{"id":24327,"date":"2025-05-19T18:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T22:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=24327"},"modified":"2025-05-22T12:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T16:07:14","slug":"i-cant-wait-to-see-the-impact-you-have-on-the-world","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/19\/i-cant-wait-to-see-the-impact-you-have-on-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I can\u2019t wait to see the impact you have on the world\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Clark awards more than a thousand graduate degrees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurn to someone next to you, look them in the eye, and say: We did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPR journalist Ari Shapiro congratulated Clark University students receiving master\u2019s and doctoral degrees during the Graduate Degree Commencement Ceremony and encouraged them to prioritize connecting with and helping those around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University conferred 975 master\u2019s and 39 doctoral degrees to a class that included graduates from 41 states and 35 countries. In a separate ceremony<\/a> earlier in the day, the University presented 468 degrees to undergraduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese students should be rightly proud of their accomplishments not only as students but also as teachers, for they have given of themselves to enriching and educating the Clark community by bringing their experiences, perspectives, ideas, cultural understandings, and so much more to bear on the extraordinary learning community that is at the heart of our university,\u201d said President David B. Fithian \u201987. \u201cI applaud you. I congratulate you. And I urge you to put to work \u2014 anywhere in the world you find yourself next \u2014 the knowledge you have developed and the skills you have honed here to address the challenges and opportunities we face as global citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David
President David Fithian presents an honorary Doctor of Letters degree to journalist Ari Shapiro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his address after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree, Shapiro, a host of NPR\u2019s flagship news program All Things Considered<\/em>, praised the graduates for completing their journeys. \u201cYou have pursued your degrees through pandemics, protests, political upheaval, and probably other words that start with \u2018P\u2019 that I can\u2019t think of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapiro urged the graduates to embrace their achievement while recognizing they will encounter hard times, \u201cwithout letting that knowledge dampen our excitement and joy at this celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shapiro said he is often asked how he stays optimistic even when surrounded by horrible things. \u201cThe answer is that in those places when people face tremendous hardship, I see humans show extraordinary selflessness and care and empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to invest in your career, in your hobbies, in your passions,\u201d he continued. \u201cThose things can give you fulfillment, a sense of purpose, a paycheck. But it\u2019s even more important to invest in your personal relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother question I get a lot, one that you might be asking yourselves right now, is \u2018Are we going to be OK?\u2019\u201d Shapiro continued. \u201cWrong question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of us carry a baton that our ancestors handed us. And all of us will pass it to those who come after us. Wherever we are in that relay race, there are people we can help. So the question we need to ask is, \u2018How can I be helpful?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to see the impact you have on the world,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Graduate<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gary Labovich, chair of the Board of Trustees, challenged the graduates to think about how they will \u201cshow up\u201d and engage with the working world as they leave \u201cthe cocoon\u201d of Clark University. \u201cTake it from me, a fellow graduate from the Class of 1981: Clark has prepared you well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you pursue your professional goals during your career, you will come to realize that the most important attributes prized by your organization are less about what you personally do, but more about how you positively impact those around you,\u201d Labovich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Kristen Williams, chair of the faculty, urged the graduates to remember that, in effect, \u201cknowledge is power.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kristen
Kristen Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“When we think of knowledge as power, think of your own educational experiences at Clark, whether in the classroom, community engagement projects, internships, study abroad, fieldwork, and so forth. You were invariably asked to ponder research questions: \u201chow\u201d and \u201cwhy?\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have a life ahead of you full of possibilities and promise,\u201d she added, encouraging the graduates to use their knowledge to make a difference in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kumar Gaurav, MBA \u201925, delivered the graduate student remarks. \u201cToday is more than a milestone \u2014  it\u2019s a moment I never imagined would come,\u201d he said, explaining that in his hometown in India, the idea of studying in the United States was \u201cas distant as the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing a first-generation student means you often walk in the dark,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no map. Only the hope that you’re headed somewhere meaningful. But then I arrived at Clark. Here, I found more than classrooms and case studies. I found light. Fiat Lux \u2014 Let there be light \u2014 the mark of our university, is not just etched in stone. It lives in the people here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kumar
Kumar Gaurav<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gaurav invited his fellow graduates to strive not for longer lives, but to live \u201clarger\u201d lives that are purposeful, bold, compassionate, and impactful. \u201cLet us not be defined by the title we hold next, but by the people we lift, the voices we amplify, and the ideas we dare to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not just graduates. We are torchbearers. And wherever life takes us next, may we always bring light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing the ceremony to a close, President Fithian said, \u201cToday\u2019s exercises are a time-honored tradition that not only recognizes individual achievement but also institutional history and the relationship between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I noted at the beginning, our graduates are all different, and yet you are now all the same in one respect. You are all graduates of Clark University.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clark University conferred 1,014 advanced degrees in a ceremony that urged graduates to connect with and help those around them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24352,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-dark-green)","story_headerImg":24352,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223],"displayed_author":[258],"featured":[494],"topic":[311],"class_list":["post-24327","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","displayed_author-melissa-lynch-95-mspc-15","featured-secondary","topic-commencement"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018I can\u2019t wait to see the impact you have on the world\u2019 | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/19\/i-cant-wait-to-see-the-impact-you-have-on-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta 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