On May 28 at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn College will proudly celebrate the accomplishments of approximately 4,000 graduates at its 101st Commencement.
This year’s ceremony marks a milestone not only in academic achievement, but the extraordinary resilience and determination of a deeply diverse student body. Students arrive at Brooklyn College from across New York City, the United States, and around the world, bringing with them a wide range of lived experiences, identities, and aspirations. Their journeys have been shaped by perseverance through personal, economic, and global challenges, and they now stand ready to step into leadership roles in their professions and communities.
“The Class of 2026 came to Brooklyn College from across the globe, bringing extraordinary talent, perspective, and determination,” said President Michelle J. Anderson. “As they graduate, we celebrate not only their academic success, but the transformation they have undergone here, becoming the scholars, professionals, artists, and leaders who will help shape a more just and compassionate world.”
The ceremony will also recognize three nationally distinguished leaders whose work reflects Brooklyn College’s values of public service and intellectual impact.
Melissa Murray
An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be conferred to Melissa Murray, widely known to the Brooklyn College community as the 2024-25 Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence, who also gave the 2023 Samuel J. Konefsky Memorial Lecture at the college. A nationally renowned public intellectual and legal scholar at New York University School of Law, Murray has helped shape contemporary debates on constitutional law, democracy, and reproductive rights, while advancing the public’s understanding of the law’s potential to build a more just and inclusive society.
Patrick Gaspard
Also to be conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters is Patrick Gaspard, a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former president and CEO, who also held senior roles in President Barack Obama’s administration, including U.S. ambassador to South Africa and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. He most recently served as president of the Open Society Foundations, leading global initiatives on civil rights, public health, and democracy, building on a career that began as a union organizer and national political leader. Gaspard was also a guest of the college’s Presidential Lecture Series in 2023.
Cecillia D. Wang
A Presidential Medal of Honor will be awarded to Cecillia D. Wang, the National Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose work has profoundly shaped the defense of immigrants’ rights in the United States. Over more than two decades at the ACLU, Wang has defended civil rights and civil liberties around the United States, including landmark cases challenging racial discrimination and unlawful policing and detention policies. On April 1 of this year, Wang argued before the United States Supreme Court to uphold birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
This year’s student honorees further reflect the depth and diversity of the graduating class.
Valedictorian Emersen Bribiesca, a computer science major, combines technical innovation with advocacy in LGBTQ+ communities, legal technology, and artificial intelligence research, alongside professional experience in the tech industry. Salutatorian Hideka Minami, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting, brings a global and non-linear academic journey shaped by migration, motherhood, and artistic exploration of identity and memory. Salutatorian Nariba Cintron, a first-generation college student double-majoring in communication sciences and disorders and psychology, has distinguished herself through research on bilingualism, language variation, and neurodiversity, grounded in a commitment to equity and culturally responsive care.
As preparations continue, departments are reminded to ensure that all graduating students receive timely guidance regarding ceremony logistics, regalia, and lineup procedures. Commencement remains one of the most significant institutional moments of the year, requiring coordinated effort across the campus community to ensure a seamless celebration. We salute the Class of 2026!
Full Student Valedictorian and Salutatorian Bios
Valedictorian: Emersen Bribiesca
Emersen Bribiesca
Emersen Bribiesca is graduating this spring with a degree in computer science.
Bribiesca’s path to Brooklyn College began at the United States Military Academy, where he studied history and English and led the Academy’s LGBTQ+ diversity organization for two years.
After leaving the Academy, Bribiesca moved to Brooklyn and threw himself into advocacy work. He volunteered across the city—working the front desk at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, serving free community breakfast with the New York City chapter of Gay4Good, and digitizing unpublished collections at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Park Slope.
Bribiesca initially returned to college at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY), where he earned an associate degree of science in computer science. While at BMCC, he worked full time at a feminist employment discrimination law firm in Downtown Brooklyn, assisting survivors of abuse and discrimination in seeking justice through the courts. He also began combining his technical skills with his passion for social change through Out in Tech’s Digital Corps, building websites for LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations around the world.
After transferring to Brooklyn College to complete his bachelor’s degree, Bribiesca was named a Point Foundation Transfer Scholar. During his first semester, he made the move into the tech industry and began working as a legal operations analyst at Datadog. During his final semester, he joined a Brooklyn College research project using artificial intelligence to analyze Wall Street filings and develop course materials for finance and computer science students across CUNY.
Bribiesca lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats. He enjoys running in Prospect Park and is training for his third marathon this fall. After graduation, he is excited to continue his career in tech and to keep supporting social justice efforts through digital work.
Salutatorian: Nariba Cintron
Nariba Cintron
Undergraduate Nariba Cintron maintains a 4.00 GPA. As a first-generation college student, her academic journey reflects both excellence and resilience. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Cintron migrated to the United States at a young age and faced uncertainty and hardship during her early years. As a former DREAMer recipient, her experiences have shaped her commitment to multicultural inclusivity, and her advocacy for destigmatizing the assumption that ethnic and minority dialects and languages are inferior to their standardized counterparts. Her path to higher education was not traditional. After leaving high school, she later earned her GED, an experience that marked a turning point in her academic trajectory. Determined to continue her studies, she enrolled at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY), where she graduated with an associate degree in education with a 4.00 GPA before transferring to Brooklyn College.
At Brooklyn College, Cintron pursued dual degrees in communication sciences and disorders and psychology, along with a double minor in neuroscience and philosophy. She has been consistently recognized on the Dean’s List and is a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and Psi Chi Honor Society. Cintron’s academic interests include cross-cultural learning, bilingualism, style-shifting, code-switching, accent bias, pitch perception, language acquisition, and mental health awareness. She is also particularly interested in neurogenic speech disorders and the intersection of neuroscience and communication. Her professional and research experiences reflect these interests. As a former participant in the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, she conducted research examining speech patterns and linguistic variation in Caribbean English, and English-lexified creoles, including Trinidadian Creole and Jamaican Patois. She has more than a decade of experience supporting young children in early childhood settings, with a focus on language development and social communication.
Her personal experiences have shaped her passion for culturally responsive care and her goal of becoming a speech-language pathologist serving underrepresented communities. Inspired in part by her mother’s diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, Cintron plans to pursue graduate study and contribute to research and clinical practice, with an interest in neurodegenerative conditions and a commitment to equity and access. Outside of her academic work, Cintron enjoys reading across a wide range of genres, particularly dystopian, science fiction, and philosophical texts. She also enjoys traveling and spending time at the beach. She credits God for her accomplishments and remains deeply grateful for the people who have supported her along the way. Cintron’s journey reflects perseverance, purpose, and a commitment to uplifting marginalized and underserved communities.
Salutatorian: Hideka Minami
Hideka Minami
Born to Japanese parents who emigrated to Hong Kong under British colonial rule, Hideka Minami grew up as a third-culture kid, navigating and integrating multiple cultural identities from an early age. She later moved to Japan to attend an international school for middle school, further shaping a perspective grounded in adaptability and an awareness of how environments and lived experiences intersect.
She first came to the United States to study special effects makeup, drawn to visual storytelling and transformation. She later continued her education in Los Angeles at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), where she earned an associate degree. Although she began her academic journey early, she did not complete her bachelor’s degree at that time.
While navigating familial illness, financial challenges, immigration processes, and broader economic instability, Minami worked alongside her husband to build a family business.
Years later, as a mother, she returned to higher education with renewed intention. She is now graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a focus on painting. Her work explores how delayed recognition can distort and reshape experience, approaching identity and memory as fluid rather than fixed.
Her journey reflects a commitment to growth on her own terms and a belief that education is not defined by timing but by purpose.
