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Thank you Sarah. what a glorious day in the
Lehigh Valley. It is a pleasure to have you all with us
to share in our celebration and in respect of our celebration, I
would ask you to please silent your cell phones at this time
Thank you. Well, this
certainly has been an eventful and historic week.
Almost exactly one week ago, America shared in Britain celebration
and watched sometimes, many times over as
William and Katherine had their royal wedding and then
by the end of that weekend, we engaged in a stunning revelation
with the world, as we heard of the death of the leader of terrorism
Within 72 hours, we had experienced the two ends
of an historic continuem in real time. Thanks to modern technology.
I got email alerts and texts on my blackberry,
hundreds of tweets on my iPad and I even
missed the ending of one of my favorite Sunday programs as the news channels
brok in with special reports. Technology truly opens
worlds of information and the experience of events to us more quickly
and more easily than ever before. Things no longer
happen in seclusion in our world but rather now
with millions and sometimes billions of witnesses. Now I have to admit
I am into technology and those who actually know me will tell you that
I am a bit of a techno nut. So you can imagine that over the weekend
I really became an information addict
but even I must admit, even for me, at times I was on
information overload. Through this all, I began to think
just about all of the history that we have seen in our lifetime
and perhaps, more importantly, especially in reference to our graduates today
I thought about all the history that you will make
and that we may be witnesses to, in the future.
Winston Churchill once said, "History will be kind to me because I intend to
write it". So graduates, what will they write about you?
Or will you like Churchill, pick up your pen today,
control your own destiny and write your own?
And if you choose to write your own, what would it say? Would it
simply say that you were a member of the class of 2011?
because right now, you are, and that's a fact that history cannot change
or will it be that you were a person of integrity?
who dreamed the dream, made decisions, took action
and positively impacted those around you. For all of our sakes,
I hope you choose the latter. Dream the dream.
Its interesting how in a time when we have volumes and volumes
of information in our finger tips that actually our communication have become
more and more restricted. Perhaps, this started with
texting and twitter, which restricts us to say all that we need to say
in 140 characters. And most recently,
our communications have been reduced to three word phrases to get
attention and communicate our message. To that
extent, even good morning America has a weekend segment entitled, "My life
in three words". For example, in regards to the first two historic
events I talked about, phrases like "we got 'em" or "they got
hitched" have been printed in bandy debouns headlines
We got the drift, but sometimes the details were lost and that really
maybe whats most important. Hopefully, what gets our attention
leads us to learn more. For example, in relation
to our speaker today, perhaps, her life in three words could be
summed up to be, "Big *** theory" but the
details are that she is much more than that. She is a neuroscientist,
an artist, an educator, a mother
She is more than able to integrate science, art and education
into a very valuable life that impacts many.
Now maybe the most notable of these phrases may have started with Nike
who by the way, the previously you know was, you guessed it, a Penn Stater.
When they began their campaign of "just do it"
that three word phrase was so successful that to their
campaign to support exercise and buy their sneakers, was transformed
to an American communication icon. They got our attention
they activated the population and they increased their profits.
A lot of results for just three words.
Penn State of course, has its own three words to live by, "Making life Better"
and making life better are three words that we strive to have
all Penn Staters live by. Giving back to your community
has been reinforced throughout your education with us and we truly hope that you
make your education, respect it and use it to positively
impact others, to give it on.
President Calvin Coolidge once said, "No person was ever honored for what
he received. Honor is the reward for what he gave."
Now part of my job as a chancellor is in the area of
fundraising and development. Frankly, that means I get to go out
and ask people for money, not for me, but money
to support our campus, support our university and most importantly
to support our students. Now, ironically the name of Penn State's
fundraising campaign is, you guessed it, three words.
"For the future". It implies that those who come before
have the responsibility to secure a future for the generations to follow.
Well I am not here today to ask you for money.
but I will ask you to adjust your perspective because those
three words apply to life and society also.
What I didn't realize as I was writing these remarks was just how historic
this week really was. You see, this week marks the
50th anniversary of the freedom writers. They were
a group of individuals, blacks and whites, who chose a
1961 to board busses in Washington D.C. to travel through
the South to New Orleans. They also chose both
blacks and whites to sit in the 'whites only' front of the bus
to protest segregation in the South. Along the route,
many endured savage beatings, fire bombings and even
imprisonment, but they completed their rides and the rides kept
on coming. They did this, they were
college students, just like you. And they did this for the
future, for your future, and my future, and the
future of generations to come. I know that one thing that
they never imagined is that the proclamation that will be given to them
50 years later would be signed by an interracial president.
Thanks to them, its been quite a ride.
Now, I couldn't speak to our graduates today about life in 3 words
without giving a parental perspective. I was struck years
ago when I heard a friend of mine correct the habits of her teenage son by saying
"Being a gentleman will never go out of style"
So the three words that a parent might suggest you are,
"please, thank you". For those of you who know our cheer
'we are Penn State', you know that the last line is
always 'Thank you' with a response, 'you're welcome'
and for some reason our constricted communication styles have seemed to
exclude the niceties of being polite. My friend was so
right and I would suggest to you graduates, that you remember these three words
please, thank you. It will garner you
attention and they will take you far in an interview,
far in a career, and far in life
The three words will give you more in return than you can ever imagine.
Now, lastly graduates, i guess the three words that will aptly describe you today
will be 'Penn State alum'.
These three words will remain with you with the rest of your life. The details
that you add to that phrase, well, thats your responsibility.
But I can assure you that these three words will garner you, again, attention.
I recently returned from Penn State Lehigh Valley
tour of Paris and Bruge. I was in an elevator in Paris
wearing a Penn State shirt. The complete stranger standing
next to me, turned and said, with a lovely French accent,
"I loved living in State College". She and her husband were
Penn State grads. You are now a member of the largest
alumni association in the world and believe me, wherever in the world
you may be, you will find Penn Staters.
Now, I am not entirely convinced that three words can adequately describe one's life
I have a tendency to see so much more.
but graduates, I do hope that you will take the time to learn the details about
the person, about the event, about the situation
because sometimes details are what makes the diference.
But I will admit that three word phrases do get our attention
and in our fast paced world, this has become our style
of communication. So, in this spirit graduates,
let me leave you with this advice, "just
do it, dream the dream
make life better for the future".
Penn State Alum, please, thank you.