Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia Named BUSSW 2022 Commencement Speaker
Boston City Councilor-at-Large Julia Mejia will be the featured speaker at this year’s BUSSW commencement ceremony for the Class of 2022. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Dorchester by a single mother who was undocumented, Councilor Mejia utilized her English language skills to advocate at a young age on behalf of her mother and others in her community in order to access vital city services.
While she worked towards graduating high school during the day, Mejia helped her mother clean offices in the evening. During that time she attended a presentation given by the Reverend Liz Walker, an ordained minister and the first African-American news anchor in Boston, that changed the course of her life. After earning her diploma from Dorchester High School and earning a bachelor of arts degree from Mount Ida College, she became the first in her family to graduate both high school and college.
Councilor Mejia went on to work for MTV, covering the 2000 presidential election as a reporter, focusing on her lifelong passion of government accountability and civic engagement. She created and led a civic engagement group focused on voter registration and was the founder of a nonprofit education network.
Driven by a lifelong pursuit of justice and equity, Councilor Mejia has created countless opportunities for others to step into their power and advocate for positive change as a community organizer. Following the 2019 Boston election and a historic two-month recount, Mejia won her seat by a single vote and is now the first Afro-Latina to sit on the Boston City Council. She is currently the chair of the Committee on Education, the Committee on Government Accountability, Transparency, and Accessibility, as well as the Committee on Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development.
The BU School of Social Work 2022 Commencement ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 3:00 PM at the Walter Brown Arena at BU. Graduates will include students from all MSW programs (Charles River Campus, Off-Campus, Worcester Hybrid and Online) and doctoral candidates.
For more information on BUSSW Commencement 2022, please visit our Commencement webpage.
For details on Boston University’s all-university commencement to be held at Nickerson Field on Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 1:00 PM, please visit the BU All-University Commencement webpage.