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REBECCA KAPLAN: I am Rebecca Kaplan, the senior class commencement chair and a member of the senior class council. The academic procession is about to begin. At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce the readers from each College who will be announcing the degree candidates' names today.
From the Graduate School, Associate Dean Sarah Wicker. Sarah? OK. From the ILR School, Associate Dean Robert Smith.
[APPLAUSE]
From the architecture, Art, and Planning School, Associate Dean Barry Perlus.
[APPLAUSE]
From the School of Hotel Administration, Associate Dean Steven Carvell.
[APPLAUSE]
From the College of Human Ecology, Associate Dean Carole Bisogni.
[APPLAUSE]
From the College of Engineering, Associate Dean Charles Seyler.
[APPLAUSE]
From the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Associate Dean Donald Viands.
[APPLAUSE]
From the College of Arts and Sciences, Assistant Dean Kenneth Gabbard.
[APPLAUSE]
[EDWARD ELGAR, "POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE"]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Good morning families, friends, colleagues, and students. We've gathered here today to honor our students who are completing their academic achievements at Cornell University. It's my pleasure to introduce to you the President of Cornell University, David J. Skorton.
[APPLAUSE]
DAVID J SKORTON: Thank you, Professor Walcott, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of Cornell University and the deans, faculty, and staff of its schools and its colleges, I am pleased to welcome you to this morning's very important and very joyful ceremony and to congratulate the students who will be earning their Cornell degrees in January '12.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
On all of our behalves, I want to welcome the families and the guests of the graduates, and to thank you for making the trip to Ithaca for this ceremony. We always worry about the weather this time of year, but so far, so good.
One thing that we on the stage are curious about, we'd like to know if there are any parents, or spouses, or partners, or brothers or sisters, or friends, or other family members of the graduates out there. If there are, please raise your hands. Graduates, let's have round of applause for these people who made it possible.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
Graduates, would you also join me and the deans in thanking the faculty for their inspired teaching and their dedication to the next generation of scholars and citizens?
[APPLAUSE]
And I'd like you and everyone here to join me, please, in recognizing the many Cornell staff members who volunteered their time to make this and the reception possible. I want to thank all of you for giving your time on a weekend during a busy season of the year, in addition to all your other contributions to Cornell University. A thank you to our staff.
[APPLAUSE]
Some of the undergraduate students here are commencing in less than the usual four-year span, having taken heavy course loads and perhaps some summer or winter session classes to accelerate your education. Some have taken a bit longer to complete your degree requirements, perhaps because of a double major, or because you changed academic programs, or because you transferred here from somewhere else, or because you spent some time away from campus to work, to travel, or because there were so many courses you wanted to take and so many things you wanted to experience.
Some, of course, are earning graduate or professional degrees. 10 of our degree candidates are Cornell employees who have attended classes and studied on top of working full time.
But no matter what your individual circumstances, we are delighted to recognize you today for all of your achievements and to invite each of you back to campus to participate, if you can, in the May commencement event. By May, we're pretty sure that winter will be over.
[LAUGHTER]
The candidates for January degrees are a quite diverse group, diverse ethnically and geographically and in career interests as well. Represented among the 822 candidates are all seven of Cornell's undergraduate colleges, as well as the Graduate School, the law school, and the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Among our bachelor's student candidates, 12% are international students, as are 44% of the graduate and professional degree candidates, continuing Cornell's rich tradition of attracting scholars from around the world in every field.
The differences among you are intriguing, and they have enriched the Cornell community greatly during your time here. [COUGHS] Excuse me.
But now, I want to speak not of differences, but of commonalities, and offer a few thoughts that I hope will be of some value at one of the most significant points in your lives.
For the past year, and perhaps for quite a bit longer, your friends and your family have been asking, what are you going to do after you graduate? And you have answered, some with certainty and confidence, some with a touch of hesitation, by describing employment in hand, or the search for employment, or a graduate or professional program, or a post-doctoral opportunity, or travel plans, or the plans to volunteer.
Whatever your answer, today, I am not asking you what, but instead asking you how will you do it? And I hope that whatever it is that you decide to do after leaving Cornell, that you do it with imagination.
Now, you may associate imagination with artists, or writers, or dreamers. And you may think of yourself as a tough, worldly realist. But I believe that each one of us has the kind of imagination that I'm talking about.
Let me suggest three qualities of imagination that are tremendously valuable to us as individuals and as members of a local, national, and global society. First, imagination is open, open to new ideas, to other points of view, to other people's experiences. It is an essential component of empathy, which can bring us together across even the widest gulf of personality, and culture, and background, and current circumstance.
It is relevant to our national political life, which, as you know, is too often polarized into narrow partisan and ideological camps. As author and storyteller Michael Meade has noted, "It is the collapse of imagination that plunges us into these simplistic oppositions, leaving no room for compromise and no room for progress."
In the years ahead, I hope that you will use the open quality of imagination to help you work constructively with all kinds of people through the complexities of your private and your community life.
Second, imagination has vision. Faced with all the world's tragedies, and inequalities, and suffering, imagination sees not only what is wrong, but how things could be different and how things could be better.
In this way, imagination is the foundation of generosity, and service, and engagement in civic life. It can lead to new inventions and innovative ways of accomplishing our personal objectives. It can find creative ways around the obstacles that we all face. And I hope that you will use your imagination to envision yourself in the many worthwhile roles that you will decide to play and to envision your own ability to effect change.
Third, imagination has depth. It is an essential part of what Meade calls a vertical life, a life with depth of thought, and emotion, and meaning. By contrast, "to live horizontally," Meade says, "is to live superficially, and that includes substituting material possessions for more soul-nourishing things, such as music and art, and substantive and searching interactions, and genuine person-to-person communication, whether it's by texting, or twittering, or email, or even if you run out of other ideas, talking face to face.
To live with imagination is to give your life depth and to make you more authentically yourself. You can use your imagination to remain true to that self throughout the many choices that are ahead. And as you move forward into this next phase of your lives, I hope you will remember to cultivate and to tap into your imagination.
Use it to open yourself to the experience of others and to engage in thoughtful discussion and collaborative action. Use it to envision solutions to problems in and beyond your local community, and to join with others in pursuit of a better future. Use it to help you live a richer and deeper life, to rise above materialism, and to find meaning within yourself.
And as you live this rich, and engaged, and imaginative life, the life that is my wish for each of you today, I ask that you remain connected with us back here at Cornell. In my time here, I have been repeatedly inspired by the evidence of how deeply Cornell alumni, all 240,000 that you are joining, care about their classmates and their University, and how eager they are to stay engaged with this University, engaged with other alumni, with faculty and students on campus, and with the university's activities and its aspirations.
Each of you has played a role in shaping Cornell during your time here. You have a role in our future as well. Good luck and stay in touch. And now it is a great pleasure to turn the podium over to the speaker you've really been waiting for, the senior class president, Annabel Elizabeth Grasselli Fowler. Thank you and bless you all.
[APPLAUSE]
ANNABEL FOWLER: Thank you, President Skorton. Members of the Cornell community, faculty, administration, proud parents, extended family, and friends, A heartfelt welcome to Ithaca on this glorious day to salute our December graduates. It is an honor to speak to all of you.
Writing this speech was a daunting task. I got more nervous when I asked my parents what they remembered from their graduation speakers, and both drew a blank. My brother suggested I dress like Lady Gaga to make an impression. Then he suggested Conan O'Brien edit my speech. Neither is what I had in mind.
I came to Cornell from a small Christian High School in Houston, Texas. As wonderful as that experience was, I wanted to attend a large university. Within the first week, I realized no one holds your hand to help you navigate the process. Compared to our contemporaries, who have defended our country in Iraq or Afghanistan, navigating through Cornell is not all that daunting.
Many of us have confronted challenges at different times. Whether it is getting time with a busy professor, not getting the job we had worked so hard for, not getting into the organization of our choice, or simply just trying to find a small place within a very large university. Cornell is a big school, and like any big institution, it tests us.
While those types of experiences are not fun, they may be the best preparation to embrace any challenges ahead. Whether or not we have our immediate futures figured out, the great news is, it's not where we start that counts, it's what we do with the opportunities and how we finish that really matters. Most importantly, we must never fear failure. If we live cautiously, we risk not achieving our true potential.
As I look at all of you, I see so much potential. I see future teachers who will inspire young minds, or save a child who has nowhere else to turn for inspiration. Maybe a future Secretary of State, an architect or engineer who takes sustainability to another level, a farmer who improves corn yields to help feed the world's population.
And for those who had to finance and make so much money it loses any sense of reality, I hope you don't forget about the needs of the other 99%. If anything is clear today, the world needs--
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
--the world needs each of us to make a contribution. And we are prepared. We have been challenged to think critically and to step outside of our comfort zones by some of the finest minds. We have been fortunate to attend a University that prides itself in diversity. What a precious gift. Few things in life are more valuable than the ability to empathize with individuals whose experiences we have not endured.
My hope is that we take that empathy to the next level and be especially understanding to those who have not had our privileges. Indeed, we have been given a privileged education. There is a caveat. Along with that privilege comes responsibility.
My hope is that the class of 2012 embraces how we are part of a global community and that our great class will not accept what is wrong with the world as the new reality, that it would be OK for anyone to go to bed hungry, that it would be OK for a child to attend a failing school, that it would be OK for people to not have access to basic medical care. It is not OK.
How we seize these challenges will define us as a class, as a nation, and what type of world we leave to our children. And yes, at some point we too will start thinking about the world our children will inherit.
While our meaning of what is a Cornellian may be different, we are part of the same family and traditions. We come from many different backgrounds and have been involved in Cornell in different ways, but we should feel empowered that anything may be possible. We must never forget that even little contributions add up to a big impact. Ordinary people acting in unison can achieve great things.
Having had the honor of being your class president for the past four years, I have come to know many of you, and I know we have a strong voice. Class of 2012, let's make a promise to use our voice to make our planet a better place. May we never forget to let our dreams inspire us no matter what challenges we face.
My wish is that when we see each other at our 50th reunion, we will have no regrets. We may have a few disappointments, but it won't be for not trying or not pursuing our dreams.
I would like to personally thank the many family members, students, friends, and staff who have been such a support to me here. I wish you well. And above all, I hope each of you keep those friends, family, and staff who have supported you close to your heart.
I want to end with a quote from Conan O'Brien. "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen." Thank you Cornellians and congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Annabel. We will now recognize the January degree candidates individually. I will call each Dean forward and ask the candidates to rise one row at a time and approach the platform. At this time, the reader for the first College will approach the microphone near the stairs.
Will the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, Barbara Knuth, please step forward and the candidates from the Graduate School approach the platform.
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Vice Provost and Dean Knuth. Will the Dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Harry Katz, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Katz. Will the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Kent Kleinman, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Kleinman. Will the Dean of the School of Hotel Administration, Michael Johnson, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Johnson. Will the Dean of the College of Human Ecology, Alan Mathios please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Mathios. Will the Dean of the College of Engineering, Lance Collins, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Collins. Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kathryn Boor, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Boor. Will the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Peter Lepage, please step forward and the candidates approach the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
[READING NAMES, APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Lepage. Congratulations to all of the candidates. I think we should have round of applause for all of them.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
Will the assembly please rise for the singing of the Alma Mater.
["FAR ABOVE CAYUGA'S WATERS"]
(SINGING) 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
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
This concludes our recognition ceremony. Please remain standing while the platform party faculty, administrators, trustees, and candidates recess to the reception area. Everybody is welcome to join the reception. Thank you for attending and safe travels home.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
[CEREMONIAL MUSIC]
January 2012 graduates and their families and friends gather for a recognition event and reception, December 17, 2011 in Barton Hall.
