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[AUDIO LOGO] SPEAKER: The first of the academic procession has arrived. Leading the procession is the University Marshal Professor Poppy McLeod. Following the University Marshal, is the banner for the class of 2024. The class year banner bearers are Christopher Rampaul-Pino and Jordan Crayton. The class Marshals are Karen Ma and Asha Prabhat.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
First to arrive behind the class banner, are the PhD candidates from the Graduate School. The Graduate School symbol banner is carried by Yuanyuan Wu. Candidates are led by the Dean of the Graduate School and the Vice Provost for graduate education, Kathryn J. Boor. The PhD degree Marshall's college name banner bearers are Samantha Bolton and Tuvshinzaya Amarzaya.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the PhD degree candidates from the Graduate School. Next are the master degree candidates of the Graduate School. The masters degree Marshal's college name banner bearers are Majd Alsaif and Lara Roeven.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For your information, the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and Cornell Medical College in New York City, have already participated in separate commencement ceremonies. Once again, the masters degree candidates from the Graduate School.
Next, are the candidates from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business comprised of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, The Cornell Stephanie and Peter Nolan School of Hotel Administration, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, led by Dean Andrew Karolyi The SC Johnson College of Business banner bearers are Alice Hu and Roberto Teran.
Next, are the degree candidates from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, led by Dean Vishal Gaur. The college banner bearers are Matthew Braganza and Anna Smith. The degree Marshals are Derek Ju and Sara Taha. The symbol banner bearer is Prabhu Shanmugam.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Once again, the MBA and MPS degree candidates from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium are the first of the college degree candidates. The Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration is led by Dean Kate Walsh and college banner bearers Abigail Rose Stuart and Sabrina Fearon. Degree Marshals are Ellie Scherping and Hali Dietsche. The symbol banner bearer is Brett Levinton.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Next, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, led by Dean Jinhua Zhao and college banner bearers Sam Strauss and Talia Singer. The Degree Marshals are Lauren Salliotte and Akira Goh. The symbol banner bearer is Joshua Figueroa.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium, led by Dean Benjamin Z. Houlton, are the candidates of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. College banner bearers are Fang Jairui and Adrian D'Souza. Degree Marshals are Mathew Halber and Tiffany. Soe. The symbol banner bearer is Siobhan Hull.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium, led by Dean Greg Morrisett, are the candidates of Cornell Tech. College banner bearers are Esther Oyindamola, Oyanibi and Quynh Dang. Degree Marshals are Burke Reimann and Mark Sturman. The symbol banner bearer is Blake Alan Rainey. Once again, the degree candidates from Cornell Tech.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium, are the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology led by Dean Rachel Dunifon and college banner bearers Jyothsna Bolleddula and Caleb Thomas Cambron. Degree Marshals are Presley Church and Shahas Mohammad Salmaan. The symbol banner bearer is Sarah Rudolph-Nyberg.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium, are the degree candidates from the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy led by Dean Colleen L. Barry and college banner bearers Megan Hong and Nay Thu Rein Aung. Degree Marshals are Jeffrey Scott Nadzam and Tydarius Jeremiah Moxie. The symbol banner bearer is Abigail Grace Schmitt,
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Once again, the degree candidates from the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium, are the degree candidates from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations led by Dean Alexander Colvin and college banner bearers Arianna Josue and Dylan Keusch. Degree Marshals are José Enrique Pérez-Mariño and Jeremy Gouraige. The symbol banner bearer is Yuji Lee.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now entering the stadium, are the degree candidates from the College of Architecture, Art & Planning led by Dean J. Meejin Yoon and college banner bearers Desai Wang and Isa Goico. Degree Marshals are Valeria Villanova Gallucci, Mia Vienne Brown-Seguin, and Ziyu Cynthia Liao. The symbol banner bearer is Kyra Teo Yue Qi.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Architecture, Art & Planning.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now joining the procession are members of the University faculty led by the Dean of the University Faculty, Eve De Rosa. The Faculty Marshals are Professor Steve Carvekk and Professor John Hermanson.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At this time, we acknowledge and thank the Cornell University faculty.
[APPLAUSE]
Now arriving, our Faculty Marshals Professor Fred Schneider and Professor Rhonda Gilmore and Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff, leading members of the University leadership. They are followed by members of the Board of Trustees, led by Chair Craig H. Kayser.
And now, the University Marshal, Professor Poppy McLeod, the Mace Bearer Professor Emeritus. David Lee. And Cornell University's President, Martha E. Pollack, will take their places on the platform.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
POPPY MCLEOD: Good morning. I am Professor Poppy McLeod, the University Marshal. As part of today's ceremony, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogohono, or the Cayuga Nation. The Gayogohono, are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land.
The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogohono dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogohono people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
President Pollack, candidates for degrees from Cornell University have gathered for the conferral of degrees and to celebrate the commencement of the 156th graduating class of Cornell University.
[APPLAUSE]
Members of the board of trustees, the faculty, University leadership, degree candidates, and guests are all in their places. The assembly is hereby called to order. Please rise and join the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club, accompanied by the Barbara and Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony in singing The Star-Spangled Banner.
(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 light
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming
And the rockets' red glares
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]
Please be seated. It is my privilege to introduce Michael. I. Kotlikoff, University Provost.
MICHAEL I. KOTLIKOFF: Good morning, everyone. It is a great pleasure, as one of my remaining privileges as Provost, to welcome family, friends, supporters, and most of all, the remarkable graduates of 2024.
[APPLAUSE]
Graduates, congratulations. This has been a tumultuous year in many ways. And one I am sure you will remember for the rest of your lives. It has been said that growth and comfort rarely coexist. A lesson that you will likely take with you from this campus. Congratulations to all of you for navigating the difficulties and hopefully thriving in spite of them.
Congratulations on learning and growing together as a community of Cornellians. Congratulations on your hard work and successes. And congratulations on your thoroughly earned degrees.
[APPLAUSE]
On behalf of the faculty of Cornell--
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Please, on behalf of the faculty of Cornell, your advisors, mentors, and colleagues, I offer my congratulations and best wishes for your future success. Now it is my honor to introduce the 14th President of Cornell University, Professor of Computer Science, Information Science and Linguistics, Martha E. Pollack. It has been--
[APPLAUSE]
It has been my great honor and privilege to serve with Martha. And if I may, could I ask everyone to rise and honor Martha Pollack on her years of service to Cornell in this her last commencement address.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Provost Kotlikoff. Before I begin my official comments, I need to do something, I do at every single graduation. I always announce that graduation
[CROWD CHANTING]
It is an incredibly sunny day in Ithaca, and so, as I always do at graduation, I need to put on my shades.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I want again to congratulate everyone. I want to welcome everyone who is sitting in the bleachers and everyone who is taking part via live stream, all of the family and friends who are joining us to celebrate these terrific graduates, the Cornell class of 2024.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Now, graduates, I have an assignment for you, one more before you graduate. I'd like all of you who can, to please stand up. And I want all of you, after you've stood, to close your eyes and take a moment to picture all of the people who have been with you throughout your journey to today's ceremony. And I want you to think for just a moment, about all the things that you are grateful to them for, all the ways they've helped you get to where you are right now in your caps and your gowns here on Schoellkopf Field.
And at my count of three, I'm going to ask you to turn around, and with all the gratitude you have for them, in whatever language it is that you and they speak together, I want you to yell thank you, OK, one, two, three.
[CROWD YELLS]
[APPLAUSE]
You can sit back down. And now I want to pause for another moment and remember the Cornellians whose graduation this should have been and the people we wish could have been here with us to celebrate today, whom we remember with an empty chair on the field. Thank you.
When you're a student at Cornell, the end of the semester means showing what you've learned through papers and projects and exams. But commencement usually comes only once. But when you're the President of Cornell, the end of a semester always means commencement, whether to our December graduates in Barton or our May graduates here in Schoellkopf.
Over the last seven years and two months that I've been president, that's added up to 15 commencements and 15 commencement speeches. At every one, I've tried to share something from what I've learned in my time as an educator and an administrator. Some lessons, some advice, something for the graduates to take away with them as they head off to whatever comes next.
And I've been in enough commencements in my life, here at Cornell and elsewhere, to know that graduates have a lot on their mind. And you probably aren't necessarily functioning at peak attention level, right? I think that's right. So I've tried to keep my messages easy to remember.
I've told past classes of Cornellians to read, to be kind, to choose courage over comfort. The nature of commencement is such that I never really know what anyone remembers, unlike the experience of speaking at new student convocation in 2019, where I told the incoming students to be open to new experiences by taking off their headphones.
I know that that one sank in for at least some of them because for years after that, I'd passed students on campus who would see me, point at their ears, and say, look, president Pollack, no headphones.
[LAUGHTER]
This is my last commencement. There's no paper or project or exam that's required to complete a term as president. There's just this speech and the chance to share some lessons and maybe a little advice. I gave my first Cornell commencement speech in the spring of 2017 when I'd been here just six weeks. I quoted from Daniel Fried, a career diplomat, whose career spanned six presidents and events that seemed unthinkable when he graduated from Cornell as part of the class of 1974, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the election of America's first Black president.
Looking back on his career, Fried wrote, "I learned never to underestimate the possibility of change, that values have power, and that time and patience can pay off, especially if you're serious about your objectives. So I urge the graduates of the class of 2017 to begin their careers by clarifying their values."
Clarifying our values, is something that we, the Cornell community, did together through a process that took place just before most of you arrived in Ithaca. Discerning together across our students, faculty, staff and alumni, what define the Cornell ethos and what it meant to be a Cornellian. We arrived at six core values purposeful discovery, free and open inquiry and expression, a community of belonging, exploration across boundaries, public engagement, and respect for the natural environment.
When we started that process, a lot of people asked me, most of them nicely, why defining our shared values mattered? What were we going to do with that statement of values once we had it? I answered, we're going to use it. And we have.
But I had no idea, back then, how often we'd use it and how critically important it would be in the years ahead. That statement of core values has been vital to me as we've navigated the intensity and complexity of these past years from a global pandemic, to a national racial reckoning, through an increasingly divisive political culture, and the reverberating impacts of an ongoing war.
Clear values are a North Star in life and in leadership, casting light on complex situations and guiding your way when the path forward is anything but obvious. But just as a clear set of values will help you to navigate your lives, you'll also, throughout your lives, have to navigate your values.
Because deeply felt values can come into tension with each other. And indeed, in any full and richly lived life, they will. And when that happens, we can do one of two things. We can choose to let one value give way wholly to another, or we can do the hard work of managing that tension, seeking a balance that honors both values to the fullest extent possible.
At a personal level, we find ways to balance our value every day. You value your health, and you want to work out more. But on weekdays, it's either time at the gym or dinner with your family. You're deeply concerned about carbon emissions, but you work in a field where you have to travel. You have a friend whose relationship you value dearly, but who has acted towards a third person in a way that you think was unfair.
In every case, your values will help you decide what to do. But in the end, the one who has to make the decision, who has to choose how to balance your values, is you. Because human lives and choices are inherently complex. And what is complex at the individual level is exponentially more so at the level of institutions and organizations.
Throughout your time here, and especially over the past seven months, we've seen two of our core Cornell values, free and open expression and being a community of belonging come into tension here in Ithaca, and at campuses across the country. And we've had to confront that tension and all the questions it brings.
When should one value end and another begin? When and how should one person's right to freely share their opinions, to advocate, to argue, to protest, yield to another's right, to go peacefully about their work, to feel a sense of belonging? When does the desire to feel safe and comfortable need to give way to the educational imperative of being challenged by new and different ideas?
Part of our responsibility, as a university, is demonstrating how to hold these two values together, even when they are in tension. Finding ways to honor both, even when we cannot do so absolutely, deploying all the tools available to us as scholars to find the compromises and the solutions that are, while imperfect, the best available.
Because holding these two values together, lies at the heart of the radical vision that Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White conceived in the waning days of the American Civil War. A vision of a new kind of university where no student would be excluded because of their sex or their race or their nationality, and no field of study would be out of bounds.
In 1865, this idea was seen as dangerous, offensive, even heretical. An ill advised experiment doomed to fail. But it was precisely that dual commitment to any person in any study to not only tolerating, but valuing diversity in individuals and in ideas that made our university and the model it set possible, the model on which the major research university, as we know it today, is based.
159 years later, those two values of freedom of expression and of being a community of belonging are still, in different ways, under threat. Universities are being criticized for doing too much to make our communities more welcoming and diverse or for not doing enough. For doing too little to protect speech or too little to curtail it. Or just as often for protecting or curtailing the wrong kinds of speech.
Finding solutions to the tensions inherent in free speech is something that our nation has grappled with since the First Amendment was enshrined into law. Generations of courts and legislators, schools and colleges, and all of us here at Cornell this year, have wrestled with the fundamental contradictions of this fundamental right. And a conundrum that has defied simple solutions for hundreds of years will not yield to them in the complex moment we inhabit now.
If we curtail speech on the basis of its content, then we head down a dangerous path of handing over to others the rights to decide what we can and cannot say, hear, learn, or know. That is something that we, as an institution dedicated to discovering, pursuing and disseminating knowledge, can never accept.
So we seek other paths forward. We call out speech that is offensive. We speak up in defense of those it affects. We draw a line between speech that expresses ideas and speech that crosses into threats or unlawful harassment. And we put in place policies that, however unpopular, are content neutral and designed to protect the health and safety of our community and ensure that our teaching and learning can proceed without undue disruption.
One of my favorite stories of Cornell's early years, involves our first president, Andrew Dickson White, who wrote a letter, in 1874, responding to a question about whether Black students would be welcome at Cornell and whether he was concerned about backlash? President White's response was that the University would be very glad to receive any who are prepared to enter, even if all our 500 white students were to ask for dismissal on that account.
There are moments like those when the University must demonstrate its commitment to its cherished values, even when they are in tension with each other, even when members of our community disagree on the right path forward, even in the face of great political risk.
We are at a moment such as that right now, a moment where we must be an institution that first and foremost seeks academic excellence, that upholds the highest level of commitment to free and open expression, that stands firmly and clearly against all forms of hatred and bigotry, and that strives always to create a community of belonging where any person can find instruction in any study.
[APPLAUSE]
I've been in higher education as a student, a researcher, a faculty member, and an administrator for nearly half a century. And I want to tell you that there has never been a more critical moment for our universities than there is today. We are facing gale-force political winds and a sped-up political culture that moves from outrage to outrage with no space for reasoned discourse, consideration, or debate.
We need to push back against that with clarity and resolve, with intellectual humility, and with an openness to always improving to meet the moment. Higher education, with its culture that demands evidence and a reasoned argument and a commitment to truth, is a bulwark against the threats of authoritarianism faced by our nation and the world. And it is critical that we continue to educate students in ways that enable them to foster our free and democratic way of life and to advance our society.
[APPLAUSE]
The work of University, the work of Cornell, has an impact that reverberates across nations and generations. It continues on in the lives of our graduates, generation after generation of Cornellians, who bring our Cornell ethos, our Cornell values together out into the world with them.
Graduates, as you and I end our time here together and head out on our next adventures, I want to give you the same advice that I gave at my first Cornell commencement address seven years ago. Live a value-driven life. Think hard about your values. Know what matters to you and what will help you become the person you want to be. Whatever values are yours, make them your North Star.
And remember, that as much as your values will help you in your life, they'll also challenge you. When they do, use the skills and the habits of mind that you've learned here, the ability to see different perspectives, to deploy evidence and reasoning, and to understand that sometimes we can hold two truths in tension, even as we hold them in balance.
Congratulations, graduates, Cornell will always be a part of all of us, just as we will always be a part of Cornell. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Thank you for those inspiring words, President Pollack. The Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club will now perform Beati Quorum Via.
[SINGING IN LATIN]
POPPY MCLEOD: We will now proceed to the conferral of degrees.
[APPLAUSE]
The first group to be presented to the president for conferral of degrees are those who have fulfilled the requirements for degrees in the Cornell Graduate School. Will the Dean of the Graduate School, Kathryn J. Boor please come forward? Will the candidates for the doctoral degree please rise, And the Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
KATHRYN J. BOOR: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Graduate School, having fulfilled the requirements for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Science of Law, and Doctor of Musical Arts.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Boor. 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.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Cornell University welcomes the new doctoral graduates to the ancient and universal company of scholars. Will the doctors please be seated, and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the candidates for the masters degree in studies that have been directed by the graduate school, please rise and the Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform?
KATHRYN J. BOOR: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Graduate School, having fulfilled the requirements for the masters degree, be it Master of Arts, Master of Food Science, Master of Industrial and Labor Relations,
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Professional Studies, Master of Public Health, Master of Regional Planning. or Master of Science.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Boor. 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]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the masters graduates please be seated, and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Andrew Karolyi please come forward.
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Vishal Gaur please come forward.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Professional Studies from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, please rise? Will Degree Marshals please come to the base of the platform?
VISHAL GAUR: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these wonderful candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, having fulfilled the requirements for the degrees of Master of Business Administration, Master of Professional Studies, and Master of Science in Business Analytics.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Gaur. 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 degrees of Master of Business Administration or Master of Professional Studies, and Master of Business Analytics with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
VISHAL GAUR: Candidates will please be seated, and the Degree Marshals return to their seats.
POPPY MCLEOD: Next, are the candidates for college degrees. Will the two Class Marshals representing the senior class please come to the base of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Will the Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of business, Andrew Karolyi please come forward? OK.
ANDREW KAROLYI: Me again.
[LAUGHTER]
Will the Dean of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Kay Walsh please come forward.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the Degree of Masters of Management in Hospitality and Bachelor of Science from the SC Johnson College of Business and the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, please rise and the Degree Marshals, please come to the base of the platform.
[APPLAUSE]
KATE WALSH: I think they need to rise. You should all stand up, hotelies. President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these spectacular candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration for the degree of Master of Management and Hospitality or Bachelor of Science.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Walsh. 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 title of hotel no-- the degrees Master of Management and Hospitality or Bachelor of Science with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the graduates please be seated and Degree Marshals return to their seats? The Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management is a shared program of the SC Johnson College of Business and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Will the Dean of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Jinhua Zhao, please come forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, please rise. And Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform.
JINHUA ZHAO: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these trailblazing candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the SC Johnson College of Business, having fulfilled the requirements for the degree of Master of Professional Studies in Applied Economics and Management or Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Zhao. 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 Master of Professional Studies in Applied Economics and Management or Bachelor of Science with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the graduates please be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats?
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Benjamin Houlton please come forward? Will the candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, please rise and the Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
BENJAMIN HOULTON: Let me hear you, CALS.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these life-changing candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, having fulfilled the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you. Dean Houlton. 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 Bachelor of Science with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the Cornell Tech, Greg Morrisett please come forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Master of Laws in Technology and Entrepreneurship, Master of Engineering, Master of Business Administration, and Master of Science from Cornell Tech, please rise and the Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
GREG MORRISETT: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these entrepreneurial candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of Cornell Tech, having fulfilled the requirements for the Degrees of Master of Laws and Technology and Entrepreneurship, Master of Engineering, Master of Business Administration, and Master of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Morrisett. 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 Law in Technology and Entrepreneurship Degree, Master of Engineering Degree, Master of Business Administration Degree, or Master of Science Degree with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the College of Human Ecology. Rachel Dunifon 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 come to the base of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
RACHEL DUNIFON: President Pollack, it is my great honor to present these fabulous candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Human Ecology, having fulfilled the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Dunifon. 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 Bachelor of Science with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Colleen Barry please come forward. Will the candidates for the degrees of Master of Health Administration, Master of Public Administration, and Bachelor of Science from the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, please rise, and the Degree Marshals please come to the base of the platform.
COLLEEN BARRY: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these exceptional candidates, who were here at the founding of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, and are duly recommended by our faculty, having fulfilled the requirements of the degrees of Master of Health Administration, Master of Public administration, and Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Barry. 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 degrees of Master of Health Administration, Master of Public Administration, or Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates Please. Be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Alexander Colvin, please come forward? Will the candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Science from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations please rise and the Degree Marshals come to the base of the platform?
ALEXANDER COLVIN: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these candidates, who love reading
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
And who are duly recommended by the faculty of the School of Industrial and Labor relations, having fulfilled the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you. Dean Colvin. 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 Bachelor of Science with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated and the Degree Marshals return to their seats? Will the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Meejin Yoon, please come forward? Will the candidates for the degrees of Master of Architecture, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Science, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, please rise and the Degree Marshals please come up to the base of the platform?
[APPLAUSE]
J. MEEJIN YOON: Last but not least, President Pollack, I have the honor to present these inspiring candidates, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, having fulfilled the requirements of the Degree of Masters of Architecture, Masters of Fine Arts, Masters of Science, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA E. POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Yoon. 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 degrees of Master of Architecture, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Science. Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture, Art And planning with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto, congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated and the Class and Degree Marshals return to their seats? This concludes the conferring of degrees. Please, everyone, be seated. The Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club will now sing the traditional evening song.
(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
Welcome night and welcome rest
Fading music fare thee well
Joy to all we love the best
Love to thee our fair Cornell
Music with the twilight falls
O'er the dreaming lake and dell
'Tis and echo from the Karolyi
Of our own our fair
Cornell
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the entire assembly please stand for the singing of the Alma Mater with the Cornell University Chorus and glee club, accompanied by the Barbara and Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony.
["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 AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: This concludes the commencement ceremony for these degree candidates of the 156th graduating class of Cornell University. We thank you for joining us today and congratulate all of our new graduates. Please remain standing during the recessional and then exit the stadium as directed by volunteers and staff. Thank you.
["THE NEW CORNELL FIGHT SONG"]
(SINGING) C-O-R-N-E-L-L win game
And then ring the bell
What's the big intrigue?
We're the best
In the Ivy League
Rah rah rah
Score the point that puts us ahead
Knock 'em dead Big Red
One, two, three, four
Who are we for?
Can't you tell?
Oh, old, Cornell
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
["GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
(SINGING) Give my regards to Davy
Remember me to Tee Fee Crane
Tell all the pikers on the hill
That I'll be back again
Tell them how I busted
Lapping up the high highball
We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's
When I get back next fall
1st Ceremony on Saturday, May 25 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management College of Agriculture and Life Sciences College of Architecture, Art, and Planning College of Human Ecology Cornell Graduate School (Review list of Fields to attend) Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration Cornell Tech Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management School of Industrial and Labor Relations
