{"id":6604,"date":"2025-05-18T09:20:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/education\/2025\/05\/18\/alumna-tracy-walder-named-keynote-speaker-for-attallah-college-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T09:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:20:44","slug":"alumna-tracy-walder-named-keynote-speaker-for-attallah-college-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/2025\/05\/18\/alumna-tracy-walder-named-keynote-speaker-for-attallah-college-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna Tracy\u202fWalder Named Keynote Speaker for Attallah College Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tracy\u202fWalder, a 2007 graduate of Chapman University\u2019s Attallah College of Educational Studies and a member of the college\u2019s Advisory Board, will return to campus to deliver the keynote address at the 2025 Attallah College Degree Ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walder joined the CIA\u2019s Counterterrorism Center just weeks after earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in history from the University of Southern California, serving before, during, and after the Sept.\u202f11 attacks in conflict zones across the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan. She later became a special agent in the FBI\u2019s Los Angeles Field Office, making her one of the few women to serve in both agencies.<\/p>\n

After earning a Master of Arts in teaching at Chapman, Walder taught high school history in California and Texas and designed a course that encourages young women to pursue careers in national security and global policy. She now teaches criminal justice at Texas Christian University, serves as a national security contributor for NewsNation, and appears on the History Channel and Discovery Channel. She also stars in a new Netflix No. 1 trending series and is the best-selling author of the memoir \u201cThe Unexpected Spy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTracy\u2019s extraordinary journey shows our graduates that service, adaptability, and compassion can bridge every divide,\u201d Dean Roxanne\u202fGreitz\u202fMiller said. \u201cHer experience embodies the values we strive to instill in every Attallah College student.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walder\u2019s Attallah College Degree Ceremony address will emphasize the \u201csoft skills\u201d that connect intelligence work and teaching, urging graduates to lead with empathy, critical thinking, and collaboration.<\/p>\n

The Attallah College Degree Ceremony is part of Chapman University\u2019s Commencement Weekend<\/a> and will take place May\u202f23\u201125,\u202f2025, on the Orange, California, campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tracy\u202fWalder, a 2007 graduate of Chapman University\u2019s Attallah College of Educational Studies and a member of the college\u2019s Advisory Board, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4560,"featured_media":6605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1056,1135,32,33,18,88,16],"tags":[1050,1447,109,1448,1449],"class_list":["post-6604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-announcements","category-attallah-college-of-educational-studies","category-awards","category-college-news","category-community","category-news","tag-attallah-college","tag-chapman-alum","tag-chapman-university","tag-ma-in-teaching","tag-tracy-walder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}