2009 Commencement remarks

May 17, 2009

Congratulations to the Class of 2009, future leaders of the United States and our newest members of the Illinois Alumni Association! 

Congratulations also to all of the parents and family members, friends and professors, who have accompanied these graduates on their exhilarating journey from Convocation to Graduation. These graduates have arrived here today because you believed in them, and because you were there for them at every twist and turn in their journey. Thank you!  This is your special day, too.

Commencement is a time when we can say without adornment that we have fulfilled that great promise of the Morrill Act of 1862 to educate this state’s bright and motivated young people and that we have ignited their curiosity and passions, and channeled their boundless idealism for the betterment of the world.

Class of 2009, I hope you will always remember this day. Bookmark this once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Soak in everything: the smiles and the tears of friends and family, and your own personal pride of accomplishment. Soon you will head toward a future that I believe is hopeful. I say that especially at a time when we are in a recession.

That reminds me of when former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was asked by a journalist: “So, President Yeltsin, how would you describe the Russian economy in one word?”

“Good,” Yeltsin said.  The journalist pressed on: “OK, then Mr. President, perhaps you could describe the Russian economy in more than one word.”  Yeltsin: “Ah, in that case—not good.”

One morning I took a break from the never-ending negativity about the economy to walk across the Quad to the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts to listen to Aaron Copeland's “Lincoln Portrait.” I thought back to my earliest memory of that piece—listening to it on the Mall in DC and hearing Adlai Stevenson recite Lincoln’s words that included the phrase "the occasion is piled high with difficulty."  It struck me that morning that those words had now become part of our nation’s everyday vocabulary as we struggle with the recession, war, energy, and, lately, dare I say, the swine flu.  But I would also add that the occasion is rife with opportunity.

Dear graduates, this is your moment in history to seize those opportunities. There is a world waiting to be invented; a world that we cannot even imagine. You are entering an entirely new territory with new challenges that beg new solutions. Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”  That is where you come in.

For just one moment forget about the past. After all, history is not always a good predictor of the future. In fact, history is riddled with Black Swans.  If you have not read the book by the same title, a Black Swan is an unexpected event defined by three attributes: one, nothing in the past can predict its occurrence; two, it is monumental in its impact; and three, we devote millions of hours to try and explain why it was, in fact, totally predictable. We usually conclude that we simply hadn’t thought about it enough. 

Hindsight remains the only accurate predictor we have at our disposal.  Think of Mosaic, YouTube, the MRI and LED, all of which have University of Illinois roots. No one saw these Black Swans flying in except the innovators.  Perhaps it’s true what the author says: What you don’t know is often more relevant than what you do know. You just don’t know it yet.

Maybe the author is also right when he suggests that discoverers and entrepreneurs rely less on top-down planning and instead focus more on maximum tinkering and recognizing opportunities when they present themselves.

So, can we predict the next new thing?   Who knows, but I have faith that you can and I believe that you will.

I can predict that you will be integral to this nation’s future. That you will be successful. Here, history is a good predictor of the future. It is, in fact, in the bloodstream of every Illinois graduate. And it’s in your DNA. Great heights await you.

Look up for a minute. At this very moment Illinois alumnus Scott Altman is orbiting 360 miles above us as commander of the space shuttle Atlantis on its mission to repair the Hubble space telescope. How exciting is that?

And you will also change the world in perhaps less exciting ways but with just as much impact. That you will, like Prometheus, help us move from darkness to light.

I often think about Dr. Susan Nagele, Illinois class of 1978. Dr. Nagele has established medical outposts throughout Tanzania, Sudan, and Kenya, fighting deadly but preventable diseases—often in the midst of raging civil wars. She traded a life of comfort for one of service because she says, she “can see some good coming of it.”

So I ask you? What will you do because you can see some good coming of it? How will you light the dark places?  Who among you—and I can predict it will be many more than just one of you—will contribute solutions to the great challenges of our times?  Feeding the world.  Bringing the next billion people out of poverty.  Personalized medicine.  Energy and the environment.  Who will spot the next Black Swan?

Graduates, I believe that you will continue to amaze us. That you will follow the creative path of the extraordinary. That from this moment forward you will choose a future less bound by the present and the past, while, at the same time, adhering to the bold values which have defined this university for 142 years and which have defined your Illinois education.

Class of 2009: Embrace all that this beautiful world offers. Make it better.   Make it yours.  Make us proud.

Thank you.