GS Class of 2026 Valedictorian and Salutatorian Announced

Earlier today, Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch announced the valedictorian and salutatorian of the Columbia GS Class of 2026.

Valedictorian | Regina Fox

The valedictorian of the Class of 2026 is Regina Fox. Regina is a journalist, communications professional, multilingual scholar, and student-parent. Her journey to Columbia spans continents, languages, and careers.

Born in Uzbekistan, Regina moved to Israel in her late teens, studied economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and came to the United States in the early 2000s. In New York, she joined RTVi—at the time the only independent Russian-language television channel broadcasting globally—and rose from copy editor to field reporter, producer, and later Executive News Producer. She covered international politics, conflict, and culture across the post-Soviet region, the Middle East, and beyond. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Regina has collaborated with TV Rain and other independent outlets reporting from exile.

After almost two decades in journalism, Regina pivoted to a career in marketing. Before enrolling at Columbia School of General Studies in the fall of 2024, she led marketing efforts at a nanotechnology firm and provided strategic communications support to a U.S.-Ukrainian software company.

During her time at GS, Regina pursued advanced study in Russian literature and culture, including graduate-level coursework in the field. Her senior thesis, The Transformation of America's Image in Early Soviet Cinema, was supervised by Professor John Wright of the Barnard-Columbia Slavic Department. The project examines how Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s and 1930s borrowed and adapted Hollywood's cinematic style and narrative techniques to train audiences to read political meaning instantly.

Regina graduates summa cum laude and will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and is a member of Dobro Slovo (the National Slavic Honor Society) and the GS Honor Society. She was awarded the Olga H. Knoepke Scholarship—one of the named scholarships reserved by GS for its most accomplished students. Regina will continue her studies at Columbia's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as a Harriman Institute fellow. Her graduate work will focus on the cross-border information ecosystems of the post-Soviet space, examining how the underlying logic of persuasion adapts across technologies, from early Soviet propaganda to AI-driven media today. 

Throughout her studies at Columbia, Regina balanced academic life with family—with her husband and her son, who is completing his MPhil in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge this summer. 2026 marks a year of two graduations in one household.

Salutatorian | Penelope Gelman

The salutatorian of the Class of 2026 is Penelope Gelman. Penelope graduates from the Dual BA Program Between Sciences Po and Columbia University with two degrees in economics. During her time at Sciences Po, Penelope studied on the Menton campus, which has a regional focus on the Middle East and Mediterranean. There, she also minored in law. Penelope deeply values her international education. To that end, she is fluent in French, and has been learning Arabic throughout her time at university. 

Penelope has pursued a range of experiences across economic research, finance, and humanitarian work. She has worked in infrastructure and renewable energy finance, helping to construct financial models for large-scale projects. During her internship with Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques (OFCE), she researched the productivity divergence between the U.S. and Europe, which she later presented at Columbia’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. 

Alongside her academic and professional work, she has been deeply engaged in humanitarian initiatives supporting refugee communities, including contributing to business development efforts for a women-led social enterprise in Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp.

Penelope graduates summa cum laude, will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and is a member of the GS Honor Society. Admitted to Harvard Law School through the Junior Deferral Program, she intends to spend the two years prior to her matriculation at Harvard Law working in international development and humanitarian assistance. 

Baccalaureate Service | Devin Leslie, GS Speaker

Class of 2026 graduate Devin Leslie will speak at the Baccalaureate Service on Sunday, May 17, at 11 a.m.

Devin is graduating from the Joint Program between GS and List College of the Jewish Theological Seminary. At JTS, Devin majored in Jewish texts and interpretations and worked as the List College Community Engagement Intern, planning the school’s annual overnight retreat. He teaches first grade religious school through the List Education and Professional Leadership (LEAP) Fellowship. At Columbia, Devin majored in political science, and is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science honor society. Devin graduates summa cum laude, will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and is a member of the GS Honor Society He lives in Columbia’s pluralistic Jewish Food Co-op, theBayit, and has served as its religious coordinator, work coordinator, and recruiter. In the summers, Devin worked as the Music Department Supervisor at Camp Tawonga, an independent Jewish summer camp in California. After graduation, Devin will return to camp as a Jewish educator and then take time off for extended travel.