It is a great honor to speak to you at this 2002 convocation.  I am truly honored and touched to have the college faculty fellowship award named for me.  My years with the College of Education have been a continuous time of valued work with curious and bright students and highly committed colleagues.  Thank you all for allowing me the pleasure to have learned from you.

In beginning my talk to “the soon to be 2002 graduates of UGA,” I wish to say a few words about graduating from this place and moving on to the next place.  In a sense, I am graduating with you – my term at UGA was 22 years, hopefully a bit longer than your term of 4,5, or maybe more years.  So, allow me the luxury to occasionally   use the word ‘we’ when describing this class and “our” graduation

We are graduating from one of the finest public universities in the country.  In 1997, The NY Times featured the three upcoming public universities in the United States and the three were:  The University of Georgia, The University of Texas, and yes, The University of Florida as well.  A recent story in the NY Times just a few months ago confirmed the rise of these and other public southern universities in attracting and retaining students and faculty who previously would have sought out the best private schools. 

What does this academic quality mean?  It means that you are the best-prepared class – whether undergraduate or graduate – in the history of this institution.  If your parents or grandparents went to college, you are graduating knowing and being able to do more educationally than they did.  You gained entry and succeeded here at UGA by your own efforts in part but many persons – known and unknown to you – have contributed much to your success.

First, we know friends and family, including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, cousins, and other caretakers who urged you, nagged you, and made other personal and financial contributions to you.  Let me take a special moment and recognize my own partner, spouse, plus best friend, Sara, (please stand up) – who was my first line of love and support through my UGA years.  Now I ask for all of you to ask your friends and family who were your first line of love and support to please stand and give them a round of appreciation.  Please give them all a hand with a smile of thanks.

Second, there were classmates, staff, and faculty of the College and University who worked with us through all the educational challenges and the logistics of maneuvering through this 31,000 student academic village.  And, there are many people less well known to us that also deserve our appreciation.  The neighbors who watched us grow up, the school bus drivers who transported us as a small child to school, primary and secondary teachers, the custodians who have maintained our buildings, the police and fire persons who tried to keep us safe, the construction workers who built our roads to drive upon and buildings to learn within, farmers and agriculture workers who processed our food, postal service employees who kept us informed, and this list goes on and on. 

We are indebted to all the people of this state and this nation – from the poorest to the wealthiest – who all paid their tax dollars so that we might be educated and have the opportunity of attending this university.  Indeed, many of our poorest citizens disproportionately have contributed a higher percentage of their income through the Georgia lottery, which has raised in ten years a five point one billion dollars that provided Hope Scholarships for many of us and, technology and other academic benefits to all of us.  The help of so many others is important for us to note as we leave this place. Never walk by a citizen or resident of this state without being aware of the contributions that they have made to our education. Remember that we graduate from the oldest chartered public university in the country, established in 1785 by the State of Georgia to be held in “public trust”, to provide   an education to those who would provide leadership to enhancing the welfare of all citizens of Georgia and the nation. 

Public trust cannot be simply a rhetorical idea, but must be the central mission of this university and what we do as its graduates.  Make no mistake, both this University and this state did not always rise to the comprehensive and democratic understandings of public trust, particularly in who was regarded as a citizen and who was not, who was entitled to a quality education and who was not.  It was wonderful that during our stay here, last January of 2001, the old admissions and administration building that we pass by on our walk through the arch, was renamed for two of our most prominent and successful graduates – Hamilton Holmes, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Both were part of a legacy of citizens who tried mightily and courageously to attend this place and were repeatedly denied admission due to the color of their skin. 

In 1961, forty years ago, students of color who were told that they were not smart enough to be here, finally came, and stayed. Hamilton Holmes graduated second in his entire University class and went on to become a prominent physician who served the citizens of Georgia to the very day that he died and Charlayne Hunter-Gault went on to become one of the most respected television and radio reporters of our times who has and continues to serve the citizens of this country and world. This is an old story by now but still useful to remind us that there still exists today many other students just as bright and able as us who have not had the same fortune or opportunities as we have had. This is not to make us feel guilty but to remind us that the obligation of public trust remains our greatest challenge as we pursue our chosen careers as educators; teachers, specialists, scholars, and clinicians. 

Let me illustrate the challenge ahead.  I recently served on the National Commission of Service Learning, which was given the task to look at American education.  The Commission was chaired by former Senator and Astronaut, John Glenn, and consisted of 18 members including governors, members of Congress, CEO’s, teachers, entertainers, and students (11 and 17 years old).  We represented the spectrum of political beliefs and the ethnic diversity of America.  Our group met every three months, for two years and issued a national report and met with government officials at the capitol to push a set of local, state, and federal recommendations, about what must be essential to any school, whether P-12, university and college that are publicly funded and with the mission of public purpose.

In our report, we looked at such statistics as the nearly fifty percent decline over the past forty years in citizens participating in local community, town, state, and world affairs.  Regardless of educational attainment and economic success, the decline has been dramatic and steady across all groups.  The average American does not engage in democratic citizenry, the majority of Americans do not attend a single public meeting. Rarely do Americans intentionally reach beyond their own economic, professional, religious, ethnic, racial, or social groups to be with others different from one self to try and solve issues of a larger community.

Next, we looked at the achievement and economic gap that continues to widen in America between the wealthy and the poor as will as the resegregation and isolation between racial, religious, social, professional, and ethnic groups. 

In essence, we strongly recommended that every student must learn that there education is not only for personal and career advancement, but it is for a larger purpose. Public purpose is why the taxpayers of Georgia subsidized the overwhelming percentage of our education cost.  So that we, in our future homes and neighborhoods, can use our education   not to feel superior or impose our beliefs onto others, but to participate as equals with people different from ourselves to make decisions together to promote a better, democratic society of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.” 

Whether we enjoyed or disliked our years here, whether we formed intellectual and personal bonds here or not, the experiences of these years will be with us forever.  They are now part of who we are, whether it opened us to new ideas or reinforced old ideas; our future decisions will always be built upon the life we lead here.

There are at least two experiences that will mark this class.  Professor Ed Larson, our Pulitzer winning historian, surveyed this class and found that the two biggest events of the year were
First, September 11 – an event that made us realize that we are all Americans, people who not only share a land, but also a common idea about the dignity and equality of all citizens to govern with and for ourselves. In the future, we must   take this idea seriously as more than an idea but the practice of everyday life. After September 11th New Yorkers and Georgians became neighbors – no more jokes or animosity between those who live up north or those who live in the south. For example, the students in White Knoll Middle School in West Columbia, South Carolina, looked for a way they could help New York City.  They learned that in 1867 a fire company in New York City had sent a fire wagon to the fire company of   Columbia as a peace offering to replace equipment lost in the Civil War.  The gift was documented in a local museum, along with a pledge written on an old, yellow parched letter from a former confederate soldier that South Carolina’s capital city would some day return the kindness “should misfortune ever befall the Empire City.”
White Knoll students set out to honor this pledge; they launched a campaign to raise $354,000 to purchase a new fire engine for New York City.  They studied the historical background of the gift in social studies classes.  They applied language arts skills as they wrote letters to firefighters in New York City’s Red Hook Ladder Company 101 and to friends and family members to solicit donations.  In art classes, they created posters to advertise their fund-raising efforts and made a huge fire truck mural to track incoming contributions in the school’s front hall.  Gifts and pledges arrived from throughout the state and beyond.  Two months after the start of the campaign, they had reached their goal and these young students personally delivered a new fire truck to their New York neighbors. These students learned how to use their education to serve public purpose.

After September 11, Americans have more trust in their neighbors across regions, religions, ethnicities, races, lifestyles, and classes.  Suddenly it has dawned on many Americans that, despite our real and contentious differences, if any one of us is in trouble then others will come to our rescue for the simple reason that we are Americans. Whether we like it or not, in the eyes of others and when we have an events of crisis, we are a common people. 

Recent surveys now find that in America, whites trust blacks more, Asians trust Latinos more, and it goes on.  There is one notable exception to this enhanced trust, and that is with our Arab American fellow citizens, which shows a lesser degree of   trust. This may be understandable but it is not acceptable in any nation that purports to be a democracy. We must    embrace, and if necessary, protect our Arab and Muslim citizens, neighbors, residents, and recent immigrants from unwarranted accusations, prejudice, and discrimination. We are each other’s brothers and we are each other’s sisters. The respect for all people in the magnificent diversity of America is central to what we do after we leave here, reaching out to groups different than our own, not to convert them to our way of thinking, but to solve the issues of building strong communities together. 

And the second biggest news story of this year as reported by UGA students was the Georgia-Tennessee football game – an event that reminded most of us that it’s all right to have fun, to get caught up in day-to-day matters of a university not only known for its academic programs but its sports, arts, music, and social life.

The challenge as we move on from this place is that we keep the first event of Sept 11th as a reminder of the responsibility of using our education to create a better democratic life for all.  This is serious and earnest work that demands that the public education put into us be reflected in how we use it. And the second event is to remind us that a good life is one that includes continuous times to simply hoot, laugh, and share enjoyable moments with an ever-expanding number of friends and family.

So let me leave you with these words.

Find a job, but not just a job where one goes to work. 

Find a life, but not just a life that satisfies you, your family, and friends. 

Find “a way of life” with others that reaffirms the greatest gift this university can give you – an education used to promote the dignity, respect, and well being of all. 

As we graduate together, let me now congratulate you, the class of 2002!!