Chancellor Katehi: ‘...let the light of hope and optimism be your guide."

6.13.11

(Chancellor Katehi delivered the following address at the 2011 Spring Commencement.)

Thank you, and welcome everyone.

Welcome to our distinguished stage party. Welcome to the family and the friends who have supported our graduates through their years here at UC Davis. And of course, welcome to all of you, our graduates –the Class of 2011!

It is a privilege to be part of this important day in your life. 

You are here today, in cap and gown, ready to be handed a diploma that you have worked so hard for. I have sat just where you are in a folding chair listening to the president or the chancellor of my university and thinking about what is next.

Your future begins today, and that is no small matter. This, after all, is the rest of your life. This is your moment, and I want you to leave here knowing that everything is possible for you.

You are unique in your skills and training, in your compassion and dedication to action and in your commitment to humanity and to the future. You are leaving an outstanding university with all of the tools you need to succeed.

In just a few minutes, you will all be graduates of UC Davis and you will go on to lead the rest of us and usher in a new era. We all know that these are uncertain economic times and that this country is in the midst of recovery.

Regardless, you will succeed. And you will change the world for the better.

I want to offer you a bit of perspective by way of our graduates.

In 1980, a UC Davis student named Tani earned her undergraduate degree here in rhetoric. At times, she waited tables to get by. She eventually earned a law degree from UC Davis, but jobs were limited and for a while, she worked as a blackjack dealer.

The country was headed toward recession, and recovery was years away. That may sound somewhat familiar to you. Then came 1987 – and a day known as Black Monday – when the stock market crashed.

That was about the same time that another UC Davis student, Anna, was graduating. Because she was also a mother with four children, she attended UC Davis every other quarter until she earned a degree in political science and made her entire family very proud.

Anna is Anna Escobedo Cabral and her signature is probably on the dollar bills in your wallet. She went on to become treasurer of the United States and served for four years until 2009.

And, Tani? Tani is Tani Cantil-Sakauye, chief justice of the California Supreme Court and the first Filipina-American in state history to hold that position.

UC Davis has more than 200,000 alumni and these are just two of their stories.

There is one last story I will share, and it actually began 7,000 miles from UC Davis and about 50 years ago. A girl in a working-class village was dreaming of college, at a time and in a place – where for women – a high school diploma was the best they could achieve. She eventually came to America and graduated from UCLA with both a master’s and a doctorate in the midst of a deep recession.

I can say with confidence that she went on to do rather well. And today, she stands before you urging you to not be deterred by anything and to instead move forward with a spirit of determination and optimism.

There is a place for you, and it will be all you ever dreamt of and more. It is true that our financial system has stumbled, but what has not changed is you.

You are America’s risk takers, innovators, artists, scholars and dreamers. Your potential is unfathomable and you leave here today ready to unleash it on the world.

I hope you leave here inspired, because there is so much to do, and we are counting on you to do it.

We need cures for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and so much more. Hunger and poverty are global epidemics. Clean water and air should be a right and not a privilege. And political and social conflicts continue to take lives every day.

Almost everything else pales in comparison to these challenges. The economy will flourish and falter and you will be tested, but through it all, always give the world all that you have. Believe in yourself and let the light of hope and optimism be your guide.

Great success awaits you so please remember as you are out there changing the world that your mentors, friends and family at UC Davis remain right here for you.

And soon, just like Tani and Anna, we will be hearing your names because you are a living legacy.

So again, congratulations to you – the Class of 2011!