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Good morning and welcome to Penn State Abington
I would like to thank the academic environment committee of the Abington faculty senate which has given be the honor
to share my thoughts and advice with you, our class of 2017.
I'm sure you're all so excited and thrilled about your first day in college, and will be even more next week.
What a landmark moment, but along with all the thrill and joy of being in college comes a deep sense of responsibility
to yourself and to your campus community. Today tell yourself that you take responsibility to learn and succeed
but don't think of yourself as alone on this learning journey. All of my faculty, colleagues, and I, our campus staff
and student government are here to assist you. The next four years are going to be memorable.
So make a commitment to yourself to invest fully in your college experience. Always aspire to learn to the best of
your ability and situation. Be a student at college, graduate school, or beyond. It is a life long position.
You see me today as a professor but I am also a student.
Whether I am in a classroom, in a meeting with my colleagues, or at a conference.
I always strive to learn and give that experience my one hundred percent.
And so the advice that I give you today comes from someone who practices it everyday.
In order to be successful as a student and learn, I practice three important principles.
I'm sharing these with you so that you can benefit from them as I have.
The first is respect. Someone very close to me always said, "You have give respect to get respect."
I practice this simple yet very powerful principle in every part of my life. Whether it is in a meeting, with administrators,
faculty peers, or students, I always make a purposeful effort to address each and every person with respect.
I address each student in my classroom by their preferred name. When I refer to my on campus supervisor and other
senior faculty, in a public, or large group setting, I always address them with their title as doctor and last name.
Using the right tone in your communication is the first step to building respect. So when you interact with your professors
address them with respect, both in person and in email. The same principle of respect applies to your classmates as well.
Treat each student with respect, take this step and you will see the change in the way others speak and interact with you.
The second principle is humility, you can only learn if you are humble and believe that others around you have
knowledge and can help you learn and grow. This is a very simple yet powerful principle.
Humility allows you to open yourself up to new knowledge and learning. If you're always bragging about yourself
you become so self-centered that you deprive yourself of learning something new from another individual.
I by no means suggesting that you shouldn't share your accomplishments with your professors and peers.
Being humble is about nurturing a mindset where you believe that others have something more and new to offer
and it is your responsibility to learn and grow from their experiences.
The third and last principle is ethics. Which is simply doing the right thing.
Ethics is a concept that is shaped by society. So for example, while giving a kickback on a business deal
might be a very common business practice in other countries, in America it is considered a bribe, and therefore unethical.
It is important that as future leaders you realize the importance of ethical behavior, and begin practicing it today.
And sometimes, doing the right thing means saying no to others.
The Penn State common reader, a book titled, "Beautiful Souls" that you will read and discuss in several of your classes
this year, will expose you to stories of four persons who stood up and said no to unethical conduct, and wrongful
behavior by others. As a college student that means not copying or cheating on a course assessment, and
saying no to another student who asks if he can borrow your answers to an assignment and submit as his own.
Make a promise to yourself, starting today you will do the right thing.
This is a mindset that needs to be nurtured so that when you are in a leadership position with the power to impact others
you will always act in a way that is right and does not exploit others. So give your one hundred percent to your lifelong
position as a student, and take full responsibility to learn and grow intellectually.
Thank you so much for listening to my comments and enjoy the rest of your day.