School of Arts and Sciences
Graduation
Ceremony Address for PhD and MS & MA students
Professor and Chair of Chemistry
Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor in the Natural Sciences
Parents, spouses, partners, and graduates: I am deeply honored to stand before you today – the Graduate Division, School of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2008. I joined the Penn faculty almost immediately after finishing graduate school and have now been on the faculty for 25 years. What I would like to talk about at this joyous occasion are some lessons I’ve learned along the way from graduate school to today. In brief, these lessons involve building on an intellectual base, developing an inner strength, celebrating our uniqueness, and maintaining our passion for learning.
Lesson #1:
As you know, we live in a highly complex, technically savvy, interdisciplinary world, in which breadth of knowledge is generally viewed as a highly valued commodity. Nevertheless, your graduate studies have focused on scholarly activities that go to the deepest core of your disciplines. You have chosen ‘depth’ over ‘breadth’ as you have pursued original research in your field of study. As you approached your oral exam this academic year, perhaps you felt as I did some 25 years ago: ‘humbled’ by the limited scope of the knowledge I had actually mastered during my graduate studies. What I had learned and contributed was significant, but seemed so tiny and unimportant in the vast expanse of knowledge in the universe. I knew that I was an expert in the narrowly defined field of my research, but in the short-term, how would I answer the questions of my examining committee, which would surely take me to the limits of my knowledge? And longer term, how would I manage to engage in the broader context of my discipline?
The first lesson I want to share is to take pride in the depth of your knowledge base. I can assure you that the depth you have pursued in your graduate studies will provide a solid underpinning for your future expansion, as it has for me, in both scope and subject of your scholarly pursuits. It will be this solid intellectual foundation – the roots or the anchor – that will enable you to branch in many new directions over the course of your career.
Lesson #2:
You have grown enormously as a scholar and also as a person during your graduate studies. You have proven to yourself that you could take something that you knew nothing about at the start of your studies, go deeply into the intellectual heart of the field, and ultimately make original contributions at the cutting edge of your chosen field. You have gained confidence from demonstrating to yourself that you could tackle a problem whose answer was elusive, and even the problem itself may have been ill-defined prior to your graduate work. The success you have achieved in your academic discipline – gained in pursuit of scholarship – is now an intrinsic part of your whole being. The next challenge or project will not seem as daunting as the one before it, because you now know that you can solve or gain insights on problems that would have seemed unimaginable to you even 5 years ago.
In my own case, the successes I have enjoyed in my scientific discipline – starting in graduate school and continuing to the present day – have forever changed me from a shy, unassuming person to an outspoken, confident leader in my field. (Those on the podium will surely not believe this about me!) It was painfully clear to me at the start of graduate school that I was afraid to put forth my own thoughts and defend them. Yet this is essential to academic discourse, where one articulates and debates ideas, and through such discussions refines the original hypotheses. One of my current graduate students recently echoed the same sentiment: she has already changed from a quiet, reserved person into someone who is proactive in ‘making things happen’ (or as the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil!) and feels a sense of ‘urgency’ to get things done. And this will happen to you, too, if it has not already occurred.
So, a very important lesson I’ve learned is to allow your academic achievements help you develop into a more self-confident person. It is this inner strength that will enable you to grow, attain greater success, and ultimately become the intellectual leaders of your generation.
Lesson #3:
The third lesson is about being different. There is not a single path or direction forward in academia or other career paths. As you’ve likely already learned in graduate school, there are different styles of doing scholarly research, different perspectives on interpreting the research, and different ways of managing people and resources. As a woman in science, I am fundamentally different – a fact I cannot change and would not change, now, even if given the opportunity. Try as I might in earlier years to conform to the male norm, I now relish the insights gained by not looking at the world in the same way as my male colleagues. What a wonderful world it has become because we can appreciate that scholarship pursued by different approaches or models can indeed lead to new knowledge. It is now generally recognized that there are real benefits of diverse perspectives, where I define diversity in the broadest sense of the word (including gender, race, ethnicity, and physical capabilities).
What a different world it is today! When I started graduate school in 1976, there were only a handful of woman at the rank of full professor at the University of Pennsylvania or many other major universities for that matter; today, women make up nearly 30% of the standing faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences! In this context, I find it amazing to look before me and see the diverse group of bright young women and men that I am addressing in this graduating class of 2008. I am honored to speak to you as a successful woman scientist and Department Chair, having been elected by my Chemistry colleagues to lead the largest research enterprise in the School of Arts & Sciences. In 1981 when I finished graduate school, it would have been hard to imagine that one could move from graduate school to where I am today in 25 years. And yet it happened, partly by my hard work and determination, partly by my talents, partly by luck or good fortune, and partly because our society is (slowly) evolving.
The lesson I’ve learned is to celebrate your uniqueness as you set your sights on lofty career goals. I ask you to imagine where you want to be in 5 years, 10 years, or longer from now, and to update that image as time goes on. I encourage you to reach for seemingly unimaginable possibilities and continually try on new roles, even if at first they might not seem to be the best fit for you. You can become the person and attain the career path you imagine for yourself. It can happen to you! Know it in your heart. This is part of what Penn has nurtured in you.
Lesson #4:
The last of my lessons is perhaps the most important: Follow your passion for learning and discovery! Surely, your love of learning was already the motivation for you to seek the graduate degree we are bestowing upon you today. To be truly successful in life, however, you will need to add to the toolbox of academic skills you’ve learned in graduate school. You’ll also need a toolbox of practical skills: most importantly, you’ll need leadership, communication, and negotiation skills. For example, you’ll need effective communication strategies for negotiations with a student, colleague or administrator over an issue of mutual interest; you’ll need these skills for a professional exchange between individuals with strongly held opinions or in a situation where consensus must be reached. You’ll also need to be able to negotiate effectively in the workplace to enhance your own research (through grant proposals) and career opportunities because – as they say – ‘if you don’t ask, you won’t get’!
Many of you are headed for an academic career, perhaps soon starting a tenure-track appointment. While the academic path may seem secure (or even staid) beyond tenure, the truth of the matter is that you need to continually evolve in your scholarly pursuits over your career. In my field, this means proposing scientific advances in every new grant application or renewal, a pace that requires continuously generating new ideas. The projects and topics need to keep changing, evolving, and pushing toward limits that are truly unknowable. Yet the path to new knowledge is not logical or direct: we often take a circuitous path or find a dead-end road that challenges us to pivot or backtrack, and surely we all fail at some pursuits. Most every young scientist has one of their first grant proposals rejected – including me – and let me tell you that whether it happens early in your career or later on, it still hurts… Such setbacks are unavoidable. You need to dust yourself off, learn from the fall, and try again.
As you leave Penn, your role will shift from being a student to that of a mentor. I recall the first few times I taught general chemistry in a large lecture room at Penn. There were few obnoxious questions, such as whether (at a tender age of 27) I was indeed the ‘Professor’ for this course. But before long, I also started noticing that there were a disproportionate number of young women in the first few rows of the classroom, and I realized that I was reaching them in personal ways that I had not envisioned for myself previously. I had become a role model – whether or not I was ready for the responsibility. This role will now be thrust upon you, too. I urge you to embrace this new responsibility and give back – your time, talents, and treasures – to others who are needy and following in your footsteps.
In closing, let me say to the graduates that the faculty are extremely proud of what you have accomplished at Penn and what we believe you will accomplish in the future. We feel honored and grateful that you have allowed us to participate in your growth by being your mentors. You are now about to leave your cloistered existence. We who are staying behind salute you! We want and hope that you will accomplish remarkable feats – great and small – going forward. We are confident that many of you will achieve undeniable, unequivocal, game-changing success. We wish you well!
Please join me in congratulating the Graduate Division, School of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2008!