(epic orchestra music) - [Narrator] The 21st president of Michigan State University Samuel L. Stanley Jr. - On behalf of Michigan State University, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to our spring, 2021, commencement ceremony.

Today marks a joyful milestone for our advanced degree recipients, for the families and friends who support them and for the university itself.

Scholars, you persisted to complete your degrees this year under especially difficult circumstances, I join others in the MSU community in taking great pride in having supported your preparation to become leaders in your fields of endeavor.

Before we continue, I ask our viewers to join in the singing of "America The beautiful".

I ask those able to stand to do so and to remain standing at the conclusion of the song.

(soft piano music) ♪ Oh beautiful ♪ ♪ For spacious skies ♪ ♪ For amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ For purple mountain and majesties ♪ ♪ Above the fruited plain ♪ ♪ America ♪ ♪ America ♪ ♪ God shed His grace on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ From sea to shining sea ♪ ♪ Shining sea ♪ Thank you for remaining standing.

I'd like to pause now to allow you a quiet moment to reflect on your experience at Michigan State University, the opportunities for growth you've enjoyed and the relationships you've formed.

Please be seated.

It is my pleasure now to introduce today's keynote speaker and a distinguished MSU alumnus.

Iwan Syahril is Director General for teachers and education personnel in Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture.

He earned his dual degree PhD from the college of education in 2016 in curriculum instruction and teacher education and educational policy.

In Indonesia, he established a center for education and policy studies, an independent research institute.

Today, he oversees policy for 3 million public and private school teachers and education personnel.

In that sprawling diverse nation he pursues a reform agenda of decentralization, teacher support and student focus.

Welcome Dr. Syahril.

- President Stanley, the Board of Trustees and members of MSU faculty and staff, thank you for granting me this incredible honor and congratulations to the class of 2021, this day has finally arrived.

Since I graduated not so long ago, just five years before you, I can still relate to the experience of what it takes for all of you for this achievement.

Earning a doctoral degree is no small feat and also to all friends and families who have supported you every step of the way, congratulations to you as well.

President Stanley has convinced me that I simply need to share the story of my career and the pursuit of a lifetime transforming the fourth largest education system in the world, so, that's what I'm going to try to do.

I have three key messages, the first one is to live a purposeful life.

While majoring in international relations in my undergraduate years, I was also teaching English.

I loved it so much and I decided to become a teacher after I graduated.

I found that teaching is magical.

As a teacher, I feel that it is a privilege to be part of the transformation of so many young people.

When given access to quality education, all students, regardless of their starting point, can reach their highest potential.

That's what I believe and that's what my life purpose is.

Figuring out how to make sure that every student, no matter what their background is, gets access to quality education.

I'm privileged to be an educator and to lead the education policy as the director general of teachers and education personnel in the ministry of education and culture of my home country, Indonesia.

Indonesia has more than 300,000 schools and about 50 million students spread in an archipelago consisting of 17,000 islands across 3,200 miles.

That's from east to west.

It is slightly longer than 2,800 miles between New York and Los Angeles.

So, the issues are quite complex but it is my great pleasure to engage daily in challenges in the interest of enhancing the minds and spirits of the nation's children.

I'm now on a mission of creating and implementing transformative policies for more than 3 million public and private school teachers and school leaders, inspiring them to be continuously engaged in learning about teaching so then they can reach, inspire and unleash the potential of every student.

I'm incredibly grateful because MSU prepared me for this journey.

MSU taught me how to think and solve really tough problems, to bridge the gap between educational policies and practice.

MSU taught me how to make sense of the big picture of the education landscape without losing sight of the messy realities of practice.

I hope throughout your journey at MSU you have found renewed your life purpose, especially to solve the society's grandest challenges and expand the frontiers of knowledge in your field.

I believe living a purpose driven life is what brings the ultimate happiness, so please, continue to be purposeful, follow your passion and make your powerful mark in the world.

My second key message is to be courageous to embrace ambiguity and uncertainties.

The global pandemic has taught us a valuable lesson about how quickly circumstances in our lives can change.

When COVID-19 became the global pandemic just a little over a year ago, we had little knowledge on how to deal with it.

School systems all over the world were put on hold, in fact, 1.6 billion students were affected by this sudden change, including you.

In Indonesia, we quickly decided to have students learn from home but honestly, we did not know what the best solution was even until now.

All teachers including the expert ones had to take baby steps again.

Nobody had been trained to operate an education system in a global pandemic situation.

Indonesia tried a range of strategies to mitigate the education crisis, we simplified the Indonesian curriculum to help teachers focus on the most essential learning outcomes so not to burden students with a mountain of homework that created a lot of stress for students and parents.

We created a policy where more than 30 million students and teachers could receive free internet data packages directly to their phones so they could continue to use online tools and resources.

We launched an education programs on national television so to help students and teachers with no internet access.

We provided emergency funding of more than $450 million to more than 50,000 schools, and more than 2 million educators and school staff who were most effective during the pandemic.

My team and I created two initiatives to help teachers deal with teaching and learning difficulties during the pandemic.

The first one is called Guru Berbagi or Teachers Share.

It is a crowdsourcing platform where teachers share lesson ideas and materials.

In one year, the platform has more than 350,000 active users and has been accessed more than 80 million times.

Now the initiative is called Guru Belajar or Teachers Learn.

This one is an online teacher training platform that has already more than 1 million participants since October last year.

So, even teachers in far remote islands now can join relevant training that they need on this platform.

It has given hope to the Indonesian education that technology can solve the problem of access to learning and to spark new innovations in teaching.

The new normal has called for quick thinking and being comfortable with the ambiguity.

In fact, living in a world of fast paced change and uncertainties requires adaptability and agility.

COVID-19 has pushed all of us to adopt a new mindset to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

The pandemic has also given us a greater sense of urgency to explore a lot of new possible solutions, to cultivate new ideas and innovations in the effort to reimagine the world.

We now know better that the old normal was not working for us.

We need a better healthcare system, a better economic system, a better education system, a better political system, a better humanity and many other system changes.

Your story in completing doctoral degree during the pandemic is a story of patience, perseverance and determination.

There must have been many difficult moments that required many adjustments that you were not sure whether they would work.

Your journey has demanded each of you to have the audacity of hope meaning, to stay hopeful in the face of difficulties, to stay hopeful in the face of certainties.

Not knowing the answers can make us feel very uncomfortable and anxious.

You have overcome challenges that very few graduating classes have had to.

Wherever you go after your graduation, I encourage you to use ambiguities and uncertainties as a source of energy, motivation and vision for re-imagining the world.

Always have the courage to try, the courage to take risks, the courage to face failures.

Remember, every setback is an opportunity to learn.

Continue to march forward, please believe that there is always hope even in the most challenging circumstances especially if we stand together and that is what Spartans Will means to me.

My third key message is to lead the initiative to reimagine the post COVID-19 world.

COVID-19 has triggered the biggest health, economic, education crisis in generations.

It has made us see the limitations and flaws of our world.

It has challenged us to rethink about how we should live our lives in the coming years.

One very important key lesson is that we need to reclaim the idea of community.

We all need one another.

To deal with the pandemic, each of us needs to step up and support each other.

We need to look out for the most vulnerable, we need to understand the consequences of our choice to one another.

The spirit of giving, sharing and collaboration among communities all over the world has been growing fast during the pandemic and we need to continue.

It all comes down to this, we all matter, we are in this together, so, let's strengthen our sense of community and social solidarity, so we can tackle the greatest challenges of our time.

We will emerge stronger and better than before and I know you are up for the challenge.

I will close with a memorable quote from a favorite movie of mine, "Dead Poets Society".

It originates from a poem written by Walt Whitman title "O Me, O Life".

O me, O life of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish, what good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here.

That life exists and identity.

That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.

That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.

Graduates, what will your verse be?

Thank you very much and congratulations.

Go green!

Go white!

Go Spartans!

Go change the world!

Because Spartans always will!

(faint upbeat music) - Thank you, Dr. Syahril.

The honorable Dianne Byrum from Onondaga Township and chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees will now greet graduates and guests.

After Trustee Byrum, Provost and executive Vice President Teresa Woodruff, will present the candidates for conferral of their degrees.

- Thank you, President Stanley.

On behalf of the Michigan State Board of Trustees, I want to welcome our advanced degree candidates, family and friends that are joining us today.

Under the Michigan constitution, the Board of Trustees is the governing body by whose authority degrees are awarded.

Today's ceremony represents the culmination of your academic achievement.

It honors those that have supported and encouraged you.

Our wish is that you will use your intelligence and knowledge to improve the lives in your community and to advance the common good.

Along with our faculty and administrators, MSU's trustees are proud of you.

Please let us add our congratulations.

Thank you and go green.

- Thank you, Trustee Byrum.

I asked Thomas Jeitschko, a social Provost and Dean of the Graduate School and Norman Beauchamp, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences to join me for announcement of the degree candidates and to direct the doctoral hooding.

- Will the candidates for the doctoral degrees within the health sciences colleges, please stand.

- Will the remaining colleges candidates for the doctoral degrees, please stand.

I ask all college candidates to please be prepared to be hooded.

If you do not have the traditional hood, please consider using a scarf or another substitute for the conferral of your degree, and at the conclusion of being hooded, please remain standing.

- Candidates, after you are hooded please remain standing for conferral of the degrees.

Now, will all those hooding candidates please rise and proceed to hood the candidates.

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

The current system in the United States was designed in 1895 and is used today in advanced degree ceremonies across the country.

The hoods being placed on the doctoral candidates are derived from the design of medieval monks cloaks.

The three chevrons on the sleeve represent Doctor of Philosophy, the light blue velvet on the front signifies Doctor of Education, the pink velvet on the front signifies the Doctor of Musical Arts and the apricot velvet on the front signifies the Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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

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

This ceremony of hooding doctoral candidates symbolizes the faculty welcoming these students as their full fledged colleagues.

You may read more about academic attire on page 11 of the commencement booklet.

Family and friends, when you've completed hooding, please be seated.

Doctoral candidates, please face the screen, President Stanley and Provost Woodruff, on behalf of the faculty in their respective colleges, I present these candidates to you for the conferral of their degrees.

- Thank you, Dean Jeitschko.

Spartans, 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.

Guests, please join me in congratulating our doctoral degree recipients, and you now may all be seated.

May your MSU degree lead to a future filled with outstanding personal and professional achievements.

A great university and a world-class education are the results of the efforts of many dedicated people.

The contributions of our faculty are essential to the achievements of our scholars and a source of great pride to us.

I ask that the faculty except our deep gratitude.

And let us also extend our appreciation to all those who contributed their support to your scholarly journey.

Among the qualities one needs to successfully pursue such a journey, determination is key.

Your resolve to see it through might've been tested, but you made it.

Congratulations, your graduate education has demanded the development of other important qualities including originality and critical thought, I hope these qualities continue to be among the assets you bring to bear every day in your work and in your lives.

We now ask our viewers to join in the singing of the Alma Mater, "MSU Shadows".

Following the video, we will list graduate's names and then go forth, go with confidence and go green!

♪ 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 ♪ ♪ When from these scenes we wander ♪ ♪ And twilight shadows fade ♪ ♪ Our memory still will linger ♪ ♪ Where light and shadows played ♪ ♪ In the evening oft we'll gather ♪ ♪ To pledge our faith anew ♪ ♪ Sing our love for Alma Mater ♪ ♪ And thy praises MSU ♪ (soft orchestra music)