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Chancellor Holub's Remarks at Undergraduate Commencement

May 23, 2009

Commencement ceremonies are wonderful events. I’ve witnessed many graduations in over thirty years in the academic world, and perhaps their best feature is that they are always joyous occasions: everyone is smiling and feeling good, happy and in high spirits. Sometimes, however, it’s difficult to tell who’s happier at graduations: the students who don’t have to study and go to class anymore, or the parent of the students who don’t have to pay the tuition and fees for their sons and daughters to attend the university. In any case, I’m delighted to speak to an audience whose common denominator is a collective sigh of relief and a shared hope for the future.

I have something in common with the graduates today: we are both experiencing our first commencement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I share with you the exhilaration of accomplishment and the feeling of having made it to the finish line in an exhausting, trying, but ultimately exciting and thoroughly fulfilling race. I’m especially delighted to share the end of my first year on campus with the 4,250 victorious recipients of a baccalaureate degree.

Usually at this point in a commencement ceremony a person in my position will give you words of wisdom, sage advice for you to follow in your lives after graduation. I will refrain from dispensing such advice, because you don’t need it: you’ve got a solid education behind you and a great degree from an outstanding institution. So you will hear no words of wisdom, maxims, apothegms, pithy sayings, proverbs, parables, adages, aphorisms, mottos, or bon mots on how to conduct yourselves. You’re going to do just fine without my advice.

But I will say a few words about the institution from which you are graduating. UMass Amherst is the only public institution in the Commonwealth to receive the designation “very high research activity” from the Carnegie Foundation. It is the finest public research university in New England in academic reputation. And it is the sole public university in our region to be included on the list of the top 100 universities in the world, an honor accorded to only 20 public research universities in the entire United States. You should be proud of your degree, and we will do everything possible in the coming years to make certain we preserve and enhance the standing of UMass Amherst.

I am confident that in a few years time, when another group of undergraduates is sitting where you are seated today, that I already will be able to speak of your achievements beyond this campus. Our prestigious alumni make significant contributions to society in so many ways. Attorney Kenneth Feinberg dutifully served in the most difficult position as Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. In entertainment we can look to the comedy of Bill Cosby and the blues guitar of Taj Mahal. In the business world UMass Amherst can proudly claim transformative leaders such as GE’s Jack Welch and GM’s Jack Smith.

I want to speak briefly, however, of one alumnus, who spoke to me earlier this year. He told me that he made it through his first three years with no financial difficulties, but that rough financial times in his final year forced his father to go to a wealthy friend who lent him money so that he could graduate. Bothered by this unpaid debt, this alum found a job after graduation, and after a couple of years was finally able to save enough to pay back the principal and interest on this loan. When he went to his father’s friend, however, his benefactor refused to take the money. He was told: “Give the money instead to UMass Amherst so that another worthy student who lacks financial means can attend.” And this alum has been giving back ever since.

I hope that you draw a lesson from this illustration: please take everything that we have given you at UMass Amherst and use it well and for your benefit. But at the same time please remember to give back to us so that we can continue to provide the high quality education that you have enjoyed.

For now, however, allow me to congratulate you on your accomplishments. On behalf of our entire campus community I extend heartfelt and joyous congratulations to this Undergraduate Class of 2009! We wish you the greatest success and look forward to your continued involvement with your alma mater.

Thank you.