Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has been announced as the speaker for the 2025 undergraduate commencement ceremony, according to UMass Boston’s website.
Campbell was sworn in as the 45th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in January 2023. She is the first Black woman to hold a statewide office and has based her campaign on promoting economic prosperity and stability for families, acknowledging and uplifting children’s mental health, and combatting cycles of incarceration and violence.
“I’m honored to celebrate UMass Boston’s graduating class as they embark on their next chapter,” said Campbell in a March 14 press release. “As attorney general and a mom, I appreciate the university’s unwavering dedication to fostering an academic environment of diverse people and ideas. I look forward to addressing our Commonwealth’s next generation of leaders.”
Campbell comes from Roxbury and graduated from Boston Latin School and Princeton University. She also completed law school at UCLA.
Before becoming Attorney General, Campbell was a legal counsel to then-Governor Deval Patrick. Her work focused on legal services regarding children and families’ rights, employment, health care access, transportation, affordable housing and climate change.
In 2015, Campbell was elected to the Boston City Council. There, she proposed the Community Preservation Act, an act that still produces over $20 million annually for new affordable housing, historical preservation, and parks and open space. In 2018, she was unanimously elected City Council president, becoming the first Black woman to hold the title.
Campbell is also recognized as an activist who stands up for civil rights, environmental justice, criminal justice reform and the defense of essential human service programs that support vulnerable communities.
“At UMass Boston, we are grateful for Attorney General Campbell’s bold leadership in our state and nationwide. She serves as a role model for our students and graduates, and we are privileged to have her deliver the Commencement address for the Class of 2025,” said Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. “As a proud graduate of Boston Latin School and Boston Public Schools, Attorney General Campbell recognizes the significance of public education and higher education in preparing and inspiring the next generation of leaders in Boston and the Commonwealth.”
Communications major Maylee You, who will be graduating this semester, said she supports the decision to select Campbell as commencement speaker. “It’s so important to have people within the community have their voices be heard, and she seems to be doing that … She is a huge part of the Boston community. She’s advocating for most of the individuals that will be attending that commencement, and they’ll be impacted by her presence,” said You.
Another upcoming graduate, nursing major Alyanna Dusanban, explained her appreciation of Campbell’s work in regard to healthcare. “The more I acquaint myself with the state of the health care system in the U.S., I’ve come to terms that it’s essentially run like a business. Attorney generals, lawmakers, representatives, insurance companies and probably even more government agencies that I don’t know about are major decision-makers in patient care and policy,” Dusanban said. “So, it’s refreshing to see an Attorney General take such an active role in defending our healthcare rights and take action in progressing and expanding innovative research, especially since Boston is like the global medical hub. There’s a reputation to protect here.”
Dusanban added that she believed Campbell being the commencement speaker is especially important during the ongoing presidential administration. “The class of 2025’s collective faith in the current administration is so exhausted. At a time when our rights are constantly being held at stake, it’s like a beacon of hope to be reminded that there are still advocates in our local government fighting against what feels like a nationwide regression,” said Dusanban.
She added, “A Roxbury native who came from unstable means but persevered nonetheless, and a woman of color who is cemented in Massachusetts history; to me, she fully represents the diversity that UMass Boston champions.”
UMass Boston’s undergraduate commencement ceremony will take place May 29 at 10 a.m. on the Campus Center lawn.
