Public Health, Students

Commencements — Onward Graduates!

May 14, 2009

What a week it was!

Our School’s Commencement

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We graduated 312* students—65* BSPH, 197* Master’s students and50* doctoral students and recognized 220 students who were awarded certificates. Many of them were at our School’s ceremony May 9th. I loved seeing our students cross the stage and accept their diplomas (actual diplomas are mailed to them), watching them with their families and seeing the joy of families and friends celebrating their graduates. As I have said before, I came to appreciate this ceremony rather late in life, but I am now a true believer.

As I said in my commencement remarks, we celebrated the transition from the people our students were to the people they had become. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to get to know and interact with many of our students, and I have watched with familial pride as they have matured, taken on leadership roles and become more self-confident. It’s the great joy of this job, and I love it. During the ceremony, we celebrated the fact that our graduates won 6 Impact awards from the Graduate School for research benefiting the state of North Carolina. Two graduates were inducted into two of UNC’s most prestigious honorary societies. 12 graduates were recognized with prestigious external fellowships. One of our graduating students, Elizabeth Torrone, won the Graduate School’s Boka W. Hadzija award for distinguished service by a graduate or professional student. Our students received many other awards from their departments and other organizations. They all are impressive!

I also congratulated students on their volunteerism and gave examples of Engineers without Borders, Minority Student Caucus, Global Health Advisory Committee and the many students who have run road races and marathons for causes and served up beans and rice to fight hunger. I was touched when the mother of one of our graduates came up to me during the reception and said she was so glad that I mentioned our students’ volunteerism. I told her that we expect our students to excel academically and to publish—that’s what professionals do. Volunteering is something that they don’t have to do, but it is so important to the future of the world. I am proud of our students for their wonderful track record of volunteering, their academic achievements and the kind of people they are.

“Being socially responsible means that you commit yourselves to the idea that everyone’s well being is interconnected.”

— Gary R. Grant, Executive Director, Concerned Citizens of Tillery (N.C.)
Gillings School of Global Public Health commencement ceremony
May 9, 2009, Memorial Hall

Sunday Commencement May 12th

unc-commencement-bachelors.jpgWhat a wonderful day it was! The student who spoke implored the graduates not to become disillusioned or cynical if they have difficulty finding jobs. That’s good advice. It is a hard world right now, but our students will prevail.

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Commencement Speaker

tutu_unc-commencement_may09.jpgThe UNC website includes Tutu’s speech in video and transcript formats. Read or watch. He was marvelous, and he had the most wonderful rapport with our students. I like this quote from his speech. “It is such a fantastic privilege and joy to be here with you today. You are just an extraordinary bunch of people. I have a dream that my children everywhere will know that they belong in one family, a family that has no outsiders…

And you, you fantastic people over there. God says, ‘Go on dreaming. Go on being the idealistic people you are. Go on being the ones who believe that poverty can indeed be made history. Go on believing that it is possible to eradicate hunger.’ How can we live and sleep comfortably, knowing that millions of our sisters and brothers go to bed hungry? God says ‘Please, please, help me; help me to make this world a little more compassionate. Help me, please, help me to make this world a little more gentle.’”

Don’t allow yourselves to be affected by the cynicism of oldies like us. Dream, dream, dream of a world that is going to be without terror because there will be people … nobody will have become so desperate, desperate because of poverty, of disease, of hunger.”

Students and all readers, dream. Together, we can make the world a better place! Happy Wednesday. Barbara

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The views expressed in this blog are Barbara Rimer’s alone and do not represent the views and policies of The University of North Carolina or the Gillings School.