Freshman Convocation Address by John Hennessy
The
following is the text of President John Hennessy's Speech at Opening
Convocation Friday, Sept. 22, 2000
Parents and students of
the Class of 2004: Good afternoon and welcome to Stanford University.
Today, we celebrate the arrival of 1,681 new freshmen and transfer students.
For each of you students, this is a moment that you will long remember,
the beginning a new chapter in your life. Let me be one of the first
to greet and congratulate you as you embark on this adventure. In the
next four years, there will be times when you feel exhilarated --
and perhaps times when you feel a bit overwhelmed. But I promise you
one thing: We will always do our best to challenge you to participate
fully in your own personal intellectual journey and in the university's
mission to create new knowledge and understanding.
Students, I hope you are
proud of the accomplishments that have brought you to this important
transition in your lives. I know that all of you have worked hard to
get here, but let me start off the afternoon by also acknowledging the
contributions of your parents, family members, teachers, mentors and
friends who have supported you on your road to Stanford. Without them,
the journey here would have been more difficult and less rewarding.
In recognition of the tremendous support and encouragement you have
received from these important people in your lives, let me invite our
new students to show their appreciation with a round of applause.
Now, all of you students
may be wondering just how it is Stanford chose you to be members of
the Class of 2004. I know from Vice Provost Montoya that each year a
fair number of you arrive at Stanford convinced that your admittance
was some sort of freak accident. In fact, some of you may be saying
to yourselves right now, "If I just keep a low profile for the
next four years, maybe they'll never realize that they made such
a big mistake." Well, let me be the first to assure you: Our admission
office is one of the best in the country, and we don't make mistakes!
So, please, everyone take a deep breath and relax.
To be sure, this was one
of the most competitive years for admission in the history of the university,
with less than one in seven applicants being admitted; clearly, this
class is one of the most talented we have ever assembled. Academically,
your credentials are stellar.
But academics is not your
only area of achievement. Many of you have exhibited excellence in the
performing arts, in music, drama and dance; others are authors. We have
a variety of outstanding athletes in sports as varied as fencing, volleyball,
gymnastics, track, horse wrangling and juggling. Others are budding
entrepreneurs, and I'm quite sure they will carry on the Stanford
tradition of starting up new companies and inventing cutting-edge technologies.
And many of you have answered the call of community service and contributed
the gift of your time and intelligence in service to a greater good.
Your class is also one of
the most ethnically and geographically diverse we have ever admitted.
You represent 985 different high schools, all 50 states and 38 foreign
countries. I want to extend a special thank you to our new students
from North Dakota, who helped us break a two-year 49 out of 50 record.
Your life experience, your
ancestral heritage, your intellectual roots and your interests are incredibly
varied. In fact, the number of students indicating interests in the
natural sciences, in engineering, in the social sciences, and in the
humanities and interdisciplinary studies is roughly equal. We value
this diversity in cultures, backgrounds, intellectual interests and
viewpoints and what it will add to the education of all our students
during the next four years.
Although we carefully examined
your scholastic achievements and extracurricular accomplishments during
the admission process, your intellectual vitality is what sets you apart
from so many of your peers. Some of you have shown that intellectual
engagement by pursuing a single field of study; others engaged in a
variety of scholarly activities outside of the classroom setting; still
others have applied classroom studies to work in your community. However
you have shown it, your love of learning -- that passion for new
knowledge -- revealed you to us as the kind of student we most treasure
at Stanford.
Of course, our choosing
you was not the only important decision being made in the last few months.
Each of you also made a choice: You chose Stanford. We will never know
exactly why each of you made that decision, but I truly hope that primary
among the many reasons was a belief that this is a university that will
provide the intellectual resources and the collegial support for you
as you embark on your intellectual journey.
If that was part of the
reason for your choice, then I have good news for you -- you've
come to the right place! Stanford is a university that embraces and
supports intellectual exploration in so many ways that it's almost
hard for me to limit myself in telling you about them. But it is getting
a little late, so I will make an arbitrary decision. Since I have just
become Stanford's 10th president, let me describe 10 ways that
Stanford will support you in your love of learning and your intellectual
journey.
If some of the ways that
Stanford embodies this spirit of exploration are new to you, the next
few minutes will provide you with advance notice about how to make the
most of your time at Stanford. I also hope they will offer some insight
into why I came to this campus 23 years ago and have made it my home
ever since.
First: I hope you came to
Stanford, in large measure, because of our superb faculty. In this past
year, we hired 69 new faculty -- some senior distinguished colleagues
who are leaders in their fields, some young assistant professors involved
in the development of new fields, but all committed to the search for,
and communication of, knowledge.
The best advice I can give
you is to get to know this superb faculty. Attend a lecture on their
research or seek them out during office hours. While I love giving an
exciting lecture to a classroom of students, my greatest enjoyment comes
when a student visits my office to talk about my research, to ask career
advice, to talk about a topic that she is interested in or to seek help
on some topic he cannot grasp. Remember that all of us on the faculty
are here in large part because of the extraordinary students who are
our partners in the exploration for knowledge.
Second: Your fellow students,
with whom you will work, live and play, will contribute to your exploration.
The opportunity to learn from others who are traveling companions in
this journey is an important part of a Stanford education. Learn from
your fellow students, just as we on the faculty learn from them!
Third: Stanford has made
tremendous enhancements to undergraduate education that are designed
to engage you more deeply during your freshmen and sophomore years.
The cornerstone of these enhancements is the freshman seminar program.
Freshman seminars provide the opportunity for students to meet in small
classes with some of our most renowned scholars. Stanford will offer
over 100 different freshman seminars this year. Every freshman will
have an opportunity to enroll in one of these seminars. Let me give
you a sample of some of the seminars we will be offering this year:
The Technical Aspects of
Photography, taught by Nobel Laureate in physics Professor Doug Osheroff.
American Art and Culture
in the Gilded Age, taught by Professor Wanda Corn, chair of the Art
Department and nationally known for her work on the history of American
art.
The Reform of Social Security,
taught by Professor John Shoven, former dean of humanities and sciences,
and author of The Real Deal: The History and Future of Social Security,
a book I also recommend to the parents in the audience!
These seminars not only
provide an opportunity for you to explore exciting topics, they also
provide an avenue for you to get to know faculty -- personally.
I encourage every student to take advantage of this opportunity.
Fourth: I hope you have
found Stanford's strong commitment to a liberal education attractive.
In 1997, when I was in my first year as dean of the Engineering School,
I ran into an alumnus of our Medical School, whose son was a freshman
at Stanford with a strong interest in engineering. We discussed what
advice he had given his son about choosing among the universities that
had offered him admission. In recommending Stanford to his son, he said:
"I wanted my son to know who Thoreau was, and what he wrote about."
This story, which I have repeated many times to prospective freshmen
with interests in science and engineering, embodies much of what is
at the core of a Stanford education: a strong and shared foundation
in the humanities.
Fifth: Stanford offers abundant
opportunities for honors studies, honors theses and undergraduate research,
which will intensely involve you in the exploration for new knowledge.
The opportunity to work on the cutting edge of a field with a Stanford
faculty member who is not only an expert, but passionate about her chosen
field, is a wonderful experience. For me, participating in research
as an undergraduate led me from my major in electrical engineering to
my graduate major in computer science, and also ignited a passion for
being on the leading edge of discovery. This passion sustained me through
my Ph.D. and continues to excite me after 23 years as a Stanford faculty
member.
Sixth: The breadth of the
institution provides you with the opportunity to go almost anywhere
your journey may lead. I mentioned earlier that we had hired 69 new
faculty this year; what I didn't say was that they were from 40
departments spread among art, music, English, history, economics, physics,
computer science, biology, law, business, education and clinical medicine.
Stanford's breadth provides you with the opportunity to find where
your intellectual interests truly lie. There is similar breadth in our
nonacademic activities, whether they be in the performing arts, in athletics,
in the visual arts or in community service. Whatever your academic and
extracurricular interests, you will find them well represented at Stanford.
Seventh: Our program in
overseas studies can add an important dimension to your education at
Stanford. Upon graduating, many of our students report that one of their
most memorable experiences was the opportunity to spend a quarter at
one of our overseas campuses. The Overseas Studies Program, which is
celebrating 41 years of offering unique learning opportunities to students,
currently includes nine different locations including Great Britain,
France, Mexico, Chile, Russia and Japan.
Eighth: Stanford attracts
scholars and leaders from all over the world to teach, to give lectures
and to participate in the search for new knowledge and a better understanding
of our world. Take the opportunity to learn and interact with these
visiting leaders and scholars.
Ninth: I hope that the western
pioneering spirit, the entrepreneurial spirit, which abounds at Stanford,
will infect the way you approach your exploration. This spirit, which
Jane and Leland Stanford both had when they migrated from the East Coast
to California, and which helped give birth to Silicon Valley, infects
most things we do. It encourages us to be bold in our endeavors, whether
those efforts occur in the library, in the classroom, in a laboratory,
in a theater or on an athletic field. I hope that you will catch this
"infection" and let it affect your pursuits here.
Tenth: I hope that this
beautiful campus in this beautiful part of the world will be a conducive
place to undertake your intellectual journey. There are many locations
on campus and off that provide an ideal space for contemplation, or
an inspirational setting, or simply a lovely place to walk and get away
from the frenetic pace of everyday life.
In addition to these 10
reasons for being at Stanford -- these 10 ways in which Stanford
will foster your intellectual exploration -- let me remind you that
we are all here, at what was once Leland and Jane Stanford's farm,
because in the grief over the loss of their only son at the age of 15,
they completely dedicated themselves to creating this university and
to the goal of doing something for someone else's children.
Given that we have both
made compatible decisions and you are at Stanford, what do we ask of
you during your next four years?
Your acceptance letter is
an invitation -- an invitation to join a community of scholars engaged
in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. A community of scholars
that operates under a fundamental standard dating back to 1896 and emphasizing
personal integrity and respect for each and every member of the scholarly
community and his contribution to our search for better understanding.
It is an invitation to spend
the next four years of your life exploring your intellectual interests,
finding what engages and excites you. I would encourage you undertake
this pursuit with enthusiasm. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:
"Enthusiasm is one
of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it
with your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own
personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful,
and you will accomplish your objective."
I urge you to pursue your
journey with all your energy, and I hope that you will find something
that excites you and engages you so much that it will keep you up at
night and get you out of bed early, even on the weekend!
I hope that you find a passion
that matches your own talents, so that you may discover, as I did, something
that you can pursue for the rest of your life with enthusiasm and joy.
Parents, Stanford will provide
a variety of possibilities during the next four years, but only your
children, as individuals, will be able to choose what excites them,
what generates intellectual passion and engages their very able minds.
It will have to be their choice, and I hope that you will support that
choice.
So, if your daughter comes
home and tells you that she wants to major in medieval history and philosophy
-- recall that this double major was the undergraduate major of
Carly Fiorina, the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, the second
largest computer company in the United States.
Students, while I cannot
make any predictions about what paths you will each take in your journey
at Stanford, I urge you to begin this process of intellectual discovery,
just as Senator Leland Stanford urged at the opening day ceremonies
for the first freshman class in 1891:
"Upon the individual
efforts of each of you mainly depends his or her future success in life.
A university may be founded for you; in it, you may study for many years,
with all the advantages of learning, science and ingenuity of these
days; you may be gifted with many talents, and yet your labor will be
comparatively fruitless and later in life you may be failures, or you
may go from here fully equipped to make your way through life with happiness
to yourself and benefit to humanity. All that we can do for you is to
place the opportunities within your reach; it rests with you to grasp
and improve them."
I welcome all our new students
and their parents, not just to the campus but also to the Stanford family.
I hope that the next four years at Stanford transform your lives, just
as it has transformed the lives of so many alumni. And, like many before
you, I would like your time here to be just the beginning of a lifelong
relationship with Stanford.
As I am sure you know, this
is my first year as president, and I am especially looking forward to
sharing my first year with the Class of 2004. Welcome to the Farm!
SR
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