Closing Remarks

Remarks at the College of Business Administration Commencement Ceremony

May 11, 2007

Since I arrived at Tennessee less than a year ago, this ceremony is the first commencement exercise for undergraduates in the College of Business of Administration I have attended. But of course I’ve witnessed many graduations over my time in academia. They are always joyous events, everyone is smiling and feeling good, happy and in high spirits. Sometimes, however, it’s difficult to tell who’s happier at graduations: the students who don’t have to study anymore or the parent of the students who don’t have to pay for the tuition bills anymore. In any case, I’m delighted to speak to an audience whose common denominator is a collective sigh of relief.

I have been asked to say a few words at the close of this ceremony. One of the few things that stands between you and your celebration is my talk. I therefore understand very well that it should be brief.

If you are awaiting from me a learned or sage discourse containing advice, you are going to be disappointed: I have none to give at this late hour. Here I take my cue from William Shakespeare. Is it any coincidence that Polonius, the most noted dispenser of advice in Hamlet (famous for: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”; “This above all: to thine own self be true”), is a deceitful, somewhat senile windbag? Besides, I learned a long time ago that graduates do best when they learn on their own how to succeed outside the walls of the academy, and, moreover, my successes have been only inside institutions of higher education, while yours will likely be in one sort of business venture or another not connected with college and university life. How can I possibly advise you?

If you are awaiting from me something resembling words of wisdom, maxims, apothegms, pithy sayings, proverbs, parables, adages, aphorisms, mottos, or bon mots on how to conduct yourselves now that you have finished your degree at the University of Tennessee, you will likewise be disappointed. Anything that could be related in these short forms in the brief time I will speak to you is probably not going to help you very much, especially since you have spent four long years gathering wisdom and knowledge from persons more qualified to impart it than I am.

What I will say to you is that you should be extremely proud of yourselves and of your accomplishments. Significant to me is that you have achieved not only in your major, but in your general education curriculum. You are not just narrow-minded business majors, who know only accounting, marketing, economics, and finance, but well-rounded, educated students who have also acquired a business degree and are “ready for the world.” And this degree was not easy to obtain. The College of Business Administration is one of the very best colleges on our campus. It is a desired college for undergraduates, so much so that Business accepts only a fraction of the students who apply for admission. At the foremost public research institution in the State of Tennessee you are graduating from one of the most competitive programs. And for these stellar accomplishments I think we should congratulate you once again with a(nother) round of applause.

You graduates have therefore accomplished a great deal in navigating through your programs in the College of Business Administration. But in another sense: “You ain’t done nothin’ yet!” No matter how much you have achieved, no matter how well you have accomplished in terms of grades, no matter how well you have performed on exams and papers, on projects and theses, the real test of your mettle comes only now that you have moved the tassels on your caps from the right to the left and once you employ what you have learned outside the walls of academia. That is, the real test is showing the world that you are truly educated and deserving of the recognition we bestow on you today.

Since I know the quality of the faculty and the courses on the Tennessee campus very well, and the quality of the student body that has enrolled in these courses, I am confident that success awaits you in all your future endeavors. Although I don’t think you’ll need it, I wish you good luck, but more importantly I also ask you not to forget the institution that started you on your path. We at Tennessee are extremely proud of our graduates, but increasingly we are compelled to call on you for support and advocacy if we are going to remain a premier institution in higher education, a university that aspires to the first ranks of public institutions in the country.

So take what we’ve given you here, but don’t forget to give back something of what you’ve taken. Congratulations to all of our graduates. Veritatem cognoscetis et veritas te liberabit. That’s the motto of the University of Tennessee: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Go Vols!

Posted: May 14, 2007