The Broad Center Celebrates the 2025 Class of the Master’s in Public Education Management

On a bright Saturday morning in August, the third cohort of the Master’s in Public Education Management at Yale SOM gathered to celebrate the completion of their program and reflect on their next professional steps as public education leaders. Over the last 14 months, the 29 Master’s students have traveled to the SOM’s campus for five residence weeks while continuing to work full-time in large urban public education systems across the U.S., including school districts, charter management organizations, and state education agencies. The tuition-free program, offered by The Broad Center (TBC), builds management and leadership skills in mid-career public education professionals, honing their abilities to make an impact on the school systems they serve.

The cohort was joined for the ceremony in Evans Hall by an excited group of family, friends, and other supporters cheering them on. Yale SOM faculty affiliated with the master’s program were also in attendance, including faculty marshals Heidi Brooks, a senior lecturer in organizational behavior, and Richard Lemons, a lecturer in the practice of management, who were selected as recipients of the Master’s in Public Education Management Annual Teaching Award by last year’s graduating class for the excellence of their teaching.

Yale SOM Dean Kerwin K. Charles opened the ceremony by noting the connection that TBC students have to the mission of Yale SOM—educating leaders for business and society—by remarking on the core importance of education to shaping society, and the particular importance of strong leaders in education in today’s diverse and dynamic world.

Throughout the master’s program, TBC builds connection and learning with other education practitioners into the curriculum and experience for students, and the commencement ceremony was no exception. The 2025 commencement keynote speaker was Pedro Martinez, a 2009 alumnus of The Broad Academy, who is currently serving as the 25th education commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education after a career leading school systems in Chicago and San Antonio. Martinez, who was born in Mexico as the oldest of 12 siblings before being raised in Chicago, spoke to the power in his own professional career of drawing on his lived experiences.

“As leaders, you never do it alone,” he reminded the graduates, sharing how some of his proudest accomplishments were drawn from experiences he had as a student who often struggled and was below grade level until a sixth grade math teacher showed him some “tough love.” As superintendent, Martinez prioritized giving greater access to advanced placement and other college-level courses for students in districts he led, as well as connecting them to scholarship funding and opportunities to see areas of the country outside their own hometown.

He encouraged the students to root their leadership moves in these personal experiences, and to ensure that they are making the biggest possible impact to help children see and achieve a different future. “You actually get to make changes” to the systems that support educators and grow our next generation of leaders—a powerful and important role.

Some of the loudest cheers of the morning were for the two student speakers: Jessica Gray, the managing director of real estate and facilities at KIPP D.C., and Christopher Moore, director of mental health and social-emotional learning at Salem-Keizer Public Schools. Gray reflected on her own evolution as a leader throughout the program, as well as the growth of her voice and personal leadership style. She reminded her fellow students that they arrived at SOM with everything they needed to be successful, and that they should continue to trust themselves.

Moore brought a different kind of energy and reflection, reciting a poetic, rhythmic speech with a quiet power.

“We are leaving here humbled, having found deeper connections and uncommon conviction for serving our communities, with more precision in our vision even as we intuit that it, too, will yield to the visions of our proteges,” he said, looking directly at the group of graduates. “For we write on their hearts, too.”

Both students received standing ovations from the rest of the cohort seated together to the right side of the stage.

In closing, Natasha Trivers, assistant dean and Anita and Joshua Bekenstein ’80 B.A. Executive Director of The Broad Center and an alumna of the Fellowship for Public Education Leadership, shared her awe of the graduates: “You are doing this work without accolades or public recognition—it’s brave to be a public education leader at this moment,” she said. “We need you to stay. We need you to widen your impact.”

Brooks, one of this year’s faculty honorees, also reflected on the deep meaning she gains from teaching in the master’s program. “Teaching in Broad is some of the most rewarding and valuable time of my 20-plus years at Yale,” she said. “The students are inspiring to me; the depth of their commitment to noble work and their enlivening engagement in the classroom is such a powerful combination! I care deeply about the quality and impact of education for a healthy world, and The Broad Center is firing on all cylinders to make an impact.”

Following Trivers’s remarks, the Class of 2025 followed a Yale SOM tradition that dates from the first commencement ceremony. Instead of a roll call conducted by one person, each graduate’s name was called by the graduate after them as they crossed the stage to shake Charles’ hand. Many graduates brought their children up to the stage with them, by either holding them or guiding them by the hand.

After a final wave and cheers from the crowd, the stage party led the graduates up the stairs to complete the formal ceremony. Graduates then finished the morning of celebration with a lunch in the courtyard of Evans Hall, pictures, a visit from Yale mascot Handsome Dan, and connection with one another and with their guests.

Congratulations to the Master’s in Public Education Management Class of 2025!