Graduate School Convocation
May 19, 2007
Thank you, Dean Rodriguez. Good afternoon, graduates! I am here to congratulate you for reaching this milestone and to wish you all the best as you begin your new journey.
And good afternoon, also, to the parents, grandparents, spouses, family members, friends, and supporters of our graduates. Welcome to the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. This is a wonderful day for everyone in the UT family.
I want to thank you graduates for the dual role that many of you have served at the University. You have not only completed your own demanding work, but you have taught undergraduates, assisted in labs and on research projects, and performed the many duties that have supported our academic enterprise.
To be the very best public university in the country we need the very best graduate students. World class researchers require world class graduate students to help in their investigations. Great professors attract great graduate students, and great graduate students attract great faculty. Each is necessary, and supportive of the other.
We have already developed many nationally acclaimed graduate programs. So when undergraduates are deciding where to go to graduate school or Law School, we want students in Texas and around the country to say “sure, I would be happy doing graduate work at Michigan or Berkeley or Virginia, but I really want to go to Texas.”
I don't have to convince this audience that graduate study here is concentrated and intense. After you leave this campus and make your way into the world, you may never again experience the same degree of challenge. And you may never again feel this degree of kinship with likeminded colleagues. Graduate School is a special time with special people. Many of the friendships you forge now, with fellow students and professors, will last a lifetime.
I know this firsthand. My best friend in law school was a Texan named Guy Wellborn. One dreary day in Seattle, when I was teaching law at the University of Washington, he called to invite me to come teach at UT. A friend I made in law school changed my life. He introduced me to The University of Texas and to the city of Austin. My move here, 30 years ago, has made all the difference in who I am and what I have achieved. I wouldn't be speaking to you today if not for that friendship and professional contact.
I hope that ten, twenty, and thirty years from now, you will still be in touch with the friends you've made in grad school. Because you will find joy in your success, and comfort in time of challenge, from the people who understand you the best.
Graduates, today we celebrate your success and look forward to your many rewarding years ahead. Your future achievements will reflect on the University where you spent so many hours in the pursuit of excellence. We are proud of you. Be proud of yourselves and your accomplishments.
Congratulations to all of you and good luck. Come back and visit your university as often as you can. And remember, “What starts here changes the world.” Take that to heart.
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