Senior Dalhart Dobbs selected as Johns Hopkins student Commencement speaker

Johns Hopkins University senior Dalhart Dobbs has been selected by his peers as the 2025 student Commencement speaker. The universitywide Commencement ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 22, at Homewood Field, where Dobbs will graduate from JHU's Whiting School of Engineering with a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Dobbs spent the past four years heavily involved in campus life at Hopkins, most notably as the former Senate President of the Student Government Association and as a leading student coordinator for the Blue Key Society, an admissions program where undergrads give campus tours to prospective students. He also worked as an undergraduate research assistant in Professor Luis Garza's lab and is currently part of two biomedical engineering design teams, where he works with cell and tissue engineering and surgical assistance robotics. In his free time, Dobbs is involved with the club gymnastics team and Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Dobbs first received news of his election while working at an Admitted Students Day with the Blue Key Society and Office of Admissions. According to him, it came as a surprise.

"I was working in the lobby as one of the welcome people, and I pulled out my phone and I saw the email," he says. "I went over [to my supervisor] and I told her, and then she stood up and jumped with me. It was a really good reaction.

"The opportunities that I've been able to have in four years—looking back on them, I feel like I took them for granted, because everyone's just doing such cool stuff," he says. "I'm really, really thankful, and I think that's why I work in admissions as much as I do. I just really like being able to paint Hopkins in a positive light."

After graduation, Dobbs will move to Los Angeles to work as a management trainee for McMaster-Carr, a hardware, tools, and materials supplier. From there, he will rotate through different management positions throughout the company, taking on new responsibilities.

For more information about Johns Hopkins University Commencement, including details on how to attend, visit the official Commencement website.