Commencement 2008: Ancestors in the making
By Tammy Griffin-Kumpey M.S.P.C. '06
Photos by Tammy Woodard M.A. '98
Campus was joyous on sunday, may 18, as Clark celebrated its 103rd commencement. The University awarded 449 bachelor's degrees, 214 master's degrees and 17 doctorates. Emily Zoback '08 delivered the senior address, where she recalled highlights of the past four years and alluded to the future.
"People are what bring this campus to life," said Zoback. "The friends we have made here, the faculty, the administration, all have allowed us to make the memories we will cherish forever. We have been forever changed by our Clark experiences, and we have lived a lifetime in these four short years."
"I cannot wait to learn what we, as members of the class of 2008, accomplish in the years to come," she said. "I am proud to be a member of the Class of 2008, and I know our legacy will live on."
Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, addressed the Class of 2008, saying "Be very careful in the selection of your ambitions, because you are likely to realize them. "
He urged graduates not to confuse a job with a career, relating his own transitions in life, none of which he ever thought of as merely jobs. "You have long lives ahead of you," he stressed. "Be lifelong students."
Gregorian is a historian, educator and author. As president of Carnegie Corporation, a grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911, he has worked for the past 10 years to promote Carnegie's vision of philanthropy by building on his two major concerns: advancing education and international peace.
Born in Iran of Armenian parents, Gregorian was educated in Iran and Lebanon before entering Stanford University, where he earned his B.A. in 1958 and Ph.D. in 1964. After teaching history at several American universities, he joined the University of Pennsylvania, where he was appointed founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1974, becoming the institution's 23rd provost four years later. He went on to become the president of The New York Public Library in 1981, where he raised over $300 million, and president of Brown University in 1989, where he nearly tripled the University's endowment. Gregorian is the author of "The Road to Home: My Life and Times," "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith," and "The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1880–1946."
In his address, Gregorian spoke about the grandmother who raised him. "My grandmother was an illiterate peasant," he acknowledged. "She certainly did not know who Plutarch was, but even so she taught me the same lesson as Plutarch highlighted in his celebrated 'Lives' almost 2,000 years ago … character makes the man and woman."
"She instructed me in the moral lessons of life and the 'right way,' through her sheer character, stoic tenacity, formidable dignity, individuality and utter integrity. She was for me the best example of what good character means. "
"It was from my grandmother that I learned that dignity is never negotiable," he told graduates.
"In the coming years you will meet people who are more powerful than you, richer than you, smarter than you, even handsomer or more beautiful than you, but what will be your distinguishing mark will always be your character. And what will define your character? Your conduct, your ability to live by principles you believe in, even if that means fighting tenaciously for what is right over what you know to be wrong. "
"Let me point out that coping with success is easy. How you deal with adversity, with failure and with setback will reveal your true character. How nimble you are about getting back on your feet after some large or small disaster or defeat will help you to determine just how far those feet of yours will take you in the world. "
Gregorian, who received the Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Clark for his visionary leadership in the field of education and the humanities, charged members of the class of 2008 "to learn to be good ancestors to the future."
"I hope as you climb the ladder of success, you will always remember the dictum ‘From those to whom much has been given, much is expected,'" he said.
"Today information floods over us, and a millisecond later in comes another flood of data and information, and another and another. Images of pleasure and pain, fear and joy, love and hate assault us from all angles. The world around us is full of raucous chatter and noise. Amid all this cacophony, it 's hard to see ourselves as part of a larger whole, a continuing eternal harmony, that music of the spheres that the ancients thought we would hear only in our inner ear. Well today I would like to remind you of your connection to history. Try to listen with your inner ears to those who went before you, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on and on, who all wanted to be good ancestors to you … the time has come for you to return the favor. You have to learn to be good ancestors to the future. "
Other honorary degree recipients were: Christopher Collier '51, professor emeritus of history at the University of Connecticut, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters; Arthur Remillard Jr. '56, founder and former CEO and president of The Commerce Group, Inc., who received a Doctor of Humane Letters; and Diana Chapman Walsh, president emeritus of Wellesley College, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters. More information about the honorary degree recipients and scripts of commencement speeches are online at www.clarku.edu/commencement.
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Clarknews Summer
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Emily Zoback '08, senior speaker
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