- Welcome, 2021 graduates, family, and friends,
to our doctoral and master's students
from all of us at The Graduate Center.
I want to express our enormous pride
in all that you have accomplished.
It is my privilege to honor and celebrate
our wonderful graduates and their families today.
This has been an extraordinary year.
Despite the incredible challenges you faced
in the home stretch,
you've succeeded in earning your graduate degree.
Your achievement is a testament to your fortitude,
your agility, and your resourcefulness.
Your success also reflects the support
and encouragement you received
from the people who walked alongside you
and who were the wind at your back during your journey.
So please
take time to thank the many people who have given you
their love and support:
your parents, partners and spouses,
siblings and children, extended families,
and of course, your friends.
Graduates, I know you join me in expressing gratitude
to the faculty advisors and mentors
who've helped you to grow intellectually,
guided you in advancing your professional skills,
and advised you on your path forward.
In turn, on behalf of the faculty,
I want to convey their appreciation
for having the opportunity to know and work with you.
They conveyed their very best wishes for your future.
On behalf of the entire Graduate Center community,
I'd like to also thank our essential workers and staff,
who sustained the campus
throughout the past year
so that you could reach this moment.
Graduates, for you,
the future is filled with limitless possibilities
and also with considerable challenges.
Know that you have proven yourselves
as scholars and teachers,
as original thinkers, and as creators of new knowledge.
You've supported one another and the community
of New Yorkers with facts and empathy.
Now your ingenuity is needed to tackle urgent issues
that face our city, the nation, and the world,
racial and economic inequality,
healthcare, climate change, and more.
You are ready to discover,
to teach, and to lead.
And know that your decision to study
at a public graduate school is consequential.
Your work here and what you will do in years ahead
will make the world more just and equitable,
safer and kinder, and more artistic and beautiful.
You will make a difference.
And finally, please stay in touch.
We may not be celebrating in-person this year,
but we're making plans to welcome you back
for a fall commencement and look forward to seeing you then.
So graduates, congratulations
from the entire Graduate Center community.
We honor your achievements
and wish you all the best in your continuing journey.
(bright music)
- Congratulations, graduates.
You are becoming.
You are there in a certain sense,
graduating from the City University of New York's
Graduate Center,
but you are becoming the next generation of scholars
who are going to really make this world a better place.
- To the class of 2021, congratulations.
Let me borrow a line
from another venerable institution's traditions
and bid you welcome to the ancient
and universal company of scholars.
And remember,
the force,
which equals mass times acceleration,
will be with you always.
- What a year it's been.
But you not only managed to earn your degrees,
you actually triumphed.
It's fantastic.
We are so proud of you.
- We're especially proud that you finished this year.
Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors.
- We're so proud of you,
and it's been a pleasure to work with you
over these past four years.
And I just know there'll be wonderful things
that you all will do.
- I wanna congratulate all the 2021 grads
on the completion of their degrees
and give you my best wishes for success
and satisfaction in your future careers.
- Congratulations to the class of 2021
at the CUNY Graduate Center.
- We're very proud of you.
It was a joy to work with you
and I wish you well in your career.
- And thank you for your contributions
to the Graduate Center community
for teaching students throughout CUNY
and for the knowledge and fresh ideas
you'll be bringing to society.
Well done.
- We are incredibly proud of you
and celebrate your resilience.
It is a remarkable moment.
- You've reached an extraordinary milestone in your lives
and I hope that your experience at The Graduate Center
will bring you success and satisfaction,
whatever you're doing next in academia or beyond.
- All of you have helped now to contribute
to the corpus of knowledge we have,
through your experiments,
through your studies, through your research.
And that's really what distinguishes a PhD recipient
from all others.
- This last year brought immense fear, stress, and loss
as many of you know all too well.
Yet as a teacher at The Graduate Center,
when I look back on these semesters,
what I'll most remember will be your incredible displays
of courage, resilience, and accomplishment.
And for that, I thank you.
- This was not the easiest year for you
to finish all of the work you needed to do.
And I wish you all the best of luck
and the brightest of futures as you move on from the GC.
Congratulations.
- Finishing a PhD is a difficult task
in the best of circumstances,
and you deserve special congratulations
for managing to do this
over this extraordinary past year of the COVID pandemic.
- I have always found our students
to be inspiring, and inspiring in the breadth
and depth of the topics that they take on
for the dissertations.
And particularly this past year, showing dedication
and good spirits
and incredible work ethic during a very difficult time.
- You've done the amazing.
Let's see, you've survived!
If you're watching this,
that means you're alive and you've survived,
so congratulations.
And you got a graduate degree on top of that?
That's insane!
- You did it.
You got your degree in the midst
of a global, historic health-economic-social crisis.
That's amazing.
You can do anything.
Congratulations.
I know the road ahead will not always be easy,
but never forget you did this.
You graduated.
- What you've accomplished this year
of all years is simply amazing.
Thank you for all you've contributed
to the life of The Graduate Center
and all the support you've given to CUNY's undergraduates.
Now go do great things.
- Aim high and keep going.
May your science guide you
to a productive, responsible, and exceptional journey
as a global citizen.
- I also hope that you will continue to be animated
by the mission of The Graduate Center
and by the mission of CUNY,
serving the children of the whole people of this city.
CUNY will remain part of you
and I hope that you will remain part of it.
- This is not only a degree
but a big step towards a brighter future.
And for becoming a doctor of your own destiny.
- Now comes the hard part,
using your degree to empower the lives
of people who will never get one.
You've done this
so I know you can do that.
- Here, here to the fortitude and endurance
of graduates of 2021.
- Congratulations, game-changers.
The world needs you more than ever.
And you're just in time. Well done.
- Congratulations, graduates, from the Mina Rees Library!
(everyone cheering)
- And to everyone, congratulations.
Go out and celebrate now, you deserve it.
- Congratulations to all new academics.
- Congratulations to you and your family, class of 2021.
What a long intellectual journey it was.
But you've made it.
- Congratulations on completing your degree
and your fortitude through this year.
- And remember that your greatest accomplishments
have come when you've gone against the grain.
May you continue to do that
and continue to contribute in every way.
- Congratulations to all 2021 graduates.
We're super proud of you
and wish you all the very best in your future careers.
- Congratulations to all the graduates.
- Best wishes to you all.
And I hope from here on out,
it's a lot easier than it has been for the last year.
- Congratulations! You did it!
How wonderful you've gotten your PhD.
You should be incredibly proud of yourselves
because this might've been the most challenging year ever.
(bright music)
(uplifting orchestral music)
(uplifting orchestral music continues)
(uplifting orchestral music ends)