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Chancellor Pam Shockley
Commencement Address
May 23, 2003

(Word Doc)

This is truly a wonderful day. You are graduating from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, a university that offers a world-class education to students who yearn to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others. Faculty members and staff build a learning community that I believe is second to none. We are supported by a broader community that wants to see the university—and its students—succeed.

We cannot take this support for granted and I know that you do not. Before I talk with you for a few -- and I do mean few -- minutes about the meaning of today, I want to ask you to acknowledge those who are with you and who have provided support and encouragement along the way—faculty, staff, family, and friends.

Graduates, please rise, look for your own personal supporters, and give them a round of applause as your thanks.

APPLAUSE

Thank you…Many commencement addresses talk about success and being successful. I will not be so presumptuous as to tell you what success is. Today I want to talk about pride in our past, confidence in our present, and faith in our future.

First, the pride in our past. Today we are celebrating your past—the accomplishments that bring you to graduation. And for all of you there should be pride in this accomplishment along with many others in your lives.

But many would argue that it is hard to have confidence in our present and faith for our future. The events of 9/11, war, threats of terrorism, a struggling economy, fewer jobs than a year ago -- all are legitimate cause for concern. There are consequences to the context of our times.

Given the context of our times many lack confidence even with the achievements we celebrate today. William Butler Yeats once suggested that for many people it becomes easy to lack conviction, pursue life with passionate intensity that does not exhibit the wisdom of restraint. That is an interesting perspective. But I want to suggest that confidence in our present and faith in the future is not misguided even in challenging times.

I want to challenge you to take the perspective, and I actually think most of you do, --that you can INVENT AND INVITE THE LIFE YOU WANT TO LIVE. You have been doing just that as you pursued your education whether you would consciously describe it as such. Let me give you some examples
GEORGE MCDERMITH wants to be a U.S. Senator. This political science major will enter the master’s program in education at CU-Colorado Springs next fall. George wants to improve the educational system in the U.S. George has been inventing and inviting his life in remarkable ways—George lost his sight when he was 17, he tells us, “I want to show people that the only problem that blind people have is that their eyes don’t work.” Like many other students, George lived in the housing village doing his own laundry and as I have been told “throwing parties” without his mom knocking on the door.
George has been active in student government, has served as the student director of multicultural affairs and has been on the judicial board. George is an excellent example of inventing and inviting life.

James Rolland found a need to invent and invite a new life when several years ago the company that employed him shut down. As a young man, the factors necessary to complete his college degree never came together. Like many people, he took a job that paid the bills but left him wanting more. When his company closed, James decided to begin college despite approaching 50 years of age. The owner of several motorcycles, James describes himself as “biker scum” and enjoys challenging people’s preconceptions. He is as at home with his power tools as he is with differential equations, and his enthusiasm for the language of mathematics is addictive. When James walks across the stage today he will be graduating with honors in electrical engineering and he will shortly begin his master’s program.

Part of inventing and inviting the life you want to live is to honor not only working but learning. James and George certainly do that.

But we have a very special example of honoring learning in our graduating class today.

THOMAS GRIFFIN came to CU-Colorado Springs after home schooling. He is graduating today with two degrees, four majors, one minor and a total of 220 semester hours.
Majoring in philosophy, political science, business information systems, international business and minoring in economics—Thomas saved time for active involvement in student government and has served as the student dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. This learner plans to attend Pepperdine University Law School and join the International League of Justice, an organization that works with ideological and political prisoners in China and Third World countries.

Another part of inventing and inviting the life you want is to understand that growth and change are to be embraced. Risk is real for all and how we adapt and challenge expectations create the way we live our lives.

Heather Green knows about unexpected changes while pursing her degree in nursing.
HEATHER got a phone call in the middle of one of her classes. She was mobilized to go to Oman, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deployment was part of the job for the active-duty Air Force medic—but the timing was not good. Heather worked with the dean and undergraduate coordinator of the Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences to complete her classes while fulfilling her military commitment. Heather ended up earning an achievement medal awarded by the Air Force Surgeon General while working closely with Special Forces personnel. Along the way she was completing her course work, care plans and case studies for her nursing degree. Heather plans to continue her education probably with an on-line master’s program to become a nurse practitioner. A self-described adrenaline junkie, Heather met the challenges of unexpected change while pursing her goals.

A special student of mine this semester challenges the status quo in most productive ways.
Stephanie Velasquez has a special audience member cheering for her today, her son, Julian. Julian was born when Stephanie was a sophomore. As a single mom, many people, including members of her own family, expected her to put her undergraduate career on hold or to forget it all together. Stephanie says, “I come from a lower socio-economic background with low expectations, statistically you are not supposed to make it when you come from the background that I have.”
Stephanie describes herself as a Chicana. Her family has provided her strong role models, and she says her son has only made her better and stronger. This organizational communication major and ethnic minority affairs minor is moving toward the future. She will enter graduate school in the fall at CU-Colorado Springs and has a goal to earn her doctorate before she is 30. I would bet on Stephanie.

These few examples—and there are many many others in our audience today—tell us that it is right to have confidence in our present. But what about faith in the future?

Dr. Betty Siegel, president of Kennesaw State University, talks about being tethered to the past and present in ways that make us fear the future. Dr. Siegel calls this form of limitations “stakes” which we need to pull up in order to move forward. She describes stakes such as age, money, and past expectations as limitations to the future. There are other important stakes for almost everyone.
To invent and invite the life you want to live, you must, as I must, think about the stakes that keep us from moving to a positive future. Is it fear, is it unwillingness to take risks, is it not really looking at what our own personal stakes might be? Today, in asking to you to have faith in the future, I am asking you, and I am asking myself, to keep identifying those stakes which hold us back.

Eric Hoffer said something I really love and I think is fitting for this occasion. In a time or drastic change it is the learners who survive. The learned find themselves fully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

I want us all to be among the learners.

I have talked about inventing and inviting the life you want to live. I have talked about pride in the past, confidence in the present, and faith in the future. Neil Postman once talked about young people as messages to a future that their parents and supporters may never see. You are our messages to the future. I have faith in that future. You are good messages.

Congratulations.

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