Earlier today, Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch announced the valedictorian and salutatorian of the Columbia GS Class of 2025.
Valedictorian | Peter Gorman
The valedictorian of the Class of 2025 is Peter Gorman. Peter is a graduate of the Dual BA Program between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University, studying biological and biomedical sciences at Trinity and neuroscience at Columbia.
A Dublin native, Peter was the third Dual BA Program student to be named a Trinity Foundation Scholar—a highly competitive designation earned through a series of voluntary exams, and conferring upon Scholars a generous educational stipend and entrance into the centuries-old Trinity Scholars community. At Trinity, Peter was also a research assistant at the Global Brain Health Institute, where he served as a project coordinator for PREVENT Dublin, a multinational study examining origins and early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease in a cohort of high-risk, mid-life patients.
Peter continued his research endeavors at Columbia as a research assistant at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. He was named a Bancroft Research Scholar in Spring 2024—Bancroft Scholars receive funding and support to engage, alongside faculty members, in meaningful research during the academic year—for a project which aimed to understand how short term stress can contribute to longer-term health and wellness. This project, carried out jointly in the labs of Dr. Andrés Bendesky and Dr. Rui Costa, also earned him the Bridges and Sturtevant Prize for a “highly original and fruitful” thesis in the Biological Sciences.
Peter graduates summa cum laude with a degree in neuroscience and behavior, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the GS Honor Society. After graduation, he will begin his DPhil in neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Alongside his graduating class, Peter’s time at Columbia has been shaped by the University’s response to peaceful student protest. He remains mindful of the mutual responsibilities of science and society, and commends his classmates in their efforts to pursue a more just world.
Salutatorian | Guthrie Amanuel Petteys
The salutatorian of the Class of 2025 is Guthrie Amanuel Petteys. Born in Boise, ID but raised in rural Oregon, Guthrie is studying sociology at Columbia and hopes to pursue a career that will allow him to make meaningful change in the world.
From installing solar panels in Portland and working on a pear and apple farm near Mount Hood, to helping others with disabilities as a home care worker, Guthrie’s path to Columbia exemplifies the nontraditional spirit of GS. After the loss of his father, Guthrie did not see a path forward to college for himself; working full time while simultaneously going to school was a daunting prospect. Over the course of seven years, Guthrie worked a variety of jobs (including a stint as a deckhand on a fishing boat in Sitka, Alaska), but found the most fulfillment in assisting others.
At age 28, he attended Portland Community College and graduated with his Associate’s degree in criminal justice. Guthrie started at GS in spring 2022 and had a pivotal internship with the Post-Conviction Justice Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he assisted lawyers in reviewing cases involving potential wrongful convictions or disproportionate sentences.
Guthrie graduates summa cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the GS Honor Society. After graduation, he plans to take the LSAT in the summer and will be applying to law school this fall. He hopes to become a public defender in his hometown community in Oregon.
