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[MUSIC PLAYING] ALEX SUSSKIND: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Alex Susskind and I'm the Senior Director of Academic Programs here at the Nolan School. And it's a great honor to welcome you to the Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration's graduation recognition ceremony. We look forward to celebrating all of our graduates with you today. Let's have round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you. It's my pleasure now to introduce to you the Dean of the Hotel School, Kate Walsh.
[APPLAUSE]
KATE WALSH: Thank you, everyone. I'll go like this. Before I begin my remarks, I would like to introduce you to Andrew Karolyi, the Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson of Business. And Dean Karolyi is also a Professor of Finance and the Harold Behrman Jr. Distinguished Professor of Management. I am so proud and appreciative that he has joined us in our celebration this afternoon. So thank you so much, Andrew.
[APPLAUSE]
One of 11 ceremonies he's doing over this weekend, but by far the most special. Dean Karolyi and I are delighted to welcome our 2023 graduates, their families and friends, and members of the school and college community to truly one of the happiest of days, Cornell's 155th commencement, a beginning.
So it's been a whirlwind morning for sure. But graduates, as you look around this room, just take a moment, as I've said to you all morning, and just take it all in and feel the love and the support of everyone in this hall. In fact, now that the larger ceremony is over and it's just us, I'm going to ask all of us here to let us show you how proud we are of each and every one of you.
[APPLAUSE]
Want to fix that? I don't know. It seems close. It's OK? All right. It's really a special community. And one of our students shared a pineapple that we just put up here, the symbol of hospitality.
I would also like to recognize a few of our student leaders and those who were honored specifically for their generosity of spirit and their leadership. And as I call your group or role, I'm going to ask these students to stand. So each year we award what's called a Hotelie For life Senior Prize, really based on the memory of one of our graduates, Phil Miller, class of '83. These four finalists and one winner exemplify precisely what it means to lead with service. I'm going to ask them to stand. So if you would please. I know you're in the audience.
I'm also going to ask our HGC managing director and executive board members to rise, our deans' assistants and liaison, our student advisory board co-chairs, and members of the committee, the Statler Student Hotel General Manager and Directors, our current or past club leaders of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality, the CHS student chapter, Women in Leadership and Hospitality, CUVEE, real estate, air and sea, nightlife, AHLA, The 180, HJSO, and Hotelies Serving Society.
And any student in this room who led an initiative or club or group in our college and Cornell, please stand, as well as worked as a teaching assistant, please stand. I'd also like to ask our student athletes and our entrepreneurs to also rise. Look at our entire class. Thank you all for your leadership.
[APPLAUSE]
They give me chills. Every year I think to myself, this is truly a very special class. And while I am 100% correct every single year, this year's class is particularly magnificent. And it's not because you were so hard working or focused or resilient through a pandemic, all of which are true. It's because of how you came together, brought us to the other side, and then simply led with ingenuity and heart.
The class below you now are rising seniors. They had no context during their first year on campus. No craziness at Max, no long lines at Terrace for those burritos, no nonstop noise in our library, no sense of hotelie home. And if truth be told, we were so worried about how they were doing and feeling and, importantly, connecting. And when things return to a sense of normalcy, we had to practically start over rebuilding our community, giving our students that important sense of place.
You, this class, you did that. You reached out your hand and you provided connection when there was none. You offered to mentor our new students. You met them in College Town Bagels. You even gave them tours of our school after they had been here almost a year. I can't tell you how much I was moved by your leadership and your heart and your generosity.
And then it just continued. You helped them to find their way when we were all together again. You reimagined HCE 97 from scratch, having never really run it in person before. And by the way, our former managing director is here in the audience today. And you organized and led us through our 100th year celebration this year. Thank you. It's a big deal.
[APPLAUSE]
With a fresh set of eyes, you actually designed things better than they were before. And you are why, I kid you not, when any of us are having a hard day, we go find you and we find inspiration.
This past year in our 95th Deans Distinguished Lecture Series, we were visited by alums Mark and Brian Canlis, who run Canlis Restaurant out of Seattle, one of the oldest and yet one of the most spectacular and reinvented restaurant experiences you will ever find. Their mission for their restaurant, which really has nothing to do with food, beverage, and fine dining, and yet everything to do with it, is to inspire all people to turn toward one another.
Now, when speaking with our students, Mark and Brian talked about your super power and your super purpose. They spoke about using business to create solutions to human issues, specifically using hospitality to solve human isolation. They used the words relationally sweet, which I thought beautifully captured both the opportunity and the power of hospitality.
Now, by definition, hospitality is core to a thriving business model of any kind. This is because it means taking care of. The most successful enterprises are successful not because they leverage a deal or drive a strong EBITDA but because they create value, add something better to our lives. And if they really do it right, they make us feel connected and they make our community, our corner of the world, a better place.
So as I see it, hospitality turns transactions into connections. Connections become relationships, and relationships are what drive business success and ultimately give us meaning in life. Hospitality makes our larger world feel smaller. Its exponential possibilities are limitless. It's that profound and powerful. In fact, it's the best kind of power I know of.
And as tech innovations shape our future and robots and algorithms do our mundane work, I happen to think that the human aspect of working, leading and engaging with others, will be more important than ever before, whether it's how to lead with emotional intelligence or how to infuse a team with purpose or how to help a team member progress and grow to be better.
Here at the Nolan Hotel School, our faculty have taught you what it means to be a generous classmate or colleague. And they do that because they know how important generosity is to your future well being, how much it drives organizational success. Research tells us that the number one factor that will make you stand out and rise among many, many other high achievers is not your IQ or your business savvy or your ability to drive profits. All important, but lots of people can do that.
It's that you are a colleague with whom everybody wants to engage and do business. The most successful people in business, and in life really, understand the importance of being other centered. They intuitively know that the reputation they cultivate is their most valuable economic good and they recognize that whatever their line of work, whether you are in banking, PE firms, consulting analytics, real estate, or core operations, hospitality is the means by which they do good and live their purpose. It's both their North Star and their journey toward it and all of the other pieces fall in place around it.
So graduates, as you begin to craft what a meaningful life means to each of you, as you try on different jobs and pursue new and unexpected career paths, which by the way, when you look back on your career in the rearview mirror will make perfect sense, like alumni before you have done, consider using hospitality to both drive and discover your purpose. Because success is not about what you do, but really it's about who you become. Being someone who makes the world, or if I break it down, the week or the day better for others, one interaction, one relationship at a time is probably going to be one of your greatest sources of happiness.
So on this very happy day as you go out, span the world, spread the magic, we ask that you continue to lead just like you have done these past four years by showing others what life as service not only looks like, but more importantly, what it feels like. I promise in your work lives and likely in your personal lives, nothing will be more meaningful and more rewarding than that.
So with that in mind, I cannot close without asking that we take a moment to acknowledge our incredible faculty. Now, in my professional career, and I'm pretty old, I have never had the privilege of working with such kind and caring colleagues. To see how devoted they are day in, day out, both in and out of the classroom, well, they are truly one of a kind.
I was reading through some of the comments from our recent student survey to help identify this year's Teaching Award winners. And I thought I'd share a few comments students wrote about all of our faculty with you today. So here we go. Get ready.
Amazing professor. So friendly and genuine, yet has high expectations for his students. I've learned a ton from this professor and I love her enthusiasm to teach. While her class is not easy, it really pushes you. He always gives time to his students, and you can tell he genuinely cares about us. He overworks himself because he wants to teach the material correctly. He's an amazing prof who really gives it his all. I do not mean it lightly when I say her class was one of the most helpful, beneficial, and impactful classes that I will take during my time at Cornell. One of the best professors I've ever had. So kind and eager to help students learn.
Now, this one's interesting. Absolutely phenomenal Professor. I didn't appreciate her class nearly as much as I should have while I was in it, but now I see her teachings everywhere. He's been a very good professor for a very difficult class, encourages students to do their best, will do everything in his power to make sure you pass his class. Truly cares about his students. It's not a stretch to say that his class was life changing. And then my personal favorite, the GOAT.
I am so proud of our faculty, and I'm going to ask, many of them are here today, my colleagues to stand and be recognized for the profound way they have shaped the lives of our graduates. Ladies and gentlemen, the faculty who helped educate our graduates.
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On behalf of the entire Nolan Hotel School community, the SC Johnson College of Business, and Cornell University, Dean Karolyi and I thank you for the legacy you leave. We wish each of you the best of success and happiness. Wherever life may lead you around the globe, we will always look forward to welcoming you back home to Statler Hall. And graduates, remember as you cross this stage in just a few moments to just savor this very happy moment and day. And as you define and live your own purpose, may many more happy days lie ahead. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm now going to ask Professor Alex Susskind, our Senior Director of Programs, back to the podium to present our degree candidates. So get ready. This is the exciting moment. Yes.
ALEX SUSSKIND: Well, welcome everybody again. We now present our graduate class of 2023. We congratulate them all on their outstanding accomplishments. And what I'd like to do is begin with our doctor of philosophy candidates. So please come to the stage.
[READING NAMES]
And now our masters of science candidates.
[READING NAMES]
Now we are going to move on to our masters of management in hospitality degree candidates.
[READING NAMES]
Now we are going to move on to our undergraduate class of 2023. And as I call their names--
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And as I call their names, I will recognize three students who completed the collaborative degree program we have with the Culinary Institute of America, our CIA.
[READING NAMES]
Darius Genji is one of our CIA dual degree candidates, collaborative degree. Yeah, there we go.
[READING NAMES]
Ying Tong Lee. She is also a collaborative degree recipient from the Culinary Institute of America.
[READING NAMES]
Isaiah Prado. He is also a CIA collaborative degree recipient.
[READING NAMES]
We congratulate all of our graduating seniors on their outstanding accomplishments.
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KATE WALSH: So graduates. Yes. Congratulations. We wish you fulfillment in every aspect of your life. And as I said, we look forward to welcoming you back home to Cornell as alumni. And it better be soon. Homecoming is coming up. I'm just saying.
As we conclude today's celebration, I would like to take a moment to express appreciation to the numerous volunteers who helped make this day so special for all. Thanks go to Caf Audio for providing the sound system, the Ithaca Brass Quartet for the music we've enjoyed today, Balfour Photography for providing memories for us, and Empire Interpreting Services for helping to make our ceremony accessible.
At this time, I would like to ask us all to stand while our faculty and all of our graduates recess out. We ask our graduates and guests as you exit you could exit on either side. And you can absolutely go over to Statler Hall for some more photos with your family and friends and we'll all be around to take selfies with you. But thank you to each and every one of you for helping us celebrate today. And one last round of applause for the Nolan School Hotel Administration class of '23.
[APPLAUSE]
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