UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jhan D. Doughty, vice president and global head of belonging and engagement at Everest Group Ltd., will be the keynote speaker at the Penn State College of Education’s spring 2025 commencement ceremony for undergraduate students.
Doughty earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana, and she is a graduate of the Penn State College of Education — earning master of education and doctor of education degrees in clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling ,as well as counselor education in 1994 and 2001. She also completed a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) post-doctoral research fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine in psychiatry as well as epidemiology and public health.
Doughty said she was thrilled to be invited to speak to this year’s graduating class.
“After screaming with excitement, I felt just tremendous joy, pride and honor at being selected,” Doughty said. “My tenure with Penn State as a student, alumni and now board member has truly been instrumental for my personal and professional development. I have learned and grown tremendously through the classes, mentoring from faculty and staff and the endless experiences and opportunities I received through Penn State and for that I am profoundly grateful. To serve as the spring 2025 commencement speaker is my opportunity to give something back to the place that has truly shaped my life and to honor the amazing and talented Class of 2025. Thank you, Dear Old State.”
In her career, Doughty has previously been the senior director of student retention and diverse student success at Miami University of Ohio, before moving on to the Educational Testing Service and later the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). She began at Everest as associate vice president prior to stepping into her current position.
“My Penn State College of Education degrees have provided me with the skills and experiences to move from a career as a clinical mental health counselor, state agency director, research scientist, professor, higher education administrator, chief diversity officer and human resources executive to now a global leader in the insurance industry,” Doughty said. “Each professional pivot that I have taken during my career is a combination of hard work, a supportive family and the standard of unapologetic excellence toward the field of education that I received from Penn State.”
She has been named to the list of "Top 25 Women in Higher Education" by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, named as one of the 2025 Insurance Cultural Awareness (iCAN) Network’s "Role Models of the Year-U.S." and earned the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award in 2022. Doughty has published 12 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, has made more than 15 peer-reviewed conference presentations and earned more than $3 million in federal funding for her research and professional efforts in clinical mental health inclusion and talent initiatives. In 2022, she was named the inaugural president of the College of Education’s Social Equity Alumni Network.
“When I arrived at Penn State in the summer of 1993 from my hometown of New Orleans, I did not know what to expect,” Doughty said. “I was excited to learn from world-class faculty in my field of counselor education and rehabilitation counseling as I knew that after my graduate program, I would be ready to begin my career. The College of Education taught me the value of listening, asking the right questions, staying inquisitive, making data-driven decisions and most importantly, that having individuals with diverse perspectives provide opportunities to learn and grow in unimaginable ways.”
The College of Education’s spring 2025 commencement ceremony for undergraduates is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 11 at Pegula Ice Arena on the University Park campus.