05/19/2026
🎓 “Momentum doesn’t wait for perfect. It responds to movement.”
At the Commencement ceremony in the Caesars Superdome, Dean Brian T. Edwards delivered a graduation address that managed to blend heartfelt wisdom with internet nostalgia, humor and a few perfectly timed memes.
Reflecting on uncertainty and change, Edwards encouraged the Class of 2026 to resist retreating from the world and instead keep taking small steps forward. Along the way, he referenced the “mannequin challenge,” “Bye Felicia,” “go touch grass,” and even compared today’s nostalgia for 2016 to his own generation’s longing for the 1990s.
And yes — he got the graduates to freeze in place for a live Superdome-wide mannequin challenge video.
The ceremony also honored distinguished alumna Ali Vitali, Class of 2012, host of "Way Too Early with Ali Vitali" on MS NOW and the network’s senior Capitol Hill reporter. Vitali reflected on the winding road from Tulane student to national political journalist, reminding graduates: “There is no map.”
Together, their messages created a commencement ceremony that felt deeply Tulane: thoughtful, funny, hopeful and unmistakably human. 💚🌊