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MARIA THOMPSON: Good afternoon and welcome. As we begin, we acknowledge that Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Guyohkohnyoh, the Cayuga Nation. The Guyohkohnyoh 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 the Guyohkohnyoh dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Guyohkohnyoh people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
Good afternoon. Welcome, executive master of public administration and executive master of health administration degree candidates and guests. My name is Maria Thompson. It is my privilege to kick off the first in-person December graduation ceremony for both of our programs.
Executive students are unique in that they maintain full-time employment while simultaneously managing rigorous academic coursework. Our two cohorts deserve to be celebrated for doing both successfully during an unprecedented pandemic. Let's also not forget the sacrifices and support given by friends, family, and partners. Please join me in recognizing the people who have helped you get here today.
For our order of events today, we'll start with remarks by the Dean and directors. We'll follow with student service awards and student speakers. Then we'll award the degrees, sing the Alma mater, and proceed for a class photo in the lobby. We'll follow that with a toast and reception, both in the lobby and the browsing library.
And now, it's my pleasure to introduce Colleen Barry, the Dean-- the inaugural Dean of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Prior to coming to Cornell in September of 2021, Dean Barry was the chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dean Barry has a PhD in health policy from Harvard University, and her research focuses on mental health, addiction, and gun violence. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dean Barry has been a tremendous advocate for both the EMHA and EMPA programs, and we are grateful for her support. Please help me welcome Dean Colleen Barry.
COLLEEN BARRY: Good afternoon. To all of you, our Cornell Jeb E. Brooks graduates of the executive master of health administration and our very first graduates of the executive master of public administration, congratulations.
This is our moment to celebrate you and everything you've achieved here at Cornell and up to this point in your careers. As we congratulate you here today, I want to also take a moment, like Maria, to acknowledge those who have contributed to making this day possible. Let's pause and think about your family and your friends and those that have supported you through this process.
People who have played an indispensable role in allowing you to achieve these goals. Many are not with us here in Ithaca today-- Some are. --but they're here with us in spirit. These 18 months of study have been intense and have required sacrifice from everyone who touches your life.
And compassion as you've managed the stress that comes from juggling intensive coursework, hectic lives, and demanding jobs. Graduates, please join me in applauding your loved ones, including those who are not here in this room, for everything they have done to support you.
In addition, let me thank your faculty, your incredible program directors, and the unbelievably talented staff, who have dedicated themselves to supporting you to thrive in your studies. Let's thank them now as well.
I want to take a moment now to say how grateful I am for the visionary leadership of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, as well as our president, Martha Pollack, and our provost, Mike Kotlikoff. And all of the leaders of Cornell University, who are involved in the work-- the hard work. --that led to the establishment of the Brooks School of Public Policy last year, more than 40 years in the making.
And of course, we're all grateful to Jeb Brooks and Cherie Wendelken for their incredible philanthropic support in the naming of our school. Now, let me turn to what comes next. You may have felt at times, given the nature of your studies, a more tenuous connection to Ithaca and to Cornell.
I think about it in the opposite way. That is, I appreciate that you have worked very hard to become Cornellians. During your visits to campus, you have brought with you an enormous amount of energy and passion for your studies, and it has been an inspiration to all of us here on campus.
It has been wonderful to see how much you've treasured your time on campus here all together. And when you weren't on campus, you prioritized your studies, overcoming many obstacles in your lives. You are, and now you always will be, part of our community.
As members of our graduating Brooks school class, you have embraced the ethos and the values of our school and our University. I know that your time at Cornell has brought you knowledge, skills, and the determination to meet the challenges of the complex world that we are living in.
We have changed you to be thinkers, and leaders, and change agents. As graduates of the Cornell Brooks school EMHA and EMPA programs, we expect that you will work to improve people's lives, to reduce suffering in the world, and to make the world a more equitable, more prosperous, and healthier place.
And in doing so, you will have lived up to the investment made in you by your faculty here at Cornell and by your family and friends at home and here in this room, who have supported you. We expect you to do that work. I am very proud that you are among our first graduates of the Brooks School.
We have grown so much over the past year, and I hope you will stay connected in the years ahead and watch as we continue to grow. Keep in touch. Share your accomplishments with us. We look forward to taking pride in and a good measure of credit for all of the wonderful things that you will do in your career.
There is no greater pleasure for us than to watch how you thrive as our alums. And remember, please, Cornell and Ithaca will always be your home. Come back and visit us on campus. Mentor our students as alums and as leaders within your field.
Remember that you were here at the very beginning, the early years of our school. Feel proud of what you've accomplished here at Cornell, and know that we are very proud of you. Congratulations, graduates.
MARIA THOMPSON: Thank you, Dean Barry. All right, graduates. In the fall of 2020 during the application process, none of us could have predicted how the next two years would turn out. We were in the middle of a pandemic that forced you to work harder than ever in your health care and public administration roles.
Many of you became frontline COVID defenders or found yourselves leading the charge in your organization's response to the pandemic. You have held many roles throughout those two years. Employees, managers, partners, parents, children, siblings, leaders, and students. We worked with you to help navigate school work while facing incredible work and life demands.
Through it all, you not only persevered, you excelled. You performed academically and built cohesive, collegial cohorts. You've studied remotely for the majority of your time with us, which is a strategic decision.
First, we brought you to campus in the summer to ease you into our unique Ithaca climate with the highest likelihood of success in getting here without flight delays or cancellations. Not always successful but good chance. This weekend, the gloves are off, and you experienced the real deal. You made it.
I'm so proud of all that you have accomplished, and I know great things are in store for this group. Throughout the program, I have seen our executive master of health administration students tackling new professional roles, growing your families, and taking care of each other when things were difficult.
Take your first asynchronous course, microeconomics with Professor Evans, for example. After having been out of school for a number of years, and for many of you not having prior exposure to quantitative subjects, this was a challenging endeavor to say the least. But you rose to the occasion.
You formed study groups, organized virtual sessions, and persisted until each and every one of you was successful. I was amazed and grateful when we finally came together in-person in June of 2021. I didn't know what to expect after two years of not being able to welcome students to campus, but I witnessed a heartwarming gathering.
You are closer than many families. I know, and you made the most of your time together, both in Ithaca and Boston, learning and creating your own adventures. I walked away from our week on campus not only full of ideas for future plans, but also with a new appreciation for the diversity of perspectives held by this cohort.
From your first microeconomics experience, to your on campus intensives, to your impromptu small group gatherings, I have been so impressed by your genuine bond. When one of you is in trouble, many show up to help. That is reflective of the impact that you've had on your classmates.
You have also made a tremendous impact on our program. Your candid feedback, both through formal and informal channels, has made our program better. Based on your input, we selected elective courses and made changes to subsequent iterations of the program. Your thoughts continue to be welcome as you will always be welcome at Cornell.
As you join the ranks of Cornell alumni, I'm proud that you will be representing our program out in the world. I can't think of a more appropriate quote than this one from Dr. Seuss to reflect how well you've risen to the challenge of the upside-down, topsy-turvy last two years.
You're off to great places. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way. With that, I would like to congratulate you, the executive master of health administration and executive master of public administration, classes of 2022. May you always continue to learn, continue to accomplish great things professionally and personally, and continue to show great resilience in the face of whatever obstacles lie ahead. Congratulations.
And now, it is my honor to introduce someone whose vision has guided the development of the EMHA program for the last six years. Someone whose mentorship I continue to be grateful for. Your Sloan program director, Professor Sean Nicholson.
SEAN NICHOLSON: Sorry. You did it. 18 months, 37 credits, one capstone project, two weeks in Ithaca, one weekend in Boston, countless Zoom sessions, and I'm sure even more countless bonding sessions with your classmates. So congratulations.
I'm going to direct my comments most directly to the executive MHA students, but I think some of them hopefully will resonate with the EMPA students given that the experiences, I think, are somewhat similar. It's quite an accomplishment to work full-time as you've done, somehow carve out time each week to study, and also remain engaged in your personal lives.
And I'm proud of each of you, and I'm really excited to see where each of you take this degree as you go forward. When we started the EMHA program, our goal was pretty straightforward, and that was to double the impact of the Sloan program. We wanted to help educate and motivate current health care leaders, who are already in positions of influence, as you are, and help make those leaders more impactful.
Health care clearly needs competent and visionary leaders, who have the tools to achieve their vision and the compassion to make a difference at the level of a patient and a consumer. I'm so delighted that you joined our third cohort. You've set a very high bar for other cohorts to aspire to.
You bonded quickly, supported one another through thick and thin. You've inspired me and the rest of the faculty, and you've been a lot of fun to teach and to get to know. You're the first cohort that's actually spent both of your on campus weeks on campus-- fathom that. --and the first cohort to travel and study abroad in Denmark as many of you did in August.
Part of what makes teaching executive students so much fun is that you tend to appreciate your education, I think, even more than undergraduates and, say, early careerists, who are in graduate programs. You don't take it for granted, and you have the experience to teach your colleagues and, frankly, to teach the faculty as well.
I do want to take my time to extend some thank yous. I would have you thank your supporters, but I don't want them to get smug since Maria and Colleen have already asked you to thank them. I want to recognize our five outstanding executives and residents, four of whom signed on for a second tour of duty.
So those would be Joe Tassi, Denise Boudreaux, Karen Maeder, and Wyatt Godbetter, and then our rookie, Bob Lansy. Hopefully, they'll all sign on for a third tour of duty. The faculty, who are the intellectual heart of the program. For example, Julie Carmel Thayer can give a wave as your population health teacher.
They're not here, because they took their finals and then got off campus. But there were many residential MHA students who I think were excellent teaching assistants and certainly helped the faculty and hopefully helped the students as well. I also want to recognize some of the outstanding educators at E Cornell.
So Pete Garcia, maybe just give a wave. And Joe Ellis. Joe and Paul probably six years ago came to my office and thought they would get a quick no from me. They said, we think there's an opportunity to develop a degree program in health care for executives, and I said, sure. Let's do it. So thank you. Thank you, Joe.
My biggest thanks go to Maria Thompson. We had breakfast-- I think it was 2016 at Bamphi's in the Statler Hotel. --and I described my vision for the Executive MHA program. And she took this vision, which, honestly, was really just half-baked, partially-formed. And she improved it and made it happen.
She flat out gets things done, gets it done quickly, well, and with a smile. And as you know, she is the heart and soul of the program. And without her, many of you wouldn't have enrolled, and you wouldn't have had as great an experience as I think you have. So let's give another thanks to Maria.
So today you're strengthening your bond to Sloan and to Cornell, the Sloan and Cornell families, and that means a lot of things. One thing is it means in about 30 minutes, you're going to have to sing the Alma mater, so you don't have too much more time to learn the words. And that'll be your final test before you're able to actually be alumni.
You're also going to be connected with 1,500 Sloan alumni, who all share a common experience in the program that you have as well. And I hope you're going to stay connected to us, the faculty, your colleagues, your fellow students.
I hope you're willing, if we ask, for you to offer advice and guidance to future Cornell students. I hope to see some of you in DC, in Boston, in Denmark, and New York City. Wherever Sloan has events, the door will be open, and we hope that you'll come and join us.
Come to campus. Give guest lectures. Rekindle memories, and let us share in your professional and personal journeys. So congratulations to a job very well done.
So it's my pleasure now to introduce and call up Tom O'Toole, executive director of the MPA program.
THOMAS O'TOOLE: So welcome, EMHA and EMPA classes of 2022. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Tom O'Toole. I'm executive director of MPA programs at the Brooks School. So first, I want to thank students, family, and friends for joining us today.
It was touch-and-go over the past few days with the storm that we had. We're really thrilled to have you here with us celebrating the accomplishments of our graduates. Some of them were concerned that as hybrid students, they wouldn't get the full Cornell experience, so that storm yesterday certainly put that concern to rest.
Since this is our inaugural cohort of EMPA graduates, I have to thank several truly visionary leaders, whose tireless work helped us launch this really extraordinary program. A former Dean of the College of Human Ecology, Allen Matthews, who's here with us today.
He's always been a tireless supporter of the MPA program, remains a tireless supporter through his teaching and mentorship of MPA and EMPA students. Brooks School Dean, Colleen Barry, whose unique vision and leadership sees enormous potential for the role executive students can play in the growth of our Brooks School community.
Maria Fitzpatrick, former director of the MPA program, who was an extraordinary partner in laying the foundations for the MPA program. Paul Krause, Joe Ellis, Pete Garcia, their outstanding team at E. Cornell. We could never have done this without you. Thank you so much. We're grateful for the experience that you've provided our students.
MPA director, Matt Hall, whose innovative leadership and extraordinary dedication have truly allowed us to raise the bar of our EMPA academic and professional experience. I also have to thank our committed EMPA faculty, many of whom are here today, as well as our wonderful staff, particularly Lisa Jones, Lydia Davids, Sarah Shoo-- Cheryl Barnes, who worked tirelessly to make today special for all of our EMHA and EMPA graduates. So please give them a round of applause again.
So to the class of 2022, today marks the culmination of one of the most rigorous intellectual and professional experiences of your careers. What some of you might not realize is that I myself am a graduate of Cornell's employee degree program, so I fully understand the challenges and the sacrifices that have to be made pursuing a Cornell degree on top of a full-time work schedule and family obligations.
When my cohort of employee degree program peers and I graduated, the President of Cornell at the time, Hunter Rawlings, spoke at our ceremony and asked us what got us to the finish line. Because it was just such a marvel to him that we were able to pull that off.
And for some reason, he zeroed in on me and a few other peers, who had done graduate degrees through the program. And when he got to me, he asked me what kept me motivated throughout the program, and I said, first, a very dedicated support network of colleagues, family, and friends. And second, a very dedicated affinity for good whiskey and not necessarily in that order depending on where I was in the program.
Like all good Cornellians, I never lacked for snark. But he said something, which I think is really true of Cornellians. He said that what really allowed us to get to the finish line was grit, and grit is one of those nebulous terms that we all toss around but is really, really difficult to define. But we know it when we see it.
So on grit, Teddy Roosevelt once said, it's not the critic who counts, not the person who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who's actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, and sweat, and blood. Who strive valiantly, who errs, who comes again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.
But who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends themselves in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fails while daring greatly.
And if you think back on the great Cornell alumni that we should all strive to emulate, you can see this grit in much of what they've accomplished, what they've left behind. You might not know that Cornell is the only University in the world with three women unshared winners of Nobel prizes. Pearl S. Buck, Barbara McClintock, and Toni Morrison.
Barbara McClintock, a pioneering woman geneticist in the 1920s. Pearl S. Buck, a women's rights activist in the 1930s. And Toni Morrison, one of the greatest novelists of all time, forcing us to confront the atrocities of American racism. In my mind, these women embody Cornellian grit, courage, resilience, and excellence. And it's what brought you here today.
Now, certainly, we can't all be Pearl S. Buck, or Barbara McClintock, or Toni Morrison, but I challenge all of you as graduates to work tirelessly in service to the tradition of grit that these great Cornell alumni left behind as ambassadors of that timeless Cornell tradition of doing the greatest good. So congratulations, class of 2022. It's been a tremendous privilege working with all of you.
And now it's my honor to introduce the director of MPA programs at the Brooks School, Professor Matthew Hall. Professor Hall is a demographer, whose research focuses on immigration, racial ethnic inequality, population change, and demographic methods. He's contributed to research assessing the economic and social impacts of unauthorized migration, the emergence of Latino boomtowns, other new immigrant destination areas, the changing nature of racial stratification and segregation in housing and neighborhoods.
In addition to his directorship of the MPA program, Professor Hall is the director of the Cornell population center, the director of the program in applied demographics. Please join me in welcoming Professor Matthew Hall, director of the MPA programs at the Brooks School.
MATTHEW HALL: Well, thank you, Tom, and thanks to all of you. Friends, family, faculty, staff, and especially our graduates. The inaugural EMPA and EMHA class of 2022 at the Brooks School of Public Policy.
Congratulations on making it through a program that was designed from the onset to be the most rigorous and challenging and to push you intellectually, to generate new logics and new methodologies, to challenge conventions and norms, and to enrich through diversity of your professional and your lived experiences.
The Cornell EMPA was designed from the start to be the most rigorous experience in public affairs education. It was also built from the start to be a new kind of educational program, one that transcends the norms of white boards and podiums. Where a world-class Ivy League education can be delivered to homes all around the world.
And after landing here for-- during our first snowstorm, you're probably glad that we could bring Cornell to you without the snow and the sleet. But this degree, your degree, is not only about how it reaches you, but about who it reaches. Career professionals, organizational leaders, and change makers, who are already doing the work every day to administer our systems of governance and public affairs in our health systems.
The program is only what it is because of the incredible public service that you're doing in parallel to your studies and to the real-world experiences that you can bring into the classroom, and into class discussions, and into group projects. Now with any brand-new initiative, you can expect some curveballs and wild pitches, and despite having some true visionaries-- superstars. --developing this degree program, I especially want to call out my predecessor, Maria Fitzpatrick, and of course, the legendary, the legend, Tom O'Toole.
And along with having the most incredible program staff delivering the classes and experience, despite that, what we didn't anticipate was launching this new program amidst a global pandemic, the uprooting of social and economic life, and the deepening of political extremism around the world. But it is to the incredible credit of all of you that you took on this and accomplished so much during these times and at this point in your careers.
And I know to be here today took a lot of sacrifice. Countless Monday nights spent on Zoom with O'Toole. Probably a lot of Sunday mornings thinking-- wondering why you ever wanted to learn R. And I know it took a lot of support from your friends and your loved ones. So thank you, graduates, and thank you, families, for your willingness to take this jump and to make these sacrifices.
And now as you turn back to your professional goals and continue to effect change, let me close by saying that we need you more than ever. We need fearless leaders, who are willing to tackle the enormity of today's challenges. Inequality that continues to rise, climates that are getting more extreme, public institutions that are under attack, and the ideals of democracy that are being threatened.
Today is the time that we need leaders, who will seek solutions through innovation and through evidence. Who will build coalitions and teams that are empowered and not threatened by diversity, and who will confront all forms of injustice. Disruptive times require disruptive thinkers, and I know that as you embark on the next stages of your careers, we can count on you to make those positive disruptions in ways that will make the world healthier, better, and stronger. So to the class of 2022, it has been an absolute privilege. Congratulations.
MARIA THOMPSON: I'm honored to present the Sloan Service Awards to two students, who exemplified service to their classmates and the executive MHA program. While we are only awarding two students, we received 23 unique nominations. What that tells me is that you have made a true impact on your peers.
You have shared your knowledge and your experience with them, and you have shown great care for them. Our first Sloan Service Award goes to Joydeep Ganguly.
Joydeep couldn't be here in person today-- hopefully he's watching on Zoom. --because he's taking care of his family, but we absolutely want to recognize the indelible impact that he has had on his classmates and our program. Joydeep is thoughtful, humble, and a great communicator. He's sincere in his passion to effect change in his community and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Many of his classmates consider Joydeep a mentor who shares helpful information to contextualize their learning. One student wrote, "Every time Joydeep would speak, it would always be so insightful. I felt that he pulled the rest of us up by being in this program."
Joydeep's classmates also commended his kindness. Another student wrote, "He brings such a wealth of knowledge and expertise. He's extremely humble and contributes in a way that blows me away each time, and most of all, Joydeep leads by example." Congratulations, Joydeep.
Our second Sloan Service Award today goes to our student speaker, Jen Tolkoff. Jen has not only been an exemplary student, but a constant advocate for her cohort.
Jen's classmates call her the embodiment of class spirit. Someone who has kept the students organized, supported everyone, and has been a great asset to this cohort.
I have more. Hold on. Jen has brought the group together by organizing study sessions, dinners, and even a virtual baby shower for a classmate. One peer wrote that Jen is fastidious and brilliant. She was always willing to go the extra mile to support any of her classmates and provide intellectually stimulating perspectives and ideas.
Another student commented that Jen is a leader and a scholar. She is a true colleague, friend, and amazing person, a great credit to the EMHA program. Congratulations, Jen.
And now, our student speaker, Jennifer Tolkov.
JENNIFER TOLKOFF: Those comments are very sweet. Thank you, guys. Hey, Liam, stop crying, buddy. It's OK.
So first and foremost, on behalf of our entire cohort, our heartfelt thanks go to our program directors, Sean and Maria. Sean, thank you for providing that foundational course that all other courses built upon. Your thoughtful delivery and ability to distill complicated concepts into understandable material is a gift we admire and appreciate.
This is also a microcosm of my learning environment this year. Maria, thank you for all that you did behind the scenes to make this program run so smoothly and for ensuring we had two on campus intensive weeks despite new variants and pandemic developments.
Thank you also for carefully interviewing these smart professionals that I got to learn from this year. The beauty of an executive program is that, as a student-- now two of my three kids are crying. --the beauty of this executive program is that as a student, we're learning alongside experts in various positions across the health care industry.
We were able to discuss the pandemic's strain on the health care system with Doctors Vanessa Price and Dr. Greg Adaka, both of whom were joining classes in-between busy shifts in their emergency department. We discussed real-time FDA decisions with Joydeep Ganguly, a nationally-regarded pharmaceutical operations executive.
We evaluated patient access problems with rural and community-based health care providers like Eddie-- Dr. Eddie Adaka-- Eddie Akbar. Excuse me. Dr. Amie Mower, Dr. Mark Fenzl, and Dr. Rica Mackert. All of these individuals know those struggles very well.
We studied insurance companies with Joanna Emond, an actuary and consultant to insurance organizations, who rely on her expertise to set their premiums. We better understood the prevalence of different variants in vaccine efficacy from Chiling Zhao, a chief scientific officer and laboratory director focusing on infectious diseases.
I wish that I had more time to go over every one of these graduates, because each one is an expert in their field and brought depth and breadth to the coursework that's not available in traditional programs. For all of that, Maria and Sean, thank you.
I've thought a lot about how much our cohort has accomplished in the last 18 months. 50,016,600 seconds. Not that I've been counting. And the sacrifices every one of us made to be here today.
Despite during this process, we spent less time with our family and friends, less time on hobbies or exercise, less time putting in extra hours at work, and surely we slept a lot less. For those graduates who are joining class from around the world, often in the middle of the night, the sacrifice of sleep was much more pronounced.
As a mother of three young children, I understand these sacrifices firsthand, and I also recognize the support needed from family, friends, and coworkers to make it through this program. To all of the partners and family members out there, who helped your graduate with dinners and bedtimes, for giving us the time and space to study, thank you. We could not have done this without you.
I also want to thank all of you, my classmates. If you had asked me the likelihood of graduating during those early weeks of Professor Evans's course, I would have said low. Very, very low. But despite our careers, our family obligations, and all of the other important demands on our time, we all managed this extraordinary feat.
This was not without the encouragement and support of one another. We have bonded. Our cohort psychiatrist, Dr. Katie Niedt, can opine on whether this is a trauma bond from the microeconomics course or for managing full-time careers with part-time school.
Whatever the reason, we have connected as teammates, friends, confidants, and champions. Over this past month, without classes, without group projects, papers, discussion posts, I've started to really enjoy the freedom of having my evenings again.
More time with my children and friends, my husband. The freedom of regaining that time has been invaluable. I've started to think about exercising again, reading the stack of books that started to collect dust on my bookshelf. But these pleasures have not come without a cost. I miss seeing all of you.
A unique aspect of learning predominantly via Zoom is the context in which you get to know your cohort. We got to see each other's kids, and family members, and pets sneak onto camera. When people would forget to mute, we heard them navigate their work, talk to their partners about dinner, negotiate with their kids to remain quiet.
We saw Jacob's many, many different backgrounds. Cafe with dinner and wine. Poolside with people swimming in the background. A beach. A random gazebo sitting at the end of the largest conference room. That's just to name a few.
Many may think learning via Zoom is a barrier to getting to know your classmates. I believe it helped us get to know one another and who we are outside of school even better.
I'll miss the high quality professors who challenged our understanding of business operations, who helped us recognize health equity issues, and encouraged us to identify solutions. Who demanded we think strategically. Who had us make bold predictions about the future of health care, and who insisted we approach leadership like Vince Lombardi.
They gave us the knowledge and tools we needed to be the best health care leaders in the industry. But of all these things, I will miss learning from all of you the most. You have taught me more than I could have ever hoped for.
This group is truly remarkable. And this was mentioned already, but I want to reiterate. In the fall of 2020 during a still very scary point in the pandemic, before vaccinations and boosters, when many of us wondered if the world would ever return to normal, when death rates were continuing to rise, when our resources were strained and our patience was at its thinnest, each one of us decided, let's get another degree.
That's pretty crazy. We made that decision at a time of such uncertainty, and that's something that classes before us and classes after us cannot claim. That decision is impressive, and, as I mentioned, a little crazy.
Now that I've had the opportunity to get to know each one of you, it's clear to me that you decided to enter this program not just to get that MHA after your name, but to have the educational framework to make a positive impact on health care. I look forward to seeing how this group of remarkable leaders works to improve access and quality while lowering the cost of health care.
And I hope soon Professor Nicholson can cite your work as doing-- somebody who has succeeded at doing all three at the same time. It has been an honor to call you my colleagues and friends. Thank you and congratulations.
THOMAS O'TOOLE: The EMPA Student Service Award is presented to a remarkable professional, whom I deeply admire, and whom her peers admire for her innovative leadership and dedication to a career protecting the most vulnerable among us. Ashley Bryant is an innovator, leader, social entrepreneur, and advocate for children around the world.
She believes in the power of the human spirit and the ability for anyone to thrive and achieve. In 2010, Ashley founded 3Strands Global Foundation in response to a trafficking incident in her small suburb. Over the past 12 years, she's led the organization to exponential growth.
She was integral in the development of a global anti-trafficking training and curriculum, PROTECT, now live in six states and several countries. To date, the program has reached over 80,000 adults and more than 725,000 youth. Ashley expanded 3Strand's programming to include a direct services program called Employ and Empower.
The program has placed over 450 survivors and at-risk youth in sustainable jobs in the last four years in Sacramento and San Francisco. A frequent panelist and keynote speaker, Ashley has presented to groups around the world. Her presentations have covered topics ranging from data and impact, to prevention, to system collaboration, to address the root causes of exploitation.
She also frequently consults with legislators and state attorneys general on anti-human trafficking legislation, having helped author and passed EB 1227, the Human Trafficking Prevention Education Act in California, the first legislation of its kind in the United States. Ashley, thank you for truly doing the greatest good and for the many contributions that you've made to your EMPA cohort.
Our EMPA student speaker is also someone whom I admire greatly, and who has been a constant source of support for faculty and her classmates over the past 18 months. Mary Papamarcoux is a managing director at Morris Capital Management, a global asset management firm, where she leads marketing, business development, and relationship management for the firm.
She joined Morris in 2021 from Okianitas Consulting, where, as managing partner, she developed marketing strategies for small businesses. Prior to Okianitas Consulting, she spent over 14 years at Hotchkiss and Wiley as a managing director and equity owner, where she managed strategic partnerships with national retail and retirement firms.
She began her financial services career at Merrill Lynch. Mary, thank you so much for your generosity, your empathy, and your commitment to the EMPA program and your cohort.
MARY PAPAMARCOUX: I'm shorter. I'm going to actually start with a really quick Ashley story before I go into my discussion. I was in London in October, and I carry my computer, because classes go on all day every day wherever you are.
And I left my room for a few minutes, and I came back. And I heard Ashley speaking, and I'm like, man, did I leave my computer open? And no, Ashley was on CNN. Ashley's organization was doing a PSA for human trafficking and education and prevention month in October.
And not just as a nutshell of Ashley. She didn't tell anybody-- and I had noticed the week before during Zoom that her hair looked really pretty, and she had a cute outfit on. I'm like, you look really nice tonight. And she said, we took pictures today. Ashley was filming a PSA for CNN. So that's Ashley. Humble and dedicated.
Good afternoon, Dean Barry, fellow graduates, family, faculty, and staff. I am humbled and honored to be speaking on behalf of my colleagues in the first EMPA cohort of the Brooks School of Public Policy. For those of you unfamiliar with the program structure, we took 31 classes over the course of 18 months.
And in those 18 months, I started school and a new job on the same day, June first, 2021. I attended class while also traveling for work, which took me all over the United States and the world. Sometimes attending class in the middle of the night in airports, hotels, parking garages, train stations. In all that time, I missed one class.
And why, you might ask? Classes were recorded. But for me, class was something I looked forward to not only because of the amazing Cornell faculty. I had the opportunity to work with and learn from an incredibly diverse group of colleagues, who continue to blow me away every day with their achievements and life experiences.
The last 18 months has been a unique journey that started in pandemic year two. Each of us took a different path and has a different story about how we got to Cornell and to this program. I'd like to share with you mine, if you'll indulge me.
2020 was a difficult year. It started in January with the loss of my grandmother. I was her person. I moved in with my grandparents shortly after college to help care for my grandfather, and when he passed away, I stayed. My grandmother and I took care of each other until years later, the dementia took away her memory. Then I took care of her, too.
I worked a remote schedule before remote work became a thing, so that she could live her life out in her own home. And what an amazing life she had. An educator married to an educator from a family that valued education.
In February of that year, my job ended after over 14 years. It wasn't planned and not my choice, but I wasn't worried. I would take a month or two and figure out what I wanted to do next. In March, the world shut down, and no one knew then how long that would be.
In April, my best friend from college, a tax attorney any my sorority little sister, Colleen, helped me start a consulting firm. I would put together the marketing and business plans for the firm she was providing compliance services for. It was a great arrangement, and we started working together with several clients.
Then one day, she went to sleep and didn't wake up. In the first nine months of 2020, I'd lost two jobs and two people who I loved and cared deeply about while living in the relative isolation of a pandemic. So now what?
I'm too young to retire. I'm not independently wealthy. I can't watch The Price Is Right all day. Thankfully, I had my volunteer work to keep me busy. I serve on the Rutgers University Board of Trustees, the Rutgers University Board of Directors, and until recently, on the executive committees of both. While going to school.
I also serve on the investment committees of the Phi Sigma Sigma national sorority foundation, the associate alumni of Douglas College Endowment Fund, and the Rutgers University Foundation. Volunteer work is great, and I love it. But I needed a new plan, something that would make yaya and Colleen proud.
I realized then that I am the luckiest human being on the planet. I have what is called a blank slate to start over. I have a family and friends who love and support me, two fresh new kittens, who have made me the center of their universe, some money saved, and a strong professional network.
I ask you all, what would you do if you could make a fresh start, knowing a whole lot more than you did when you were 21 years old? I made a list of things that gave me joy. Family, old people, helping underserved communities, giving a voice to those who don't have one. Traveling, working out, sunshine, volunteering. I know, weird list.
Then I typed my list into Google. Who wouldn't? I don't know how. I don't know why. The executive master's of public administration program for Cornell University advertising block popped up in the middle of that search screen. Interesting, I thought.
I clicked in the box. A master's program had never been an option for me. Over the course of my 25-plus year career in financial services, I traveled for work. My colleagues-- sorry. I skipped a page.
I worked long hours. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, and in-person classes were never possible. I clicked in the box. I read about the program, closed the computer, and didn't think more about it. But now I've clicked in that box, and it pops up every so often when I'm doing a search.
I click into the Cornell EMPA program again and enter Devin Pappas. I'm pretty sure Devin is not here today, but if not for Devin, maybe I wouldn't be here in front of you. So either divine intervention of the universe or Google web analytics thinks Cornell is something I should spend a little bit more time researching.
I meet with Devin. I attend the information session. I interviewed with Professor Tom O'Toole, and now I can think of nothing more than wanting to participate in this program. This program is everything I had hoped for and more.
It has given me the tools to be a better board member and a better global citizen. I have been challenged, and my brain has been stretched. I like school so much more now than when I was an undergrad, the actual school part. I've made friends that I hope will last a lifetime, my colleagues and my professors.
I look forward to taking advantage of all that being a Cornell alumni offers me. Many days, I didn't think I belonged. I wasn't smart enough, and in the early days, I went through the five stages of grief every time we switched classes. I got over it. It's an Ivy League master's program. It's supposed to be hard.
There's a long list of people I would like to thank. Professor Lori Miller, Professor Matthios, Professors Derek and Laura Cabrera. Professor Tarcisio Alvarez Rovero, Professor Geddes. Professor Grasso, Professor Mathisen, Professor Brenner, Professor Sue. Pete Garcia. Thank you.
I apologize. I'm sure I've forgotten someone. We've had so many great instructors. Thank you to the staff at the Brooks School. Lisa Jones, Sarah Ship, Lydia David, Cheryl Barnes. I have an immense gratitude for the counsel and support of my advisor, Tom O'Toole, who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.
Tom, this program means so much to me, because you're leading it, and there aren't enough words to express my appreciation for you. I am thankful for my amazing family, who made it possible for me to be here today. My sister and my oldest friend, Dina.
More than anything, I want to say thank you to my mom and dad, who can't be here today. Who sacrificed everything, so their three girls could have an education and opportunity. I know they are proud of me, but I couldn't be prouder of where I come from and who I am because of them.
My dad always says, God bless America. Where else can an illegal immigrant come raise his family and realize the American dream? I'd like to conclude with two parting nuggets of Mary wisdom.
First, surround yourself with people who make you want to be the best version of yourself and live your best life. And second, never say you're overwhelmed. It sounds like you're in over your head. Tell people you are oversubscribed. There just isn't any more time to take on something new.
As we graduate today, I'm looking forward to new projects and opportunities, maybe even more school. Because for the first time in 18 months, I am no longer oversubscribed. Thank you so much and congratulations, fellow EMPH and EMPA graduates.
MARIA THOMPSON: Thank you. We'll now proceed to the awarding of degrees, so our graduates will come on stage. If they have young children that have been integral to their experience and would like to come with them, we welcome that. So you can bring them over to my left and then collect them on my right.
I'm ready. I'm ready when you are. Gregory Adaka. Marlyn P. Aguilar.
Adnan Eddy Akbar. Akinola Akinmade.
Amena AlBasher. David Anthony Allen-Matheson.
Joanna Amend. John Juancho-Punsal Bautista.
Krystal Cascetta. Claire Chambers. Lauren A. Conner. Did you take the picture?
Todd Dugan Jr. Mark Fenzl. Joydeep Ganguly. Richa Garg.
Keri A. Greenberger. Blake Hamilton. Toby Hubbard.
Ashley Luchsinger. Rica Mackert. Kevin Maharis.
Amie Mower. Ashwin Nariani. Katherine Niedt.
Imelda Margarita M. Nunez. Shavina Patil. Lillyanna Paulino Perez.
Vanessa Price. Melissa Patton Rudder. Yi Shi.
Stephanie Tedeschi. Mary Jennifer Tiffer. Jennifer Ashley Tolkoff.
You should take a picture. Nicholas Vasquez. Minglu Wang.
Han G. Yoo. Jacob L. Young. Chih-Ling Zao.
Nezar Zughaibi. Congratulations.
THOMAS O'TOOLE: And now the executive master of public administration candidates. Jose Maria Alvarez Hernandez.
Len Bartel.
Christopher Battle. Ashlie M. Bryant.
Lizeth Flores. Hoda Gamal.
Myra Garcia. Meseret Ghirmai. Pricilla Schroy Glover.
Alessandra Sartori McCormack. Ashley Meyer.
Nicholas J. Moore. Chelsea Nguyen. Mary Aithra Papamarkou.
Rama katigbak Rubiales. Elizabeth Shedd. Xai Kendra Thao.
Zanita Tisdale. Jessica May Wertzler.
May I ask the EMHA and EMPA class of 2022 to please rise? Not yet. Faculty, staff, friends, and family, I present to you the EMHA and EMPA classes of 2022. Oh, come on.
So before we recess, please join us in singing Cornell's Alma mater. The words are printed in your program.
Congratulations to all graduates. We'll allow faculty and students to process out first, and we invite all of you to join us for a reception following, as well as photos in the library. But thank you all for coming. Please travel safely home and congratulations again.
Brooks Executive Programs Graduation 2022: Executive Master of Health Administration and Executive Master of Public Administration
