GW Alumni Association President Richard Crespin, B.A. '93
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
May 18, 2008

If you are already an alum of the George Washington University, please stand so that we may recognize you.

Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class: I am Richard Crespin and I am the President of the George Washington Alumni Association. On behalf of these alumni here gathered and on behalf of the nearly 220,000 living alumni around the world, it is my privilege to congratulate you today on the fulfillment of a dream.

The funny thing is that some of you think that it's your dream, perhaps a dream that you conceived of a few years ago when you first set foot on campus or were first accepted to the University. A few of you may think that it's your parents' dream or your family members or loved ones who have come here to see you complete this journey.

But the truth is that today you complete a dream far older, the dream of one man, this nation's first President, who looked out on what was then a young, fragile republic and saw that a national university in the nation's capital could bring together the youth of that nation and they together could build a more perfect union.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, you are gathered from all parts of this country and from all parts of this world, and today you go forth fulfilling that man's dream. After today you will go on to live new lives and do great things, and no matter where you go or what you do, you always carry with you the dream that is the George Washington University.

We, the alumni of GW, are the physical manifestation of that dream, and as such we have a special obligation, an obligation to each other, to draw each other closer together as that lifelong and worldwide community that Chairman Ramsey referenced, to draw in so doing closer this country, and to draw closer this entire world.

As the President of your Alumni Association, allow me to congratulate you on joining your worldwide family and be the first to welcome you as alumni and to challenge you to stay connected to each other, to your worldwide family, and to this institution, because, ladies and gentlemen, wherever you go, whatever you do in life, you will always be alumni of the George Washington University. Congratulations.

W. Russell Ramsey
GW Board of Trustees Chairman
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
May 18, 2008

It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to be with you this morning. I have to say, I don't know if anybody out there has goose bumps, but I don't do this every day. Does anybody do this every day? I'm really almost without words, looking out at the smiling faces and the amount of accomplishment that obviously has happened here and is being so honorably celebrated.

For 187 years, The George Washington University has sent graduates out into the world. Indeed, one of the reasons The George Washington University is a great institution is that we have had 187 years of people who earn their degrees and then continue to care about their alma mater.

I'd like to talk to you for a moment, not only as chairman, but as a fellow graduate. I earned my degree from The George Washington University in 1981. Twenty-seven years later, I'm still talking about the experience of being a student here. I can honestly say the chance to go to GW changed my life, and my GW education helped bring me to where I am today.

As you know, graduation can be an occasion for reflection, so let me invite you to reflect today on a couple of things. When I was sitting where you are 27 years ago, all I knew was that I had myself, my inner beliefs, and what I thought would give me a ticket to as good a life as possible. The one message you have to know is that you must believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself I can assure you that you've had the benefit of one of the world's great cities, you've had the benefit of one of the world's great administrations, and you've had the caring of people throughout the University who really want to see you go out and make your mark in life. Wherever you go in that first job, in that first new school, in that first new home, make sure you know one thing: Whatever you want to do, you can do. If you're willing to outwork the competition and if you're willing to get there early to stay late, you can do whatever you want to do in life.

Look around here today and know that the GW community is thinking about you, we at the Board of Trustees care about you, and we hope to see you coming back for years with smiles on your faces and with accomplishments. We also hope to see many of you back here with sons and daughters and granddaughters.

I'd like to finally say that in your early life, in your mid-life, GW needs you. We need you to give us your time. Whatever city, whatever country you're in, we need you to stay connected. We are serious when we say GW, a lifelong community. We truly are a lifelong community.

Delivered by GW President Steven Knapp
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
May 18, 2008

I am honored to welcome the Class of 2008 into the lifelong and worldwide community of GW alumni. You are exceptional men and women, and I am proud to call you graduates of The George Washington University!

This is an exhilarating day for you, as well as for the family and friends who have supported you throughout your educational journey. As we gather in this majestic setting on the historic National Mall to celebrate your accomplishments, I applaud your hard work and perseverance, your boldness of thought, and your deep interest in local, national, and world issues -- and your dedication to resolving them.

We at GW are proud of our reputation as one of the most politically engaged and service-oriented campuses in the nation. Our students care passionately about the state of the world and the state of whatever community they find themselves part of, and the approaches they take to addressing the pressing issues of our era range across the entire spectrum of political and philosophical opinion. In the last year, members of our GW community devoted 55,000 hours to volunteer service, and 66 of our alumni served abroad in the Peace Corps.

In his comments this morning, Julian Bond spoke about the civil rights movement that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so passionately symbolized. Today, as nearly 7,000 of you graduate just a short distance from the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King spoke so eloquently about his dream, I urge you all to strive for equality and justice in the world.

Commencement ushers in a new beginning for the Class of 2008 -- ripe with opportunity and bright with anticipation of the boundless adventures that lie ahead. Some of you will continue your education; others will pursue careers in your chosen professions, while others will embark on a mission with the Peace Corps or with another humanitarian organization.

My charge to you today is to lead lives rich in meaning and powerful in contribution. Take care of our planet, as some of you have promised to do in your impressive “graduation pledge,” advocating environmental awareness at your future work places. Take care of each other. Act with integrity. You have the potential to become our future leaders and can make a real difference in this world. And, as you go forth, always carry GW with you, and always regard GW as your intellectual and cultural home in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Best wishes to you all!

Photo Galleries 2009

GW Commencement on the National Mall, May 17	GW Commencement Formal Gallery, May 17
Monumental Celebration, May 16	Interfaith Baccalaureate Service, May 15
Doctoral Hooding Ceremony, May 15

Cosmin Florescu, M.A., M.P.H. ‘09
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
May 17, 2009

My dear fellow graduates: In 1988, when most of you were born, I lived in communist Romania behind the Iron Curtain. At that time, you and I were enemies, representing different ideologies. In 1989, I experienced Eastern Europe's shortest and bloodiest revolution, one week of terrifying violence as Romanian soldiers and citizens rose up to overthrow Nicolae Ceausescu, formerly known as the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania, but in reality a terrible tyrant.

The Romanian uprising was the culmination of a 1989 revolutions that began in Poland and Hungary, continued with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and swept eastward through Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. Many of you have studied these events. I lived them.

Romania is now a thriving democracy in the European Union and a permanent member of NATO. Perhaps more importantly, the United States and Romania are now allies that address the same global challenges together. Thus, I stand before you today as a fellow countryman in more ways than one.

It is entirely fitting that the University named for the father of this country holds its graduation ceremony on the National Mall between two of the greatest symbols of our democracy, the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument. These monuments have a special meaning for me, a first generation immigrant from a country in the former Soviet bloc. Even though my parents and I had nothing but a suitcase when we arrived in this country in December of 1991, we knew we were in America, the land of opportunity, and that there was an available path for us to take that helped us reach our goal. We overcame the gritty hardship that most immigrants face, and today I graduate with two master's degrees.

One of the greatest strengths of our democracy is our ability to overcome periods of adversity. The majority of us have first-hand experience with the current economic situation and many of us are apprehensive about finding a job that will pay the rent, put food on the table, and repay student loans. In times like these, it's useful to reflect on past periods of hardship and the role that college graduates played in overcoming those challenging times. Students who emerged from college shortly after the Great Depression went to work building the highway system and inventing the earliest computer, while college graduates of the Cold War launched the first communications satellite and invented the Internet.

As a graduating class, we will overcome adversity again, not just because we are equipped with the skills needed for the jobs of the 21st century, but because we're imbued with the spirit of George Washington, who knew a great deal about triumph over adversity.

So I salute you, my fellow graduates, as you leave GW and go forth to take on the world. Some of you will work right here in D.C. to help operate this great government. Others will return to your home towns or home countries to work, travel, or study. Whatever your next step is, I wish you success.

I will return to my home state of California to take pre-med courses and then head off to medical school. I will also have the thrill of finally becoming an American citizen when I go through the naturalization ceremony later this summer.

I congratulate you all on your accomplishment so far and offer you my best wishes as you embark on your destiny.

Thank you.

Naomi Rapp, B.S. ‘09
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
May 17, 2009

No matter where you're from, attending the George Washington University changes you. Perhaps the same could be said for any college, but I think it is undeniable that, living in the nation's capital, we are faced with one of a kind challenges every day that, whether we realize it or not, have contributed to who we are. Motorcades are no longer something to call home about, but rather an obstacle between you and the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. We no longer giggle at the words "Foggy Bottom." And although we may try time and time again, we will never actually know what is in Minutia's GW sauce.

The real challenge, though, has only just begun. Perhaps one day you'll be faced with a new kind of probably, like deciding whether to move away from family for a job or if your major, what you've dedicated countless hours and too many sleepless nights to, is really want you want to do. It can get overwhelming when there are only a few knowns, what seem like a million unknowns, and Texas Instruments doesn't make a large enough calculator. There is one thing I do know. I could not be more confident that the about-to-be GW graduate sitting in front of me today is ready.

In every graduation speech I've seen in movies, this is the part where the speaker stands in front of the graduates and exclaims: "We finally made it." But I disagree. I don't think we finally made it. I think we've just gotten here. This is when it all really starts. We are at a place in our lives which we'll never be at again.

So if you take nothing else from my speech today, other than that some engineers are half-decent writers, of course, remember the regrets that really eat away at you are from the things you didn't do, not from the things you did. Always wondering what it would have felt like, tasted like, been like, those are the regrets that never go away. Trust that you have the skills to do whatever you want, because whether you believe it or not, I know you do.

So, Class of 2009, I congratulate you and challenge you, in fact I triple dog dare you, to take those risks and live without regret.

Now, as we each go our separate ways and exit the George Washington University bubble we have called home for so long, we must remember that today we are not each other's competition, but we are peers and, most importantly, friends. So whether you studied engineering, international affairs, human services, business, journalism, or anything in between, from one friend to another: Congratulations, good luck, enjoy life wherever it may take you.

Thank you.

John Safer, B.A. '47, renowned sculptor, Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
Sunday, May 17, 2009

I started off as a bewildered, frightened freshman here, and it's a great honor to be here today. When I was informed that I would be addressing the graduating class of George Washington today, I began to ask myself, what can I say that will have meaning and value to you? I tried to go through my life to determine what I've done that would be unusual. Well, I've had a wider-ranging career than most and so it occurred to me that perhaps I have a broader perspective on life than most.

As President Knapp said, when I left George Washington University World War II was on and I joined the Air Force, spent years in that, went on to go to law school, worked in television, and then I did some electronic research, and then I started building shopping centers, hotels, office buildings, and then became the chairman of the board of a successful of banks.

Throughout all of that, that was never my focus in life. My focus was always my art and my sculpture, and I tried to spend at least half of my waking hours on that sculpture. I tried to create beauty where there had been none before. I tried to create sculptures which at best I hoped would inspire others.

So I asked myself, what can I glean from all that that I can pass on to you. Well, I have a suggestion. All of you are starting your careers today. You will go on into private business, industry. You'll become doctors, lawyers, scientists. I would strongly suggest that you turn your focus outward rather than inward. Set as your goals not just personal success, but set as your goal that you can make the world a better place, because if you do that a remarkable thing can happen. If you try to make the world a better place, the world can become a better place. And that's a wonderful thought, that because of you and the way you live your life the world can be a better place. I can almost assure you that if you do that you will have a richer and more rewarding life.

So that's my suggestion. Beyond that, I can only say that it's been a long route from being that confused, frightened freshman to be standing here and receiving a doctorate from my old university, and for that I'm very -- Thank you, thank you. I'm very proud and very honored, and I thank you one and all.

Jeanne Narum, director of Project Kaleidoscope and the Independent Colleges Office, Doctor of Science, honoris causa
GW Commencement on the National Mall
Washington, DC
Sunday, May 17, 2009

Thank you, President Knapp. I am deeply honored and somewhat overwhelmed. Your recognition of the work of Project Kaleidoscope signals what is important to the George Washington University, the importance of taking leadership and connecting the dots in new ways between science and society, between the campus and the world beyond, and between the quality of the undergraduate learning in science, mathematics, and the various fields of science and the capacity of our nation to continue to thrive and prosper as a free democracy into the future.

For the 2009 graduates of the George Washington University, let me describe some of the A's, B's, and C's of the lesson we've learned. First, aim high, have high ambitions. Early on in our work someone sent me these words of wisdom: "Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." The male gender indicates the age of those words, uttered more than 100 years ago by the great Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. As an aside, they problem still resonate with leaders from Chicago today and we are very glad for that.

Twenty years ago it seemed daunting to aspire to transforming the undergraduate learning environment in math, science, and engineering, but we had high aspirations, persisted, and succeeded.

Second, build bridges that begin to connect the dots in ways that make sense for your society in our time. Become boundary crossing agents. At the beginning of our work, we saw a thousand unconnected points of light across the country and set about building a national power grid to illuminate best practices in science and math teaching and learning. What we distilled from these models of best practices was that what works was when campuses had carefully identified goals for learning that were reflected in program and space. One of the overriding goals we notice is that students become boundary crossing agents, able to cross boundaries between disciplines, between the academic and the real world, boundaries between what is and what might be, and able to do this because of their learning as undergraduates.

Our big ambition in our work -- the heart of our work has been to nurture communities of boundary crossing agents.

I leave with you the challenge of aiming high, of having big ambitions, and hope that each of you aim to be a boundary crossing agent in some part of the world where your skills and passions can make a difference. All our communities, local, regional, and global, need you. Congratulations.