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SPEAKER: Please welcome now the inaugural graduating class of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
[MUSIC - "POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE"]
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Please welcome the faculty of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Please welcome the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy inaugural Dean, Colleen L. Barry.
[APPLAUSE]
MARIA FITZPATRICK: Good afternoon. I am Maria Fitzpatrick, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Jeb E. Brooks School Of Public Policy. I am honored to welcome you to the inaugural Brooks School Commencement Ceremony. Despite a little bit of a soggy start, I hope that you are all having a great weekend.
We are gathered here today to celebrate the achievements, success, and bright futures of our Brooks School graduates from the class of 2022. On behalf of the University, I wish to remind all participants that Cornell values free speech and open inquiry and expression and strives to create a community where diverse opinions can be expressed and heard. By University policy, our speakers have a right to speak without intimidation, and the audience has a right to hear what our speakers have to say.
Next, we wish to acknowledge that Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogohó:no, the Cayuga Nation. The Gayogohó:no are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogohó:no dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogohó:no people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
And finally, before I introduce the dean, I would also like to offer a special thanks to the Brooks School Commencement Committee who arranged this event and to the Brooks school staff who have volunteered to make this event possible. Please join me in a round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
Now, it is my pleasure to introduce Dean Colleen Barry.
[APPLAUSE]
Colleen L. Barry is the inaugural dean of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. She is a nationally and internationally recognized research scholar, educator, and leader in the areas of mental health and addiction policy, violence prevention policy, and policy communication. Dr. Barry's research focuses on how health and social policies can affect a range of outcomes for individuals with mental illness and substance abuse and communities at risk for violence. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance.
As the founding dean, Dr. Barry has had an influential role in building Cornell's newest school into one of international prominence, developing its academic programs, and establishing partnerships across campuses and at major policy centers. The Brooks School is dedicated to solving the most challenging issues of our time through research and scholarship, public engagement, and rigorous training of a next generation of leaders.
In her research and in work as the inaugural dean, Dr. Barry's goal is to improve lives by advancing effective, evidence-based policy. The students, faculty, and staff benefit tremendously from Dean Barry's leadership, enthusiasm, scholarship, and dedication. Please join me in welcoming her to the podium.
[APPLAUSE]
COLLEEN L. BARRY: To the class of 2022, our inaugural class of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, congratulations.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
This is our moment to celebrate each of you and everything you have achieved at Cornell and up to this point in your lives. And as we congratulate you, our grads, I want to take a moment to thank those who have also contributed to making this day possible. First, congratulations parents, family members, and close friends.
All of you who are here today have played an indispensable role in supporting our graduates to reach this day. It is wonderful to behold such a marvelous group of proud parents, family members, and friends. And I know there are many not here with us today who have also supported you to achieve your goals, and they are here with us in spirit.
Graduates, join me in thanking your loved ones for everything they have done to support you by applauding them very loudly with me now.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
In addition to thanking your loved ones, let me thank your faculty, your program directors, your advisors, our incredibly talented staff who have dedicated themselves to supporting you to thrive in your studies and position you to make a difference in the world through your work. And thank you to our wonderful volunteers and to all of the members of our Brooks School Commencement Committee who have made this day possible. Thank you all.
[APPLAUSE]
Since this is our first Brooks School commencement, I want to also take a moment to gratefully acknowledge the visionary leadership of the Board of Trustees at Cornell, of President Pollack, of Provost Kotlikoff, and all of the University leaders who are involved in the work and planning that led to the establishment of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School this year, over 40 years in the making. And of course, I want to express my deep gratitude to Jeb Brooks and Cherie Wendelken for their incredible philanthropic support in naming our school.
I am truly inspired by you, this class of inaugural Brooks School graduates, your accomplishments, your persistence, your hard work, your determination. You studied here, within the walls of this great University during a once in a lifetime global pandemic. We have all been changed by this experience. And it has made the task that you originally set for yourselves in coming here harder in both large and small ways.
It's never easy to earn a Cornell degree. In these pandemic years, it has been even more challenging. You have displayed fortitude in the face of virtual classrooms, social isolation, illness, and for some of us, in the face of painful loss. As we continue to struggle as a global society to turn the corner of the pandemic, we find that our society is a bit more frayed. By any measure, polarization has increased.
We are more challenged than in the past to find pathways to civil discourse. The world around you may well feel more foreboding than it ever has. And I hope that your years at Cornell have brought you the knowledge, skills, determination, grace, and a good measure of courage to meet the complicated world that you are graduating into.
As our first graduating class of the Brooks School, you will always hold a special place in the history of our school and in the University. Your commencement is our first. We have literally been building the foundations of the school around you over the course of this year. You're graduating, in a very real sense, from a start up venture, albeit a startup at a world-renowned Ivy League University.
I just arrived in Ithaca and at Cornell this past September. And for me, being on the ground floor of this new enterprise of a school, this act of creation, has been exhilarating every single day. It's not often that we, as humans, get to start something wholly new. And it has reminded me of the creative force that comes with this start-up work.
Through so much of our lives, we follow well-worn paths. We don't question the structures that our lives are tethered to because we believe we are following the same road of those that have come before us and will go after us. We're not often forced explicitly to make it up as we go along.
The regularity of the structures of our lives obscures the fact that, in truth, we're all just making it up as we go along. We think we know what's around the corner. But, of course, we don't.
As dean, this experience of starting a new school at Cornell, a school that will be around 100 years from now, has reminded me of the creative power of living life in start-up mode, of my own power to start something new. And it motivates me to encourage all of you to approach this next critical phase of your lives with a start-up mentality.
Even if the very next step of your career will be following a well-worn path of someone that came before you and will go after you, approaching life with a start-up mentality means leaning into your own creativity, your power to make it up as you go, but with an eye to building something that will be truly extraordinary and enduring.
With a start-up mentality, I believe that every one of you will have the power to do what you always plan to do in coming here, but with greater impact. You can do more to improve people's lives. Do more to reduce suffering in the world. Do more to make our world a more equitable, more prosperous and healthier place. And in doing so, you will be living up to the investment made in you by your teachers and your professors and your coaches and your faith leaders and your family, but in a manner that is wholly your own.
Living life with a start-up mentality means that your career will probably not follow a linear path. It's often the case that people who succeed at places like Cornell do so with a singular focus on linear progress. If I work very hard and apply myself in step one, I can move to step two. If I apply myself unwaveringly to step two, I can move to step three, and so on.
Through our younger years, through high school, through college, through grad school, the visual image is an unrelenting push along a straight line. This linear push, if done with sufficient force, explains much of the success of those in this room, I would guess. You are graduates, but also maybe your parents, our faculty, our staff. Certainly, it tells much of the story of my own life.
But at some point, the linear path forward breaks down. It does for all of us. We stumble. We take a hard hit. We lose a portion of our confidence. We find ourselves wandering in the desert, and we need to start again.
Let's take a moment to look around us here in Bailey Hall. This building is so beautiful. The first time I came here was for a Wynton Marsalis concert a few weeks after I arrived in Ithaca and at Cornell. It's fitting that we're holding this first commencement celebration here in this building that has hosted so many important events in the life of Cornell. And now, the rich history of this building includes this historic day in your lives and in the early life of our school.
Bailey Hall is unique on our campus of beautiful buildings because it's a circle. There is such unexpected beauty in it for this reason. Take a moment to admire it and to appreciate this moment. If we think about our lives creatively, with a start-up mentality, perhaps the better metaphor is a circle rather than a straight line.
The metaphor of the circle offers ample opportunity to more regularly take stock, to make sure we still remember what motivated us to do this work to begin with, to make sure we're still happy and finding joy in what we do and in our lives, to circle back regularly, to recall the values that sparked our initial interest and our passion for what we do. Circling back allows us to reflect on how much we're the same over the course of our lives, that were not really that different from our 16-year-old selves. Circling back offers the opportunity to start-up again in a new direction.
The architect of Bailey Hall knew the power and the beauty of circular design, how we are able to see each other and hear each other better if we angle in. I want to close with an invitation. Come around again. Cornell and the Brooks School will always be your home.
Take advantage of the opportunity to circle back around and visit your professors and our staff, to experience how proud they are of what you're doing with your lives. There is no greater pleasure for us on the faculty than to watch you thrive. Find ways to stay connected to your classmates. They offer a powerful network that can serve you well over the course of your careers. And these friendships can be enduring in ways that can help you through the harder moments.
Circle back around and be mentors to future classes of Brooks School students, to support them to excel. Retrace your steps to campus. Revisit what you've learned. Come back to Bailey Hall at some point and stand alone in the empty building and remember your graduation day, what it took to get here, what you accomplished while you were here, and how you have used your Cornell degree to make the world a better place.
Feel proud of yourselves and know that we are very proud of you. Congratulations to each of you, the first Brooks School class, the class of 2022.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
MARIA FITZPATRICK: Now it is my pleasure to announce the recipients of the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy John Siliciano Student Leadership Award. Would the recipients please begin making their way to the stairs next to the podium. Once your name is read, please join Dean Barry on stage to receive your certificate.
As they make their way up here, I'd like to tell you a bit more about Deputy Provost Siliciano and this award in his honor. John Siliciano is stepping down this year as deputy provost at Cornell after 39 years of distinguished service and scholarship at the University. Among his many achievements and contributions to Cornell, Deputy Provost Siliciano played an indispensable role in the creation of the Brooks School.
Starting this year, the Siliciano Leadership Award will recognize graduating, undergraduate, and professional students, Brooks School students, who display leadership through stellar academic achievement, public engagement, and distinguished service to the University. This year's awardees are Omotoyosi Ibukunoluwa Ayanwola, health care policy--
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
--Craig Spencer Schulman, policy analysis and management--
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
--Jefferson Akers, master of health administration--
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
--and Andrew Siyan Wen, master of public administration.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
We will now present the graduates of the class of 2022. We will present the students receiving their degrees, grouped by program in the following order, bachelor of science in health care policy, bachelor of science in policy analysis and management, executive master's of health administration, master of health administration, master of public administration, and doctor of philosophy and policy analysis and management.
Graduates, please follow the guidance of our staff to walk across the stage and receive your certificate. A photographer will take photos of the graduates as they receive their certificates from Dean Barry. If you would like to remove your mask to walk across the stage and for the photos, please put it back on as you leave the stage.
We ask all guests to remain in your seats during the awarding of degrees. And I know this will be hard, but please save your applause until after the awardees from each degree program have been announced. I would now like to introduce Professor Sharon Sassler, Director of Undergraduate Studies, who will lead us in honoring our graduates with bachelor of science degrees.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
SHARON SASSLER: [READING NAMES]
Please join me in round of applause for our bachelor of science in health care policy graduates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[READING NAMES]
COLLEEN L. BARRY: Congrats.
SHARON SASSLER: [READING NAMES]
Please join me in round of applause for our bachelor of science in policy analysis and management graduates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Next, Professor Sean Nicholson, Director of the Sloan Program, will introduce the master of health administration degree recipients.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
SEAN NICHOLSON: So I'd like to begin with the executive master of health administration graduates.
[READING NAMES]
Please join me in a round of applause for our executive masters in health administration graduates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[READING NAMES]
You're going to bring the house down.
[READING NAMES]
So please join me in a round of applause for our master in health administration graduates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Next, Professor Matthew Hall, Director of the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, will introduce the master of public administration degree recipients.
MATTHEW HALL: [READING NAMES]
Please join me in a round of applause for our masters in public administration graduates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
I now welcome Associate Dean Maria Fitzpatrick back to the podium to read the doctoral degree recipients.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
MARIA FITZPATRICK: [READING NAMES]
Please join me in a round of applause for our doctoral degree candidates.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
I would now like to welcome Dean Barry back to the podium.
COLLEEN L. BARRY: It is my great honor to present you, the class of 2022, the inaugural graduating class for the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Please join me in congratulating our graduates now.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Now, please continue standing if you are able, to join our graduates in singing the Alma Mater. You will find the words in your program and on the screen right up here.
[MUSIC - "FAR ABOVE CAYUGA'S WATERS"] Far above Cayuga's waters, with its waves of blue, stands our noble Alma Mater, glorious to view. Lift the chorus, speed it onward, loud her praises tell. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater! Hail, all hail, Cornell!
Far above the busy humming of the bustling town, reared against the arch of heaven, looks she proudly down. Lift the chorus, speed it onward, loud her praises tell. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater! Hail, all hail, Cornell!
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
MARIA FITZPATRICK: Congratulations again to the Brooks class of 2022.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Graduates and faculty, please follow our usher's instructions and head outside to line up for a class photo before our toast reception on the plaza. We ask that all guests remain in your seats until all of the graduates and faculty have left Bailey Hall. Then, please join us on the plaza for our celebration reception.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy honored 224 graduates at its first recognition ceremony, held May 28, 2022 in Bailey Hall. Dean Colleen L. Barry delivered the commencement address, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Maria Fitzpatrick congratulated the graduates, and four students were named as recipients of the John Siliciano Award, the school’s endowed academic and leadership achievement award, named for Cornell Deputy Provost John Siliciano.
