UMass President William M. Bulger

I think that I will allow a daughter of Massachusetts to speak for me today.

These are the words of a great woman known to all of you — President of the United States John Adams' spouse, Abigail Adams. These are the words she spoke to her son, John Quincy Adams, as he was going across the Atlantic on a dangerous trip at a time of revolution in our country.

These are her words. And I think they're apropos, and they are brief:

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in a still calm of life or the repose of a specific station that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out our great virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart, those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

Congratulations to all of you and best wishes.

Thank you.