Convocation Welcome and Remarks

Convocation Welcome and Remarks
Greek Theatre

May 11, 2005
    

Cal family, friends and guests, welcome to the University of California, Berkeley! My name is Robert Birgeneau and it is my privilege to serve Berkeley as a Professor of Physics and as its ninth Chancellor.

First let me say, congratulations, Class of 2005! Today as we assemble to celebrate our graduates, allow me to welcome all of you to Berkeley's Greek Theatre. This magnificent facility was completed 102 years ago. Many graduates of our University have passed through this theatre.

Today, each of you, as members of the graduating class, will experience the same joy, the same sense of personal accomplishment, as the many hundreds of thousands of graduates who have preceded you throughout our long history.

Cal family and friends, I am delighted that we have gathered in such numbers to honor our past, the excitement of the present, and the promise of the future during this Commencement Convocation ceremony.

Each family here has traveled a distinctive path to arrive at today's graduation. This event has special significance for all of you. Let us thank the families and all the other partners, children and friends who have stood by these graduates with their understanding and support. Class of 2005, please join me in showing our appreciation!

We would also like to thank the faculty and staff members who have participated in the Cal experience for these graduates, and to thank all those participating here today with us to make this such a joyful Convocation ceremony.

The Purpose of Convocation:
Graduates, this is your special time, a major milestone in each of your lives. Convocation recognizes and celebrates your accomplishments. Today you are congratulated on your progress toward a significant reward for all your toil and perseverance -- a university degree, and not just any university degree, a University of California, Berkeley degree.

A Berkeley education is both an honor and a privilege. Honor often brings reward. A distinguished research and teaching university offers the best possible education that one can obtain as an undergraduate, graduate, or professional student. There is nothing more exciting than being taught by a professor who has made some discovery that promises to change the paradigm in her field. Every great researcher brings to the classroom a depth of understanding and a passion for the subject which is simply not obtainable otherwise.

Privileges have their consequences -- they bring the obligation to give back.

At Berkeley, you have had the opportunity and privilege of an outstanding education. Now, as you complete your formal studies, you have an obligation to use your talents, and all that you have learned, to make your personal contribution to the betterment of our society, and the public who have helped support your education.

Berkeley is known for its public service connections, and holds the historic record for Peace Corps volunteers. Let us continue this good work, whether we are the student volunteering as a tutor in Berkeley High or a "Big Sister" to a young girl in an impoverished neighborhood in Oakland -- or alumni and faculty helping the victims of the Tsunami rebuild their communities.

The Cal community, the people of California and many other Berkeley supporters and friends have made it possible for us to enroll students of talent here at Berkeley from every economic background, regardless of financial situation. I point out with great pride that currently here at Berkeley we have more undergraduates whose family incomes are under $35,000 than all of the Ivy League universities combined. This is a remarkable achievement, and it represents the "public" nature of Berkeley more succinctly than any other statistic I might cite.

Looking ahead -- whether we are speaking as a campus, as a state, nation or as a society -- it is self-evident that we will need all of you to continue with your good works, scholarship, leadership and insight. You are a core of talent and leadership in your generation, as all Cal generations have been before you.

Some of you may say, "Leadership? What leadership? I do not even know what to do with myself now that I am not a student anymore." For those of you with no idea where your future lies, take comfort in this: some of the most successful people on Earth graduated from college utterly bewildered.

My friend and fellow Canadian David Hubel was such a man. He eventually won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1981 with Torsten Wiesel, for pioneering discoveries about vision. David once said he wandered in a fog of indecision about what to do with his life for years, until he encountered the spark that inspired him. In his first job he did not even get paid for three months until he got up enough courage to ask what had happened to his paycheck -- and was told he had been forgotten about. He did not feel like much of a leader then -- but ultimately he was.

So, Cal students, this Commencement marks a turning point for you. Most of you are now leaving our University, the focal point of your lives for so long. You may not know where the future will take you, but as you go, know that we will be there with you. We are very proud of you. We are proud that you are joining a community of Berkeley alums more than 400,000 strong, all of whom have a common bond -- their pride in Berkeley.

Now, you too will always be members of the Berkeley community. Please stay in touch with your University and continue to share, from near and far, in what our University has to offer. I hope that you will remember the excellent education that you received here and that it will serve you, and society, well in the years to come.

May your lives be richly rewarding and fulfilling, and may you enjoy good health and much happiness.

Above all, however, this is your day. You have earned it. Congratulations and good luck, Class of 2005!