Messages from the Dean

2005 Doctoral Convocation Speech May 05, 2005 As Dean of the Steinhardt School of Education, I am delighted to greet you all on behalf of the faculty and staff to our 2005 commencement ceremony. We are hooding our doctoral students this evening as a special sign that we value their commitment to engaging in practice and research that will make a difference in peoples lives. Their dissertations -- the titles are in your programs --- address some of the most complex and challenging questions facing our society. Graduates of 2005, we hood you as a sign of welcome into the community of scholars. I know you want to acknowledge the faculty who have accompanied you on your journey. At this time, I ask the faculty to stand and be recognized for their contributions as mentors and advisors, coaches and colleagues. Graduates, all the successes we honor today are possible because of the gifts you have been given, and because of your own hard work, late night hours, your perseverance. But also you have accomplished much because of those who have supported you financially, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. I ask the families of the students gathered here today to stand and be recognized. *** Perstare et Praestare is on the University seal, and emblazoned on your diploma. to persevere and to excel These words of course speak in a special way to the doctoral students we celebrate today. In the time you have spent with us, you have persevered, perhaps a bit more often than you have excelled: You have persevered through the drafts of your dissertation; through course assignments, comps, and internships; through rejections and revise/re-submit letters from journals. You have persevered with the clients, students, and patients who posed special challenges. And you have persevered while trying to be a partner, have families, and

raise children; and with friends who needed your support when they were ready to give up. To persevere in graduate school, especially in the research development, you need to be okay with living on what Stephanie Rude calls a schedule of lean rewards. In graduate school, the rewards feel few and far between. I recall when I was writing my own dissertation at the University of Minnesota. One day, after yet another re-write, I was sitting on the steps of Burton Hall, watching a man fill a pot hole in the street. He poured the tar into the hole in the road. With a heavy roller he rolled over the mound of hot tar back and forth until it was flat. Then he stood back and admired his work. He was done! The pot hole was filled. It was flat and he was satisfied with his work and he was done! As I thought about my dissertation, I wondered if I would ever feel done. You are entering the world of doctorally-educated scholars and you will never be done learning. You will never be finished searching and re-searching. There will always be more work needed to help those whom you serve and to expand the science, art, and understanding of your profession. Sustaining your scientific and creative inquiry will require perseverance. John Rawls persevered: It took him 12 years to complete his dissertation. It is called A Theory of Justice and it is the foundation for the work of scholars in philosophy, psychology, law, education and all who study or seek justice. Perhaps there is a John Rawls among you tonight. And perseverance is not just toughing it out because youre a strong person. There is also an element of passion, of knowing what you truly want and wanting it bad enough to persevere. Think back to the passion that first lead you into your field of study: What it was you longed to contribute. What you wanted to change. The difference you wanted to make. That passion will help you persevere. Perstare et Preastare: You have acquired the habit of perseverance and because of that habit of mind, you now are receiving the final degree in your field. The ultimate sign that not only have you persevered, but you have excelled. To judge from the titles of the dissertations some of you have written you have excelled in some erudite areas:

The phenomenology of depressive symptoms in adults with mental retardation; the transmission of song among the New York Irish; the onset of neurological complications among brain injury and stroke patients; the creativity of contemporary Japanese artists All excellent contributions to our society, our knowledge base. But with that excellence comes a set of responsibilities. You have a duty now, a responsibility to this NYU community, to this society, to use those skills and knowledge you have acquired. Perstare et Praestare: To persevere and to excel Recall that virtue and excellences have the same root in Greek. In the Aristotelian sense, virtue, that is, excellences, are acquired not only from learningthat is, books and classroom, but also from doingthat is, engagement in the world -- praxis. Hence, practical wisdom is oriented to the "field of action," to the doing. So as your dean I ask you, as you leave the Square, How will you practice your excellences? Will you take your knowledge of depression and bring hope to the despairing? Will you take your understanding of pedagogy and enhance learning for children and youth? Will you take your information on disease and disability and enlarge the life chances of others? Will you take your lessons on theory to give others the gift of music? To persevere in being excellent is no easy task. You will need persistence to have one foot in academia, the other in the world of action, of practice. You will continue to feel pulled between the two, like you are riding two horses at once, but neither very well. This world often pulls you in one direction, the knowing or another, the doing, but your doctoral preparation in the Steinhardt School, a professional and scholarly school has taught you, and compels you to do both. To preserver in pursuit of excellence will also require bravery. And that is my last message for you: My lesson of bravery comes from Nelson Mandela. The great spiritual and political leader of post Apartheid South Africa writes: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just some of us; it is everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Look around, your faculty and family members and fellow students who have accompanied you through the journey. They now will be following your star. Your light as you serve as a beacon for others. What will you illuminate? Where will you shine your excellences? Thank you, graduates of 2005, for all your practice, your scholarship and your many contributions -- for the contributions you made while you were at the Steinhardt School to our university and our society, and for the contributions that you will -- with perseverance -- continue to make after you leave us. Please return to Washington Square and let us know about your work so that we can celebrate your excellences.