Welcome to the class of 2023
and to our transfer students, and welcome to your families and friends.
Among the many things that
impress me at Susquehanna is move in. The O-Team, first-year RAs, athletes, alumni,
members of the Selinsgrove community, faculty, and staff do such a great job of
welcoming and, what’s surely more appreciated, schlepping. Let’s give a hand to
your wonderful new neighbors who have helped you with your initial move into
campus.
Let us recognize the legacy
of the Susquehannock people who were the first stewards of this beautiful place
and from whom this university and the river derive our names.
To the families in the room,
thank you for the many ways you helped these assembled students choose to
become Susquehannans. You can continue to play a critical part in their
university journeys, but please don’t spend too much time on the phone with
your students. You can keep track of events taking place on campus through our
website and the new SU mobile app. When you do call, be sure to ask about your
student’s participation in those activities, and ask them to share with you
what they thought about those experiences.
Convocation means to be
called together from the Latin words “con” meaning with and “vocare” meaning "to call" or
“to be called.” It’s is the same root as vocal and voice. So, at this event we
are called together to begin the academic year, as Dr. Hastings does with such
ceremonial panache. More importantly, we are called together with you to
signal your entry into the life of this university and to celebrate the
beginning of your matriculation, which is the substantiation of your having
been called to this place.
You just made one of the best
decisions of your life. The faculty and staff of this institution are truly
extraordinary, and their commitment to your development and success inspires me
every day.
It would be unusual for a
student to choose a college based upon the central curriculum, but here, this
spine of all students’ academic experience is an outward sign of fundamental
values held by this university community. As our catalog states, “the Central
Curriculum is designed to develop in students an awareness of:
· the richness
of human thought and expression,
· the ways
humans have sought to explain the natural world, and
· the breadth of
human interactions throughout the world, across time and into the present, and
of the belief systems, values and practices through which those interactions
are manifested.”[1]
These are the issues that
bring value to our lives and present the most vexing challenges we face as
members of an increasingly complex global society. One of the many benefits of
a liberal arts education is how your world will continue to expand and shrink
at the same time.
The vastness of the cosmos
and the staggering breadth and depth of human achievement in the arts and
science become more humbling at every turn, but a growing awareness of the
countless ways we are linked through common human experiences are equally inspiring
affirmations of our interdependence.
We are all citizens of the
world. Asking where you are from was once a sincere icebreaker, but it has too
often become code for “you’re not from here.” The great cynic philosopher,
Diogenes of Sinope declared that he was a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.
I have a strong affection for
Diogenes. None of his writings survives, but like the faculty in this room, he
was a great teacher, and he changed the course of western thought through his
students.
Living in exile, Diogenes did
not want to be treated differently because of his place of origin, so when
asked where he was from, he replied, “I am a citizen of the world.” As the
banner in front of our home and homes throughout our community and the nation
say, “No matter where you are from, we are glad you are our neighbor.”
We are all citizens of the
world. This is the fundamental lesson of the GO program. Each year, hundreds of
Susquehanna students learn first-hand the immeasurable value of human and
cultural diversity, the wealth to be discovered in our differences, and how
much each of has in common.
We are all citizens of the
world. We are bound by hope and common desires of personal expression, freedom
from want, and the wellbeing of those we love.
Two years ago, upon being
installed president, I said, “The world has never needed Susquehanna graduates
more.” Little did I know how dramatically that need would escalate. The
citizens of our world need thoughtful advocates, our planet needs thoughtful
advocates, and our future needs thoughtful advocates.
We are not alone. On August
19th, 181 members of the Business Roundtable, which comprises the chief
executives of the largest U.S. corporations, signed a new “Statement of the
Purpose of a Corporation.” This 300-word document begins with this sentence, “Americans
deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and
creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity.” The citizens of all
nations deserve these rights.
The
Statement continues by saying that corporations share a “fundamental commitment
to all…stakeholders.” These include customers, employees, suppliers, and
communities, as well as investors. This is consistent with the concept of a triple bottom line. To be successful, a business (or
any enterprise) must be financially sustainable, benefit its employees, and be
good for its surrounding community, meaning its neighbors and the environment.
As
citizens of the world, we are all stakeholders in a collective future. Our world has never needed Susquehanna graduates more to
be advocates for the triple bottom line we all share, so all may thrive, so all
may enjoy respect, and so all may inherit an environment that has been passed
down responsibly.
At the laying of the cornerstone
of Selinsgrove Hall in 1858, Joseph Casey stated, “Education, in its legitimate
sense, includes not only the cultivation of the mental powers, but the proper
training and development of the moral sentiments and faculties, and its true
object is to ‘make us not only wiser but better…’”[2]
Today, I invite you to your
graduation in this space in May of 2023. At the close of that ceremony, I will
give you this charge:
Achieve all you can for good,
Lead with honor and humility,
Serve with love and pride,
And always strive to be not only wiser, but better.
Keep those goals in mind as
you spend the next four years preparing for that day. Today, I give you this charge
rooted in the goals of our core curriculum:
· Engage in the richness of human thought and expression with
a convert’s zeal,
· Ponder the ways humans have sought to explain the natural
world with an openness to the wide-eyed wonder with which we have sought to
understand the mysteries that surrounded us;
· Treasure the breadth of human interactions throughout the
world and across time; and
· Learn to appreciate the belief systems, values, and
practices through which those interactions are manifested,
· So that you
can become the advocates and leaders the citizens of our world so desperately
need.
Welcome home!