and outside the classroom—is being recognized by our students. In a recent survey, over 91% of our graduating seniors reported either being satisfied or very satisfied with their Gettysburg education. That’s impressive, and it reflects our highest marks in more than 13 years.
And we’re also being recognized nationally too. In fact, just this year, Gettysburg was ranked No. 21 by the Wall Street Journal for “Best Liberal Arts Colleges,” and No. 36 in the nation for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” by U.S. News.
Here’s what really extraordinary: we ranked in the Top 10 in six categories by the Princeton Review, including No. 7 for the “Best Classroom Experience.”
These recognitions all reflect an exceptional educational approach—one that will position students to thrive in a world changing with dizzying rapidity.
We can’t just prepare students for their first job. We need to prepare them for the entirety of their career—10, 20, 40 years into the future—for jobs that haven’t even been dreamt of yet. And likewise, we need to prepare them for a world that needs their leadership, their engagement in issues that matter.
This is our north star.
Everything you see happening on campus is rooted in who we are as a community. We’re doing a lot because this is a time when a lot is required of us as Gettysburgians. Society is changing, and with it the needs of our graduates.
Higher education is changing, and with it the need of our College to adapt and to evolve. The moment to jump in and support the College is now.
I know you will step forward for our students. It’s who we are. It’s who we’ve always been.
Let me conclude.
Everywhere you turn, we see our vision for the future taking root—and it is inspiring.
This morning, my ask of you is simply this: choose Gettysburg.
Choose Gettysburg by championing our education in your communities, in your workplaces, and online. Inspire a future student to enroll.
Choose Gettysburg by being engaged, getting involved, and encouraging others to join you.
Choose Gettysburg as a top philanthropic priority through your loyal support of the Gettysburg Fund and other priorities of interest to you. The College is what it is today because of generations of dedicated alumni, like you.
And lastly, choose Gettysburg by living our mission in all that you do.
If we continue to choose each other, if we continue to choose this community, I promise you there is nothing we cannot accomplish together—for our students, for our College, and for the greater good.
I look forward to building Gettysburg’s brightest future with you.
Thank you.