2011 Commencement Ceremony

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>> Good evening everybody. [Clapping] Please take your seats thank you. I'm Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and it was such a pleasure to meet so many of you yesterday at the third annual graduation open house. And tonight, it is a great honor to welcome students, family, friends and community members here for the formal highlight of our academic year, the Ford's School's 2011 Commencement Ceremony. I'd like to begin by introducing to you the members of the platform party. With me, on stage, is Robyn Wright, our commencement speaker who will be introduced more fully in a few minutes, to Robyn's left is Janet Weiss, the Dean of the Rackham Graduate School and the Universities Vice Provost for Academic Affairs for graduate studies. Officially, Janet is here to represent the University of Michigan, but it is our great fortune to count her as a member of the Ford School faculty, and we're honored that Janet can be with us today. Also on stage are four additional faculty members, John Chamberlin, Mary Corcoran, Ana Delbanco, and Yazir Henry, each of whom will speak or be recognized later in the program. And finally, elected by their respective classmates to provide the student commencement addresses, we have soon to be Ford School MPP graduate, Joseph Person [assumed spelling]
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>> And B.A. graduate Tomaso Pavone [assumed spelling] 
>> [Clapping] 
>> The wave of revolutions and protests in middle eastern North Africa this winter and spring, have reminded us of the power of collective action. The power that young people in particular have when they work in concert and with a shared passion. In February, President Obama said of the events in Egypt, that we had witnessed a new generation emerge, a generation that uses their own creativity and talent and technology to call for a government that represents their hopes and not their fears. A government that is responsive to their boundless aspirations. In the words of one activist, we use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world. Tonight we are gathered to celebrate the achievements and launch the careers of young people, somewhat closer to home, the classes of 2011. Our graduates leave the Ford School tonight to engage with, and shoulder, a significant bundle of public policy challenges, an uncertain economic recovery, global climate change, violent conflicts, nuclear proliferation, partisanship and divisiveness in our public dialogue, budget crisis, and more. They will set out to apply their skills and energies to find creative solutions for those, and other public policy challenges. But before the Ford School classes of 2011 go on to shoulder their professional responsibilities, this seems like a good opportunity for their family and friends to learn, in case there's still a few questions, just what is a school of public policy anyway, and what is a degree in public policy all about? So let me take just a few moments to tell our guests a bit about the Ford school and help them understand and appreciate all of your accomplishments. The University of Michigan established our programs forerunner 97 years ago as the first program of its kind in the nation created to train professionals for public service, primarily at the time in state and local government. In 1968, we were renamed and reoriented towards the application of social science to building sound public policy. And like today's MPP and MPA graduates, those students received rigorous training in the quantitative analysis of economic, political, and organizational questions. Over time, our focus has broadened considerably to encompass national and global issues as well. In 1999, the school was named for the universities most distinguished alumnists, President Gerald R. Ford, it's a name we are extremely proud of in light of his lifelong commitment to exceptional principled public service, his integrity and his civility. Next Tuesday, I will be in Washington, D.C., when the U.S. Congress dedicates a new statue of President Ford in the Capitol Rotunda. Congressman Fred Upton lead the House effort to install that statute, call President Ford, and I quote, a Michigan original and a model for all those who are called to public service. He went on to say, a seemingly ordinary American who unexpectedly found himself in the Presidency at one of our nation's most tumultuous times. Gerald Ford led with honesty and integrity by standing above the political fray, President Ford allowed a wounded nation to heal. Being named for President Ford remains a point of extreme pride for our students, it was also an important milestone in our school history propelling us to a new era in tremendous growth, our faculty, our students, and as many of you had a chance to enjoy yesterday, our facilities. It was transformational to move into our beautiful new building, Weill Hall, just five years ago. But it was the growth in our educational programs over the past decade that has truly reshaped our identity making us a full service source for outstanding public education. Many helped, but two faculty leaders are particularly responsible for that leap forward, Mary Corcoran, the founding director of our innovative joint PhD program, and John Chamberlin the founding director of our undergraduate program. Mary and John are both stepping down for their leadership positions this summer, and for that reason, we'd like to take a few moments to recognize their contributions. Each was the chief architect of an academic program with the highest of intellectual standards at one of the world's most prestigious universities. If you listen to the members of our community talk about Mary and John, and their programs, you'll certainly hear about quality and rigor of the academic training, but about both those professors, you'll also hear over and over again, of their availability, of how much they care for each student, of their ongoing mentoring connections with alumni, and of the personal human touch that they brought, and bring, to their roles. In 2001, the school launched its joint PhD programs with economics, sociology, and political science. Almost immediately this was a great success, attracting high quality applicants who's advisors enthusiastically recommended the program in large part because of Mary's sterling reputation as a researcher and a teacher. As a director, Mary has whether, formally or informally, mentored each of the 83 students who have matriculated. We have 37 graduates to date, and they have gone on to tenure faculty positions at universities and colleges, research work for private sector, think tanks, and prestigious post apteral fellowships. When asked to support our nomination of Mary for our Rackham Mentoring Award just last year, her former students responded with effusive personal and professional praise. They described her has empowering, the ultimate role model, full of enthusiasm and energy, and they told us how overwhelmingly supported Mary makes her students feel and they commended her encouragement of broad creative thinking. So Mary, it is my great pleasure to thank you, publicly and on behalf of the Ford School, for all you have done to craft and nurture our PhD program. 
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>> These flowers are from our PhD students. 
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>> We launched our undergraduate program in the fall of 2007. It was a major intellectual and administrative undertaking for the school to create a new degree program and it took years of planning. A liberal arts degree for undergraduates is a very different endeavor from the professional graduate policy education that we have offered for so many decades. As a trusted and respected campus leader, John Chamberlin was exactly the right person to guide these efforts, to pull the right people to the planning table to ask the right questions and to get things done in a wonderful way. Yesterday the B.A. graduates presented John with a beautiful photo album and memory book as a token of their affection for him. In it, the students thanked him for the community that he created, they said that his door was always open, and he was always available for them. John leaves behind the legacy of a high quality, thriving undergraduate program with top notch University of Michigan students applying to attend and very committed faculty who actively lobby to teach them. John, from the faculty, students, and staff of the Ford School, a heartfelt thank you for all that you have built.
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>> John, Mary, and all of the members of the Ford School's outstanding faculty and staff are wearing lapel flowers this evening so that you can spot them. Our excellent faculty have broad interests, their joint appointments connect us throughout the university to economics, political science, sociology, math, history, business, social work, education, natural resources, information, urban planning, and more, we also have a terrific professional staff team that keeps the education, the research, and the public service missions of the school moving forward. I'd like to ask all of the faculty and staff now to stand please, and I'd like you to join me in thanking them for all that they do.
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>> And now, for the accomplishments of tonight's graduates, what have they learned during their time here and what have they already given back to us? Let's start with the six new PhD graduates, their training at the University of Michigan was in disciplinary and policy relevant. Students developed a strong theoretical grounding in a social science discipline and paired that with rigorous coursework and empirical methods and policy analysis. This particular group is extraordinarily accomplished and we're very proud of them. The 98 students receiving a Master's Degree tonight, let me talk about them very briefly next. The Ford School's rigorous MPP and MPA curriculum is designed to give students the skills to collect, analyze, evaluate, and present information about a wide range of public concerns. We encourage students to take seminars that involve real world policy projects, and we require that our MPP students complete a summer internship applying what they have learned in the classroom in the real world. Our graduate students are incredibly diverse, they speak 19 different languages, they come from 14 different countries, and they include eight different Sarah's. 
>> [Laughing] 
>> About 40% of the classes already finalized their immediate employment plans, and I'd like to personally reassure the parents, that if anything, our current employment rate is a bit ahead of recent years, all of our graduates will find work in city, state, or federal governments, in the private sector, in think tanks, or NGO's in the U.S. or abroad. Now let me turn to the 57 students graduating today with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy. A true liberal arts degree, our program emphasizes thinking across disciplines to understand a policy challenge and develop solutions. Our first two classes, two that have graduated, are already finding success in teaching politics, research, and analysis, sales and graduate programs such as law and medicine. The B.A. students are curious, hardworking, and engaged, and bring vitality to the school approaching their studies with great seriousness. This group boasts 13 Phi Beta Kappa's and 26 Angel Scholars, and leaders from a variety of campus rounds including athletics, publication, politics, and more. The B.A. and MPP graduating classes presented the school with a very generous parting gift, totaling more than $14,000 to fund internships for future classes. The students' generosity speaks volumes about how much these students believe in the value of a Ford School education. We know that our graduates did not arrive at their accomplishments alone, we're also joined by some 800 family members and friends this evening, and I know that all of our graduates value the love and the support that you've all have provided over the years. I'd like the give the graduates, as well as the Ford School community, a chance to thank the family and friends of our graduating classes.
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>> And to you, graduates, on behalf of the Ford School, I'd like to say thank you for your investment in this, in our shared community, it's been a pleasure to work with you and to get to know you. I know that many of you have very mixed feelings about what today represents, you'll miss your classmates, the charity auction, Gamma Ro Phi, being snowed in, D.C. career trips, snowed out D.C. careers.
>> [Laughing] 
>> Dominick's, Denard, Big Lebowski bowling nights, and so much more, but in spite of all that you'll miss, today is also full of the promise and hope of the future, with new jobs, new cities, new friends, and new challenges. The legendary ground breaking entertainer and civil rights activist Lena Horn once said, it's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way that you carry it. We all know that just outside of these doors, our nation, and our world faces significant challenges, heavy loads for public servants and citizens alike, and so, to our graduates, I say, carry your load together, carry it with the same commitment to community, and friendship, and connection that you found here at the Ford School. Carry it in concert with others, with your classmates, and with colleagues and friends that you'll meet along the way. From my part, I have great optimism because I know that you are among the ones headed out to shoulder the challenges of our time, and I know how hard you've worked, I know that you've armed yourself with the best public policy education available. We are so proud of you, we will remember you, we will follow your achievements with great interest, and we truly hope that you will remain engaged with the Ford School. Please follow us on Twitter, read our magazine, talk about the school in your professional and personal circles, join our LinkedIn group, hire our students, maybe even fund an internship, but know that you will always have an academic home here in Ann Arbor. So congratulations and best wishes to all of you in the class of 2011.
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>> And now, I would like to introduce our 2011 commencement speaker, Robyn Wright, a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Robyn grew up right here in Ann Arbor, she graduated from Pioneer High School and then earned a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree from the University of Michigan. She's remained a good friend to her Alma Mater while forging a very broad and deep international career in journalism. Robyn was a long time foreign correspondent covering U.S. policy, wars, and revolutions in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. She's reported for more than 140 countries on six continents for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Sunday Times of London, CBS News, and The Christian Science Monitor. She's also written for the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and others. If you watch national news programs such as Meet the Press, Frontline, and Face the Nation, you've surely have heard her incisive analysis. She is the author of several books on Iran, including the Last Great Revolution, Turmoil and Transformation in Iran, which was named one of the 25 most memorable books for the year in 2000. Robyn, I'm so pleased to welcome you back to Ann Arbor, we're honored and very proud to have you here with us today to deliver our 2011 commencement address.
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>> Thank you very much Dean Collins. I want to begin on a light note, as I watch the soon to be graduates walk in, I thought, now you know what Kate Middleton felt like yesterday. 
>> [Laughing] 
>> I'm honored to be here, I love this town and I love this university. It's a great place to get a really good grounding, to get a sense of yourself, both professionally and personally. I got, what I call my, accidental career here when I met one of my classmates in the hall of our dormitory, and she was going off to join the Michigan Daily. I had no interest in journalism, but I decided wouldn't it be a lurk, my father had only girls, and he took us off to every Michigan sporting event, in the days we had good coaches.
>> [Laughing] 
>> I know, sorry.
>> [Laughing] 
>> I follow Michigan football and basketball avidly to this day. And so I decided I, wouldn't it be fun to write sports, we'll there've never been a female sports editor at the Michigan Daily and I was the first and I broke the gender barrier at the Rose Bowl which is my very first scoop and I'm proud to hear there's one of my successors in the audience, Nicole Arbach [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Today you join an amazing fraternity of Michigan alums all over the world, I find them everywhere. In 1975, I lived in Mozambique during its transition to independence, there was a nine year waiting list for telephones, and I went down to the ministry of information and I said look, I'm a journalist, I'm covering your independence, I really need a telephone, and I finally found someone who spoke English not Portuguese, and he, nothing I can do to help you, if you want to stay around nine years you can get your phone and so forth, and I finally said to him, you speak such good English, of course, he went to the University of Michigan, so he said if I could sing hail to the victors, he would give me a phone. 
>> [Laughing]
>> I stood on a chair, I sang, hail to the victors, and not only did I get my phone, I never got a bill.
>> [Laughing]
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>> In Angola during the Civil War, I was in the southern third of the country and we were under shell fire and so forth, and once again, I found someone who spoke very good Americanized English and I said to him, where did you learn your English, and of course, it was the University of Michigan, and all he wanted to do was talk Michigan football because all four years he was here he sat in 34A, and every time I come home I ought to go to the stadium and figure out exactly where that was. When I was invited to give the charge to the class, I thought long and hard about what it was I could talk to you about, what I could bring to you. And I was struck by the memory of JK Rowling's commencement address at Harvard when she talked about failure. It was a fascinating commencement address because here was the richest author in the world talking about the first 13 rejections of her Harry Potter book, and she talked about how failure had become an incentive and it had pushed her. So I though what I could bring, as I said, and after covering a dozen wars and assorted revolutions and uprisings around the world, I realized that the defining force in my life, both personally and as a journalist covering other people's life, has been fear. I received my M.A. from Michigan exactly 40 years ago, I don't tell everybody that.
>> [Laughing]
>> So I've been around a while, but for all the dangerous places and crazy war zones I go to, I still have very deep phobias about many things, including elevators. They booked me on the 15th floor of the campus inn, and I walked down all 15 floors to get here today. Many years ago, I covered, as I mentioned this war in Angola, and it was a colorful conflict, involved colorful European Mercenaries on one side, and Cuban troops and Soviet advisors on the other. It was also a particularly deadly war, I was the only journalist in the pen ultimate battle for the entire northern part of the country. It took place in a small town at the mouth of the Congo River. Only 22 out of 350 of us, made it out alive, in an old tugboat that made the African Queen look like a luxury liner. Afterwards I won an award for the best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative. My mother went to New York to accept it because I was still off covering the last battle in that war, and she actually got up in front of the major editors and television anchors from across the country and told the story about how surprised she was that I won this award, because I was so frightened of things as a child that she had to pay the neighbor boy to walk me to school until I was in the sixth grade, she never told me that story.
>> [Laughing]
>> I first heard about it from friends who attended the ceremony, but age and experience haven't changed it for me. I'm still terrified of flying, even though I do tens of thousands of miles a year, and even though as a graduate student I took flying lessons, pilots lessons in Ann Arbor. Needless to say, I was never meant to cover wars, but by accident I landed in the Middle East on October 6th, 1973, the day the fourth Middle East war broke out. My undergraduate degree was in history, and I still think of myself primarily as a historian. I discovered that war actually living contemporary history as it played out. As a result I've covered all six Middle East wars since then and many on other continents. I've been terrified through them all. But it's also through my fears that I know I've lived. I know I've pushed myself, and I've gotten far more out of life than I ever envisioned. I witnessed some of the greatest moments of my life, up close, and I've met and talked to some of the characters who made that history, from the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon during the five years I lived in Beirut, to Nelson Mandela when I covered South Africa, from Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, to Pope John Paul the Second when I lived in Rome and traveled with him around the world. Over those 40 years, the people and events that have inspired me the most, have been people often far less famous than the one's I've mentioned, who overcame their fears. In Africa, I was in Soweto, the township outside Johannesburg in 1976, on a day a group of school children took to the straights to launch the first black mass uprising when the government overnight, changed the language that children would learn in schools. It was that protest that was bookend it started and launched the protest that ended with the collapse of apartheid almost a generation later. In Europe I was there as people literally began to take over the Berlin Wall marking the decisive challenge and end to communism. Two weeks ago I finished another book about the uprisings across the Middle East, which all started in Tunisia, when a 26 year old street vendor refused to tolerate the governments corruption and abuse, his act of defiance triggered a movement that forced out a man who had held power for almost a quarter century, a movement that accomplished through peaceful civil disobedience in 30 days. Egypt's protests were triggered by two young bloggers, one who posted video of police corruption and drug dealings on the internet and the other who mobilized, again peaceful protest, after the first blogger was murdered in public view by two policemen. They spawned a movement that ended a dictatorship that had prevailed for 30 years and this time they did it in 18 days. In Syria, the current protests were started by a group of school children who wrote anti-government graffiti on a public wall. These are your peers, these are all people who overcame their fears and jeopardized everything for principle and for freedoms that we too often still take for granted. So how does this affect your life? Two trends had defined my lifetime, one was the cold war and the other was the rise of extremism. Two trends will define your lifetime, whatever you choose to do. The first one is globalization, the evolution of nations into regional blocks on the road to globalization as the basis for everything, governance and trade and culture and even sport. We're already deep into the stage of regional blocks, militarily the United States now fights a good number of its conflicts through NATO in Afghanistan and now in Libya. Economically, our commerce is increasingly defined as part of NAFTA, the North America Free Trade Agreement, or APEC, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or a host of other regional blocks, almost every country in the world today is a member of a regional block for all kinds of political, and military, and economic environmental and cultural causes, so we are already in the midst of a global shake up. The map of the world will certainly look very different when you finish your careers than it does today. When I graduated, I kind of thought, well, oops, this is the way the world was going to be. The United Nations was formed the year I was born and there were 57 members. Today there are 193 countries, the number more than tripling, and in my lifetime, I've witnessed politically and ideologically the demise of communism, the end of military dictatorships in Latin America, the end of a apartheid in minority rule in African, and there is so much more change ahead. And that takes me to the second trend, the transformation of the Islamic world particularly in the Middle East, the last block of countries to hold out against the democratic tide. The change will be profound, just as the first decade of the 21st century was defined by the tragedy of 9/11, the second decade of the 21st century, as you go out into the world will be determined by the outcomes of the political evil's that are now beginning in the Middle East. For all of us, as people or as policymakers, change is scary, new trends make us fret and fear, old ways are better known, they feel safer, it's really hard to break new ground, I live in Washington, I can tell you how true that is. The Middle East is the best example. For 60 years the U.S. opted for stability rather than the values that define us as a nation. The last, the current and the previous President have both given important speeches about democracy, but then did very little tangibly about it until the protests began to lead the way. So you may see now where I'm headed. Whether as part of a community, a company, or a government, so much will change during your personal and professional lives, and you will often be part of figuring out how to adapt. As policy maker's you will be constantly challenged to come up with analysis and assessments and most of all solutions, whatever your field or your specialty. The key to each will be to overcome fear, to look beyond the past, to offer ideas that differ from conventional wisdom, to be bold enough to suggest something different, or new, or original, and not to be overcome by the unknown or the fear of change. It's always much easier to go along with the old and familiar, but fear keeps us from getting to the truth and understanding it, fear of being different inhibits imagination and creativity, fear keeps us from our full potential, and fear prevents us from exploring, especially, as policymakers. It's just as true that conquering fear was behind some of humankind's greatest achievement, whether the journey of man out of Africa millennia ago, or exploring the universe today. Overcoming fear has lead brave people to demand individual rights, whether no tax without representation in this country, or to people in Egypt's liberation square. One last piece of advice that I'll share from my father, who was a very wise law professor at this university, he told us, whatever issue you face, whatever your original knowledge or understanding of it, stand on top of the world and look down because you may well see a broader or a different perspective. It's the single most important piece of advice I've heeded in a lifetime of covering wars and revolutions. Standing on top of the world is now my best trick in overcoming my own fears, it's the best way, for me anyway, to move beyond simply seeing what is happening to understanding why it's happening, he was right, because at the end of the day, no policy will work unless all sides are taken into account, not only our own. So my final bottom line to you, which I'll close with a simple, go not fearfully into the world even as you live through fear producing times, let fear be only a force to push frontiers in your life not to limit you. Your lives will witness one of the great transformations in human history, and for all I've done and seen in my life, I am so envious. So congratulations to the class of 2011 you have great adventures ahead. Thank you very much.
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>> Thank you so much. Amazing Blue is the University of Michigan's oldest coed acapella ensemble, and I'm delighted to welcome Amazing Blue to the stage to perform two classics from the University of Michigan's songbook.
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[ Singing ]
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>> Thank you. Each year the four schools graduating students are asked to elect people to play key roles at commencement. One faculty member is spoken, is chosen to speak to the classes, both sets of graduating classes were also asked to choose a student speaker. As the faculty speaker, the classes of 2011 elected Yazir Henry. Yazir was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, he first came to the Ford School in 2007 as art house foundation policymaker and residence. Yazir's intellectual work focuses on the work of relationship of political structure and violence to civic, indigenous, and human rights. Since 2008, he has taught courses at the Ford School on professional and political ethics, on social movements and democratic processes in the global south, and on transitional justice mechanisms and related policies after political conflict. As a young man in South Africa, Yazir worked in the political underground movement that spearheaded the downfall of the apartheid government. After the fall of apartheid, he founded and developed several programs in Cape Town that sought to continue the difficult work of the peace building inspired by his experience working with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yazir has advised government institutions, community groups, and G.O.'s and social movements on capacity building, political strategy, program design, and more. He has written and lectured widely on issues related to peace making, political memory and trauma, and post conflict reintegration. It is a tribute to Yazir, standing among the student, that they choose him to deliver the faculty address, and so I am delighted now to invite him to speak on behalf of the faculty. Yazir.
>> [Clapping]
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>> Good afternoon all, students, undergraduates, your families and friends, faculty, esteemed members of the university administration and leadership, honored and esteemed guests. When I first came to the university it was in the middle of an ice storm. 
>> [Laughing]
>> The storm was both shocking as it was beautiful. I've never seen an ice storm before so it was really scary, that drive along the I94 to Ann Arbor, I wondered what, what did I get myself into. I'd survived the political horror of my homeland to be humbled by a taxi drive from the airport.
>> [Laughing]
>> Although I knew different, I told myself as I entered into Ann Arbor, as the taxi lights turned the trees into exquisite spectacles of light and color, almost as if they were rainbows perched upon the covered branches of ice, I told myself, this must be where the idea of Christmas lights must have come from. I made it safely to my hotel, on the third floor.
>> [Laughing]
>> And I enjoyed the dangerous beauty that has stayed with me to this day. As students, there may be much fun and enjoyment and laughter to be had in Ann Arbor. The excitement and confusion after having stepped into a new body of friends and community at the Ford School as well as the University of Michigan, the initial disorientation of coming here; however, completing your degrees takes effort, dedication, fortitude, focus, and application. Contrary to some popular notions, completing these degrees are not easy, it takes an inordinate amount of sacrifice, both self and social, sacrifices have to be made by you, and all those around you, everything and everybody responsible for seeing your journeys through to this moment. At times, your head spinning with several term papers for different courses all due at the same time, you wondering what was I thinking.
>> [Laughing]
>> Undergraduates cranking out pages and pages, wondering how their thoughts are going to, are going to matter. Graduate students nostalgically remembering the job you left to come here, complaining.
>> [Laughing]
>> Just remember the more you laugh, the more time it's going to go.
>> [Laughing]
>> Complaining about those of us who chose the ivory tower for a living, wondering how what we do has anything to do with reality, well this is reality too. 
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>> Having achieved this particular milestone in your particular careers, just take another moment now, to reflect upon your achievement and why you came here in the first place. Why you submitted yourself to this very complex regime of trading and preparation. Take today, and take another week to savor your family and your achievement. Celebrate what we as a society has achieved through you, what we as the world have achieved through you, let today only be the beginning of marking this very real and very amazing achievement, do this carefully, and do this with joy before you rush onto your next milestone, you're new job or you're new job search.
>> [Laughing]
>> Wasn't met to be funny but.
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>> Share the hugs and share the tears with those who have supported you through this arduous process. Remember the distance you have traveled to get here. In this remembering, in this remembering understand your power along with the power of these degrees that our society as a whole, as a whole has bestowed upon you. It is in the totality of this experience as a student, or mine as an educator here, that you will find the purpose and the true beauty of this University. Just as in this university, a common denominator in all political economic legal social culture and spiritual systems is, is people, it is people, you, me and each and everyone one of us, your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, distant cousins, and your loved ones, your neighbors, those who live right next door, and those who live at the other side of the world. We sometimes go to great lengths to forget the simple truth, the elixir of life here on Earth is not immortality nor is it eternal youth, it is just people, ordinary and everyday people, you and I, and it is in this search that we as ordinary people struggle and dance to find our place, our individual chanson de cur [assumed spelling] our collective reasons for being, our collective, both social and professional search for a more caring, more tolerant, more empathic list, but the list cynical, humanity and mutuality. Humanity, a humanity that is better able to manage this Earth's resources, our country, our globe, and to find ways that will spare your children, and their children's children, this default to cynicism and batons is an easy one. I want to argue that it is infinitely more difficult to bold, to see the potential, to see the possibilities, to seek solutions, and create that that you wish to see carefully, slowly, and with purpose. Graduates, graduates, this in my mind, is yours and mine generations responsibility, it is in your and your future leadership that our society places its hope, that it places our ideals that we place our collective dream. I was one of those children that Robyn spoke of. I want to dedicate the rest of this words in honor of you, but also to those who didn't make it to these empty chairs because of all our senseless wars. Imagine climbing a mountain, I was born at the foot of one so just bare the metaphor with me, and all you can see is the mountaintop and after days of growing and climbing, you reach the top, it is however covered in a misty haze. After hours of rest at the mountaintop, this haze slowly lifts and instead of the wonderful land and ocean scapes you had previously imagined, all you see are more mountaintops in the distance, some even larger than the one you had just climbed. At this point it is easy to get lost in the intellectual difficulties of the climb ahead or the pain of having to turn back, and this is especially so because this is most likely true. It is at this point that I want you to remember that you must celebrate how far and how much you have already climbed, how much you have already achieved. It takes strength in the knowledge that you have learned to successfully climb the mountain you are standing atop before you will learn as much as climbing the next one. Standing atop and looking down and remembering your journey. Now you have heard this before and you will hear it again, our world is in crisis, poverty levels are increasing, a large part of the world is at war, shifting weather patterns, earthquakes, tsunami's, tornadoes and twisters are wreaking havoc, millions of people are affected, many have been killed, and many die as I speak. As professionals and leaders you are going to be asked to transcend yourselves, your likes and your dislikes to understand your social and your professional purpose beyond managerial and social gratification. Still, still, you need not, and in fact I would argue, it is important that you do not fall to the wounds and ideas of simple self sacrifice, of mere self sacrifice, this misconception that you reach the mountain by growing wings and flying to the top is a misnomer. If I have learned anything in my short life on this Earth, it is to lead as best as you can in the scope of the capacity with the power available to you at that time. Do not fear yourselves and do not fear life, live it fully and live it in ways that will facilitate the collective resolution of the social, political, and economic ills that face us all as people, just people, ordinary people. The most successful of you, the most successful of you, will be those prepared to undertake these takes and process it directly, slowly, humbly with fortitude, love, yes love, and imagination. It is a good thing to bask in the long shadows of peace, it is a good thing to back in the long shadows of peace; however, I would argue that it is much better and far more important to keep sight and understand of, understand how these shadows came to be there in the first place. To remember both the rays of the sun, along with the reasons they cast these shadows simultaneously, those of you who know me well, know this is an important for me know either or, simultaneously we are to manage the grave together. Each step that you take from here on in is an act, another one, even if there are countless theories telling you to the contrary. Each step you take from here on in as professionals, as leaders, is an act, each step has consequences even if you are not able to fully comprehend them at the time. Walk from here with care, with humility and empathy, with courage and compassion, proud of who you are and what you have achieved, proud of those you love and those you have supported you, just like you, we, and the faculty, are human beings too and we have done the best we can with our engagement with you, we have, you have given meaning to me and to the aspirations I hold in the world, I can say to you now, you have done so for many of my colleagues as well. Thank you for granting me this opportunity, this privilege and this honor to share in this moment with you, your family, and your friends, and those you love, I am proud to have been a part of this faculty and this journey undertaken over the past two to five years. I'm happy and I have no regrets at having walked along side you. Though this has been difficult, it has also been beautiful, this might sound cliche, but there is not rose that is a rose with no thorns. Walk proudly now with strength and enjoyment and in celebration, walk in honor of what you have achieved and walk in honor for the privilege and the difficulties that await you in the face of what you have achieved. Without you, we, as a school and a faculty do not exist. May all our deities, bless each and every one of you, in the times, both trying and beautiful, that lay ahead of you. Thank you.
^M00:58:29
[ Clapping ]
^M00:58:47
>> Yazir, thank you. The undergraduate class of 2011 elected Tom Mahoney to speak on their behalf. Tom already has an outstanding research portfolio, and in fact, just this week, took first place in a national undergraduate research paper competition. He was on the editorial board of the Michigan Daily and penned 28 opinion columns for the paper. Tom has already started graduate course work at the University of Chicago, and just one year from now he expects to complete a Master's Degree in Social Science. Tom also has been accepted into the University of Michigan's Law School for fall of 2012. He plans to study European law and international human rights law. He was born in Rome and is fluent in three languages in addition to stata.
>> [Laughing]
>> Tom it is a pleasure to welcome you to the podium.
^M00:59:49
[ Clapping ]
^M00:59:58
>> Thank you Dean Collins for that gracious introduction and hello 40's and 40's wannabees.
>> [Laughing]
>> As I stand before you today, I'm reminded of how jealous I am of Dean Collins' fancy title, the Joan and Sanford Weill etcetera etcetera, I say jealous because the title is so long that if I had such a title by the time I'd be done delivering it here, times up, done with speech, it would be a lot easier, so never make fun of Dean Collins' title again. As I was trying to narrow the focus for my remarks, I though perhaps its best to start with a question, like now that we're graduates, what's next. But when you think about it, perhaps it's best not to ask any question whose answer is unpaid internships, so I thought perhaps a more appropriate question might take a more retrospective approach, like what is public policy, but when you think about it, perhaps it's also unwise to ask any question that nobody here, except apparently the Dean seem to know how to answer.
>> [Laughing]
>> Long story short, I decided to scrap the question idea and focus my attention on what distinguishes the Ford School from other departments here at the University of Michigan. What makes it unique? I immediately thought, I got it, it's the popularity of the professors, exhibit a, there happens to be a facebook group titled the Dr. Barry G Rabe appreciation society.
^M01:01:44
[ Clapping ]
^M01:01:51
>> Which I am happy to inform is quickly approaching one million members.
>> [Laughing]
>> Now admittedly, there is one facebook group featuring a Ford School faculty member that isn't doing so well, in fact last I checked, only one person was a member of the group titled, I have more degrees than Profession John Ciorciari.
>> [Laughing]
>> Coincidently that member is John Ciorciari.
>> [Laughing]
>> Only one qualifies, so. But in all seriousness, what distinguishes the Ford School isn't its top notch faculty with an average of 3.59 degrees, 17 page CV's, 22 years of education, and four personal copies of the West Wing season four.
>> [Laughing]
>> It isn't even the Ford School chillers, apparently more temperamental than most as evidenced by my personal stack of 759 emails titled the chiller is down.
>> [Laughing]
>> No, what makes the Ford School special, at least to me is it's vibrant sense of community. Let me tell you why I do not take community for granted. When I was growing up, I moved to three different countries within the time span of six years. And during the same time period, I attended four different schools, so while all of my classmates had had the time to build lifelong friendships with the kids they had grown up with, I constantly felt like an outsider, like the new kid. Then we moved to the United States and high school came and I was excited by the prospect of beginning anew, but as it turns out, it wouldn't be so easy. For just as I was about to muster the courage to come out, I read a testimonial in the high school newspaper of a fellow classmate that was almost beaten after school just because he decided to be open about who he was. So I thought, you know, maybe new beginnings will have to wait, but then came college, here at Michigan, 40 billion students, 30,000 languages, 40 million majors, and one taxi. 
>> [Laughing]
>> It was as if I had upgraded from a black and white television to a multi-colored one. But size also has its downsides, and in a school with nearly 25,000 undergrads, it's easy to feel like no more than just a grade on a test and that is where the Ford School came in. Here, I know almost everyone in the building, and for better or for worse, almost everyone in the building knows me. Here, I can use the phrases visa vi, as it were, ex post facto, and a priori in the same sentence and not be ridiculed.
>> [Laughing]
>> Admittedly that'd be a really crappy sentence.
>> [Laughing]
>> Here I'm always invited to trivia night at Charley's, even though I have never contributed a correct answer. Here, I can engage in rigorous intellectual debate with the same colleagues with whom I engage in far less academic activities, at gammero five on some Thursday nights, the one I remember.
>> [Laughing]
>> And here I know I will always be able to rock it out to Lady Gaga and Necto and be welcomed back to a supportive community.
>> [Laughing]
>> I cannot tell you how honored, how grateful I feel to have been surrounded by passionate, kind, and intelligent people for the past two years. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to be constantly encouraged to be my own person. And I cannot tell you how moved I am that my B.A. classmates have provided me with this opportunity to let all of you know how much I love the Ford School and this community right here that gives Weill Hall life. These may be tough economic times, the labor market might be tight, the unemployment rate might be high, the jobs out there might be few, but I have no doubt that the Ford School spirit will live on in each one of us and that it will open doors that would've otherwise remained closed. And I also know that if we remain true to ourselves and to the values we have acquired here in the halls of Weill Hall, we will make Gerald proud. And so I say to my B.A. friends for the very first time as one proud Ford School alumn to another, congratulations, I love you all, and thank you so much.
^M01:06:44
[ Clapping ]
^M01:06:56
>> And then he worked for the university for two years, coordinating [tape cuts out] intergroup relations, later he lived in Sydney, Australia working with the government of New South Wales. Joe I am delighted to invite you to [tape cuts out]
^M01:07:16
[ Clapping ]
^M01:07:25
>> I have to adjust the microphone a bit. My beloved 40's, congratulations on arriving at this day after much academic rigor, arduous effort and the occasional sleepless night induced by either program [tape cuts out] as a warning though, both are equally treacherous. [tape cuts out] years ago many of us were frivolously finalizing our Ford applications and often getting the same response from our well intended friends and family, the same question Tom [tape cuts out] what exactly is public policy. It's both a strength and a rewarding challenge to our program that the Ford curriculum has [tape cuts out] an inclusive definition, simply look at the diversity of the student body, we boast people from Teach for America, Peace Corps, Veterans of [inaudible] Japanese ministries, NYU law school dropouts. We've had.
>> [Laughing]
>> We've had students take a time, a break from their study to intern at the White House, do aid relief in Haiti, and we had Sarah Sarah Dobec negative factors masters immigration policy by transplanting her husband from the South Pacific.
>> [Laughing]
>> We have earned math camp merit badges, salsa dance with Annabel at Cafe Havana, and learned not how to dance, how not to dance through Ross at Russ Street.
>> [Laughing]
>> We had Carl Simon hit us over the head with a log in calculus and witnessed Jim Levenson and all of his sardonic wit bike up and down here in River Drive. After a long day of chasing undergrads out of the grad lounge, we watched Joe Cougar and the Invisible Hands make their debut performance and we went karaoke sings with, not one, but two phumees. We crab raced at Pinchy and Pokey while doing international economic development and we dutily followed Creed Jones and Simon Tam through the IPE induced streets of Turan. The Ford community wearing it's plurality proudly on its sleeves has given us an integrative and imaginative skills set to make our professional marks on the world without ever imposing on us narrow constraints on how to further realize those skills. So, after an incredulous few semesters, an internship, and a double dose of charity auction later, there is the looming question of how do we move forward in our careers purposefully. So I'm going to use some economics lingo here, so for those of you English majors out there, please bear with me for the nest 30 seconds. One career approach lies in the profit maximizing model. This is the idea of self interest that gets promoted at the exclusion of any public good. And this model, the chief concern is, maximizing your bottom line and looking out for yourself. At the other end of the spectrum there is the martyrdom approach in which a person's self interest is fore gone for some semblance of the public good and in this mindset a person sacrifices sustainable pay, time with family and friends, all for a larger purpose. And in grabbling with these two polarities, I found both to be, not only untenable, but ultimately self defeating. In the profit maximizing model, there is an overt obsession with self interest that willful ignores our roles within the larger community. And likewise, in the martyrdom approach, it operates from the subtext that if I cannot be great in my accomplishments, I must be great in my struggle, and it seeks often unconsciously to obtain a sense of moral superiority. It is a credit to our program that Ford curriculum has reconciled that idea that we have to make a false choice between these two paradimes, between self interest and public service. The Ford School thrives at finding the overlap between the two, and this overlap is best express by Erik Erikson idea of generativity, it's the buzz word for my speech. Developmental physochologist, Erikson says that healthy adults, have as their highest priority a desire to be generative, which means to give back to the world through creative expression. For some of us in this room, that has been or will be through having children and having a family, likewise, others may attempt to give back to the world through influencing social and economic policy, promoting greater equity or promoting human rights. To be generative is to not be suck in an either or dualistic way of thinking. It suggests that we are at our best when we are able to come from a position of balance, and even though we may not have heard the term generatively on a daily basis in the Ford School, it is reflected through the integrative ethos of our studies and our emphasis on collaboration and community. The job market that we live in today is rapidly changing and the different compartments of public, private, and nonprofit are blurring together. The advice from my father's generation where people often worked in an entire industry their whole life, no longer really applies. We are fortunate to have a degree that prepares us to move confidently from one spear to another, and to analyze this use from so many perspectives. For instance, we could have one student, let's call him Linroy Marshall.
>> [Laughing]
>> Who, after a busy four semesters of break dancing at various Ford parties, decides to get a job working for disaster management NGO, in say Santa Barbara, moves on to work at the UN and finds himself 20 years later as a private contractor inside the beltway for a federal agency, Linroy, it could happen.
>> [Laughing]
>> If there is any over arching lesson at Ford, it is the value of embracing paradox and the sophistication of finding the overlap between competing ways of thinking. And I trust that we will continue to find the generative solutions in our lives, and where there is no overlap, I trust we will be able to create one. One more thing, Erikson also maintains that we don't really reach adulthood until the age of 40, everything before 40 is just a dress rehearsal, so hats off to Alexis Gill [assumed spelling] for learning how to ride a bike last week, a few weeks ago.
>> [Clapping]
>> Ten years before adulthood, she's ahead of the curve, and with that in respect, hats off to Julie Montero de Castro [assumed spelling] the last two years have been like your Bat Mitzvah, welcome to adulthood.
>> [Laughing][clapping]
>> It is my privilege to address the student body encompassing such a diverse range of interests, ambitions, backgrounds, and eccentricities, generativity is also about contributing to the world and benefiting the next generation. So I encourage you all to use your Ford experience to always develop a holistic approach to your future and I wish you all the best of luck in the world. Thank you.
^M01:13:47
[ Clapping ]
^M01:14:00
>> Thank you Joe. Well, we are now at the moment that friends and family, and I dare say our graduates, have been looking forward to all evening. Our graduates are ready to come to the stage to receive official congratulations on a job so well done. This year the names will be read by Elena Delbanco. Elena has been a highly valued writing instructor here at the Ford School for many years, working closely with many of these graduating students. Our students seek Elena out, not only because she's an excellent writing tutor, but also because of her personal commitment to helping students succeed both inside and outside the classroom. Elena.
^M01:14:46
[ Background noise ]
^M01:15:03
>> It's my pleasure and my honor to announce the names of our wonderful Ford School graduates this afternoon. I'll begin with our students who are earning doctoral degrees. Let me begin by welcoming to the stage, Jeff Smith, a professor of economics in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, he will hood our first graduate. Our first graduate is Jessica Anne Goldberg, her dissertation title is essays and development economics. Congratulations.
^M01:15:46
[ Clapping ]
^M01:15:58
>> Congratulations.
^M01:15:59
[ Tape cuts out ]
^M01:16:06
>> Ryan Kellogg, assistant professor of economics at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts will hood our next PhD graduate. Ryan please come to the stage. Our next graduate is Eric Johnson. Eric's dissertation title is essays and environmental economics and applied ecometrics.
^M01:16:31
[ Clapping ]
^M01:16:46
>> Sheldon Danziger, who is the Henry J Meyer distinguished university professor of public policy at the Ford School, will hood our next graduate. Sheldon. Our graduate is Maria Cherise Johnson [assumed spelling] 
>> [Clapping]
>> Maria's dissertation title is African American women and their fathers, understanding the influence of fathers on daughters conceptualizations of fatherhood and womanhood.
^M01:17:24
[ Clapping ]
^M01:17:38
>> Mary Corcoran will hood our next graduate. Catherine King [assumed spelling] Catherine's dissertation title is biological, psychosocial and neighborly social relations implications of the neighborhood built environment.
^M01:17:59
[ Clapping ]
^M01:18:16
>> Liz Gerber, professor of public policy of the Ford School will hood our next graduate, Robyn Finney [assumed spelling] Robyn's dissertation title is diverse interest group coalitions in search of welfare policy in the United States.
^M01:18:38
[ Clapping ]
^M01:18:55
>> Mary Corcoran and Sheldon Danziger will hood our final PhD graduate, Mary and Sheldon. Daniella Peneja [assumed spelling] Daniella's dissertation title is examining a federal intervention to improve Latino college participation, evidence from title five developing Hispanics serving institutions program 2000 to 2007.
^M01:19:28
[ Clapping ]
^M01:19:41
>> Now, we welcome to the stage our Ford School graduates receiving a Master's Degree in Public Policy or Public Administration. Kyle Jeffrey Aarons [assumed spelling] 
>> [Clapping]
>> Tuckahero Azawa [assumed spelling] 
>> [Clapping]
>> Mazahiko Ando [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Daskae Baba [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping] 
>> Sarah Elizabeth Bonner [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Sarah M. Brooks
>> [Clapping]
>> Brian F. Brosmer [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping] 
>> Torian Kimberly Brown [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Yufan Che [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Patrick Cuney [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Robert Joseph Dagnum [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Ashley M. Davis
>> [Clapping]
>> Katherine Mary Decker [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Sarah Marie Dent [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Otter ah Disi [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Kim Dunam [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Jared Pong Eno [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Umire Erdam [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Joshua Fangmeyer [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> David M. Fouch [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Brittany Gellarstarfer [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Fumikazo Goto [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Mila Abigail Gouland [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Alexis Guild [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Mosame Hehara [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Gregory Philip Holman [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Jennifer Gun Hong [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Rena Hoshino [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Minte Jenad Hossain [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Beth Hybar [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Lynn Jones [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Jay Kolerey [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Carolyn Ley [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Ashley Nicole Lewis
>> [Clapping]
>> Carolyn Lethan [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Rebecca Lopezchris [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Molly Jane McGuire [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Mahema Mahafavin [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Linroy Marshall the Second [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Maria Martin De Armargro Imesta [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Julie Montero de Castro [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Mielas C. Montenegro [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Christopher Ryan Muller [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Tuckro Mukai [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Christopher Mureo [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Dalan Najib [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Katherine Hogan Neilson [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> R. Iori Niambati [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Sarah Elizabeth Obed [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Annabelle Paez [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Parva de Patel [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Joseph William Person
>> [Clapping]
>> Wah Pfong [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Phillip Rogers [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Stephanie Rose
>> [Clapping]
>> Victoria Renee Roth [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Adam F. Schmidt 
>> [Clapping]
>> Anon Sharma [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Kasutaka Shimatani [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Manuella Stewart Sephentes [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Elliott James Sims [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Eclar Sensor [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Maria Smith
>> [Clapping]
>> Jason Smoot [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Elizabeth Joy Stanberger [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Adam Swinburne [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Shawhae Tadome [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Elizabeth Mary Talbert [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Pien Karen Tem [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Simon honcu Tem [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Gerald Scott Thompson [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Dominique Chantal Warren [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Jennifer N. Williams
>> [Clapping]
>> Ross Williams
>> [Clapping]
>> Adam Wilson 
>> [Clapping]
>> Sarah E. Wyckoff [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Kazuya Yosheda [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Jim Yun [assumed spelling]
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>> Christopher Zibraze [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> And now, we will welcome to the stage our Ford School students receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy.
^M01:28:43
[ Clapping ]
^M01:28:52
>> Nicole Amanda Arabach
>> [Clapping]
>> Michael Bertonthall [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Erin Maurine Betnoshbiele [assumed spelling]
>> [Clapping]
>> Catherine Louise Buck [assumed spelling]
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>> Ross Lank Chenowski [assumed spelling]
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>> Daniel Patrick Childs [assumed spelling]
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>> Andrew Jacob Chinski [assumed spelling]
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>> Molly Elizabeth Cohen [assumed spelling]
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>> Nathan Cole
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>> Carolyn Marie Cox [assumed spelling]
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>> Julia Ashley Degal [assumed spelling]
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>> Jared Russell Gamlin [assumed spelling]
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>> Ryan Garber
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>> Christina Jane Hart [assumed spelling]
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>> Thomas Jeffrey Held [assumed spelling]
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>> Honley Herring [assumed spelling]
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>> Robert Schaefer Hink [assumed spelling]
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>> Beatrice Elizabeth Anne Hinton [assumed spelling]
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>> Brian Jeffrey McConnell Herd [assumed spelling]
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>> Anna Hanna Hogart [assumed spelling]
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>> Kyle Richard Krushover [assumed spelling]
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>> Phillip Raymond Kurdonowitz [assumed spelling]
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>> Alexandra Levy [assumed spelling]
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>> Justin D. Lewis [assumed spelling]
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>> Daniel Lux [assumed spelling]
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>> Kunal Maleek [assumed spelling]
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>> Abigail Covina Marcineak [assumed spelling]
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>> In cligor Margolous [assumed spelling]
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>> Chelsey Maupin [assumed spelling]
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>> Dupika Meli [assumed spelling]
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>> Noah Shephardneary [assumed spelling]
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>> Danielle Elise Nelson [assumed spelling]
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>> Megan Eileen O'Rourke [assumed spelling]
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>> Stephanie Nicole Parish [assumed spelling]
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>> Carl Andrew Patchen [assumed spelling]
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>> Neil Patel [assumed spelling]
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>> Tomaso Pavone 
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>> Brian Jordan Rappaport [assumed spelling]
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>> Peter Rodis [assumed spelling]
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>> Jenna Jeannette Rowe
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>> Chandler Ruff [assumed spelling]
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>> Anusca Ruvina [assumed spelling]
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>> Megan Eve Ryan [assumed spelling]
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>> Lauren Salzman [assumed spelling]
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>> Peter Sol [assumed spelling]
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>> Alex Schwartz
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>> Douglas Adam Sharpe [assumed spelling]
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>> Stephanie Anne Snyder [assumed spelling]
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>> Joseph Sycoui [assumed spelling]
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>> Kelsey Alexandra Von Overloop [assumed spelling]
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>> Brian Chase Wiendlin [assumed spelling]
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>> Lauren Elizabeth Wiznewski [assumed spelling]
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>> Kristin Wolf
^M01:35:08
[ Clapping ]
^M01:35:30
>> I would, thank you so much Elena. I would like to ask our graduates to please stand and face your guests in the audience.
^M01:35:42
[ Clapping ]
^M01:35:52
>> Our, would our undergraduates, our B.A. graduates, at this time, please take the tassel on your mortar board and move it from the right to the left. Whew! And now, it's my great pleasure, I am so proud to present to all of you, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy classes of 2011. Congratulations!
^M01:36:23
[ Clapping ]
^E01:36:53