I always enjoy this time of year in which we celebrate the successes of our students, friends, and children, through various graduation ceremonies.
Some graduations, both high school ones and college ones, are still taking place and it is fun to follow the various commencement speakers, the coverage of their speeches, and even to learn from some of them.
Although I am back in Sweden, I am still following many graduation events and speakers and trying to capture any pearls of wisdom.
The reporting on commencement speakers starts several months before the actual graduations and this year I especially enjoyed the list of Most Notable Commencement Speakers for 2014 compiled by Business Insider. Alright, I am a bit biased since both UMass Amherst's speaker, Governor Deval Patrick, made the list as well as my husband's undergrad alma mater's, Lafayette College's, which featured the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller. The fomer mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg, also made the list and has been quite busy, just recently having given a provocative speech at Harvard. He is also the scheduled commencement speaker for Williams College.
Interestingly, two originally scheduled female commencement speakers, former Secretary of State Condi Rice, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, who were to speak at Rutgers University and Smith College, respectively, ultimately, because of demonstrations, never spoke at the commencements. Bloomberg at his commencement speech at Harvard assailed the lack of suppiort for the diversity of ideas at universities, and even pointed out what happened at my alma matter, Brown University, when his former police chief, Kelly, tried to speak there a few months ago.
And, when it comes to great high school commencement speakers, just the other day, the 2014 Deerfield Academy graduation took place. When my daughter graduated from this outstanding school I could not resist blogging about it and posted a lot of photos. Even former President Bill Clinton made a suprise appearance in a video. The 2014 Deerfield Academy commencement speaker was H. Rodgin Cohen, a renowned financial lawyer. Interestingly, on a USAir flight to Washington DC a few years ago, I sat next to "Rodge," if I may. I had noticed this very well-dressed gentelman wearing a bowtie in the boarding area for our flight at Bradley Airport and, honestly, I was hoping that he would be seated to me. (I tend to have amazing seatmates on many of my flights, and this was another one of those cases). I got the window seat towards the front of the plane and Rodge sat right next to me in the aisle seat. Before long, a conversation ensued, with business cards exchanged. When he told me that he was a member of the Deerfield Academy (DA) Board of Trustees and had gone to Harvard (including Harvard Law), we talked almost nonstop. He even mentioned Ms. Carole Pennock, the Head of the lower school of The Bement School, who had also served on the DA board (and was a wonderful influence on my daughter and her cohort when they went to Bement).
Mr. Cohen is the senior chairman of the top law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. And his financial regulatory expertise in major financial crises was even featured in the HBO film, *Too Big to Fail."
Well, would you believe, now, every year since our meeting on that flight, I receive a Season's Greeting card from Mr. Cohen! His DA speech is now posted and it is inspiring - the importance of being quirky and bonding with even Lehman Brothers thrown in!
I have given 3 commencement speeches, thus far, one at the Isenberg School, and two, in Sweden. In preparing these, it was a great opportunity to reflect, to acknowledge, and also to give back. Thanks!
For anyone interested, links to my speeches, and other writings, including those in the popular press, can be accessed here.
Congratulations to all the graduates!
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Photos from Inspiring 2014 UMass Amherst HONORS Dinner
Yesterday was a perfect day, except, possibly, for the cool weather!
I had the pleasure of listening to the final set of presentations in both my undergraduate and graduate class and the professionalism of the student presentations and the excellent content was so very gratifying. We lingered after both my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class with hugs and took photos and after my Network, Game Theory, and Variational Inequalities class. Hard to believe that the semester is over with the exception of grading and graduations!
Yesterday was also Founder's Day at UMass Amherst and we celebrated 151 years throughout the day, culminating in the 2014 UMass HONORS Dinner at the Campus Center that I attended with my husband.
It was the perfect ending to a great academic year - the food was extra delicious and the ambience elegant and warm. But, best of all, was the celebration of extraordinary achievements of our faculty in terms of research, teaching, and outreach.
Chancellor Subbaswamy was a wonderful emcee and I LOVED his speech in which he shared stories of UMass Amherst Deans, including our Isenberg School of Management Dean, Dr. Mark Fuller, and their reflections on their first research experiences. Our Chancellor also noted how he, in 1972, as a young graduate student from India at Indiana University, and was inspired by Physics Professor Larry Shuman, who was working on Catastrophe Theory. And, when asked why is a physicist working on catastrophe theory, which was new and novel then (and I still find the subject fascinating), he answered because it was fun! Yes, knowledge-driven research is the kind of research that elevates, energizes, and leads to true innovation!
I so enjoyed seeing many colleagues from the College of Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Humanities and Fine Arts at the dinner and reception that preceded it.
I am so proud to be associated with such great minds and such special people and institution.
The Chancellor was assisted with the emceeing by Provost James Staros and our Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Mike Malone.
I also very much enjoyed hearing excerpts from letters written in support of this year's Conti Faculty Fellowship recipients - the geoscientist, Dr. Robert DeConto, the computer scientist, Dr. Andrew McCallum, whose work has been cited over 35,000 times (and who spoke in our INFORMS Speaker Series at the Isenberg School), and the historian, Dr. Marla Miller.
Congrats and thanks to all the faculty who make UMass Amherst such a special place to conduct research at and to teach at.
I received a Conti Fellowship as an Associate Professor and spent that year as a Visiting Scholar in Management Science at the Sloan School at MIT. And, amazingly, last evening I was seated next to Ms. Susan Coltrane Lowance, who is married to Professor Lowance of the English Department. She was in the second class of MBA recipients at Yale, went on to become the Director of the Management Program for women executives at Smith College and then became the first female Director of the Sloan Fellow Program at MIT. It was so great to reminisce about my colleagues in operations research and management science there and about MIT and even Harvard, since Professor Lowance knows the President of Harvard, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, who was the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard when I was a Science Fellow there. And, would you believe, Ms. Lowance told me that she attended the previous Harvard President's inauguration (Dr. Larry Summers') and even met a couple standing by the wayside with Summers name tags - yes, they were his very proud parents!
Needless to say, what a perfect evening with such interesting people in attendance and such great stories! There is always serendipity in showing up as I tell my students.
I had the pleasure of listening to the final set of presentations in both my undergraduate and graduate class and the professionalism of the student presentations and the excellent content was so very gratifying. We lingered after both my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class with hugs and took photos and after my Network, Game Theory, and Variational Inequalities class. Hard to believe that the semester is over with the exception of grading and graduations!
Yesterday was also Founder's Day at UMass Amherst and we celebrated 151 years throughout the day, culminating in the 2014 UMass HONORS Dinner at the Campus Center that I attended with my husband.
I so enjoyed seeing many colleagues from the College of Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Humanities and Fine Arts at the dinner and reception that preceded it.
I am so proud to be associated with such great minds and such special people and institution.
The Chancellor was assisted with the emceeing by Provost James Staros and our Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Mike Malone.
Congrats and thanks to all the faculty who make UMass Amherst such a special place to conduct research at and to teach at.
I received a Conti Fellowship as an Associate Professor and spent that year as a Visiting Scholar in Management Science at the Sloan School at MIT. And, amazingly, last evening I was seated next to Ms. Susan Coltrane Lowance, who is married to Professor Lowance of the English Department. She was in the second class of MBA recipients at Yale, went on to become the Director of the Management Program for women executives at Smith College and then became the first female Director of the Sloan Fellow Program at MIT. It was so great to reminisce about my colleagues in operations research and management science there and about MIT and even Harvard, since Professor Lowance knows the President of Harvard, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, who was the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard when I was a Science Fellow there. And, would you believe, Ms. Lowance told me that she attended the previous Harvard President's inauguration (Dr. Larry Summers') and even met a couple standing by the wayside with Summers name tags - yes, they were his very proud parents!
Needless to say, what a perfect evening with such interesting people in attendance and such great stories! There is always serendipity in showing up as I tell my students.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Fortune 500 Companies Should Learn from the Ivy League and Have More Female CEOs
CNNMoney is celebrating that Fortune 500 women CEOs hit a milestone in that, as of January 1, 2013, there are now 21 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies with recent female leaders heading up such high tech firms as Lockheed Martin, HP, Yahoo, and IBM and even General Dynamics.
Alright, so the fact that 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are now females is certainly reason to celebrate but this is still a measly 4.2%. And it is certainly terrific that there are now 20 female Senators in the US Congress.
Now, let's look at the Ivy League colleges -- that is where the representation at the top -- at the Presidential level -- reflects more the population at large in terms of gender and we should be celebrating that.
As we start off the New 2013 Year, 5 our of the 8 Ivy League universities are being led by females.
My alma mater, Brown University, has as its new President, Dr. Christina Paxson, who, just a few months ago, took over the Presidency of brown after the long leadership of Dr. Ruth Simmons. Very cool that Brown picked another female President!
Harvard University, also my alma mater since I was a Radcliffe Fellow, has at its helm, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, whom I have also blogged about. She was the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study while I was a Fellow there and took over after Dr. Larry Summers stepped down from the Presidency of Harvard.
Princeton University is still being led by Dr. Shirley Tilghman, but she will be stepping down soon -- will Princeton select another female is its new President?
Dr. Amy Gutmann has been the President of UPenn since 2004 and has done wonderful things for this Ivy League institution.
And Dr. Carol Folt is now the Interim President at Dartmouth College. She has this position until Dr. Philip Hanlon (male) assumes the Presidency of Dartmouth soon. I have blogged about him since he is a mathematician and we have an intellectual connection since his dissertation advisor at CalTech was Dr. Olga Taussky-Todd and I used one of her theorems in my doctoral dissertation.
Columbia University, Yale University, and Cornell University, which complete the roster of eight Ivy League universities, are led by males and, as far as I know, have always had male Presidents. The incoming President of Yale will be male. Dr. Peter Salovey, Yale's Provost, will replace Dr. Richard C. Levin who is stepping down.
So, for the here and now, we should celebrate that, when noone was paying attention, now the majority of Ivy League universities -- among the elite institutions of higher education in the world -- are now being led by females!
Fortune 500 companies -- take notice!
Alright, so the fact that 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are now females is certainly reason to celebrate but this is still a measly 4.2%. And it is certainly terrific that there are now 20 female Senators in the US Congress.
Now, let's look at the Ivy League colleges -- that is where the representation at the top -- at the Presidential level -- reflects more the population at large in terms of gender and we should be celebrating that.
As we start off the New 2013 Year, 5 our of the 8 Ivy League universities are being led by females.
My alma mater, Brown University, has as its new President, Dr. Christina Paxson, who, just a few months ago, took over the Presidency of brown after the long leadership of Dr. Ruth Simmons. Very cool that Brown picked another female President!
Harvard University, also my alma mater since I was a Radcliffe Fellow, has at its helm, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, whom I have also blogged about. She was the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study while I was a Fellow there and took over after Dr. Larry Summers stepped down from the Presidency of Harvard.
Princeton University is still being led by Dr. Shirley Tilghman, but she will be stepping down soon -- will Princeton select another female is its new President?
Dr. Amy Gutmann has been the President of UPenn since 2004 and has done wonderful things for this Ivy League institution.
And Dr. Carol Folt is now the Interim President at Dartmouth College. She has this position until Dr. Philip Hanlon (male) assumes the Presidency of Dartmouth soon. I have blogged about him since he is a mathematician and we have an intellectual connection since his dissertation advisor at CalTech was Dr. Olga Taussky-Todd and I used one of her theorems in my doctoral dissertation.
Columbia University, Yale University, and Cornell University, which complete the roster of eight Ivy League universities, are led by males and, as far as I know, have always had male Presidents. The incoming President of Yale will be male. Dr. Peter Salovey, Yale's Provost, will replace Dr. Richard C. Levin who is stepping down.
So, for the here and now, we should celebrate that, when noone was paying attention, now the majority of Ivy League universities -- among the elite institutions of higher education in the world -- are now being led by females!
Fortune 500 companies -- take notice!
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