This is the speech I (as Faculty Senate President) delivered on December 19, 2020 at the Commencement ceremony held at SMU's Ford Stadium. Congratulations, SMU graduates! (Picture is from the rehearsal on Friday morning.)
Dear graduates, families and friends:
On behalf of the entire faculty of Southern Methodist University, congratulations! What a remarkable accomplishment, to become part of the SMU alumni family, a group of enormously talented changemakers who have left their mark in every field. What a joy, for us your teachers, to see you launch into this new chapter of your life at the end of this very trying year, this year with very few joys besides seeing some of you back on campus this semester. What better way to cap this difficult year than to come together to celebrate your incredible achievement: graduating from Southern Methodist University.
Maybe it wasn’t easy – as professors, we don’t try to make it easy. But we sure helped you get the maximum out of the SMU academic experience. Once you leave the Hilltop, you may encounter challenges and you may encounter setbacks. In fact, if you aim high enough, you most certainly will. And what we SMU faculty tried to do is to give you the tools and the resilience to overcome those setbacks so that you can succeed in everything you set your mind to, from now on.
You are a unique type of university graduates, graduates who excel in their field, understand the big picture and develop ethical, innovative solutions for society’s greatest problems. After a few years on this beautiful campus with so many talented peers, some of you may have forgotten how extraordinary you all are. But you were admitted to SMU because we could see that you, out of tens of thousands of applicants, would most benefit from this remarkable SMU education, and now we are just as excited as you are to see you leap into the real world and accomplish all those groundbreaking feats we know you are capable of.
What an honor for us faculty to have walked part of this road with you. As we reach the end of our time together, we can’t wait to see how high you’ll go, now that you are ready to soar toward the stars like the most mythical winged horses. We are so proud of you. Again, on behalf of the entire faculty of Southern Methodist University, congratulations, Mustangs!
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