Prepared text of John Hennessy’s address at Convocation on Sept. 19, 2006
“You have chosen to attend a university that is not only a great educational institution but also a great research institution,” President John Hennessy told new students during his Convocation remarks last week.
Following is the prepared text of the address delivered by President John Hennessy at Convocation on Sept. 19, 2006:
Thank you, Rebecca, for those thoughtful remarks. Parents, transfer students and members of the Class of 2010: Good afternoon and welcome to Stanford University. Today, we celebrate the arrival of 1,649 new freshmen and 62 transfer students. We welcome 104 international students from 46 different countries, and we are delighted to have a student from each state in the union with the exception of South Dakota, which this year replaces the perennially absent North Dakota.
Each fall as I prepare for convocation and the arrival of a new class of Stanford students, I contemplate the message I want to deliver to the incoming class and look for inspiration, often among my summer reading. This summer, David McCullough's book, 1776, a history of the American Revolution, joined two other related books that I completed in the last year: David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing, also a history of the fateful years of 1776 and 1777, and Joseph Ellis' His Excellency, a biography of George Washington. Each of these books has a different, but related, theme, and each relates an insight relevant to next four years of your lives.
McCullough focuses on the enormous challenges facing Washington's Continental Army in the fateful and desperate days of 1776. He describes the dire situation arising after the loss of New York City, when Washington must lead his volunteer army against overwhelming odds and a shortage of both men and supplies. McCullough's book is a testimony both to the tenacity of the army and its leaders and to the inspiration of liberty, which gave them hope.
In late 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a series of essays called "The Crisis," which described the challenge facing the army in its darkest days. You will recognize the opening phrase:
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly …"
Although I do not expect the next four years of your lives to be as difficult as the year of 1776 was for the Continental Army, I do expect you to be challenged and to challenge yourself, stretching your mind and probing deeper into subjects than you have to date. I hope you do not shrink from this challenge, but embrace it. Experiment and take intellectual risks. Challenge yourself with courses in disciplines that are new to you. And should you occasionally not succeed, do not become disillusioned. The only people I know that have succeeded at everything they have undertaken are those who have been timid in setting their goals. Real growth involves risk-taking and overcoming adversity.
Ellis' book, in contrast, describes Washington's life, focusing on what made him a successful leader and how he navigated some of his more formidable challenges. Washington never had a formal university education, a fact that he always regretted, but he was well read, particularly in history and the classics. What struck me as most interesting in this biography was how Washington's extensive reading not only shaped the development of his own ethical standards but also informed and guided him in critical moments.
Perhaps no action is more telling than the step he takes at the end of the war, when many citizens were calling on him to become the first king of the new country. Washington, however, knew the story of Cincinnatus, the legendary Roman general, who in 458 B.C. was called from his farm to take the position of dictator of the Roman Republic and lead an army against an invasion of nearby tribes. Cincinnatus defeated the invaders in a few weeks; he then gave up the title Dictator, which was scheduled to run for six months, relinquished control of the army and returned to his farm. He was a hero and could easily have made himself the ruler of Rome, as some subsequent individuals appointed dictator did. Romans admired his virtue, his humility and his loyalty to the republic, and his name became legendary. Washington similarly surrendered his command of the army and returned to Mount Vernon; imagine how different this country and Washington's legacy would have been if he had accepted the title of King.
Washington's knowledge of history and his liberal self-education prepared him for leadership and decision-making. We at Stanford believe that the humanities and a broad liberal education serve as the best foundation for life. As you begin your time at Stanford and plan your four years here, I would urge you to remember that your undergraduate education is much more than a ticket to your first job. It is a once in a lifetime journey. It is an opportunity to develop the skills and passion for being a lifelong learner in areas related to and outside of your future career and for gathering insights and wisdom that will serve you over the years.
The final book in my triad was Washington's Crossing, which focuses on the critical years of 1776 and 1777, on the retreat from New York, on the battle at Trenton and on the army's rebirth in 1777. Fischer's narrative shares much ground with McCullough's, but what makes it unique, in my view, is a question he explores at length: How was the Continental Army different from the British Army and how did those differences relate to the difference between Europe and the nascent United States?
Fischer cites three major differences. First, the Continental Army was an army of volunteers fighting for a vision—for a cause—rather than pursuing careers or serving as mercenaries. Second, Washington treated the enlisted men as peers, addressing them as "Gentlemen." This was unthinkable in the British army, where a strict class structure was in place—a class structure often derived from civilian life—where the commanding officers were chosen almost exclusively from important families and the landed gentry. Third, Washington believed in meritocracy. The men he promoted and made his generals were not necessarily the best connected or most important, but they proved their merit through accomplishment.
Today, you join a university community created and bound by a commitment to similar ideals. It is a community that believes in respect for individuals and their ideas. It is a community that relies on merit as the basis for recognition. And it is a community dedicated to the pursuit of truth, knowledge and understanding.
These principles are part of Stanford's history and were established by the university's founders and early leaders:
Now that you have accepted our invitation to join this university and to live by these principles, the question I expect you are all asking is, "How should I make the most of my time here?" Beyond what I have already said about the broad goals for your undergraduate education, let me offer a few more specific suggestions based on my 28 years as a member of this community.
My first suggestion is to get to know the faculty, who have chosen to pursue the academic life because of their passion for learning and their desire to share their knowledge with others. Alumni have told us that getting to know a faculty member personally was one of the most rewarding components of their Stanford experience, and the university has invested heavily over the past 15 years to create many more such opportunities.
The hallmark of our innovations in undergraduate education has been the Freshman and Sophomore Seminars program. Each seminar is led by a Stanford faculty member and enrolls no more than 16 students. This year there will be more than 100 Freshman Seminars on topics including nanotechnology, Greek drama, experimental musical instruments, health policy, lasers, environmental science and policy, the French Revolution and voting rights. These classes are a wonderful opportunity to get to know a faculty member and a new subject.
Get to know the faculty outside of the classroom as well. While I love giving an exciting lecture to a packed classroom, 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. We have an extraordinary faculty—use every opportunity to discover why they are passionate about their scholarly pursuits.
Even in Washington's time, the ability to travel across the ocean was reshaping society and international relationships. Today jet travel and the Internet have made the entire world a tightly interconnected group of nations. Isolation is no longer a possibility for any nation, either physically, economically, environmentally or intellectually. Your lives will be heavily influenced by what happens around the globe. I urge you to think about this and look to incorporate an overseas studies experience in your education. Stanford has been a leader in overseas studies for more than 40 years and studying abroad, whether in a short or longer program, is an opportunity every student should explore.
You have chosen to attend a university that is not only a great educational institution but also a great research institution. At Stanford, you can take courses and attend seminars that explore the frontiers of fields where new knowledge and understanding are being created, and you can contribute to that process. For me, participating in research as an undergraduate led me from my major in electrical engineering to my graduate study in computer science, and it ignited a passion for being on the leading edge of discovery. Being at the forefront of discovery and taking part in the creation of new knowledge is an immensely rewarding and life-altering experience.
To the parents in the audience, I assure you that Stanford will provide your children a variety of possibilities for growing and learning during the next few years. But it is your children, as individuals, who will choose what excites them, what generates intellectual passion and what engages their very able minds. I hope that you will support their choices.
During the next four years, we will do our best to create opportunities for our students to learn and discover, but it will be each individual's task to embrace opportunities and to pursue them with determination and energy.
Leland Stanford on the university's opening day 115 years ago, after telling the students about what had been created for them and about the Stanford's vision for how the university could serve them, closed his speech to that first class with the following words:
"Upon the individual efforts of each of you mainly depends his or her future success in life. … All that we can do for you is to place the opportunities within your reach; it rests with you to grasp and improve them."
Students, I hope your time here transforms your lives, just as it has transformed the lives of so many alumni. And, finally, I hope your time here will help to provide a foundation on which you will make your contributions to a better world.
To all our new students and their families: Welcome to the Farm and welcome to the Stanford community.