A weekend’s miserably cold northeast drizzle could not stop a warm welcome for the families of the 2007 graduates and their commencement speaker, Thomas Friedman, who, although he could see his breath, didn’t discount global warming from the challenges facing graduates. The commencement was referenced twice in The New York Times in the following weeks, and was a turning point for students as they closed one collective chapter and began a new one in their lives’ works.
For the majority, the next chapter brings work or graduate studies. The next generation of innovators and academics were clearly prepared by Rensselaer’s programs—90 percent of the 2007 graduates will be going to work in corporate America or continuing their studies,
May 19 saw 1,470 graduates representing 30 different countries withstand the bitter conditions, typical of the upstate New York climate, in a procession led by the prominently displayed Rensselaer Mace across Harkness Field. Standing out in their full dress were 29 ROTC students starting active officer duty in the Air Force, Army, and Navy. In addition, two graduates are joining the ranks in the Marine Corps. The CIA and Department of Energy also find RPI grads joining their staffs.
For those receiving the 242 masters, 105 doctoral, and 1,131 bachelors degrees awarded, the 201st commencement was shared with three others. Honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters were awarded to both Friedman and Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes,” while an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering was awarded to Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.
While the three shared in a colloquy Friday night focusing on the ethics of the combination of politics and technology, Friedman’s speech the next morning had a different direction.
A billionaire journalist for
The Times since 1981, the recipient of three Pulitzer prizes, and author of The World is Flat, Friedman focused on the need for creative and innovative solutions to the world’s growing problems.
Breaking his presentation into three pieces, he covered all his bases with humor and sincerity—“one brutal, one inspiring, and one sentimental. I can’t go wrong,” he reasoned.
Referencing the often harsh Charles Sykes, author of Dumbing Down Our Kids, Friedman pulled five of his favorite quotes, including, “If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure,” and the crowd-pleasing, “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will be working for one.”
Moving on to speech number two, the inspirational piece, Friedman explained that he was lent the original “quiet crisis” notion from President Shirley Ann Jackson, and thus RPI would be a logical place to look for a solution. “I think what is happening at places like Rensselaer, that is, our finest engineering and science schools, is vital to the future of our country.” He later noted in his column that the first 30 or so doctorate candidates sounded foreign and again referenced the “quiet crisis.”
His motivational speech was split into three simple messages on which he elaborated: “First, what you learned here really matters. Second, what you learned to imagine here matters even more. Third, how you implement, how you implement what you imagine is going to matter most of all. Let me explain,” and explain he did.
Stating one of his main themes for the day, Friedman declared, “When I think of the biggest challenge facing our society today, how do we maintain our standard of living so we can provide good jobs, good health care, a clean environment, and a good example of a thriving free society for the rest of the world, the answer always starts with developing more scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.”
He added, “I hope you are leaving here not only with your mind sharpened; I hope you are also leaving here with your imagination enhanced.”
Friedman knows that innovation will be important because, as he titled his book, the world is flat to him. “By flat, of course, I mean that more people than ever can now plug and play, compete, connect, and collaborate on the global economic playing field. Innovation can, and increasingly is, coming from anywhere and everywhere. It is going to spur an incredible era of invention. The next great breakthrough in bioscience is going to come from a 15-year-old girl in Romania who downloads the human genome on her iPod.”
Friedman’s sentimental speech was short and touching—“a very simple message: Call your mother”—followed by a story of how his 87-year old mother still passes around his column to her friends and how much he values her support.
He finished, “I’ve tried in this short time to get in your face, to get in your head, and to get into your heart,” and left off with a somewhat clichéd quote from a fellow optimist, Mark Twain.
