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SPEAKER 1: Ladies and gentlemen, the first of the academic procession has arrived. At the head of the procession is the University Marshal Charles Walcott. Following the University Marshal are the banner bearers for the Class of 2007. The banner bearers are Kara Tappen and Alvin Liu, class officers.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Following the class banner will be the college or school academic units. Each college or 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.
First to arrive behind the class banner are the PhD degree candidates of the Graduate School.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
The graduate school symbol banner is carried by Emma Stephens. The degree candidates are led by Dean of the Graduate School, Professor Alison G. Power and faculty marshals Professor Jack Booker and Professor Andrew Willford. The PhD banner bearers are Andrew Farnsworth and Nuanchan Singkram. The degree marshals are Kazuhiro Shimbo and Rebecca Loughner. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, PhD degree candidates from the Graduate School.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Next are the masters degree candidates of the Graduate School. The masters banner bearers are Derek Hill and Melissa Wrolstad. The degree marshals are Pilyoung Kim and Jesse Rodriguez.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the masters degree candidates from the Graduate School.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Next in the procession are the candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine, who will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine who will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. They are led by Dean Donald F. Smith and the degree marshals Amber Ball and Collin Wolff. The college name banner bearers are Gillian Angliss and Catherine Wood. The symbol of honor bearer is Vanessa Grunkemeyer. Ladies and gentlemen, the degree candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Now entering the stadium, the Doctor of Law and Master of Law candidates from the Law School led by Dean Stewart Schwab. The degree marshals are Jason Benjamin Frasco and Eoghan O'hArgain. The name banner bearers are Ariel Harmon and Natalie Lynn Walker. The symbol banner bearer is command
Ladies and gentlemen, the Masters of Business Administration candidates from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management led by Dean Robert J. Swieringa. The degree marshals are Hernando Guzman and Monica Panchmia. The name banner bearers are Amy Cham and Tony Cochrane. The symbol banner bearer is Mark Eidlin. Ladies and gentlemen, for your information, the degree candidates from the Weill Medical College in New York City will participate in a separate commencement ceremony that will be held on May 30.
Ladies and gentlemen, now entering the stadium are the first of the undergraduate degree candidates led by two class marshals. They are Edvard Gumbs and Keith Greenberg. The Senior Class Council banner is being carried by Whitney Cooper and Ayesha Katrak, members of the Senior Class Council.
Ladies and gentlemen, the first undergraduate group is the School of Industrial and Labor Relations led by Dean Harry L. Katz. The degree marshals are Christopher Bordoni and Julia Hoffman. The school's main banner bearers are Tarae Howell and Jesenka Mrdjenovic. The symbol banner bearer is Alan Benson. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning is now entering the stadium led by Dean Moshen Mostafavi the degree marshal for the architecture program are Patricia Brizzio and Jeremy Dworken. The degree marshals for the Fine Arts program are Kathleen Hawkes and Hannah Mattheus-Kairys.
The degree marshal for the Planning program are Todd Henry and Daniele Petrone. The college's name banner bearers are Michael Nudelman and William Patera. The symbol banner bearer is James Corbalis. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Next, the School of Hotel Administration is led into the stadium by Dean Michael Johnson. The degree marshals are Lydia Hao and Peng Wei Tan. The school's name banner bearers are Ethan Gerry Hawkes and Katherine Lee. The symbol banner bearer is Mark Youssef Nasr. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the School of Hotel Administration.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Now entering the stadium are the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology, led by Dean Lisa Staiano-Coico. The degree marshals are Karen Hartz and Gary Linkov. The college's name banner bearers are Rebecca Lin-Ting Wong and Nathan Skelley. The symbol banner bearer is Stephanie Radi.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology.
The College of Engineering is entering the stadium, led by Dean W. Kent Fuchs. The degree marshals are Wen Rong Lim and Elizabeth Marcil. The college's name banner bearers are John Erickson and Kevin Graf. The symbol banner bearer is Ji Gu.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Engineering. Now at the entrance of the stadium, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences led by Dean Susan A. Henry. The degree marshals are Grace Hung and Dan Treitler. The college's main banner bearers are Priska Grace and Sihao Liu. The symbol banner bearer is Brendon Pantel.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences are now led into the stadium by Dean G. Peter LePage. The degree marshals are Jiun Wei Chia and Thiti Taychatanapat. The name bearers are Benjamin Klein and Josh Wiener. The symbol banner bearer is Teresa Martorella.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Will all candidates for degrees please stand at this time? 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 Alan Mathios.
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 Emeritus Jack Booker Associate Dean Steve Carvell, Professor Cornelia Farnum, Professor Andrew Willford, and Professor Drew Noden.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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 Harold Hintz and Professor Emeritus Jerome Ziegler.
Ladies and gentlemen, University Marshal Charles Walcott will now escort President David J. Skorton and the Mace Bearer Professor Michele Moody-Adams to their places on the platform.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Mr. President, for the 139th 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."
CHORUS: (SINGING) Oh 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 rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Everyone, please be seated.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Chairman Meinig, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the faculty and staff, families and friends of the graduates, and most of all members of a Class of 2007 and candidates for advanced degrees, welcome.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Today marks the 139th time Cornell University has come together to confer degrees upon its graduates. And it is a special pleasure for me to be here in Schoellkopf Stadium to congratulate you on your achievements in and out of the classroom, from passing the infamous swim test to discussing Sophocles Antigone as part of the Fall 2003 new-student reading project, to organizing Asia Night 2007 in Barton Hall, where 36 student organizations collaborated to showcase their cuisines, music, and other aspects of their cultures for all of us to enjoy.
This year, your last and my first at Cornell, we earned an impressive number of ivy athletic titles. And many of you contributed to those victories as scholar athletes in intercollegiate sports or as enthusiastic fans. Of course, today I want to especially note the success of Men's Lacrosse--
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
--which, with the leadership of several outstanding seniors, made it all the way to yesterday's NCAA Final Four competition. As many of you know, Cornell rallied heroically to an exciting 11-11 tie. Duke won by 1 in the last three seconds-- an amazing season for Big Red Lacrosse.
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Thank you, all of you, for sharing these and so many other memorable parts of the college experience with us during your time here at Cornell. Before we go on with the ceremony though, I want to take a moment to recognize the other heroes of today's commencement, the mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, spouses, children, other family members, friends, partners who helped financially, emotionally to make this day a reality. No one gets to commencement without assistance and support along the way. And I invite all of the graduates to join me to thank these people who made today possible.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Each of you has your own story and a unique path that has brought you to Schoellkopf this morning of hardships overcome, challenges surmounted, contributions along the way. I want to make special mention of a fellow physician who is among today's graduates. Milton Kogan matriculated with the Cornell Class of 1957. And although he was a few credits short of completing his Cornell's bachelors degree, he went on to earn a DO, MD, and MPH degrees, to serve as a Peace Corps physician in West Africa and with the National Health Service Corps in our own country. He practiced for 40 years as a family physician while working concurrently as an actor.
Last year, his daughter graduated from our Hotel school. And following her good example, Dr. Kogan successfully completed his undergraduate work at Cornell this Spring just in time to go to his 50th reunion with a Class of '57, Dr. Kogan.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Yes, each of you has your own story and a unique path that has brought you to Schoellkopf this morning. Whatever that path, you are all about to become graduates of one of the most distinguished institutions of higher education in the world, taught by a faculty of great distinction, skill, and dedication. Therefore, all of you earning degrees today are among the most qualified and privileged graduates in the world and are prepared to take your place among society's leaders.
One of the challenges that you will face and one that we are all confronting as a society in the United States and around the globe is the enormous problem of societal inequalities. Here in the United States today, over 37 million people live in poverty. The poverty rate for non-Hispanic Whites in 2005 was 8.3%, the poverty rate, 24.9% for African-Americans, and 21.8% for Hispanics. Perhaps most troubling, the poverty rate for children under 18 was 17.6%. That is 13 million children.
Worldwide, of course, the statistics are enormously sobering. More than 2 billion people, nearly seven times the entire population of this country, currently lives on less than $2 per day. 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. And 2.9 billion have inadequate access to basic sanitation. About 150 million children are malnourished. And more than 10 million under five years of age die each year, many of them from causes that would be preventable with appropriate nutrition and access to basic health care.
This is a humanitarian crisis of the first order. And it is also a threat to the stability of a world community, to intercultural understanding, to peace, and yes, to your future as Cornell graduates. At a time when the world is becoming smaller and more interconnected, when our economy and our futures, your futures, are linked to what is going on elsewhere, all of us should be concerned that the economic strength and growth that we take for granted in the United States and that are beginning to benefit an increasing number of people in places like India, China, South Korea, and Singapore, are bypassing hundreds of millions of others in Asia, the Middle East, parts of Latin America, Africa, and yes, here in the United States.
As the Worldwatch Institute noted, globalization has raised expectation, even as modern communications make the rising inequality between a rich, powerful, and imposing West and the rest of the world visible to all, poverty and deprivation do not automatically translate into hatred, but people whose hopes have worn thin, whose aspirations have been thwarted, and whose discontent is rising are far more likely to succumb to the sirens' song of extremism. As global integration accelerates, these inequalities will affect all of us directly and personally. Although the causes of the social inequalities are complex, remedies must be sought, sought vigorously, and sought by each of us. I hope that our new Cornell graduates and all in this stadium will consider the roles that we can play personally and also the roles that our institutions and our nation can play in confronting and redressing global inequalities.
During this past year, I have been heartened by the strong commitment of Cornell students to activism and to service. Despite demanding academic schedules, a remarkable number of you have worked long and hard to make our local community and the world better places, giving generously of your talents and your time to teach, mentor, engage, and lead. You have shared with us your talents, energy, and perspectives on some of the most important issues of our time. From the need to combat global climate change, for which students from Kyoto Now! and other campus organizations have been effective advocates, to the crisis in Darfur, about which students have been creating awareness and examining possibilities for action, I ask that you continue to stay abreast of the issues facing our world, and that active engagement remain a part of your life whatever you do, wherever you go after Cornell.
By working for change in your communities and beyond, even as you pursue the bright futures that lie ahead for you personally, you can make your own lives more meaningful while also helping to reduce inequalities in the larger world. Individual action pursued individually is necessary for human progress, necessary but not sufficient. The problems facing our world are so great and the inequalities so unfair and so explosive, if they are not ameliorated, that the United States must provide leadership here and now, as it did in rebuilding Europe after World War II. 60
Years ago, almost to the week, on June 5, 1947, US Secretary of State George Marshall, speaking at a Harvard commencement, suggested the need for a massive program of aid and redevelopment for Europe that came to be known as the Marshall Plan. In his speech, General Marshall said, it is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. And he stressed that the plan for European recovery had to be a joint one, involving the nations of Europe rather than being imposed unilaterally by the United States.
The US offered $13 billion in economic and technical assistance, more than $120 billion in today's dollars, but only if Europeans drew up a rational plan for using the aid and agreed to act cooperatively. The plan was shrewd and visionary at the time, informed by enlightened American self-interest and a capacious national sense of self. The result was unprecedented international cooperation that created what continues to be seen as an economic and political miracle that helped bring lasting peace and prosperity to the European continent after two of the deadliest wars in the history of the world.
Over the years, there have been many calls for new Marshall Plans to address various needs elsewhere in the world, but none of the plans of which I am aware has grasped the potential of universities through comprehensive programs of teaching, research, and outreach to assist and partner with countries struggling to meet the needs of their citizens. Universities? What do our universities have to do with these urgent questions of inequality and poverty?
One of the greatest contributions that our great research and land grant universities have made over time, beginning long before the Marshall Plan and continuing to this day, is the development of human capacity through the dissemination of our research, teaching, and outreach. Enhancement of human capacity relies on and ensures political stability, security, robust public health, and effective education, which in turn lead to the possibility of inquiry, discovery, and innovation in places where they are most needed.
Since the Industrial Revolution, and increasingly in the last half century, innovation has led to enormous economic growth. The foundation of innovation is research. And the seat of fundamental research is the university. The university is also the seat of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, education that will lead to new generations of those who inquire, who discover, who innovate. And as a result of its core missions of education and research, the university reaches out materially and directly to assist and improve the quality of life.
One example-- Cornell's first effort to provide direct technical assistance internationally in the great land grant tradition was the Cornell-Nanking Plant Improvement Program. Based at the University of Nanking with direct involvement from Cornell plant breeding professors in the 1920s and 1930s, it greatly increased yields of rice, wheat, barley, and other crops in China. But of course, its most important legacy was the development of a generation of Chinese plant breeders who could and did carry on the work, once Cornell's formal involvement ended.
Higher education's greatest contributions going forward can be to carry out research on issues where new knowledge could make a difference, to extend research to institutions of higher learning and other parts of the world, and to extend a partnership, and to ensure continuing access to our own system of higher education for those who are victims of social and economic inequality here at home.
The role of universities in building educational and research capacity in other places is particularly important now in a world that has become increasingly distrustful of the American government. Since the end of the Cold War, when the US stood as the world's sole superpower, there has been a steady erosion of America's stature in the world. Other nations now challenge us economically and on religious, moral, and ideological grounds.
Our credibility has waned. And although seen as a powerful nation, we are not universally seen as devoted to helping our global neighbors in ways and on terms of their own design and aspiration. Indeed, much of the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on development aid in the last half century has not produced sustainable progress in many countries, and in some cases may have been counter-productive for reasons that range from poor governance, internal conflict, and corruption, to badly designed programs and inconsistent funding.
Even our cherished ideals of freedom and democracy no longer have the power to motivate and inspire that they once did, yet our major universities continue to be a beacon of hope and opportunity for the world. For example, faced with the challenge of meeting the educational demands of its middle class, expected to expand to 400 million by 2020, India has more than doubled the number of its universities and colleges since the turn of the Millennium and is on track to quadruple the number over the next decade. In Africa, as noted in last Sunday's New York Times, even some of the best universities on the continent are in a state of near collapse at a time when Africa desperately needs local expertise and an educated citizenry to lift itself out of poverty. The efforts of universities like Cornell will be critical to empowering young women and men throughout the world who seek to better their fortunes through education.
Many of you know about Cornell's internationalism firsthand. With students from some 120 nations, Cornell ranks 13th among the top 25 leading host institutions for international students in this country, even though our total enrollment is much lower than many of the other institutions on that list. Many of our international friends graduating today will be returning home and putting to use the knowledge they have gained here to advance the development of their own countries, in partnership, I hope, with some of the faculty members and fellow students they have come to know here at Cornell.
Some of you have studied abroad. Others have become aware of international issues through the programs of the Einaudi Center. Still others have put your knowledge to work internationally as part of service-learning courses. And I note with pride that Cornell provided 52 Peace Corps volunteers last year, the highest of any Ivy League university, and the third highest among schools our size nationally. I congratulate you.
[APPLAUSE]
Unfortunately, for two decades, there has been an erosion of government funds for university-based capacity building overseas. Dr. Peter McPherson, former head of the United States Agency for International Development, former President of Michigan State University, and now President of the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges supports funds for short-term needs like HIV/AIDS and child health. However, he argues that we must also make investments that will increase incomes and capacity over time, for example, in education and the creation of technology.
Without these investments, people will not move into a position to take care of their own needs and the needs of their families and societies, yet the USAID has almost walked away from long-term training. In the 1980s, AID brought about 15,000 people a year from the developing world to the US for credit- or degree-earning studies. And last year, it was about 1,000.
Today as we celebrate your achievements, I wish to honor your work here at Cornell and the potential you have to change the world by calling today for a new type of Marshall Plan to reduce inequalities in the world, inequalities that put members of your generation in danger. Of course, no single university acting alone can achieve what will be needed. But together, the nation's great universities, public and private, land grant and Ivy League, can offer a more focused application of our own resources, building on our ongoing efforts to partner with and to learn from universities and their faculties in other parts of the world.
Such an approach will enable us to contribute together to long-term reductions in poverty through capacity building in the form of education, research, and shared expertise. In keeping with a conversation with India's Prime Minister Singh in January, Cornell will work with other US universities and Indian counterpart universities to create a faculty-led Indo-US working group to develop joint research agendas on critical challenges of mutual or complementary interest.
But we must also join together to voice a more forceful call for a transformed American economic, political, and military policy on international relations that will encourage and support capacity building. In this transformed policy, our government, our private sector, our nongovernmental organizations, our philanthropic organizations, and most importantly our colleagues overseas will all play a critical role.
There is of course already much going on at Cornell and elsewhere that is contributing in a very positive way to building the capacities that will reduce global inequalities. The Cornell International Institute of Food, Agriculture, and Development under the leadership of Professor Alice Pell and the Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program directed by Professor David Sahn have significant capacity-building programs in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. Our Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, directed by Professor Stuart Hart aims to use financial success as a motivation for solving the world's social and environmental problems.
And we are about to begin a program on globalization in the workforce in ILR, with startup support from David and Abby Joseph Cohen, both '73 Cornellians. The Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Weill Cornell Medical College, through its work in Haiti, has helped bring about a decrease in HIV infection from a rate of 6.2% in 1993 to 2.9% today.
[APPLAUSE]
This academic year, Weill Cornell at the Ithaca Campus launched a new program in global health which will enable us to contribute even more effectively to global health through teaching, research, and outreach. Cornell's role, since its founding, has included the extension of our research and education to build human capacity. We are the land grant university to the world.
Magnified by the efforts of other major research universities and by the redoubling of our own efforts, and energized by substantial and sustained national commitment, Cornell stands poised to be a prime mover in a new Marshall Plan. I call today on my counterparts, presidents and chancellors of the nation's great institutions, leaders and organizations that represent our universities interest nationally, leaders of NGOs, and the American foreign policy community to join me in advocating for a larger, unified, cooperative, and carefully planned national strategy to reduce global inequalities.
[APPLAUSE]
We must find ways to move beyond the market-driven relations among universities that our competition for students and dollars have generated and work cooperatively to address the problems I have outlined. A call for us to join with our counterparts overseas to forge alliances based on mutual self-interest through which we can tackle complementary problems. Not least, I call on this new class of Cornell graduates, members of the Class of 2007 and those earning graduate and professional degrees, to lend your voices and your strong support to efforts to reduce global inequalities and enhance global health.
Some of you will devote your lives to capacity building at home and abroad. Some, like Milt Kogan, will use your professional skills to address inequalities. But all of you, all of us must raise our collective voices, enlist the aid of others in putting the redress of global inequality at the very center of the American agenda.
If we do not respond effectively to the challenge of addressing global inequality, we risk further erosion of the American position as a world leader, whose economic and military power must be matched by high ideals. The stakes are as high today or higher than they were 60 years ago. And nothing would honor the accomplishments of today's graduates more than a major national and international effort, centered in our distinguished universities, to create a saner, and safer, and more sustainable, and prosperous, and equal world.
We are all enormously proud of all who are earning Cornell degrees today. We congratulate you on your achievements. We know you will continue to use your skills and your talents to make the world better.
We look forward to encouraging you and to supporting your efforts through our continuing work here at Cornell and through a coordinated national and international effort in capacity building. I congratulate you. And may the achievements we celebrate today be a prelude to greater things to come. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
[CHORUS SINGING]
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? And will the degrees for the doctoral degree from the Graduate School please rise and the degree marshals come to the platform?
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 appropriate degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Musical Arts, 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. Graduations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Cornell University welcomes the new doctors of philosophy and the doctors of musical arts the ancient and universal company of scholars. Will the doctors please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine Donald F. Smith please step forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine please rise and the degree marshals come to the platform?
DONALD F. SMITH: Mr. President, President Skorton, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled all the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine for the degree Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Dean Smith. 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, and privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the doctors of veterinary medicine please be seated? Will the Dean of the Law School Stuart Schwab please step forward? And will the candidates for the degrees of Doctor of Law or Master of Law please rise and the degree marshals come to the platform?
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 Law.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Schwab. 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 Law and Master of Law with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the Doctor of Law and the Master of Law candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the Graduate School Alison G. power please return to the microphone? And will the candidates for the master degree and studies that have been directed by the Graduate School please rise? And will the degree marshals come to the platform?
[CHEERS AND 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 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 on each of you the masters degree to which you are entitled, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities, pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the masters candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson graduate School of Management Robert J. Swieringa please step forward? 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?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
ROBERT J. SWIERINGA: 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 Swieringa. 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.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the master candidates please be seated? The next groups to be admitted to the fellowship of educated men and women are the candidates for bachelor degrees. Will the two class marshals representing the entire Cornell University senior class please come to the platform?
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? Will the 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: President Skorton, I have the great 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.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Katz.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning Moshen Mostafavi please come forward? And will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture and the degree 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?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MOSHEN MOSTAFAVI: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled their requirements and who are duty 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.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Mostafavi.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the School of Hotel Administration Dean Michael Johnson please come forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the School of Hotel Administration please rise and the degree marshal has come to the front of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MICHAEL JOHNSON: Mr. President, I have the honor to present these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and our duly recommended by the faculty of the School of Hotel Administration for the degree of Bachelor of Science?
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Johnson.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Human Ecology Lisa Staiano-Coico please come forward? And 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 front of the platform?
LISA STAIANO-COICO: 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 Human Ecology for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Staiano-Coico.
CHARLES WALCOTT: 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 come to the front of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
W. KENT FUCHS: 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 Engineering for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Fuchs.
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Susan A. Henry please come forward? 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 come to the front of the platform?
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
SUSAN A. HENRY: President Skorton, I have the distinct honor of presenting these candidates who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean Henry.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences G. Peter LePage please come forward? Will candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences please rise and the degree marshals please come to the front of the platform?
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.
DAVID J. SKORTON: Thank you, Dean LePage.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Now will all the bachelors degree of candidates please rise?
[CHEERS AND 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 bachelors degrees. And by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the bachelors degree appropriate to your field of study with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: Will all the degree marshals please come up on the stage to shake hands with President Skorton?
DAVID J. SKORTON: Will the assembly please stand for the singing of the "Evening Song" and the "Alma Mater?"
CHORUS: (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 an echo from the walls of our own, our fair Cornell.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[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.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
CHARLES WALCOTT: We are nearing the conclusion of this 139th Cornell Commencement. We thank you for being with us. And we congratulate our new graduates. Please remain standing during the recessional until the faculty have left the field. Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHORUS: (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.
President Skorton delivers his first commencement address to about 6,000 graduates as Cornell celebrates its 139th Commencement.
