(music) Introducing the President of Michigan State University, Dr. Kevin M. Guskiewicz.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

On behalf of Michigan State University and all of us here with me, welcome to the fall 2024 advanced degree commencement ceremony.

For those joining us on livestream, Greetings as well.

Today we recognize the excellent focus and dedication demonstrate by our advanced degree students to arrive at this milestone in their academic journeys.

Graduates I've had the opportunity to meet many of you since my appointment as president almost exactly one year ago, and I can tell that you are passionate, dedicated and resourceful scholars who are focused on making a difference.

You have already made a differenc in the course of your studies.

I've been privileged to work with and mentor many outstanding graduate students, and I can attest to their importance to my success and that of a proudly public global research university like Michigan State graduates.

You have stepped beyond your roles of students to assume leadership in classrooms, laboratories, and in spheres of your academic disciplines.

You support our research enterprise and faculty mentors by applying your perspectives to uncovering, analyzin and presenting new information.

And you have added the diversit of your unique backgrounds and perspectives to the university's educational community, as well as your scholarship.

Among this assembled group, you range in age from 21 to 67 and represent at least 41 states and three dozen countries.

I'm looking forward to introducing our honorary degree recipient and speaker to you shortly.

Teresa Sullivan is a Sparta who has been a strong advocate for diversity in the workforce throughout her career as one of the world's great research in land grant universities.

It's in Michigan State's DNA t marshal cutting edge knowledge and innovation to addres society's greatest challenges.

And as an emerging knowledge leaders, you are the next generation of teachers and innovators fit to grapple with those challenges.

So, graduates thank you for your partnership in fulfilling this passionately public Globa Research University's commitment to advancing knowledge and transforming lives.

Today, one chapter in your lif journey story might be closing, but another exciting chapter opens with new possibilities in an unfolding future.

I'm confiden your MSU degrees will serve you well as you pursue your careers, whether you continue in academia, industry or government.

Now we ask you to add to your already standing.

We ask our guests to join students and faculty in singing one stanza of the Star Spangled Banner, performed by the MSU Jazz Orchestra to under the direction of conductor Joel Reeves.

The singing will be led by early, early Anna Kournikova from the College of Music.

Upon conclusion of the singing, Please remain standing for a moment of silence.

O say, can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd a the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and brigh stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Thank you.

And as you remain standing, I asked interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Thomas Jeitschko to join me at the lectern.

Last month we lost a truly memorable and impactful Spartan.

Dr. Clifton Wharton Jr, the 14th president of Michigan State.

Among his lifetime of firsts, he was the first black president of a major public U.S. research university.

On this joyful occasion, let us briefly acknowledge the Spartans like Cliff Wharton, as well as fellow students you have lost along your journey to reach this moment.

Those scholars are forever part of our Spartan family.

And I'll return to Dr. Wharton as we close the ceremony.

But for now, let's pause here for a moment of silence and remembrance.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Now, I now invite interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko to present this afternoon's candidate for the awarding of her honorary degree.

President Guskiewicz, Teresa Sullivan, step forward here hereby present for th awarding of the honorary degree.

Doctor of Humanities.

Teresa Sullivan.

You are.

You are a highly accomplished leader in the worlds of sociology and academia.

Having devoted your life to impactful research and educatin the next generation of critical and curious minds.

You have utilized your expertise by advancing and serving on many prestigious panels and committees, including involvement wit the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and the American Council on Education's Board of Directors.

And you are a Spartan.

You earned a bachelor's degre with high honors from the James Madison and Honors colleges here at Michigan State University and served as one of President Clifton Wharton Jr's hand-picked presidential fellows.

You went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, specializing in demography and the sociology of education.

You served as a trusted advisor to Michigan State leadership and return to your alma mater in 2019 as interim provost and vic President for academic Affairs.

As MSU sought a permanent chief academic officer, your return here followed career highlights, including serving as the Vice President and graduat dean of the University of Texas.

The provos at the University of Michigan, and for eight years, the first woman to lead the University of Virginia as president.

And that happens to be the alma mater of both our provost and myself.

You notably worked closely with Elizabeth Warren and Jay Lawrence Westbrook to create the consumer Bankruptcy Project, which resulted in a huge number of publications that helped the U.S. government and citizen learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of our consumer bankruptcy system.

In recognitio of your extensive contributions to the field of sociology you've received numerous awards, including the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago Alumni Board and Elected Fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The MLK Community Service Award, and the Frank N. Coen Silver Hope Award.

Your impressive array of recognitions is an inspiration to all Spartans for your highly engaged career, groundbreaking research, advancement and dedication to higher education.

I am pleased to award you the Honorary Doctor of Humanitie from Michigan State University.

President Guskiewicz, Trustee Tebay, administrators, faculty and staff, distinguished guests, and especially this fine looking group of graduates.

First, hearty congratulations to all of you graduating today.

Graduate work is rigorou because the program introduces you to specialized knowledge and advanced techniques.

As a result, you now have a new appreciation for research, either as an informed consumer or for many of yo as a new producer of research.

And it takes time with the opportunity cost that it entails.

Time that you could have spent with your family or earning money or sailing on Lake Michigan.

You're here today wearing those Spartan green robes because you hav the intelligence and the drive and you put in the time an energy to complete your degree.

So bravo to you and to your professors this milestone.

I also congratulate your support team, many of whom are here today.

Parents, grandparent, spouses, children, friends, maybe a few creditors.

Your support team is very proud of you.

Please spend some time toda thanking them for their support.

My doctorate was earned 49 years ago today.

You might wonder if I have anything of value to offer to 2024 graduates.

I wonder too.

I offer three pieces of advice for you that I have found helpful.

Keep learning.

Find your balance and have courage.

Vidiv R. Bush, the famous engineer, and MIT Dean who advocated for the creation of the National Science Foundation called Science the Endless Frontier.

He was right.

But I believe we can extend his idea to the humanities, the arts, the social sciences, and the professional schools.

I would rephrase his remark to say that learning is the endless frontier.

You have shown yourselves to be master learners and we celebrate that today.

Tomorrow you will still be a master learner.

But now you will be in charge of what you learn, how you learn it, and how you test that.

Learning against the best research practices you've learned.

This self-directed learning will not be grade as it was in your student days, but it will be the key to your professional success in whatever career you are going to pursue.

We trust that you have that all you've accomplished so far is going to equip you for this lifelong adventure.

One reason that you will need to continue to learn is that the world's knowledge is not frozen on your graduation day.

New ideas, new research techniques and new technology will change every field.

If you pursue the path of research, you will produce some of the new knowledge yourself.

And while it not, might not be comfortable to contemplate some of what you learn in the future will cause things you learned as a graduate student to become outdated.

By no means does this impl that what you learned was wrong, but it indicates that the frontier of learning has continued to move.

My own dissertation advisor, the late Philip m Houser, used to say tha the greatest compliment to him was to have his students research make his own research obsolete.

When I took my first demography class here at MSU, the pressing topic was high fertility rate and the fear of overpopulation.

Today, it is quite the opposite because half the world's population lives in countries where fertility is so low that the population is aged and will soon decline in numbers.

Were my professors wrong back in the sixties?

No.

But the world changed.

In 1960, the percentage of Americans older than 65 was 9% and the total fertility rate was 3.5 children per woman.

Last year, over 17% of our population was over age 65, and the fertility rat was 1.7 children per woman below the level needed to replace the population lost to death.

Demography is a great example of a field with a changing learning frontier, but in every field.

If you want to contribute, you have to keep up.

Some professions have embedded continued learning into their practice teachers, physicians, nurses and lawyers are used to this idea.

Some workplaces provide in-service instruction, but for many of you, your continued learnin will be a self-starting priority for whic you must find time and energy.

Today there are multiple opportunities to keep up both online and in hardcopy.

Maybe for you it will be a few hours on weekend afternoon or some evenings after dinner.

Maybe it will be a mini sabbatical calved from your annual vacation.

But how will you get this done?

Of course, your lives are busy.

This is where the second piece of advice comes in.

Balance.

Although you might not realiz it, you learned in your advanced degree program how to balanc competing demands on your time.

Here is some startling news.

You will never have more discretionary time than you hav had during your degree program.

Before too many years have passed.

You're going to look back with longing on these graduate school days when you had all that time.

You have already had to find your balance among many options, and that is not going to end.

Relationships, new activities, job responsibilities, Just getting the laundry done are not optional.

Many of you started your families or you plan to do so in the near future.

Others of you will be called for help by parents and other relatives.

You might be movin to a new city or to a new home.

The holidays are here.

How are you going to get it all done?

Relax and take heart.

If you look back on the last years of your degree program, you will recognize that you have adapted to heavy time demands.

You developed habits that you might not even recognize.

As a graduate student, I learned to always to carry a book with me wherever I went.

When there was a weight at the doctor's office or a plane was delayed.

I could work on whatever seminar reading was next.

I never lost this habit.

I always hav some reading material with me.

It was one of those graduate school habits that has stuck with me.

And you have developed your own habits, even if unrecognized.

Searching for the right balance is a task that never ends, and you will find new issues to balance in your life as you go along.

The balance you strike will change at different stages of your life.

A new baby, a new job.

A sudden medical emergency, a natural disaster.

These are all things that can upset your carefully planned schedule.

That's okay.

Do the first things first.

That baby needs your attention around the clock.

That new job involves a steep learning curve.

The family member i the hospital needs your support and the aftermath of that tornado or wildfire requires immediate attention.

You can reset later and be proud of your flexibility, regardless of what the circumstances were.

The way you strike the balance will change over time.

Besides the stages in your life.

There are seasons and careers.

There can be a dark season when everything seems to be falling apart.

My dark season was in 2008.

I lost four members of my immediate family circle that year.

In January, March, July and September.

And it seemed that the grieving would never come to an end.

But I was also the provost at that school down the road in Ann Arbor, where the provost is also the chief budget officer.

And we were entering what would be called the Great Recession.

It seemed as i the state of Michigan was ground zero for the recession.

Employers in Ann Arbor were laying off workers.

Factories in Washtenaw County were closing, and our staff members were often the only members of their families left with medical.

Some students were hearing from their parents that they would have to drop out of school.

I was struggling to balance the budget without layoffs and without cutting financial aid.

Trying to manage all these responsibilities at home and at work seemed impossible.

Most days.

What did I learn from this?

I learned as the Song of Solomon says, that love is as powerful as death.

I learned that I can do hard things, especially with a strong team.

I also learned that reorganizing your priorities is essential.

In a dark season, don't be afraid to rebalanc your responsibilities and don't be afraid of the new seasons that come your way.

Fear can paralyze.

This brings me to my third piece of advice the need for courage.

Facin your fears is a form of growth, and there are times when you have to face real adversity.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed, but keep doing your best.

I hope you will succeed.

But if you don't, you have simply learne an approach that doesn't work.

It doesn't mean that you should give up.

It means you keep trying whil being open to a new direction.

Experiencing failure doesn't mean you are a failure any more than experiencing COVID makes you a virus.

Let me tell you a story about a graduate school classmate of mine.

As a kid, he wanted to become a farmer, and he entered the vocational agriculture program at his high school.

As a member of the Future Farmers of America, he had a project to raise a litter of pigs.

Something happened.

Perhaps a deadly infection.

But despite his care and nurturing, all the piglets died.

His high school told him to leave the vocational agricultural program and instead ente the college preparatory program.

It turns out his teachers knew something he didn't.

He had a gift for mathematics.

When I first met him, he still seemed amazed that there was something else he could do with his life.

He becam a nationally recognized expert in several statistical techniques, and today, an important national award in our professional association is named for him.

He thought he had failed.

But after one door closed, another one opened.

He might have failed at one project, but no one looking at his life and career would consider him to be a failure.

Adversity comes to everyone.

A pet hypothesis won't work out.

A new boss is impossible to please.

Your neighbor or your colleague wants to feud with you.

You might fin that your values are ridiculed or that various aspects of your identity are rejected.

That is when you will need to center yourself on your deepest values.

And when that adversity raises its ugly head.

Remember the great successes of your life.

Remember your success at MSU in a tough graduate program?

Can you do it?

Sure you can.

Now and forever.

You are Spartans.

May your lives be full of learning, balance and courage and may you build upon the foundations of your Michigan State education.

Go green.

Thank you, Dr. Sullivan.

And I think it's safe to say that 49 years later, you have a lot of wisdom to still share that we can all benefit from.

And I love how you have always led through courage.

And I consider you and always will to be a mentor and a role model.

So thank you.

And again, welcome home.

We will now have the pleasure of hearing the MSU Jazz Orchestra to under the direction of conductor Joel Reeves.

The selection is entitled Only You.

Composed and arranged by Bob Florence.

(music performance) Well, that was fantastic.

Thank you.

Eliarna.

Coreyava.

Fantastic.

It is now my pleasure to introduce the Honorable Kelly Tebay, Vice Chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees.

She will address the graduates and guests and after trustee Tebay, Interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko will continue with the introductions.

Trustee Tebay.

Thank you.

President Guskiewicz.

On behalf of the MS Board of Trustees, I extend our welcome to our graduates and your friends family.

Under the Michigan Constitution, the Board of Trustees is the governing body of the university and whose authority the degrees are awarded as trustees.

We see each commencement ceremony as a very memorable occasion, and we appreciate the opportunity to share this special time with you.

The advanced degree affirms your academi and professional achievements.

You have engaged in important research to investigate vital issues and generate new knowledge with the granting of your degrees.

You are joining a select group of people who pass the who possess the potential to become tomorrow's leaders.

We welcome you to the Spartan family with its tradition of excellence and the commitment to making the world a better place.

Please accept our deepest congratulations.

Go green.

Thank you.

Trustee Tebay.

I join you and President Guskiewicz in congratulating our newest advanced degree recipients.

Graduates, each of you embodies a unique confluence of knowledge and skills, the discoveries you have made, and the capabilities you now possess are represented in your curiosity and in your drive to innovate, to express, to discover and perform.

These scholarly achievements culminate today in the conferral of a degree.

Along with the conferral of our great faith, our hope and our pride in what you will now do as the result of your achievements.

Indeed, as we send you forth, we are counting on you to become the thought leaders and innovators of the 21st century.

I would now like to take a moment to acknowledge the outstandin MSU faculty and academic staff members who are here with us today.

They are guides and mentors and they celebrate your accomplishments today.

We are also honored to welcome a number of the university's leader who are seated on the platform but who will not be speaking today.

Each plays an important rol at the university and joins us to celebrate your achievements in their many and varied roles.

They provide support across our academic mission and are deeply investe in ensuring academic excellence and student success at Michigan State University.

Their presence and participation marks the solemnity, as well as the significance of this moment.

Platform party members Please remain standing as your name is read.

Audience Members, I ask you to please hold your applause until all are introduced.

Stefan Fletcher, Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Board of Trustees.

Lisa Frase, Senior Vice President, Chie Financial Officer and Treasurer.

Douglas Gage, Vice President for Research and Innovation.

Emily Guerrant, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer.

Vennie Gore, Senior Vice President for Student Life and Engagement.

Ashley Green, Chief of Staf for the Office of the Provost.

Steve Hanson, Vice Provost and Deans of International Studies and Programs.

Mark Largent, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education.

Teresa Mastin, Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for faculty and academic staff Affairs.

Dave Weatherspoon, Vice Provost for Enrollmen and Academic Strategic Planning, and Mike Zeig.

Chief of Staf for the Office of the President.

And Angela Wilson, Associate Dean and the Chairperson of the Faculty Senate.

MSU Academic Governanc and the University Mace bearer.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Let live caption her Andrea Klaver and our teleprompter technician Doreen Chesky.

Thank you.

Now I invite all past and present members of the Counci of Graduate Students to stand.

We honor indeed, we honor the executive board members, department representatives and all caucus members.

Please accept our appreciation for your many contributions to the university and to your fellow graduate students.

Thank you.

I now invite Pero Dagbovie vice provost for graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and dean of the Graduate School, to join me for the announcement of the degree candidates and to direct doctoral hooding Will the candidates for the doctoral degrees.

Please rise President Guskiewic and Interim Provost Jeitschko.

On behalf of the faculty of your respective colleges, I present these candidates to use for the conferral of their degrees.

I invite Trustee Tebay to please join me in Conferral of the degrees by authority of the State of Michigan vested in the Board of Trustees and delegated to me.

I confer upon you the degrees for which you have been recommended with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle you.

Congratulation graduates.

Please be seated.

Do you want to come down?

Doctoral graduates will now be individually hooded by their faculty member.

The solemn ceremony and the moment of hooding represent to transition to the company of the learned society of one' discipline and field of study.

The moment of the hooding by one's academic mentor is the culmination of years of study and the welcome by your mentor into a new role that of an intellectual colleague.

As such, this tradition and our academic rituals are imbued with the greatest reverence and solemnly.

I invite everyone who witnesses these holdings to think about the candidates as they approached the dais, are hooded and turn to walk forward.

Think of the individual scholar and think of the ways in which great universities like MSU foster the circumstances and culture for academic advancement and excellence to each doctoral.

Thank you for your contributio to MSU's community of scholars, and congratulations on th conferral of your doctoral hood.

All members of this graduating class are part of the Spartan family.

We ask the audience to respect the wish of all family and friends, to be able to hear their graduates name.

Graduates, please return to your seat after your name is read, Your token diploma is presented and your photo is taken.

Jodi Noelle and Scott Paul will read the names of our graduate as they receive their diplomas.

I now ask the associate deans of their colleges to lead their graduates to the platform.

The academic attire worn by students and faculty was first use in 12th and 13th century Europe.

The current syste in the United States of America was designed in 1895 and is used today in advanced degrees.

Ceremonies across the country.

The hoods being placed on the doctoral candidates are derived from the design of the eagle marks the three chevrons on the sleeves, up percent doctoral of philosophy.

The Lightning's outfit on the front signifies Doctor of education the pink velvet on the front signifies doctor of musical arts, and the African velvet on the front signifie the Doctor of nursing practice.

The green and white chevrons on each hood represent our beloved Michigan State University.

The count, the gown, and especially the hood represent both the responsibility and the freedom that accompany the achievements in research and scholarship that these candidates have earned through years of hard work.

The ceremony of putting doctoral candidate symbolizes the faculty welcoming these student as our full fledged colleagues.

(reading of graduate names) Now, will all doctoral degree recipients please rise?

I welcome you to our community of scholars, MSU alums.

Please join me in congratulating these doctoral degree recipients.

Please be seated.

Deans will now present the candidates for the master's degrees in earn Dean Matthew Daum from the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources.

Well, a degree candidates from the founding college of this great institution, the College of Agricultural Natural Resources.

Please rise and if you're able remain standing.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees members on behalf of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, I am pleased to present these outstanding candidates who have fulfilled the requirements for the Conferral of their degrees and are ready to tackl the world's problems and food, agriculture and sustainable and built environments.

Interim Dean Yen-Hwei Lin from the College of Arts and Letters.

Well, candidate for Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts fro the College of Arts and Letters.

Please rise and remain standing if you are able.President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees members on behalf of the world clas faculty of the College of Arts and I'm pleased to present to you the next generation of national and global leaders in transforming the art and humanities for the conferral of their degrees.

All candidates, please remain standing if you can.

Dean David Sauder from the Eli Broad College of Business.

Will the outstandin degree candidates from the Eli Broad College of Business please rise and remain standing?

If you are able?

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees Members, on behalf of the faculty of the Eli Broad College of Business, I am pleased to present to you these innovative and dedicated candidates who have fulfilled the requirements for the conferral of their degrees and are now ready to go forward to inspire the future of business.

Thank you, Dean Heidi Hennink-Kaminski from the College of Communications Arts and Sciences.

Well the outstanding Master of Arts and Master of Science degree candidates from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Please rise and remain standing if you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustee members on behalf of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, I am pleased to present these outstanding candidates who have fulfilled the requirements for the Conferral of their degrees.

Dean Jerlando Jackso from the College of Education.

Will the advanced degree candidates from the unparalleled Colleg of Education at Michigan State University, please ris and remain standing if possible.

President.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Trustee Tebay, It is with immense pride that I present to you an extraordinary class of graduates.

These graduates are trailblazers of innovation, architects of transformative education, and paragons of academic excellence.

Each candidate has not only met, but transcended the rigorous requirement of conferral of their degrees, setting new benchmarks for brilliant and passion in their fields.

Intern Dean John Papapolymero from the College of Engineering.

Amazing Spartan Engineers.

Please stand and remain standing if you're able.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Honorable Trustee Tebay, on behal of the College of Engineering.

It's my honor to present thes innovators of today and tomorrow that will transform our society and economy for their conferral of their degrees.

Dean Aron Sosa from the College of Human Medicine.

Will the master of Science and master of public Health candidates please rise and remain standing as you're able?President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Trustee Tebay.

I am proud to present these candidates for the conferral of their degree.

They are ready to enter the world and save lives through the power of science.

Dean James Forger from the College of Music.

Well, the candidates from the College of Music, please rise and remain standing if you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Trustee Tebay, On behalf of our faculty and staff, I'm delighted to present these candidates from the College of Music who have completed all the requirements for their various degrees and will now out and help make the world a better place through the power of music.

Dean Eric Hegg fro the College of Natural Science and Will the Master of Art and Master of Science degree candidates from the College of Natural Science, please rise and remain standing as you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees Member Tebay, on behalf the College of Natural Science, I am pleased to present these outstanding candidate have fulfilled the requirements and are ready to address the grand challenges facing our society throug the conferral of their degrees.

Dean Leigh Small from the College of Nursing will the totally audacious master's of science in nursing candidates from the College of Nursing please rise and remain standing if you are able.

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees Member Tebay, on behalf of the College of Nursing, which mark our 75 years of Spartan nursing.

Next year in 2025, I am pleased to presen these Masters and DNP candidates who have fulfilled the requirements for the conferral of their degrees.

Dean Joyce Dejong from th College of Osteopathic Medicine, will the master of Science degree candidates from the College of Osteopathic Medicin please rise and remain standing if you are able?

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees Member, I am, on behalf of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

I am pleased to present these Master of Science in the disciplin of pharmacology and toxicology and Master of Science in the discipline of global health Studies.

Candidates who have fulfilled the requirements for the Conferral of their degree.

Dean Brent Donnellan fro the College of Social Science.

Well the fantastic degree candidates from the College of Social Science, please rise and remain standing if you're able.

President Guskiewicz, Provost Jeitschko, Trustee Tebay, on behalf of the faculty and staff of the College of Social Science, I am pleased to present these outstanding candidates who are ready to change the world.

They fulfill the requirements the conferral of their degrees, and are proud to be called Spartan graduates.

Interim Associate Dean Colleen Heg from the College of Veterinary.

Will the degree candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine please rise and remain standing if you are able?

President Guskiewicz, Interim Provost Jeitschko, Board of Trustees Member, on behalf of the College of Medicine and to my great pleasure to present the candidates for a degree in food safety.

They have fulfilled the requirement for the control of their degrees and are ready to enhance an protect the global food supply.

Now are all of these incredible, amazing and fantastic master's degree candidates all standing by the authority of the state of Michiga vested in the Board of trustees and delegated to me.

I confer upon you the degrees for which you have qualified with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle yo as a symbol of your achievement.

It is traditional to move the tassel from the right side of your cap to the left.

You may do so at this time.

You may be seated.

Go White.

Now we will mark this auspicious occasion with the presentation of diplomas.

Jody Knoll and Scott Pohl will announce the names of our graduates as the President presents with their diplomas.

The associate deans will now escort graduates to the platfor to be recognized individually.

We ask each master's degre recipient to return to your seat following the presentation of your diploma.

And again, we ask the audience to please be considerate and plodding so that each graduates name be heard (reading of graduate names) (reading of graduate names) Will the Masters graduates please rise?

I welcome you to this community of scholars.

Michigan State University alums.

Please join me in congratulating these Masters degree recipients.

You may be seated.

Graduates, there are many who celebrate with you.

People who have been with you throughout your academic journey, who rooted for you and perhaps helped you cross that finish line.

They might be friends, parents siblings, aunts and uncles or grandparents, perhaps members of a multi-generational Spartan family.

So let's show our appreciation to all the family members and friends who have been so important in your journey and are here or joining by livestream to share the moment with you.

Well, family and, friends, please stand as you are able to receive the appreciation of today's graduates.

You may be seated.

There's another group of people richly deserving of our recognition.

The amazing faculty, the world class, faculty and staff who supported your success at Michigan State University?

Can we show them our appreciation to?

All right.

We're almost to the finish line.

As an educator, I can tell you there are few joys greater than watching those you have taught and mentored become the knowledge of tomorrow.

Now you carry your experienc to a new chapter in your lives.

Joining a proud line of Spartans who went before you, bringing your talents and energy to a world in need of you.

I want to return to Dr. Clifton Wharton Jr. Before I close.

He served as Michigan State's president from 1970 to 1978, and always treasure my time spent with him and the advice he offered me.

As Michigan State University's new president.

But I want to quote, something else that he said a few years ago, which I think is applicable to everyone here today.

Be prepared, he said.

Be prepared and always look for the kind of opportunities where you think you can make your own way and contribution to society.

Advanced degree Recipients.

I likewise urge you to seek such opportunities.

And this is my parting charge to you.

Remember thos who made this moment possible?

Not only family and friends, but generations of citizens, taxpayers, donors and Spartans who have supported this great university for close to 170 years.

Your experience here and your degrees equip you to make a difference for yourself and for others.

As President, Wharton would have it, you are prepared.

I urge you to continue your service to society by staying curious, staying engaged, and remaining committed to the scholarly and professional integrity that underlies the mission of Michigan State University.

And I urge you to remai connected to this magical place as you join the ranks of half a million degreed Spartan making the world a better place.

Go green.

I now invite everyone to please join in singing the first stanza of the alma mater.

Please rise if you can.

MSU shadows Miss Corey Eva who will lead us in the singing.

Following the singing.

We ask guests to remain seated until the recessional of the platform party.

Faculty and students have left the stage.

Thank you, Miss Coreya.

MSU we love thy shadows when twilight silence falls Flushing deep and softly paling O'er ivy covered halls Beneath the pines we'll gather To give our faith so true Sing our love for Alma Mater And thy praises MSU (MSU Fight Song)