Hundreds of new graduates are ready to serve the public

As hundreds of gold and maroon balloons drifted down from the rafters, a comparable number of new graduates stood and cheered at the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions fall 2025 convocation ceremony on Tuesday evening.

A total of 573 graduates from the Watts College’s four schools joined the ASU alumni ranks. As they did so, their family and friends — along with college leadership, faculty and staff — celebrated alongside them at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.

“I’m overwhelmed right now — I can’t put it all into words. But overall, I’ve learned so much. I appreciate the people I’ve met, the experiences and the work,” said Kanah LaShawndra Bradley, who completed her Master of Social Work online and was meeting her professors and some of her classmates in person for the first time.

Nearly 70% of the graduating class earned their diplomas online.

As for individual schools within the college, the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice presented 255 graduates; the School of Social Work presented 157 graduates; the School of Public Affairs presented 93 graduates; and the School of Community Resources and Development presented 68 graduates. Of these, 311 students received bachelor’s degrees, 260 students earned master’s degrees and two students completed doctoral degrees.

During the cereomy, the college’s four Outstanding Graduates served at the head of the procession as student marshals, each carrying a colorful gonfalon. Representing their schools were: Erik Challenger Sr. for the School of Public Affairs; Angel Monroy for the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Evangelina Lopez for the School of Social Work; and Madison Barton for the School of Community Resources and Development.

Later in the ceremony, Associate Dean Chandra Crudup introduced the Outstanding Graduates and shared their personal academic journeys.

In addition to Crudup, other members of the college’s executive leadership team formed the core of the platform party: Dean Cynthia Lietz, Senior Associate Dean Joanna Lucio, associate deans Kelly Bricker, Megha Budruk and William Terrill, and Watts College Chief Operating Officer Janet Mullen.

Joining the executive leaders were the directors of the Watts College’s four schools: Bricker from the School of Community Resources and Development; Beth Huebner from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Elizabeth Lightfoot from the School of Social Work; and Shannon Portillo of the School of Public Affairs.

In her remarks to the graduates, Lietz reinforced the value of public service. She said that, to her, public is defined as “people as a whole" — the term "public" is included in the Watts College name because the college teaches its students to stretch beyond their own communities to interact and care for others.

“As public servants, we are compelled to extend our community to those who would otherwise be outside of our circle of influence,” Lietz said. “A belief in serving the public means that I do not need a shared experience to consider you worthy of care and respect. I do not have to agree with you to stop and help you in a moment of need. And, I do not have to live your experience to want to create a system that is better for you.”

Lietz’s final instruction for the graduates was to expand their “boundaries of care” by treating the public as their community and work together to change policies and systems to create a more just world.

At the close of the ceremony, a band played ASU’s fight song, “Maroon and Gold,” as graduates tossed their mortarboards and hugged their classmates, friends and family. It was a fitting end to a ceremony centered on service, as the newest Watts College alumni set out to carry those values into the broader communities they are ready to serve.

View the fall 2025 Watts College convocation in its entirety on ASU Live.