Press Release: 2025 Truman Scholars

PRESS RELEASE: Embargoed for release at 2:00 PM EDT, Friday, April 18, 2025.
CONTACT: info@truman.gov

JANET NAPOLITANO ANNOUNCES 2025 TRUMAN SCHOLARS

WASHINGTON, DC – Former Arizona Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (NM 1977), President of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, announced today the 54 exceptional college students from 49 U.S. colleges and universities selected as 2025 Truman Scholars. The Truman Scholarship is the premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders in the United States.

“Resourceful, patriotic leaders, today’s Truman Scholars would make President Truman proud,” says Dr. Terry Babcock-Lumish, the Foundation’s Executive Secretary and a 1996 Truman Scholar from Pennsylvania. “Rising to meet their moments in this century as he did his in the 20th century, they are dedicated public servants who do not shy from challenge.”

Twenty-three (43%) Scholars attend public universities, 24 (44%) attend private research universities, five (9%) attend private liberal arts colleges, and two (4%) attend service academies. Five institutions have a Truman Scholar for the first time – DePaul University, Drury University, Hillsdale College, Northeastern Illinois University, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

See the full list of 2025 Truman Scholars at https://www.truman.gov/ after April 18.

Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.

The 54 new Truman Scholars were selected from 743 candidates nominated by 288 colleges and universities. They were recommended by seventeen independent selection panels based on the finalists’ academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as their likelihood of becoming public service leaders. Regional selection panels included distinguished civic leaders, elected officials, university presidents, federal judges, and past Truman Scholarship winners.

Established by Congress in 1975 as the living memorial to President Harry S. Truman and a national monument to public service, the Truman Scholarship carries the legacy of our 33rd President by supporting and inspiring the next generation of public service leaders. When approached by a bipartisan group of admirers near the end of his life, President Truman embodied this commitment to the future of public service by asking Congress to create a living memorial devoted to this purpose, rather than a traditional brick-and-mortar monument. For almost 50 years, the Truman Foundation has fulfilled that mission: inspiring and supporting Americans from across the country.

Now, the 54 awardees join a community of 3,618 Truman Scholars named since the first awards in 1977. Prominent Truman Scholars in government service include United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (CO 1987), Senators Chris Coons (DE 1983) and Andy Kim (NJ 2003), Representatives Gabe Amo (RI 2009), Dusty Johnson (SD 1998), and Greg Stanton (AZ 1990), and former White House National Security Advisors Susan Rice (DC 1984) and Jake Sullivan (MN 1997).

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