Remarks delivered by Julio de Paula at the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Induction Ceremony
Lewis & Clark College
May 9, 2009
Proud parents, family, and friends, Esteemed Colleagues, and Honored Students, I am Julio de Paula, Dean of the College. Thank you for the opportunity to address this gathering on so festive an occasion.
Through this Commencement season I will speak at several venues, and many of you will be at most of them. I promise not to repeat myself, but at the same time see the opportunity to explore a theme with you over the speeches I will deliver. I wish to speak to you now and tomorrow about the value of a liberal arts education.
The seniors among you are graduating at a time when financial institutions and large companies are down-sizing, contemplating (or entering into) bankruptcy or liquidation, or being “bailed out” by the government. Unemployment is rising, and new jobs are not being created. The recession is not over and its effects will be felt across the board for many years. So the juniors among you will face the same challenges a year from now that your senior colleagues are about to face now. My sense is that even after the recession is over the country, indeed the world, will be different economically, politically, and socially. Going back to business as usual probably will not be an option in this changed world. Every sector of the economy and government, every non-profit organization, including Lewis & Clark, will have to change permanently.
Change will require creativity, agility, courage, patience, and—perhaps above all—compassion. Yet the need for comprehensive change will be a great opportunity for you. Citizens like you who are trained in the tradition of the liberal arts understand the socio-economic, political, and technological contexts of the problems we all face. You are more likely to find solutions that affirm human rights, protect the environment, raise—and then stabilize—standards of living across the globe. But to capitalize on this opportunity you must waste no time to think of ways in which to make a positive impact on the communities you will join.
Some of you will continue your education in graduate, law, business, and medical schools. This is a wise course of action, for adding specialized knowledge to your liberal arts foundation will enhance your ability to effect change. Some of you will join the workforce right away. And some among you are not yet certain about your short-term future.
No matter what your plans might be, the central question for you is: How can you contribute?
If Lewis & Clark succeeded in educating you properly, it taught you the distinction between amassing facts and making connections between them. You learned how to make intellectual connections on the stage, in the field, classroom, laboratory, and studio. But obviously you have not engaged all possible issues and have not made all possible connections. As an informed citizen, community leader, and scholar, you must continue to use your intellect to make connections, promoting and conducting the right conversations about the future of society.
Allow me to use a Lewis & Clark graduate as an example of what I mean by making connections.
Consider Beau Barnes, class of 2006, who majored in International Affairs and Foreign Languages and Literatures, with specialization in German and Spanish. While at Lewis & Clark he participated in Model United Nations and the Forensics Program. He was co-chair of the International Affairs Symposium and a member of the Portland Charter Review Commission. Beau also held internships at Mercy Corps and Swan Islands Networks, a software company.
After graduation, Beau worked on a congressional campaign. Then he received an International Parliamentary Fellowship to work for eight months in the German Bunsdestag.
For the last two years he has worked in Boston as a political advisor to a major Democratic donor, promoting the involvement of women in local, national, and international politics.
This coming fall Beau will enter a J.D./M.A. program in Law and Diplomacy, a joint venture between Boston University School of Law and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In his own words, he wishes ultimately "to work in the legislative arena on issues of security and development."
Critics of the liberal arts approach to education often charge that it is not practical or relevant in today's world. But students like Beau Barnes prove that a liberal arts education produces broad thinkers with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle complex problems on a global scale. Students educated in the tradition of the liberal arts are the change agents our world so desperately needs. They are--you are--the innovators who will re-invent the global economy, work to eradicate socio-political inequity, and create smart, sustainable, and broadly accessible technologies.
I have great confidence that you, Lewis & Clark students and members of Phi Beta Kappa, have the intellectual skills and motivation to engage any issue and lead any conversation, no matter how society evolves. I know that the seniors among you will make yourselves, your family, and the College proud as you begin your new lives beyond Palatine Hill. As for the juniors in the audience, Lewis & Clark’s faculty and staff look forward to continuing our work with you next year.
Thank you and Peace to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment