Remarks from Convocation - August 26, 2009
Good Afternoon. Welcome to Convocation 2009.
Convocation, from the Latin phrase, “calling together,” is the annual gathering of students, faculty, staff and administrators. With this event we mark the beginning of our new academic year. This is the time that we welcome the newest members of our university family, the freshman class of 2009.
You are a gifted and talented group of young people and you are about to join a community of scholars who pursue truth, knowledge and understanding.
The next four years will be a once in a lifetime journey for you. Strangers will become your friends. Faculty members will challenge and inspire you. You will confirm some long-held beliefs, questions others, and you will read, work and accomplish more than you ever thought possible. You have embarked on the greatest personal and intellectual journey of your life. It is a pleasure to welcome you to ULM and to declare the academic year officially open.
At this time, I’d like to recognize our special guests seated on the stage:
Dr. Stephen Richters, provost; Dr. Wayne Brumfield, vice president of Student Affairs; Dr. Jeffrey Cass, dean of College of Arts & Sciences; Dr. Ron Berry, dean of College of Business Administration; Dr. Sandra Lemoine, dean of College of Education and Human Development; Dr. Denny Ryman, dean of College of Health Sciences; Dr. Greg Leader, dean of College of Pharmacy; and Dr. Bruce Walker, president of the Faculty Senate. I’d also like to recognize Hannah Livingston, current Student Government Association president and Micah Pulliam, the past SGA president and recent graduate.
There are some other special groups that make up the ULM family. Please stand as I recognize you.
- First Lady Deborah Cofer
- ULM Faculty
- ULM Staff
- ULM Administration
- ULM student-athletes, Spirit Groups & Sound of Today
- Freshmen Class of 2009
- All ULM students
Many of you entered this coliseum today for the first time. You may feel a little apprehensive about the prospect of the next four years and what will be required of you. You will, no doubt, feel a similar apprehension at graduation, but you will be different. You will have grown in wisdom, and you will have new goals. During your time here, we hope to awaken in you intellectual curiosity, a life-long passion for learning, compassion for others, and an active imagination.
Today you become part of a higher education tradition that started not centuries, but millennia ago. Plato started the first western institution of higher learning in the Groves of Academe around 400 BC. According to early history, Plato started his Academy after visiting a centuries old university in the Middle East on one of his trips to Sicily.
The medieval university has its roots in the early 11th century in Italy and France. The academic regalia you see us in today, and you will see us in again when you graduate, reflects the strong ties that existed between academic and religious institutions at that time.
The Ceremonial mace, a symbol of the internal authority over members and the independence from external authority, is carried by a distinguished member of the faculty who leads the entire procession. Its placement in and removal from a designated place of honor signify the opening and closing of ceremonial sessions.
When we gather at your commencement, you will again see our vice presidents and deans and the entire faculty dressed in the traditional colors that represent various academic disciplines. Dr. Stephen Richters, our Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, will present your class for graduation, and each of the five deans will hand you your diploma. Micah (Pulliam) is wearing the commencement regalia you will be wearing as you enter this coliseum to receive your diploma. And you will be led into that ceremony by our Faculty Senate President carrying the mace, just as Dr. Walker did this afternoon.
Today, you join an elite group of the world’s population. You are living a dream beyond the imagination of most people. Only a small number of people have the opportunity to attend college. When you graduate, you will join an even more select group. We are living in a competitive world that is changing at warp speed, so your ability to adapt is important.
China will soon be the largest English speaking country in the world. India has more honor students than America has students. The first commercial text message was sent in December of 1992. Now the number of text messages sent in one day exceeds the total population of the planet. It took the radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took the Internet four years, the iPod three, and Facebook only two years to reach 50 million users. The good news is that your faculty here at ULM is fully equipped to prepare you for this competitive world.
The entire ULM family has very high hopes for you, ULM Freshman Class of 2009!
It would not surprise me one bit to find that someone among you is a future biologist who will discover a breakthrough drug for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Or, a future grassroots campaign organizer who will enable area residents to transcend an intolerable living condition.
Maybe there is even among you a Nobel Laureate in Literature being groomed for that high honor.
Someone sitting in this Coliseum might go on to lead this institution or the state or even the nation – the possibilities are as endless as your own imaginations and determination to see it through!
I challenge you, as a class right now, to never let what is good enough, be just good enough. Never settle; never sacrifice what is best for what might be acceptable – not in yourselves, nor your classmates. I challenge you and your classmates to exceed the high standard set last year, when for the fourth time, ULM’s chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta, a national society of college freshman with high academic achievement, received the Order of the Torch Award, which recognized it as one of the outstanding chapters in the nation. The chapter had 130 new members who carried grade point averages of 3.5 or higher. Will this class exceed that? We believe it is possible.
Today I want to challenge this outstanding freshman class of 2009 to beat that. I want you to have 131, or more, new members. Alpha Lambda Delta is one of over 140 such outstanding organizations on campus. Some are social in nature, some religious, and some academic. I encourage you to find your place at ULM. Join one of those student organizations and become a part of our campus life. Stop by the art gallery in Bry Hall. Attend a concert in Biedenharn Hall. Take a canoe ride among the cypress trees down our beautiful bayou, and be a part of our Division I athletic events. We have students here from every parish in our state, from 44 states, and 43 countries. Some of what you will experience at ULM will occur outside the classroom: friendships, service learning, and volunteerism. Embrace these opportunities. No matter where you strive to fit in, strive for excellence.
Whatever your niche or area of interest, ULM has a very special place and role for each one of you to play, to contribute to your ULM family. With privilege, comes responsibility. Remember the three words in our ULM creed – Unity, Leadership and Motivation. Seek Unity among your classmates, fulfill Leadership roles when asked and find the Motivation to inspire others to do the same
Right now, you should be asking yourself, “How shall I make the most of my time here?” What you do over the next four years will become the foundation for your entire life. One of the most important things you can do is to get to know the faculty. We are a strong university because we have an excellent team of academic and administrative leaders. They have a passion for learning and they want to share that knowledge with you. They are your best mentors and guides. Get to know them outside of the classroom. Go and visit with them in their offices. Eat lunch with them, and with Deborah and me, at the SUB or Schulze Cafeteria.
The University is a place where new understanding is created and where we explore the frontiers of our knowledge. It is a place that encourages investigation of new ideas and displays a willingness to embrace change. Our mission, and the reason this university exists, is to serve you and to give you a place and a way to learn so that you may acquire the knowledge you need to live productive and good lives. During your time here, we will help prepare you for a life beyond this place.
We started convocation at the center of our campus, beneath the bell tower of our beautiful Library. We crossed the bridge and strolled over that beautiful bayou, where cypress trees have graced its waters for decades.
We arrived on the other side of that bridge, and filled Fant-Ewing, to help you envision just a glimpse of what is to come. That simple journey was symbolic of the personal one on which each of you is about to embark.
Four years from now, when you’re rewarded for your effort with that degree in hand, we hope you are cherishing many sacred memories in your heart. May the words inscribed on your bookmark with the photo of the strong, yet graceful, Cypress Tree inspire you at that moment, as we hope it does in this one.
And may you never forget how the ULM campus family strived to provide you “shelter in its branches and a perch from which to soar.”