UPenn College of Liberal and Professional Studies taps DEI executive for 2025 graduation speaker
UPenn's College of Liberal and Professional Studies has invited a Johnson & Johnson executive to deliver its 2025 graduation address.
Cecil Johnson has repeatedly praised DEI initiatives in the workplace.
A top corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) official will deliver the keynote speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies 2025 graduation ceremony on Sunday.
Cecil Johnson is a longtime diversity strategist who oversees inclusion efforts in a 33,000-person workforce that operates approximately $50 billion in pharmaceuticals.
In a LinkedIn post, Johnson called DEI “a critical business strategy, an evolving journey of learning, and the first step is showing up.”
He praised Johnson & Johnson’s leadership for facilitating over 80 percent of their vice presidents to conduct “Inclusion Dialogues” in 2023 as part of a company-wide cultural initiative.
Much of his doctoral work at Pepperdine University focused on how national culture shapes workplace inclusion policies. The study found a “statistically significant relationship between inclusion, performance, and retention” and a “correlation” between cultural context and how inclusion impacts these outcomes.
In addition to his corporate role, Johnson works as an affiliated faculty member and a visiting scholar in UPenn’s Organizational Dynamics program. He also sits on the advisory board for Penn LPS Online.
[RELATED: Google latest company to pull back on DEI, ends diversity hiring goals]
The university recently has taken steps to reform its DEI culture in wake of federal policy changes. As noted by Campus Reform, positions using DEI-based terms have been removed from the UPenn website.
Nevertheless, UPenn’s speaker choice highlights the school’s history of platforming DEI themes in official campus programming.
In February, three former UPenn women’s swimming team competitors filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school for previously being forced to compete with Lia Thomas, a male who identifies as a female.
During that same month, multiple investigations were launched by the Trump administration looking into various universities for alleged Title IX violations, including UPenn.
Campus Reform reached out to Cecil Johnson and UPenn President Dr. Larry Jameson for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
