123rd

Transcription

Stanford University. (Music) >> Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the President's party. ¶ O beautiful for spacious skies ¶ ¶ for amber waves of grain ¶ ¶ for purple mountain majesties ¶ ¶ above the fruited plain ¶ ¶ America, America ¶ ¶ God shed his grace on thee ¶ ¶ and crown thy good with brotherhood ¶ ¶ from sea to shining sea ¶¶ (Applause). >> SCOTTY McLENNAN: Ring out wild bells to the wild sky. Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring out the false, ring in the true. O God, eternal spirit of all life, on this very special day, the 123rd commencement of Stanford University, may we stop living from one minute to the next. May we step back from worries and cares, from tasks and duties, from the ordinary pressures of life. May we here and now take a larger view of life. We celebrate the personal growth and transformation that lie behind us, behind those who graduate today, but also the rest of us as parents and relatives, as friends and mentors, as professors and staff and other members of the Stanford community. Before us lies the future, one of great hopes and dreams, but a future unseen and untested. As we commence life anew, may we in the words of the poet ring out false pride in place and blood, the civic slander and the spite, ring in the love of truth and right. Ring in the common love of good. Ring out the hold shapes of foul disease, ring out the narrowing lust of gold, ring out the thousand wars of old. Ring in the thousand years of peace. May our education free us from repeating the mistakes of the past, personal and collective. May our acquired knowledge and our evolving understanding guide us so that the things that matter most are not at the mercy of the things that matter least. And may we act wisely and generously so that in the end it can not be said that our lives were lived in vain. Amen. (Applause). >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Please be seated. Thank you Dean McClennan, not only for your invocation today, but for 14 years of service as dean of the religious life. It is an honor to have you as part of our community. Graduating students, faculty colleagues, former and current trustees, government officials, distinguished guests, family members and friends, I warmly welcome you to the 123rd commencement exercises of Stanford University. I would like to start this morning by wishing all of the fathers here today a Happy Father's Day. (Cheers and Applause). A special welcome to the seniors from the incredible class of '14! (Cheers and Applause). And to the graduate students from our many schools at Stanford. (Cheers and Applause). Today we shall award 1,687 bachelor's degrees, 2,313 master's degrees, and 1,006 doctoral degrees. (Applause). Undergraduate class of 2014 includes 288 seniors graduating with departmental honors. 275 graduating with university distinction. 91 students have satisfied the requirements of more than one major and 32 are graduating with dual bachelor's degrees. (Applause). Throughout its history, Stanford has attracted students from around the world. This year, 135 members of the undergraduate class of 2014 are from 51 countries outside the United States. (Applause). And our incredible graduate students, 1,113 come from outside the United States, from 83 different countries. (Applause). But today, Stanford's global reach is reflected in another statistic. Two students who have earned their undergraduate degrees are not with us. They were on the US Coast Guard ice breaker Healey in the arctic ocean conducting research on the global carbon cycle. But I understand they had a great ceremony on the ice breaker, including a rousing chorus of "All Right Now" to conclude the ceremony. Now, you may notice that I started out this morning with a lot of statistics but before you jump to the conclusion that I did this because I'm a computer scientist, let me say that reciting these statistics is a time honored tradition at our commencement ceremonies. Universities, of course, are prized for their traditions, and are often the primary home for discussions and debates about the ancient and timeless questions facing humanity. At the same time, universities must look forward. They must be bold as they contemplate the future and their opportunities. This balancing of old and new, the innovative and the traditional is a challenge that universities have faced for hundreds of years, and it has been a theme in the speeches of many of my predecessors. Our first president, David Starr Jordan in his inaugural address in 1891 reflected on this balance, when he said, "it is for us, as teachers and students in the university first year to lay the foundations of a school that may last as long as human civilization. It is hallowed by no traditions. It is hampered by none. Its finger posts all point forward." Today, 123 years later, we have established some traditions, but we have not forgotten President Jordan's exhortation. We remain mindful of the need to reinvent and to renew as we move forward. As you leave Stanford, I hope you carry with you a deep appreciation of the values and the traditions that are ever lasting, as well as a willingness to be bold and to approach challenges with a fresh perspective. It is with the recognition that traditions remain vibrant when they are enthusiastically embraced by succeeding generations that I now invoke a very special Stanford commencement tradition. Graduating students, in the stands are many of those who have made your Stanford years possible. Parents and grandparents, spouses and children, siblings, aunts, uncles, mentors and friends, whoever played a role in helping to you get to Stanford, or in supporting you and encouraging you once you were here. So I now invite you to please stand, turn to the stands behind you and join me in saying thank you. (Cheers and Applause). And now, I will turn the program over to Provost John Etchemendy who will present the winners the university awards. >> PROVOST ETCHEMENDY: It's my pleasure and privilege to present the Walter J Gores Award for excellence in teaching. Recommendations for these prizes and for the Lloyd W Dinkelspiel award and the Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Awards were considered by a committee of faculty, students, and staff. I would like to ask the Gores Award winners to come to the stage at this time. The Gores Awards were established by a bequest from Walter J Gores, a Stanford alumnus of the class of 1917. Gores was a dedicated teacher who strove for excellence during his 30 years as a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan. The Gores Awards records excellent teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, as defined in its broadest sense to include lecturing, discussions, tutoring, advising and course development. Teaching is a complex art, as well as an essential cornerstone of university life. I will call each recipient forward to receive his or her award, and I ask that you hold your applause until I have had announced all of this year's award winners. The recipients of the 2014 Walter J Gores Award for excellence in teaching are Anne Beyer, associate professor of accounting in the Graduate School of Business. Randee G Fenner, lecturer in the Stanford Law School. Dennis Sun, Ph.D. candidate in statistics. On behalf of the university, I congratulate each of you for this recognition of your excellence in teaching. (Applause). I would like to ask the Dinkelspiel award winners to come to the stage at this time. (Cheers). Lloyd Dinkelspiel's service to Stanford included the presidency of the board of trustees in the 1950s, and was characterized by an enduring concern for the quality of undergraduate education at this university. Shortly after he died, in 1959, a memorial fund was endowed to endow the Lloyd W Dinkelspiel award to distinctive contributions to undergraduate graduation. I will call each recipient forward to receive his or her award. And I ask you to hold your applause until I have announced all award winners. The recipients 2014 Lloyd W Dinkelspiel award for distinctive contributions to undergraduate education are Ivan Jaksic, director of the bing overseas studies program in Chile and lecturer of Iberian and Latin American cultures. Ken Savage, senior in drama and coterminal MA student in communications. Miles Seiver, senior in computer science and coterminal master's student in computer science. Rush Rehm professor of Theater and Performance Studies and Classics could not be with us today but he's also a recipient of the 2014, Lloyd W Dinkelspiel award for distinctive contributions to undergraduate education. On behalf of the university, I congratulate each of you for this significant recognition of your contributions to undergraduate education. (Applause). The gores and Dinkelspiel award are joined by a third, the Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for exceptional service to Stanford University. I would like to ask the Cuthbertson Award winner to come to the stage at this time. This award was established in 1981, to honor the late Kenneth Cuthbertson, one of the early architects of Stanford's long range financial planning and development programs. The sole criterion of the Cuthbertson Award is the quality of the contribution that the recipient has made to Stanford this is a fitting lasting legacy to a man who cared deeply about the university and its values and whose contributions continue to benefit each and every one of us today. The recipient of the 2014 Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for contributions to Stanford is Robert D Simoni, Donald Kennedy Chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences and the professor of biology. (Applause). >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: It now gives me great pleasure to introduce this year's commencement speakers Melinda and Bill Gates, philanthropists and cofounders of Gates Foundation. (Applause). Stanford is known for its creative and entrepreneurial spirit and from its founding, we have encouraged our students to use their education to promote the public good. And today's speakers exemplify both of these characteristics. Optimistic, bold, collaborative, focused, Bill and Melinda Gates believe that every life has value. And over the past 14 years through their foundation, they have been tackling society's most complex problems. Extreme poverty, global health and the US public education system, among others. Both of them credit their families for passing on the values for giving, service and engagement. Bill grew up in Seattle, the son of a lawyer and a school teacher and developed a very early interest in computers and programming. After stopping out of Harvard he cofounded Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen and developed it into the world's most successful software company. Bill realized that the microprocessor and personal computer would dramatically increase the demand for software. Over the years I have known Bill, he has impressed me with his ability to both see the new applications and what those applications would do for people. Melinda French was born and raised in Texas, the daughter of an engineer. Her parents were strong proponents of education. After earning her computer science degree and MBA at Duke University, she joined Microsoft where she met Bill at a conference dinner. As she describes it, she arrived at a meeting late. There were only two chairs left. So I took one. And 20 minutes later, someone else who was even later took the other chair next to me. That was Bill. Their mutual commitment to help people improved their lives and had its origins in a 1993 trip to Africa they took to celebrate their engagement. They were struck by the immense poverty and determined to do something about it. That shared vision led to the creation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. It has become one of the world's most influential philanthropic organizations. The foundation has an entrepreneurial mind set, taking risks, supporting innovative ideas from polio eradication to saving newborns to partnering with innovative new school systems throughout the United States. Bill and Melinda understand the transformative power of education. Every year 1,000 promising high school students are selected as Gates millennial scholars and over the years, 130 of those Gates scholars have chosen to attend Stanford. (Cheers and Applause). Gates are also champions are serving as models for others. Committed to donating most of their wealth during their lifetimes in 2010, they along with their good friend Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledging calling upon the world's wealthiest to join them by donating at least half their wealth. It was an audacious challenge in support of an ambitious vision to improve the lives of people worldwide. When asked what motivates her deep engagement, Melinda Gates says we are not giving out aid. We are providing people with the tools they need to improve their lives. Many years ago, when Bill was still heavily engaged in Microsoft, I asked him about his personal philanthropy. He told me that he would focus on philanthropy when he could find the time to really do it well. Now anybody who knows Bill will attest to the intensity he brings to all of his endeavors and anyone who has seen him operate as a philanthropist will see the same intensity, and the attention to detail and drive for excellence that characterized his time leading Microsoft. This boldness and passion for excellence, is an ethos that we seek to instill in our graduates. Bill and Melinda Gates have transcended business success and dedicated to improving the human condition. We are very pleased to have them here today giving Stanford's first joint commencement speech. Please join me in welcoming Bill and Melinda Gates. (Applause). >> BILL GATES: Congratulations, class of 2014! (Cheers). Melinda and I are excited to be here. It would be a thrill for anyone to be invited to speak at a Stanford commencement, but it's especially gratifying for us. Stanford is rapidly becoming the favorite university for members of our family, and it's long been a favorite university for Microsoft and our foundation. Our formula has been to get the smartest, most creative people working on the most important problems. It turns out that a disproportionate number of those people are at Stanford. (Cheers). Right now, we have more than 30 foundation research projects underway here. When we want to learn more about the immune system to help cure the worst diseases, we work with Stanford. When we want to understand the changing landscape of higher education in the United States, so that more low-income students get college degrees, we work with Stanford. This is where genius lives. There's a flexibility of mind here, an openness to change, an eagerness for what's new. This is where people come to discover the future, and have fun doing it. >> MELINDA GATES: Now, some people call you all nerds and we hear that you claim that label with pride. (Cheers and Applause). >> BILL GATES: Well, so do we. (Cheers and Applause). >> BILL GATES: My normal glasses really aren't all that different. (Laughter). There are so many remarkable things going on here at this campus, but if Melinda and I had to put into one word what we love most about Stanford, it's the optimism. There's an infectious feeling here that innovation can solve almost every problem. That's the belief that drove me in 1975 to leave a college in the suburbs of Boston and go on an endless leave of absence. (Laughter). I believed that the magic of computers and software would empower people everywhere and make the world much, much better. It's been 40 years since then, and 20 years since Melinda and I were married. We are both more optimistic now than ever. But on our journey, our optimism evolved. We would like to tell you what we learned and talk to you today about how your optimism and ours can do more for more people. When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft, we wanted to bring the power of the computers and software to the people, and that was the kind of rhetoric we used. One of the pioneering books in the field had a raised fist on the cover, and it was called "Computer Lib." At that time, only big businesses could buy computers. We wanted to offer the same power to regular people and democratize computing. By the 1990s, we saw how profoundly personal computers could empower people, but that created a new dilemma. If rich kids got computers and poor kids didn't, then technology would make inequality worse. That ran counter to our core belief. Technology should benefit everyone. So we worked to close the digital divide. I made a priority at Microsoft, and Melinda and I made it an early priority at our Foundation. Donating personal computers to public libraries to make sure that everyone had access. The digital divide was a focus of mine in 1997, when I took my first trip to South Africa. I went there on business. So I spent most of my time in meetings in downtown Johannesburg. I stayed in the home of one of the richest families of South Africa. It had only been three years since the election of Nelson Mandela marked the end of apartheid. When I sat down for dinner with my hosts, they used a bell to call the butler. After dinner, the women and men separated and the men smoked cigars. I thought, good thing I read Jane Austen, or I wouldn't have known what was going on. (Laughter). But the next day I went to Soweto, that had been the center of the antiapartheid movement. It was a short distance from the city into the township, but the entry was sudden, jarring and harsh. I passed into a world completely unlike the one I came from. My visit to Soweto became an early lesson in how naive I was. Microsoft was donating computers and software to a community center there. The kind of thing we did in the United States. But it became clear to me, very quickly, that this was not the United States. I had seen statistics on poverty, but I had never really seen poverty. The people there lived in corrugated tin shacks with no electricity, no water, no toilets. Most people didn't wear shoes. They walked barefoot along the streets, except there were no streets, just ruts in the mud. The community center had no consistent source of power. So they rigged up an extension cord that ran 200 feet to the diesel generator outside. Looking at this setup, I knew the minute the reporters left, the generator would get to a more urgent task. And the people at the community center would worry about problems that couldn't be solved by a personal computer. When I gave my prepared remarks to the press, I set Soweto is a milestone. There's debates about whether technology will leave the developing world behind. This is to close the gap. But as I read those words, I knew they weren't super relevant. What I didn't say was, by the way, we're not focused on the fact that half a million people on this continent are dying every year from malaria. But we are sure as hell going to bring you computers. Before I went to Soweto, I thought I understood the world's problems but I was blind to many of the most important ones. I was so taken aback by what I saw that I had to ask myself, did I still believe that innovation could solve the world's toughest problems? I promised myself that before I came back to Africa, I would find out more about what keeps people poor. Over the years, Melinda and I did learn more about the pressing needs of the poor. On a later trip to South Africa, I paid a visit to a hospital for patients with MDR-TB, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, a disease with a cure rate of under 50%. I remember that hospital as a place of despair. It was a giant open ward, with a sea of patients shuffling around in pajamas, wearing masks. There was one floor just for children, including some babies lying in bed. They had a little school for kids who were well enough to learn, but many of the children couldn't make it, and the hospital didn't seem to know whether it was worth it to keep the school open. I talked to a patient there in her early 30s. She had been a worker at a TB hospital when she came down with a cough. She went to a doctor and said she had drug-resistant TB. She later came down with AIDS. There were plenty of MDR patients waiting to take her bed when she vacated it. This was hell with a waiting list. But seeing this hell didn't reduce my optimism. It channeled it. I got into the car as I left and I told the doctor we were working with I know MDR-TB is hard to cure, but we must do something for these people. And, in fact, this year, we are entering phase three with the new TB drug regime for patients who respond, instead of a 50% cure rate after 18 months for $2,000, we get an 80% cure rate after six months for under $100. (Applause). Optimism is often dismissed as false hope. But there is also false hopelessness. That's attitude that says we can't defeat poverty and disease. We absolutely can. >> MELINDA GATES: Bill called me that day after he the TB hospital and normally if one of us is on an international trip, we will go through our agenda for the day and who we met and where we have been. But this call was different. Bill said to me, Melinda, I have been somewhere that I have never been before. And then he choked up and he couldn't go on. And he finally just said, I will tell you more when I get home. And I knew what he was going through because when you see people with so little hope, it breaks your heart. But if you want to do the most, you have to go see the worst, and I've had days like that too. About ten years ago, I traveled with a group of friends to India. On last day I was there, I had a meeting with a group of prostitutes and I expected to talk to them about the risk of AIDS that they were facing, but what they wanted to talk to me about was stigma. Many of these women had been abandoned by their husbands. That's why they even went into prostitution. They wanted to be able to feed their children. They were so low in the eyes of society that they could be raped and robbed and beaten by anyone, even the police, and nobody cared. Talking to them about their lives was so moving to me, but what I remember most was how much they wanted to be touched. They wanted to touch me and to be touched by them. It was if physical contact somehow proved their worth. And so before I left, we linked arms hand in hand and did a photo together. Later that same day, I spent some time in India in a home for the dying. I walked into a large hall and saw rows and rows of cot and every cot was attended to except for one, that was far off in the corner. And so I decided to go over there. The patient who was in this room was a woman in her 30s. And I remember her eyes. She had these huge, brown, sorrowful eyes. She was emaciated and her intestines were not holding anything and they put a pan under her bed, and everything in her was pouring out into that pan. I could tell that she had AIDS. Both in the way she looked and the fact that she was off in this corner alone. The stigma of AIDS is vicious, especially for women. And the punishment is abandonment. When I arrived at her cot, I suddenly felt completely and totally helpless. I had absolutely nothing I could offer this woman. I knew I couldn't save her. But I didn't want her to be alone. So I knelt down with her and put my hand out. She reached for my hand and wouldn't let it go. I didn't speak her language. A finally said, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's not your fault. And after I had been with her for sometime, she started pointing to the rooftop. She clearly wanted to go up and I realized the sun was going down and what she wanted to do was go up on the rooftop and see the sunset. The workers in this home for the dying were very busy. I said, can we take her up on the rooftop? No. No. We have to pass out medicines. I waited that for that to happen and I asked another worker and they said we are too busy. I scooped this woman up in my arms. She was nothing more than skin over bones and I took her up on the roof top, and I put her in a plastic chair and sat her down and put a blanket over her legs and she sat there facing to the west, watching the sunset. The workers knew -- I made sure they knew so that they would bring her down after the sun went down and then I had to leave. But she never left me. I felt completely and totally inadequate in the face of this woman's death. But sometimes, it's the people that you can't help that inspire you the most. I knew that those sex workers I had met in the morning could be the woman that I carried upstairs later that evening. Also we found a way to defy the stigma that hung over their lives. Over the past ten years, our Foundation has helped sex workers build support groups so they could empower one another to speak up and demand safe sex and that their clients use condoms. Their brave efforts have helped to keep HIV prevalence low among sex workers and a lot of studies show that's the big reason why the AIDS epidemic has not exploded in India. When these sex workers gather together to help stop AIDS transmission, something unexpected and wonderful happened. The community they formed became a platform for everything. Police and others who raped and robbed them couldn't get away with it anymore. The women set up systems to encourage savings for one another and with those savings, they were able to leave sex work. This was all done by people that society considered the lowest of the low. Optimism, for me, is not a passive expectation that things are going to get better. For me, it's a conviction and a belief that we can make things better. So no matter how much suffering we see, no matter how bad it is, we can help people if we don't lose help and if we don't look away. (Applause). >> BILL GATES: Melinda and I have described some devastating scenes, but we want to make the strongest case we can for the power of optimism. Even in dire situations, optimism fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering. But if you never really see the people that are suffering, your optimism can't help them. You will never change their world. And that brings me to what I see is a paradox. The modern world is an incredible source of innovation and Stanford stands at the center of that, creating new companies, new schools of thought, prize-winning professors, inspired art and literature, miracle drugs, and amazing graduates. Whether you are a scientist with a new discovery, or working in the trenches to understand the needs of the most marginalized, you are advancing amazing breakthroughs in what human beings can do for each other. At the same time, if you ask people across the United States is the future going to be better than the past, most say no. My kids will be worse off than I am. They think innovation won't make the world better for them or their children. So who is right? The people who say innovation will create new possibilities and make the world better? Or the people who see a trend toward inequality and a decline in opportunity and don't think innovation will change that? The pessimists are wrong, in my view. But they are not crazy. If innovation is purely market driven, and we don't focus on the big inequities, then we could have amazing advances in inventions that leave the world even more divided. We wouldn't cure public schools or end malaria or end poverty. We won't develop the innovations poor farmers need to grow food in a changing climate. If our optimism doesn't address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings, then our optimism needs more empathy. If empathy channels our optimism, we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools. We will answer with our innovations and we will surprise the pessimists. Over the next generation, you, Stanford graduates, will lead a new wave of innovation. Which problems will you decide to solve? If your world is wide, you can create the future we all want. If your world is narrow, you may create the future the pessimists fear. You started learning in Soweto, that if we are going to make our optimism matter to everyone, and empower people everyone, we need to see the lives of those most in need. If we have optimism, without empathy, then it doesn't matter how much we master the secrets of science. We are not really solving problems. We are just working on puzzles. I think most of you have a broader world-view than I had at your age. You can do better at this than I did. If you put your hearts and minds to it, you can surprise the pessimists. We are eager to see it. (Applause). >> MELINDA GATES: So let your heart break. It will change what you do with your optimism. On a trip to south Asia, I met a desperately poor Indian woman who had two children and she begged me to take them home with me. And when I begged her for her forgiveness she said, well, please, just take one of them. On another trip to south Los Angeles, I met with a group of the students from a tough neighborhood. A young girl said to me, do you ever feel like we are the kids' whose parents shirked their responsibilities and we are just the leftovers? These women broke my heart. And they still do. And the empathy intensifies if I admit to myself, that could be me. When I talk with the mothers I meet during my travels, there's no difference between what we want for our children. The only difference is our ability to provide it to our children. So what beings for that difference? Bill and I talk about this with our own kids around the dinner table. Bill worked incredibly hard and he took risks and he made sacrifices for success. But there's another essential ingredient of success, and that is luck. Absolute and total luck. When were you born? Who are your parents? Where did you grow up? None of us earn these things. These things were given to us. So when we strip away all of our luck and our privilege and we consider where we would be without them, it becomes someone much easier to see someone who is poor and say, that could be me. And that's empathy. Empathy tears down barriers and it opens up whole new frontiers for optimism. So here is our appeal to you all. As you leave Stanford, take all your genius and your optimism and your empathy, and go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic. You don't have to rush. You have careers to launch and debts to pay and spouses to meet and marry. That's plenty enough for right now. But in the course of your lives, perhaps without any plan on your part, you will see suffering that's going to break your heart. And when it happens, don't turn away from it. That's the moment that change is born. Congratulations and good luck to the class of 2014! (Cheers and Applause). >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Bill and Melinda for that truly inspiring speech. Will the Provost please present the candidates for degrees. >> PROVOST ETCHEMENDY: Mr. President, first, I have the honor to recognize all those who have completed the requirements for master's and doctoral degrees. They will be presented to you by the deans of their schools. >> JIM PLUMMER: Will the candidates from the School of Engineering please stand.(Cheers and Applause). Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of Science, Engineer and Doctor of Philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Plummer, and may I extend a special thanks to you for 15 years of service as Stanford's longest serving Dean of the School of Engineering. >> JIM PLUMMER: Thank you. (Applause). >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations. (Applause). >> JIM PLUMMER: Will the graduates from the School of Engineering please be seated. (Cheers and Applause). >> ELIZABETH MAGILL: Will the candidates from the School of Law please stand. (Applause) Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Doctor of Jurisprudence, Master of the Science of Law, Doctor of the Science of Law and Master of Laws. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Ma gill. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations. (Applause). >> ELIZABETH MAGILL: Will the graduates from the School of Law please be seated. >> DEBORAH STIPEK: Will the candidates from the School of Education please stand. (Cheers and Applause). Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of arts and doctor of philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Stipek. And may I welcome you back as dean of our distinguished education school. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations. (Cheers and Applause). >> DEBORAH STIPEK: Will the candidates from the School of Education please be seated. >> RICHARD SALLER: Will the candidates from the School of Humanities and Sciences please stand. (Cheers and Applause). Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Liberal Arts, Master of Science, Master of Fine Arts, Doctor of Musical Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Saller. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations! (Cheers and Applause). >> RICHARD SALLER: Will the graduates from the School of Humanities and Sciences please be seated. >> PAMELA MATSON: Will the candidates from the School of Earth Sciences please stand.(Cheers). Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of Science, Engineer and Doctor of Philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Matson. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations! (Cheers and Applause). >> PAMELA MATSON: Will the graduates from the School of Earth Sciences please be seated. (Cheers and Applause). >> GARTH SALONER: Will the candidates from the Graduate School of Business please stand. (Cheers and Applause). Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of Arts in Business Research, Master of Science in Management, Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations! (Cheers and Applause). >> GARTH SALONER: Will the graduates from the School of Business please be seated. >> LLYOD MINOR: Will the candidates from the School of Medicine please stand. Mr. President, I present to you those who have completed the requirements for the degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Science, Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Dean Minor. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon you the degrees for which you have been presented and to admit you to their rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations. (Cheers and Applause). >> LLYOD MINOR: Will the graduates from the School of Medicine please be seated. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Well, Mr. Provost, have we finished? Is that all of nerd nation? >> PROVOST ETCHEMENDY: Yes, I think we can go home now. Oh, no no, no, no. Mr. President, I have the honor to recognize all of those who have completed the requirements For the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees. Will you please stand up? (Cheers and Applause). >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Thank you, Provost Etchemendy. By the authority vested in me by the faculty and trustees of this university, I am happy to confer publicly upon each of you the bachelor degree and admit you to its rights, responsibilities and privileges. Congratulations '14! (Cheers and Applause). >> PROVOST ETCHEMENDY: Will the graduates please be seated. >> PRESIDENT HENNESSY: Graduates of Stanford University, on behalf of all members of the Stanford family, I congratulate you and commend you. I would like to reflect for a few minutes as we conclude on the phrase you have heard several times this morning, admitting you to the rights, responsibilities and privileges to a degree associated with Stanford University. We believe the rights and privileges of an education bring a responsibility to make good use of your knowledge, and today you join a long line of distinguished alumni would have worked to make the world a better place for future generations. I have made it a commencement tradition to talk about a member of the Stanford family who took his or her responsibilities seriously. This year, I want to talk about someone who, like our commencement speakers, began with the successful career in business, but became a great humanitarian, who sought to help people help themselves. This year marks the 140th anniversary of the birth and the 50th anniversary of the death of Herbert Clark Hoover, alumnus, mining engineer, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and the 31st President of United States. Hoover spent his early years in Iowa. He was orphaned at the age of 9 and raised in a Quaker tradition. His uncle wanted him to attend a Quaker college, but Hoover wanted to be an engineer. And neither of the schools his uncle favored offered engineering. After learning about a new and then tuition free university in California (Laughter) he enrolled at Stanford where he became a student in the pioneer class. In his senior year, he met another student from Iowa majoring in geology, Lou Henry, who became the first woman to earn a degree in geology from Stanford. After graduating, Hoover worked in mining in California and then in Australia. When offered an opportunity to work in China, he proposed to Lou by cable, returned long enough for them to marry and together they sailed for China. Hoover's mining career took him around the world. At the start of World War I, they found themselves in London and Hoover volunteered to organize a committee that would help 120,000 Americans in Europe find their way home. During the war, he took up the cause of Belgian food relief. The Belgian people were starving. Farm land had been destroyed and armies from both sides occupied much of the country. In the midst of this war, many people considered the problem insurmountable, but Hoover, an optimist, took it on, leveraging his experience and a belief that it was the right thing to do. He organized volunteers, raised funds and persuaded both the allies and Germany to let the committee for relief of Belgium safely do its work. Under his leadership in four years, the committee raised more than $1 billion and fed 11 million people. After the war, the Hoovers returned to Stanford, and built the house that now serves as the home for Stanford's President and his family. Hoover also continued his humanitarian efforts leading the American Relief Administration which provided food to 300 million people in 21 countries. When some complained about his providing assistance to Russia, Hoover's response was unequivocal. 20 million people are starving. Whatever their politics, he said, they should be fed. The relief effort he led against the 1929 Russian famine remains one of the largest food relief efforts of all time. No longer just a great engineer, Herbert Hoover became known worldwide as the great humanitarian. He was appointed US Secretary of Commerce and worked on safety standards, regulating radio, and disaster relief in the US. In 1928, Herbert Hoover was elected the 31st president of the United States. He celebrated his election victory from the roof of the house that I now live in. But less than a year later, the stock market crashed. Hoover worked to rebuild the American economy, but the scale of the depression overwhelmed his efforts. Hoover never regained stature in many people's eyes and after losing his bid for reelection, the Hoovers returned to their Stanford home, living here until Lou Henry's early death when they moved out and then donated the house to the university. At the end of the second world war, President Truman selected Hoover once again to organize food relief in Germany. This food relief helped more than 3 million children, including a young boy named Gerhard Casper, who would one day go on to become Stanford University's ninth president. Herbert Hoover's life exemplified the Stanford spirit, driven by a deep desire to make a difference, he gave over 50 years of service to his country and humankind. A compassionate man, he never sought recognition for his many acts of generosity. Few know, for example, that he donated all of his presidential salary to charity. And in every single relief role, he served as a volunteer without compensation. Today, I hope that you leave here with a strong reservoir of that Stanford spirit, and I hope that you put your knowledge and energy to good use in making your contributions to a better world. Thank you, and congratulations. (Applause). ¶ Where the rolling foothills rise up towards mountains higher ¶ ¶ where at eve the Coast Range lies in the sunset fire flushing deep and paling ¶ ¶ here we raise our voices hailing thee our alma mater ¶ ¶ from the foothills to the bay ¶ ¶ it shall ring as we sing ¶ ¶ it shall ring and float away ¶ ¶ hail, Stanford hail ¶ ¶ hail, Stanford hail ¶¶ >>REVEREND JOANNE SANDERS: Beloved graduates of the class of 2014, proud family mentors and friends. We bless these moments and these years for all that we have learned. For all we have loved and lost, and for the quest ways they have brought us nearer to our visible and still invisible destinations. Today and everyday, help us remember those whose very lives depend upon the quality of our work, the generosity of our spirits and the preservation of our common world. Leaders and learners, in the words of the late Maya Angelou, "I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's hit on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back" Beloved graduates, may you trust and treasure the virtues of a giving heart and a compassionate life. May you have the grace to act kindly, to live simply, to be gentle, to be at home with yourselves and others. May you cultivate the art of presence in order to engage with everyone you meet. Go now in peace, love, mercy, walk humbly, act justly. Go now and may imagination inspire you. May injustice trouble you. May hope comfort you. May good friends nourish you and mirror your blind spots. May God bless you and keep you, grant you wisdom and courage, sustain your hearts and souls, now and in the days to come. Amen. (Applause). ¶