Commencement 2001 Address
Judith Shapiro, Barnard President
May 15, 2001
Congratulations
Barnard Class of 2001. You did it - and you did
it splendidly! We are immensely proud of you,
and I am certain that you are feeling pretty satisfied
yourselves.
I
would like to take this moment to recognize another
extraordinary group of people - your parents,
families and friends - who have supported, guided,
and encouraged you all along the way. May I ask
all of the parents, grandparents, and other kin
- as well as kith - of our graduating seniors
to rise so that we can thank you for your contributions
to this special day.
As
we well know, the excellence of a Barnard education
reflects the teaching effectiveness, scholarship
and dedication of our fine faculty. Will the members
of the faculty please rise so that your students
can thank you as enthusiastically as they wish.
And,
the overall quality of the Barnard experience
is a reflection of all of the work of a first-rate
staff. From the Dean of Studies Office to Career
Development, Res Life, College Activities, Health
Services, the grounds crew who prepare the campus
each year for this very day, and everyone else
- all play a central role in making this the College
that it is. Let us join with the Class of 2001
in thanking all of them.
The conventional thing to do at this concluding
point in the ceremony is to offer you, our graduating
seniors, effusive praise and a few words of advice,
after which I send you off with best wishes for
your future success. I will not stint on either
praise or good wishes. You deserve and have earned
them both. The Class of 2001 has been particularly
innovative, creative and energetic. You have thrived
at Barnard -- a pretty good indicator for the
future.
As
for the future -- you have shown, as Barnard students,
that you are challenging, hard-working and risk-taking
learners, qualities that you share with generations
of Barnard women (and that certainly keep the
faculty on their toes - and make teaching here
a joy) and attributes that bode well for your
success. You may have had some inkling by now
that success does not happen without taking some
risks... and that you can't take a risk without
the possibility of a little failure. So today,
when we speak of success, I want to speak to you
as well in praise of failure. This should come
as no surprise to bold Barnard women like you.
It's the attitude that Albert Einstein described
when he said, "Anyone who has never made a mistake
has never tried anything new." (or that Eleanor
Roosevelt described when she said, "You must do
the thing you think you cannot do.")
Several
years ago, a sociologist conducted a study of
young scientists who had been in training to become
astronauts to determine why some succeeded in
this very rigorous and demanding program and why
others quit. All of the candidates were intelligent
and displayed strong technical skills. It turned
out that those who succeeded were the ones who
understood the value of failure. Those scientists
who denied mistakes or palmed them off on others
were invariably the worst candidates. But, those
who acknowledged their mistakes; they were the
best. They had the ability to rethink everything
that they had done and imagine how they might
have done them differently.
They
neither denied failure nor passed the buck. Failure
was not an end; it was a step and they used what
they learned to go forward. They took risks and
ultimately, they made leaps (in their case, well
beyond the earth's atmosphere).
Meanwhile,
back on earth, I know of a CEO of a major corporation
who will not even hire a manager who has not failed
at something at least once in her career - like
developing a new project, launching a new product,
starting a new program. The reasoning is that
someone who has never failed has never taken sufficient
risk.
When
you go through our gates as Barnard alumnae, keep
the confidence that you have built as Barnard
students - and if you stumble a bit on the way
to what you want to achieve (and we all do...think
of Thomas Edison who, on the way to inventing
the light bulb said, "I haven't failed. I've just
found 10,000 ways that won't work."), if you stumble,
remember who you are and what you are capable
of. When we say that Barnard women make a difference
in the world, this is not a platitude. We know
this from the evidence... because you have all
made a difference here.
So, now go out there and join generations of Barnard
women. And -- as the Barnard alumnae who came
before you have given to you in so many ways,
the future of the College is now in your hands.
You have been students here for four years; you
will be Barnard alumnae forever.
In
a moment, I will ask you to turn to the back of
your program and join Barnard's own a cappella
group Bacchante in singing Barnard's alma mater.
But, first, let me say, on behalf of the trustees,
faculty and administration of Barnard College,
I congratulate you, the bold, accomplished, imaginative,
musical and, altogether, extraordinary Class of
2001 -- and wish you success, fulfillment, and
much happiness.
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