UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — 2025 National Teacher of the Year and Penn State alumna Ashlie Crosson is the keynote speaker for the Penn State College of Education’s spring commencement ceremony.
The College of Education’s spring 2026 commencement ceremony for undergraduate students is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 10 at Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State’s University Park campus.
“As an alum, I truly value the growth and guidance I have gained from Penn State,” Crosson said. “Commencement is a celebration of four years of incredible work and dedication — and it is just the beginning. These graduates are our next generation of student champions and school leaders, and I am honored to join them as they begin the next chapter of their stories.”
Crosson is an English and journalism teacher at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and in 2015 received a master’s degree in educational leadership from Penn State. Crosson was named National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
CCSSO’s National Teacher of the Year Program honors exceptional teachers across the country by celebrating their work. Through a one-of-a-kind professional learning program, the National Teacher of the Year Program helps teachers amplify their instructional practices as well as their voices and empowers them to take part in policy discussions at the state and national level.
As the 2025 National Teacher of the Year, Crosson has spent the past year representing educators and serving as an ambassador for the teaching profession.
She was eligible for the award after being named the 2024 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
In 2018, she became a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms fellow. The program equips educators to bring an international perspective to their schools through targeted training, experience abroad and global collaboration.
She says the fellowship transformed her pedagogy, helping her to frame curriculum in a way designed to empower students’ voices.
She began her professional career in Delaware in 2011 before taking a job in the Bellefonte Area School District. While at Bellefonte, she obtained her master’s Penn State and then accepted a position with the same Mifflin County School District she attended as a youth.
Crosson was initially a journalism major at Susquehanna University but decided she instead wanted to become an educator and graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in English and language arts teacher education. Now, she can meld both worlds together as she not only teaches English and journalism at Mifflin County but also helps her students print a school newspaper, manage social media accounts and publish a magazine.