Jerome Powell, chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and a member of Princeton’s Class of 1975
Baccalaureate 2025: Fed Chair Jerome Powell celebrates public service and urges graduates to do their part
Princeton’s Class of 2025 began three days of graduation events on Sunday, May 25, with the University’s 278th Baccalaureate, an interfaith service in the University Chapel that offers members of each graduating class a chance to reflect on their time on campus and think ahead to life after graduation.
The Baccalaureate speaker was Jerome Powell, chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, who earned his bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton in 1975.
Powell noted that he had been sitting in those same University Chapel pews 50 years ago — “almost to the day” — and said that he would share what would have been useful to himself as a young man, including a reassurance that the graduating seniors don’t need to have life figured out yet.
“The vast majority of what you need to know about work, about relationships, about yourself, about life, you have yet to learn,” he said. “Continue to educate yourself and to grow as a person, becoming more focused on what really matters, more widely knowledgeable, better read, more disciplined, more strategic. But also wiser, kinder, more empathetic, more generous, more loving, more forgiving. … Each of us is a work in progress, and the possibilities for self-improvement are limitless.”
Then he pivoted to a broader vision of success for the future leaders sitting before him.
“Know this: the world needs more from you than personal achievements,” he said. “I strongly urge you to find time in your careers for public service.
“Since the founding of this great democracy 250 years ago, generation upon generation have assumed the burden and the honor of moving us closer to the ideal that all are created equal,” he said. “Now, it’s your turn.
“I ask you to take a minute and realize how the quest for these values has led us to this point in our history. We lead the world in so many ways, including in scientific innovation and economic dynamism. Our great universities are the envy of the world and a crucial national asset.
“Look around you,” Powell said. “I urge you to take none of this for granted.
“When you look back in 50 years, you will want to know that you have done whatever it takes to preserve and strengthen our democracy and bring us ever closer to the Founders’ timeless ideals.”
Reflecting and thinking ahead
The vibrant interfaith Baccalaureate service, one of the University’s oldest traditions, includes music, blessings and readings from a range of faith and philosophical traditions.
Graduating seniors processed across campus and gathered inside the University Chapel for the service, while friends and families watched from screens outside on Cannon Green.
After an invocation from Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel Theresa Thames, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber greeted the seniors, who were wearing their caps and gowns for the first time.
The Class of 2025 processes toward the University Chapel.
“All Princetonians take great pride in our shared mission to be ‘in the nation’s service and the service of humanity,’” Eisgruber said, quoting the University’s informal motto. “Now, as you prepare to make the transition from students to alumni, I hope that Princeton’s commitment to service will continue to shape your lives. As you enter your next stage of life as a Princetonian, I know you have left our campus better than when you arrived, and that you are poised to have the same impact on the world around us. For that, you have my deepest respect and gratitude.”
Four seniors selected for their outstanding contributions to religious life at Princeton then read in turn from their respective sacred texts.
Following the readings, Eisgruber introduced Powell by noting that his role as chair of the Federal Reserve “makes him the leader of a non-partisan federal agency charged with preserving the integrity of America’s banking system and the health of its economy” and that in that role, he has “earned bipartisan respect that is rare in today’s political climate.”
Eisgruber noted that Powell has been presidentially nominated six times over the course of his career — including twice each by President George H.W. Bush and President Barack Obama. When nominated to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve, in 2017 by President Donald Trump and again in 2021 by President Joe Biden, “the Senate confirmed him by overwhelming and bipartisan votes,” he said.
“Though Powell has one of the most important economic policy jobs in the world, he did not earn his Princeton degree in economics or in public affairs,” Eisgruber pointed out. “Indeed, one might say that his illustrious career demonstrates the power of a liberal arts education to prepare students for unanticipated roles and challenges.”
Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber
After graduating from Princeton with a degree in politics, Powell worked for Senator Richard Schweiker before going to Georgetown Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. He has worked as a lawyer, an investment banker and in several roles at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He was first appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors in 2012 and has chaired it since 2018.
“Throughout a period that has encompassed a worldwide pandemic and high economic volatility, Powell has carried out his responsibilities with wisdom and skill,” Eisgruber said.
The call to serve
In his remarks, Powell recounted several anecdotes — including acknowledging that he had spurned his parents’ encouragement to major in economics — and shared his formula for success: a “combination of luck, the courage to make mistakes, and a little initiative.”
Mistakes are nothing to fear, he assured the Class of 2025. “Everyone makes mistakes. Take it from an expert! But the bigger mistake is to avoid taking risks. If you aren’t failing from time to time, you aren’t asking enough of yourself,” he said.
Powell called initiative “the rocket fuel of life,” sharing a story of when he gathered his courage to ask a very senior colleague for a brief conversation — which led to his first role at the Treasury. “On occasions like that, we risk failure, awkwardness, embarrassment, and rejection. But that’s how we create the career opportunities, the great friendships, and the loves that make life worth living.”
The graduating seniors applaud Powell’s remarks.
Powell said that when he had sat in those Chapel pews, he had anticipated a career in the private sector with interludes in public service, following the model of George Shultz, a Princeton graduate of the Class of 1942.
He urged students to make time in their careers for public service. “Those of you who are not entering the military or other public service may wonder, what is so great about public service? I’ll give you a recent example.”
He pointed to the coronavirus pandemic. “With little warning, economies around the world came to a hard stop. Critical financial markets were near collapse. The possibility of a long, severe, global depression was staring us in the face. Everyone turned to the government, and to the Federal Reserve in particular as a key first responder. Career civil servants at the Fed who are veterans of previous crises stepped forward and said, ‘We got this.’
“We took a range of aggressive measures to supply credit to the economy — many of them unprecedented — while the financial sector recovered. Others in government and the private sector did their part, too. Through the joint efforts of many, we avoided the worst outcomes,” Powell recalled.
“Their collective efforts saved our economy, and the career civil servants involved deserve our respect and gratitude; it is my great honor to serve alongside them,” he said. “That’s what public service is like.”
After Powell spoke, Associate Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel Matthew Weiner concluded the interfaith service with a benediction for the students, and the recessional was performed by Eric Plutz, University Organist.
The Baccalaureate service is available for viewing online, along with the full text of Powell’s address. End-of-year activities will continue with Class Day for seniors and the Hooding ceremony for advanced-degree candidates on Monday, May 26, followed by Commencement on Tuesday, May 27, and the commissioning for graduating seniors in the Reserve Officer Training Corps on Tuesday afternoon.
After Baccalaureate, students recess from the Chapel to rejoin their families, who watched the service from simulcast screens on Cannon Green.
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- Faculty members receive President’s Awards for Distinguished Teaching
- Princeton awards six honorary degrees
- Class Day 2025: A sun-splashed gathering for and by Princeton’s seniors
