Saleem Ghubril, pastor and advocate, is Baccalaureate speaker

​The Rev. Saleem Ghubril, executive director of The Pittsburgh Promise, will speak at Grove City College’s 2017 Baccalaureate service at 7 p.m. Friday, May 19, 2017.

Rev. Ghubril is a committed and passionate advocate for students and strong communities. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he has devoted his life to serving others through outreach and education programs.

“Grove City College is honored to have a speaker of Rev. Ghubril’s faith, character and experience address our graduates on the eve of their commencement,” College President Paul J. McNulty ’80 said. “His work with The Pittsburgh Promise will inspire our students to use their gifts and education to serve the common good, a tenet central to the mission of Grove City College.”

As head of the Pittsburgh Promise, a regional economic and workforce development entity, he is focused on transforming the quality of education and life in the city and making higher education a reality for all of Pittsburgh’s urban youth. He also serves as volunteer pastor of the Mosaic Community Church in Pittsburgh, which holds a vision of nurturing a growing interracial, international and intergenerational community of believers. He also serves on the boards of The Buhl Foundation, Vibrant Pittsburgh and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.

Born in Beirut, Rev. Ghubril and his family fled the Middle East city during Lebanon’s civil war and settled in Iowa in 1976. He and his wife Patti have two children and live in Pittsburgh.