By President Richard Cook
Matriculation Ceremony, August 26, 2007
Welcome, Class of 2011, family, and other honored guests. We are excited about your arrival! I am Richard Cook, president of Allegheny College, and I have the honor of presiding at this matriculation ceremony.
Well, students, the big day has come, and you are finally here. We welcome you to our campus.
This ceremony marks your first formal association with Allegheny College and our campus community, and I want to begin by saying just a few words about the ceremony itself.
You are a class of 589, representing 378 high schools and some 32 states and a dozen countries. You were selected from a record-setting 4,356 applicants from 49 states. (North Dakota is missing.) Thirty-five of you have at least one parent or grandparent who attended Allegheny College.
Most of the members of the Class of 2011 were born in 1989, and you have known only a united Germany and two U.S. presidents. For you, bar codes have always been on everything, you likely have never rolled down a car window manually, and Fox has always been a major television network. For you, Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than General Motors does. This makes those of us who think this is all very recent history feel quite old. But even with your relatively few years, you are really quite accomplished.
You epitomize Allegheny's "unusual combinations of interests, skills, and talents" theme.
So Class of 2011, why did you decide to go to college? Naturally, we hope there are many reasons you might give—but if we surveyed you today, I suspect one response would prevail:
A college education is essential in today's world to get a good job—or, a variation of that, to be admitted to a graduate or professional school—leading to a preferred profession. And I am quite certain that the response of parents would be connected with eventual employment!
Employability is a laudable goal, and there is more than ample evidence that a college degree is increasingly essential for successful entry into the modern economy (college dropouts like Bill Gates will still remain the rare exception).
It is a cliché to say that the world is changing faster than ever, but consider the following:
To further illustrate the depth of change, I confess that this man of advanced middle age obtained these statistics from the Internet (from verifiable sources, I hasten to add).
This picture makes the words delivered several years ago by Allegheny professor and former dean Bruce Smith prescient indeed:
Dr. Smith said: "We start from the premise that much of the world with which you will have to contend is contested terrain. In such a world, the ability to frame questions is far more valuable than the mastery of technique. At Allegheny, the monologue of expertise gives way to a dialogue of shared and active learning."
Bruce has captured in these few words the essence of the Allegheny distinction: ambitious academic expectations and high standards within an exploratory partnership between faculty and students—a dialogue of shared and active learning. We believe that here and we live it. This kind of learning can only be done at any level in a small academic community where faculty focus both on students and on exploration.
At the heart of this distinctive approach is our faculty and staff—they continue to build the Allegheny tradition of setting the standard for undergraduate education. Let me illustrate by example:
On my desk this Friday alone was further evidence of faculty prowess:
It isn't unusual to find highly intelligent and accomplished scholars in the higher education system, but it is unusual to find so many of them at a small college—where undergraduates are included in their work as co-investigators and co-creators. I have only scratched the surface today in deference to time—there are many more such examples and my apologies to those I left out.
In addition to the faculty, our dedicated staff recognizes that their work is intimately tied to the goals and work of the faculty and the curriculum. The people before you are the best to be found anywhere, and they welcome your arrival. You would be negligent not to take advantage of this tremendous resource.
But our concern for your development goes beyond the academic. Professor Smith went on to say in his remarks a few years ago, "We insist in our mission statement that the objectives of a liberal education go beyond the acquisition of intellectual skills, and include thinking and acting in morally, ethically, and socially responsible ways."
This commitment to development of intellect, conscience, and community is no doubt why Allegheny College is unique in being recognized in its own "unusual combination" for being nationally prominent not only for high academic achievement but also for moral and ethical development. Our inclusion in college guides such as Colleges With a Conscience and The Templeton Guide to Colleges That Encourage Character Development attests to this fact.
College should also be about developing the mind and body in a variety of ways. Just early this morning, I heard a piece on the radio about the importance of play for the development of the intellect, social and coping skills, and fulfillment. The importance of play—widely defined—lasts a lifetime. To that end, we provide a wide variety of opportunities for broad development and enjoyment:
If you stop there, however, you may end up with a diploma and a good time, but you will have missed the real essence of the college experience.
Evidence of your missing the real Allegheny College is if you ever find yourself feeling bored or with a sense there is nothing to do here. Likewise, if you start finding yourself entirely comfortable here, you are not challenging yourself sufficiently.
Just as an athlete understands that greater strength, speed, and skill—or a musician understands that greater facility, feel, and repertoire—only come through pushing oneself beyond previous levels through disciplined hard work and sacrifice, you should expect that no less is necessary to develop your mind and a sense of self and of culture.
How can you stretch yourselves beyond reaching the minimum requirements for a diploma? Imagine setting aside—or at least adding significantly to—popular forms of mass entertainment, shallow communication, and usual leisure activities. Turn away from the television, the computer, your iPod, and the temptation to just "hang out" with your close friends and reach instead for some of the new experiences and insights that surround you.
Explore some areas that may be currently unfamiliar or even uninteresting to you, such as jazz or classical music, visual arts, dance, theater, poetry, politics, natural sciences, history, literature. Learn about ethnic, religious and other cultural differences. Put yourself into new and perhaps uncomfortable settings or modes of inquiry.
Use your mind in new ways—release your creative spirit. Challenge yourselves to go well beyond the routine, the popular, the easy, and the things that are thrust upon you by peers and marketers.
Why? Because it will enrich the experience of being human now and for the rest of your life. And, yes, taking the road less traveled will almost surely pay other dividends you can't imagine when you take it.
Why now? Because your years in a college like this provide a rare opportunity in your life to witness and explore the rich range of human creativity, discovery, and expression.
Why here? Because Allegheny College has a 192-year record of providing superb and challenging creative and intellectual experiences. Our faculty represent an unusual combination of active, respected scholars who derive fulfillment and joy not only from their respective disciplines but also and especially from mentoring undergraduates in both formal and informal settings.
The true test of the efficacy of our program is our most important product: our graduates. Allegheny stands the test with flying colors.
Take, for example, Michael Ryan '93, the youngest person ever appointed as a Cleveland Municipal Court magistrate judge. Michael grew up in public housing, his drug-addicted mother age fifteen when he was born; she died when he was thirteen years old.
Or take award-winning author Barbara Robinson '48. No doubt, many of you—parent and child alike—are familiar with the book series that includes The Best School Year Ever and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, masterpieces in children's literature that are also humorous and educational for adults.
Then there is physics major Ben Burtt '70, multiple Academy Award winner for his ground-breaking work in sound and special effects in Star Wars, ET, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yes, some of the unique sounds you know so well from those movies originated here at Allegheny.
Consider Robert Marchman '80, recently appointed the vice president for enforcement of the New York Stock Exchange because of his distinguished record of service and integrity.
Or Christine Nelson '73, co-founder and principal of Cornerstone Research in Boston and chair of the Allegheny College Board of Trustees—our official governing body.
As different in backgrounds and interests as Michael, Barbara, Ben, Robert, and Christine are—and the other thousands of Allegheny graduates are—irtually all have in common well-developed intellectual skills coupled with humility, decency, and genuine human concern. Many of you are here today because alumni of Allegheny recommended that you consider this historic and remarkable college. You are about to become part of that tradition.
Students and parent alike, please recognize that an excellent college experience presents significant academic and social challenges to those who enter it.
Listen to what Allegheny student Gordon Battelle had to say in 1836—171 years ago—regarding the challenges of rigorous academic work at the start of his time at Allegheny:
"I found much difficulty in the onset and was fearful that my advancement would not be even as great as it has. It is a hard matter for one who has for a long time neglected habits of study, to bring the mind suddenly to unremitting application."
It is a hard matter for one who has for a long time neglected habits of study, to bring the mind suddenly to unremitting application. Students, we intend to "bring your mind to unremitting application"—in ways that you haven't faced in your previous schooling. We are ready to provide the opportunities, but it will be up to you to make it happen.
Seek out and seize the opportunities. Don't stay in cruise control during your quick four years with us. We want to hear you say, like so many students before you, "Allegheny changed my life."
Heartfelt welcome to Allegheny College and thank you for your kind attention.
Parents and, as appropriate, grandparents and others significant in these students' lives, my final thoughts are for you.
You might be wishing for something that Allegheny's first president, Timothy Alden, asked of his grandson upon his starting college at Allegheny. This passage is from a letter President Alden wrote in the 1830s:
My dear grandson, daily strive to exhibit a character of which in riper years you may not have occasion to be ashamed.
The sentiment hasn't changed through all these years, has it?
Entering a residential college marks a significant step toward adulthood. Expecting and allowing your children to become adults, to take responsibility, and to live with the consequences of their choices are important, and often difficult, parts of the college experience—apparently even more so for those of us in the Baby Boomer Generation, who generally have close relationships with our children and, through cell phones and the Internet, have virtually instantaneous contact whenever we choose.
Allegheny College recognizes another unusual combination: the need for a partnership with parents coupled with the desired outcome of increasing independence in thought and deed of your son or daughter. The road may not always be easy for you as you wrestle with the sometimes difficult experience of letting go. The informal, interactive session that follows this ceremony will address these matters in ways we hope will be helpful for you.
Parents and grandparents, this day wouldn't have been possible without you. We want to thank you and recognize you for your support and confidence—in these students and in this college.
We will now all join in singing the first verse of the Alma Mater. For years, I have witnessed and felt the words and melody of this simple song work magic in the heart. I hope it will do the same for you from this day forward as you begin your journey as alumni in the making.
