share interactive transcript request transcript/captions live captions
download
|
MyPlaylist
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: Ladies and gentlemen, the first of the academic procession has arrived. At the head of the procession is the University Marshal, Professor Charles Walcott.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Following the University Marshal is the banner for the class of 2008. The banner bearers are Lorraine Gregory and Linda Yu, class officers. Following the class banner will be the college or school academic units. Each college of school is identified by its name banner. You will also see a symbol banner that visually represents and reflects the academic focus of that college or school.
Bearers of the name and symbol banners are chosen by each college or school as an honor to recognize outstanding students. The first to arrive behind the class banner are the PhD degree candidates of the Graduate School. The Graduate School symbol banner is carried by Maryann Herman. The degree candidates are led by the Dean of the Graduate School, Professor Alison G. Power and faculty Marshals Emeritus Professor Jack Booker and Professor Jane Fajans.
The PhD banner bearers are Lydia Contreras and Peter Nester. The Degree Marshals are Kiran Gajwani and Dmitriy Levchenkov.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the PhD degree candidates from the Graduate School.
[APPLAUSE]
Next are the Master degree candidates of the Graduate School. The Master degree banner bearers are Craig Cimini and Sarah Hammer. The Degree Marshals are Felix Pageau and Abebe Peters.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the Master degree candidates from the Graduate School.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Next in the procession are the candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine who will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. They are led by Dean Michael Kotlikoff. The degree marshals are Michele Ann Keyerleber and Heather Wright. The college banner bearers are Lina Mohamed and Anne Ward. The symbol banner bearer is Andrew Nicholas Cartoceti.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium are the Doctor of Law and Master of Law's candidates from the Law School led by Dean Stewart Schwab. The degree marshals are Steven Arrigg Koh and Andrea M. Roca. The College banner bearers are Rafael Antonio Santos-Hernandez and C. Andrew Keisner. The symbol banner bearer is Jaclyn Greenstein.
Once again, the degree candidates from the Law School. Now entering the stadium are the Masters of Business Administration candidates from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management led by Dean Joe Thomas.
The degree marshals are CJ Fonzi and Adrienne Rose Martinez. The college banner bearers are Christopher Caudill and James McAllister. The symbol banner bearer is Melanie Taylor.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, for your information, degree candidates from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar participated in a separate commencement ceremony on May 8. The degree candidates from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City will participate in a separate commencement ceremony that will be held May 29.
[BAND MUSIC]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the Johnson Graduate School of Management.
[APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium are the first of the undergraduate degree candidates led by two class marshals. They are Morgan Naylor Bellows and Vincent Christopher Hartman. The Senior Class Council banner is being carried by Eric Wang and Isabela Tollini Wieczorek, members of the Senior Class Council.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The first undergraduate group is the School of Industrial and Labor Relations led by Dean Harry Katz. The degree marshals are Kerry Motelson and Griffin Oleynick. The school's banner bearers are Katelyn McClellan and Katherine Ann Sawyers. The symbol banner bearer is Javeste Dulcio.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning is led into the stadium by Dean Stanley Taft. The degree marshals for the Architecture Program are David Delaney Gull and Kai Wing Kelvin Leung. The degree marshals for the Fine Arts program are Ben Shattuck and Tania O'Brien.
The degree marshals for the Planning Program are Jeannine Mary Altavilla and Danier Bouza. The college banner bearers are Daniel Budish and Katherine Richardson. The symbol banner bearer is Kenneth Lau.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning.
[APPLAUSE]
Next, the School of Hotel Administration is led into the stadium by Dean Michael Johnson. The degree marshals are Christi Lockwood and Hannah Schlesinger. The school's banner bearers are Soo Yeon Jang and Craig Scott Jatlow. The symbol banner bearer is Liya Ma.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the School of Hotel Administration.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium are the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology led by Dean Alan Mathios. The degree candidates are-- the degree marshals are Lindsay Tara Fourman and Bethany Ojalehto. The college's banner bearers are Dana Elizabeth Amiraian and Keith Lin. The symbol banner bearer is Jenna Marshall.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, the College of Engineering is now led into the stadium by Associate Dean Kent Fuchs. The degree marshals are Andrew Charles Poshadel and Aaron Daniel Sidford. The college's banner bearers are Stephanie Peng and Keith Wong. The symbol banner bearer is Patrick Conrad.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Engineering.
[APPLAUSE]
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is now led into the stadium by Dean Susan A. Henry. The degree marshals are David Greenberg and Megan Robblee. The college's banner bearers are Jason Belsky and Mary Ellen Corr. The symbol banner bearer is Jason Pitts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CROWD CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[APPLAUSE]
The degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences are now being led into the stadium by Dean G. Peter LePage. The degree marshals are Michael Barany and Daniel Mummolo. The college banner bearers are Yan Lau and David Waks. The symbol banner bearer is Kara Gulewicz.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences.
[APPLAUSE]
Will all candidates for degrees please stand at this time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium is the administrative staff of the university led by Provost Biddy Martin, and two faculty marshals, Professor Jerome Hass and Professor Carol Bisogni.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The members of the faculty are now entering the stadium. They are led by the Associate Dean of the University Faculty, Brad Anton. The faculty marshals are Professor Steve Carvell, Professor Cornelia Farnum, Professor Howard Evans, and Professor Drew Noden.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thank you to the faculty of Cornell University.
[APPLAUSE]
Next in the procession are members of the University's Board of Trustees. The trustees are led by Chairman Peter C. Meinig. The faculty marshals are Professor Clifford Pollock and Professor Emeritus Jerome Ziegler.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
University Marshal Charles Walcott will now escort President David J. Skorton and the mace bearer, Professor Mary Beth Norton, to their places on the platform.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Mr. President, for the 140th time, candidates for degrees from Cornell University have gathered for conferral of degrees and to celebrate this commencement. Members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty, administrative officers, and guests are in their places. The assembly is hereby called to order.
Please remain standing as we join the Cornell University Glee Club and Chorus, accompanied by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble in singing the Star-Spangled Banner.
ALL: [SINGING] O, say can you see, by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
[APPLAUSE]
DAVID J. SKORTON: Everyone, please be seated.
University, a place of wonder, a time of learning, a space for growing. University, a way to future, a realm for seeking, a chance for courage. University, a path to reach back, a call to action, a place of wonder. University.
Good morning, and welcome to the members of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, faculty, students, staff, families and friends of the graduates, senior university leadership, and most of all, members of the class of 2008 and candidates for advanced degrees.
[APPLAUSE]
This is a day to celebrate the achievement of our graduates and a day to remember and thank those who laid the foundations for your accomplishments. Among those whose contributions have helped bring us to this day was Cornell's good friend, benefactor, former chair of the Board of Trustees, Cornell parent, and member of the class of 1957, Stephen H. Weiss, who passed on April 16.
Steve was the consummate Cornellian. He leaves a long and broad trail that revealed his deep attachment to all things Cornell, endowing the deanship of the Weill Cornell Medical College, professorships in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Weiss Presidential Fellowships, athletics programs, and much more. We all admired his ceaseless drive to make Cornell a better place. His vivacious and infectious spirit and his generosity that allows so many of us to strive to be our best.
Please join me, everyone, in a moment of silence in memory of our friend Steve Weiss.
Today's graduates carry Steve Weiss's legacy forward. It is hard to capture the uniqueness of such a large and diverse group of Cornellians, undergraduates, graduates, and professional students. But here is a very small sampling of some of what you and your classmates have achieved.
The Cornell Ranger robot developed by a student team working with Professor Andy Ruina, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, set an unofficial world record on April 3 by the robot walking nonstop for 45 laps or 5 and 1/2 miles around the Barton Hall running track.
[APPLAUSE]
The 83rd Hotel Ezra Cornell, organized and conducted by students from our School of Hotel Administration, balanced fine dining with professionally relevant education focusing on debt and equity in the hospitality industry and the credit crunch. The Cornell Glee Club and Chorus, under the direction of Scott Tucker, went on tour in China, singing on the Great Wall and giving concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
Men's and women's athletics at Cornell had very impressive records, including eight Ivy League titles this year. Congratulations to all who made these achievements happen.
Every graduate, of course, has a unique story and a unique path that brought her or him to Cornell. Susan Newman, who is graduating today from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, can claim two great grandfathers who were Cornell graduates. And in fact, members of her family have been at Cornell for 82 out of the past 100 years, and continuously for the past 53 years, adding up to 61 Cornell degrees shared among 54 people. Susan, stand up so we can congratulate you and your family. Where are you?
[APPLAUSE]
Whether like Susan, you're from a long line of Cornellians, or you're the first in your family to earn a college degree, your parents and grandparents and spouses and partners and other family members and friends who have filled this stadium this morning, have played such a huge role in your success. Graduates, join me in thanking our family and friends.
[APPLAUSE]
And I ask everyone here this morning to join me in a strong round of applause for our professional staff and many volunteers who have made commencement weekend possible.
[APPLAUSE]
The achievements of this year's graduates are impressive indeed, but unfortunately, stand in bold contrast to the state of our world in 2008. War continues in Iraq and elsewhere. There is continuing and increasing unrest elsewhere in the Middle East, in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Beirut, and elsewhere. In parts of Africa, Latin America, and many other places, life is challenging, dangerous, discouraging.
In China and Myanmar, our neighbors are facing unthinkable sorrow and the challenge of rebuilding homes and cities and lives after a sudden and massive destruction that they have suffered.
Within our own country and here in New York State, we have challenges aplenty. The current recession casts a shadow on job prospects, including for our graduates. The expenditures of a wartime economy have a substantial effect in turn on our national economy. Continuing economic disparities and challenges, including in health care, continue to make life much more difficult for many, including some of our friends and neighbors who live in poverty within a few miles of this magnificent campus.
Our social safety net doesn't always keep us safe, even on our campuses, as in the terrible occurrences at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech. Has Cornell, in this beautiful setting, with its striking landscape, on land that was once part of the Cayuga Nation, prepared you for a life of social responsibility in view of the changes and challenges that lie ahead?
A recent survey taken of undergraduates and faculty members, administrators, and student affairs professionals on 23 campuses revealed that most of the students believe that developing personal and social responsibility should be a major focus of a college education. But many of these students believe that their institutions were not doing enough to prepare civic-minded, morally grounded graduates.
Our university was not one of the institutions in that survey, but the results should still give us pause. What is the responsibility of a university for direct action to improve the state of society beyond our campus? Certainly the core functions of a university are education, discovery, and creativity and, especially in the case of a land-grant university like Cornell, public service.
It is these core missions, especially education and research, that brought our talented students here and that draw and keep the most distinguished faculty and staff on our campuses. These core missions of education, discovery, and creativity, and the critical importance of a liberal education, are no longer recognized and respected as they should be and are less and less present in the national discussion.
As our society moves forward to seek solutions to the very difficult problems we face, we cannot overemphasize the overarching importance of a broad undergraduate education. At Cornell, there has long been a respected place for disciplines that are theoretical as well as those considered relevant to societal concerns. Cornell's unconventional approach to education was an early and considered choice.
AD White, Cornell's first president, noted in his report to the Committee on Organization on October 21, 1866, that the new university was rooted in two convictions. First, there exists a necessity never fully met for thorough education in various special departments. Among them, the sciences, the practice of agriculture, industrial mechanics, and kindred departments of thought and action.
And second, a conviction that colleges of wider scope be founded, thus presenting a general course to meet that general want which existing colleges fail to satisfy.
Today, I will argue that direct action continues to flow primarily from the university's core functions of education, discovery, and creativity. And that such action is a very appropriate and even necessary complement to the liberal arts and sciences that have such great value for their own sake.
We all appreciate the role of universities in educating students, including those earning degrees today. It has been possible for Cornell to extend its role as an educator to students in other countries. And indeed, earlier this month, Cornell awarded MD degrees to the first 15 graduates of the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, making Cornell the first American medical school to offer degrees abroad.
[APPLAUSE]
At Cornell, there is a strong commitment to research in the life, physical and social sciences, and to creativity and scholarship in the arts and humanities. Moreover, as a major research institution and the land-grant university for this state, we carry out not only basic research, but also translational research. That is, investigation that can be translated into innovations to advance the public good.
For example, Cornell recently received a $27 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to mount a major collaborative research effort to combat stem rust in wheat, a disease threatening 90% of the world's wheat varieties. The project, which brings together 15 institutions around the world to work on this problem, aims to develop disease-resistant wheat varieties to protect the world's farmers and consumers from devastating crop loss and further food insecurity.
Researchers in the social sciences are also conducting investigations that contribute insights useful to communities every day. For example, researchers in the Institute for Women and Work in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations recently documented the companies headquartered in New York State that have the best track records in advancing women to the highest ranks.
The study documented that while women make up nearly half of the workforce in New York State, they constitute less than 15% of the total board directors and executive officer positions in the 100 largest public companies headquartered here.
True to the land-grant mission, Cornell's Cooperative Extension continues to bring knowledge to bear on the problems that New Yorkers, urban, rural, and suburban, face in their daily lives, helping to educate the public about agriculture and food systems, children, youth, and families, community and economic vitality, environment, and natural resources, nutrition, and health.
Here in Tompkins County, Cornell Cooperative Extension has been a leader in promoting local foods, which support local agriculture, save fuel on transportation, and help preserve open space.
But I want to suggest this morning that all colleges and universities and not just land-grants have a role in serving the public good. Public funding supports much of the research carried out on our campuses. In return for our tax-exempt status and the public trust placed in us, I believe we all have a responsibility to give back by bringing the fruits of our research to the public side by side with our critical mission of pursuing knowledge for its own sake and by cultivating in our students the social responsibility that will enable them to continue their efforts after they earn their degrees.
Cornell is a founding member and the host campus for the New York Campus Compact, an association of 78 colleges and universities committed to re-affirming and reinvigorating the public purposes of higher education. Some 95% of New York Campus Compact campuses, including Cornell, offer courses that incorporate service learning.
For example, at Cornell, Professors Gary Evans and Paul Eshelman's course in Human Ecology this year redesign the dining area of Kendal At Ithaca, a local continuing care retirement community. They have explored the criminal justice system with Professor Mary Katzenstein and worked to combat hunger and homelessness with Therese O'Connor, senior lecturer in the Hotel School.
They have learned how to carry out philanthropy, in the process, themselves making grants to help for local health and human service agencies with support from the Sunshine Lady Foundation. Impressive numbers of Cornell students participate in an annual day of service, Into the Streets, that pairs Cornell students with agencies and organizations throughout the community. Or spend spring break working on service learning projects in New York State and elsewhere through the Cornell Public Service Center's Alternative Spring Break Program.
In February, Cornell was named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction for its exemplary service learning activities. Our faculty and staff, in addition to the students, also model engaged citizenship through their own commitment to public service, helping to shape the character of our students and alumni. Members of our staff, our non-faculty employees, who do so much outreach, are regularly recognized for their contributions.
Just this week, Vice President Mary Opperman received the Tompkins County Foundation Award for Excellence for her contributions to improve the quality of life in Tompkins County.
[APPLAUSE]
As Cornell's newest graduates, what can you do to continue to build on this very impressive foundation and legacy? You will be leaving Cornell at a pivotal time in our country, a presidential election year in which no incumbent is running for office. You have already turned out in record numbers to vote in primaries, to participate in caucuses. And 2008 is set to become the third major election in a row with an increase in turnout among younger voters.
Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, I urge you to inform yourselves on all the major issues of the day, where each candidate stands, and in November, to vote.
[APPLAUSE]
In addition to participating in our electoral process, a critical privilege of citizenship in this country, your generation is developing and participating in new and innovative approaches to engagement. One of these new approaches in which your generation will certainly supply needed leadership is that of social entrepreneurship.
New York Times columnist, Nick Kristof, a frequent visitor to our campus, who spoke here just last month, wrote about social entrepreneurship in a January 2008 column. Following in the footsteps of the civil rights workers and anti-war protesters of the '60s and the technology entrepreneurs of the '80s, today's most remarkable young people, Kristof wrote, are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways.
A social entrepreneur, according to the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, is a pragmatic visionary who achieves a large-scale, systemic, and significant social change through a new invention, a different approach, a rigorous application of known technologies or strategies, or a combination of these. Social entrepreneurship is about applying practical, innovative, and sustainable approaches that benefit society in general with an emphasis on those who are marginalized and those who are poor.
Some of you at Cornell, who we are honoring today, have already developed your skills in social entrepreneurship, and I am so proud that you have. For example, Jessica Houle, class of '08, who grew up in Congers Mobile Home Park in Freeville, New York, just a few miles from this campus, created a program to provide mentoring, recreational, and leadership opportunities to teens in local mobile home parks.
This project has already been recognized by a Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award, and Jessica is this year's recipient of the Maribel Garcia Community Spirit Award offered through the Cornell Public Service Center. Congratulations, Jessica.
[APPLAUSE]
Jun Hu class of '08, has been a leader in the Translator-Interpreter Program, which provides volunteer translation and interpretation service to community agencies. Jun also has been recognized with a Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award on behalf of this innovative program. June.
[APPLAUSE]
A third example is Cover Africa, an organization dedicated to malaria intervention in Africa by increasing awareness on campus and in the local community and by distributing bed nets, one of the most effective means of malaria prevention, to those who need them most. Shoshana Aleinikoff, class of '08, a Cover Africa board member, received the John F. Kennedy Memorial Award from the Cornell class of 1964 for her work.
[APPLAUSE]
Another member, Brian Kennedy, class of '08, plans to expand the reach of Cover Africa by opening a new chapter at the London School of Economics, where he will be pursuing a Master's degree in International Relations next fall. Congratulations, Brian.
[APPLAUSE]
The tangible results of social entrepreneurship can be breathtaking and inspirational. Consider the work of Cornell alumnus Harris Rosen in Tangelo Park, Florida. Mr. Rosen, a '61 alum of Cornell, heads the largest independent hotel company in Florida, employing over 3,000 people. In 1994, he created the Tangelo Park pilot program. Tangelo Park is a predominantly African American community in South Orange County.
Mr. Rosen has personally agreed to provide a free college education within the Florida State system for any child in Tangelo Park who graduates from high school, and he has already put over 300 young people through college.
[APPLAUSE]
Yes, Cornell and its alumni have taken their responsibility for public service very seriously for 150 years. We seek to apply knowledge and creativity for the public good and to lighten the burdens of the world. I hope a commitment to social responsibility and direct action will flower and grow in each of you as you leave Cornell to make your way in the world.
Today, I offer you our latest Cornell graduates, this charge. Remember what it is like to stretch yourselves intellectually, to take on something truly difficult, and to bring it to successful completion and seek new opportunities to learn and to grow throughout your lives.
Remember what it is like to be part of this unique community of education, discovery, creativity, and service, and seek to extend this commitment to the public good, no matter what professional course you have chosen to pursue or where in the world you will now make your home.
Lend your voices to the call for public support of higher education and of research as a way to contribute directly to a better future. Return to visit us at Cornell as often as you can, and find other ways to keep in touch. For those of you who are or will become parents, encourage your daughters and your sons to pursue education to the highest level of their interest and abilities. And whether you have children or not, remember that the quality of education, from preschool through post-professional education, depends on all of us, and is one of the world's great assets.
Accept your responsibility as professionals, and enjoy the success that awaits you. But remain humble and grateful and aware of those who help you along the way. Remember that the difference between the powerful and the powerless is very small and that you need to pay as much attention to the powerless as to the privileged.
All of us wish you well as you embark on what I hope will be lives of service to the benefit of the people of the world. I am counting on you, and I know you're up to the challenges that lie ahead. University, a place of wonder, a time of learning, a space for growing. University, a way to future, a realm for seeking a chance for courage. University, a path to reach back, a call to action, a place of wonder. University.
[APPLAUSE]
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: We will now proceed to the conferring of degrees granted in course. The first groups to be presented to the president for conferral of degrees are the graduate candidates who have completed work in the Graduate School or in one of the professional schools. Will the Dean of the Graduate School, Alison G. Power, please step forward.
Will the candidates for the Doctoral degree from the Graduate School please rise and the degree marshals come to the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
ALISON G. POWER: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty the Graduate School, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Musical Arts, and Doctor of the Science of Law.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Power. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the Doctoral degree appropriate to your field of advanced study and research with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Cornell University welcomes the new Doctors of Philosophy and the Doctors of Musical Arts to the ancient and universal company of scholars. Will the doctors please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Michael I. Kotlikoff, please step forward.
Will the candidates for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine please rise, and the degree marshals come to the platform.
[CHEERING]
MICHAEL I. KOTLIKOFF: Mr. President I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine for the degree Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Kotlikoff. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the Doctors of Veterinary Medicine please be seated. Will the Dean of the Law School, Stewart Schwab, please step forward. Will the candidates for the degrees of Doctor of Law or Master of Laws please rise and the degree marshals come to the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
STEWART SCHWAB: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Law School for the degrees of Doctor of Law and Master of Laws.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Schwab. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authorities vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Doctor of Law and Master of Laws with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. My congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the Doctors of Law and the Master of Laws candidates please be seated. And will the Dean of the Graduate School, Alison G. Power, please return to the microphone. Will the candidates for the Master degree in studies that have been directed by the Graduate School please rise, and will the degree marshals come to the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
ALISON G. POWER: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements, and are duly recommended by the faculty of the Graduate School for the Master degree, be it Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Engineering, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Health Administration, Master of Industrial and Labor Relations, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Management and Hospitality, Master of Professional Studies, Master of Public Administration, and Master of Regional Planning.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Power. Upon the recommendation of the faculty, and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the Master's degree to which you are entitled, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the Master's candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Joe Thomas, please step forward.
[CHEERING]
Will the candidates for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management please rise, and will the degree marshals please come to the platform.
JOE THOMAS: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management for the degree of Master of Business Administration.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Thomas, for bringing these wonderful and noisy candidates.
[CHEERING]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty, and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the Master of Business Administration degree with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the Master's candidates please be seated. The next groups to be admitted to the fellowship of educated men and women are the candidates for Bachelor degrees.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the two class marshals representing the entire Cornell University senior class please come to the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
In a moment, each college group will be called to rise for presentation to the president and then asked to be seated. After all the Bachelor degree groups have been presented to the president, all the groups will be asked to rise again for the awarding of the degrees. The degree marshals for the Bachelor degree groups will come forward to the base of the platform as each group is called. Will the Dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Harry Katz, please come forward.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates-- Will the noisy candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations please rise, and will the school degree marshals please come to the front of the platform.
HARRY KATZ: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Katz. Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Stanley Taft, please come forward. Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning please rise, and will the degree marshals for the college please come to the front of the platform.
STANLEY TAFT: Mr. President, it is my honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Taft. Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the School of Hotel Administration, Dean Michael Johnson, please come forward.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the School of Hotel Administration please rise and the degree marshals come to the front of the platform.
MICHAEL JOHNSON: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the School of Hotel Administration for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Johnson. Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Human Ecology, Alan Mathios, please come forward. Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Human Ecology please rise and the degree marshals please come to the front of the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
ALAN MATHIOS: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Human Ecology for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Mathios. Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Engineering, W. Kent Fuchs, please come forward. Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Engineering please rise and the degree marshals please come to the front of the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
W. KENT FUCHS: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recognized by the faculty of the College of Engineering for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Fox. Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Susan A. Henry, please come forward. And will all the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences please rise and the degree marshals please come to the front of the platform.
SUSAN A. HENRY: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean Henry.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates please be seated. Will the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, G. Peter LePage, please come forward. Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences please rise and the degree marshals come to the front of the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
G. PETER LEPAGE: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Thank you, Dean LePage.
[APPLAUSE]
Will all the Bachelor degree candidates please rise.
[APPLAUSE]
DAVID J. SKORTON: It is my privilege to recognize the candidates recommended by the deans and the faculties of these several schools and colleges for the appropriate Bachelor degrees. By the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the Bachelor degree appropriate to your field of study with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations, graduates.
[APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the Bachelor degree marshals please come up on the stage to shake hands with President Skorton.
[APPLAUSE]
Will the assembly please stand for the singing of the Evening Song and the Alma Mater.
ALL: [SINGING] When the sun fades far away in the crimson of the West. And the voices of the day murmur low and sink to rest. Music with the twilight falls, o'er the dreaming lake and dell. 'Tis an echo from the walls of our own, our fair Cornell.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: We are near the conclusion of this 140th Cornell commencement. We thank you for being with us and congratulate our new graduates. Please remain standing during the recessional until the faculty have left the field. Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ALL: [SINGING] Oh, I want to go back to the old days, those good old days on the hill. Back to my Cornell, for that's where they all yell, Cornell, I yell, Cornell. Cornell! Far above Cayuga's waters, I hear those chiming bells. Oh, I'm longing and yearning and always returning to my old Cornell.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The 6,000 newest Cornell graduates have much to look forward to, said President David Skorton, and many notable achievements to celebrate. But with education and success comes a responsibility to work for the public good -- and such work is critical for overcoming the "sorrows and challenges" of today's world.
Skorton addressed the Class of 2008 -- and their friends, families, teachers and mentors -- in Schoellkopf Stadium on a postcard-perfect Commencement morning Sunday, May 25.
A sometime poet, Skorton began his speech -- perhaps with a nod to Convocation speaker writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou -- with verse describing the "University" as "a way to future & A chance for courage & A call to action."
Expanding on this theme, he noted that Cornell has long recognized the importance of both theoretical and applied learning, but equally vital is the university's ability to instill and cultivate a sense of social responsibility in students, faculty and staff.
