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[music playing] let us pray. oh source of wisdom, the powerthat makes for goodness in the world, we come together this day, just pass the fullnessof the moon, with 150 years of learning, and wisdom, and tradition of this university behindus. we come together as a community recognizing and celebrating all our wonderful and substantialdifferences, and seeing our community enriched and strengthened by them. we come togetherat a time of enormous and fast-paced changed in our lives and in our world. we come together so that we can pause, takein the great achievements of our work and study. and ready ourselves for our next steps.we come together to give thanks for our parents,
families, friends, teachers, mentors, classmates,staff, and faculty who have made this moment possible through challenging us and caringfor us, through expecting more from us and accepting who we are, through feeding us andinspiring us. we come together to recognize what an honor,privilege and sacred trust this education is, and we bring this awareness to the giftthat has been both earned and granted in the form of a lehigh diploma. we call upon thesource of all to enable us to take the joy of this day forward into our lives, to inspireus to apply all our learning to the holy and necessary tasks of upholding and creatingjustice, healing the earth, and welcoming the stranger.
on this special day, just passed the fullnessof the moon, i offer the ancient hebrew prayer that is recited when we arrived at new momentsor sacred occasions in our lives. [speaking hebrew] blessed are you, eternal one, our god, thesovereign of all worlds, who gave us life, and kept us strong, and brought us to thistime. amen. [applause] [singing] o, say can you see by the dawn's early lightwhat so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? whose broad stripes and brightstars through the perilous fight. o'er the
ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? and the rocket's red glare, the bombs burstingin air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. o say does thatstar-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. please be seated. good morning. as chairmanof the board of trustees of lehigh university, i, brad eric scheler, on behalf of the board,declare the 148th commencement exercises of lehigh university to be open. it is now my great pleasure and honor to introducethe president of lehigh university dr. john simon.
welcome to the 148th commencement of lehighuniversity. on behalf of the entire lehigh community, i'd like to welcome all of ourguests with us today, especially the families and friends of our graduates, our commencementspeakers, members of the board of trustees, and the members of the class of 1966, whocelebrated their 50th reunion this past weekend. commencement ceremonies are occasions fordispensing sage advice, and we send our newly minted graduates out into the world readyto make their mark. i'll leave the wisdom and advice to our featured speakers, yourfellow students, and lehigh alum joe perella. i want to take a few minutes to tell you alittle bit about yourselves. there are 1,001 undergraduates in the classof 2016. you hail from 39 states and 16 countries.
we have 459 graduate students receiving degrees,from 24 states and 15 countries. the most popular major among the class of 2016 is finance-- whoo. --making you a great choice joe, followedby mechanical engineering, accounting and psychology. you collectively have chosen astaggering 70 different majors, a true reflection of the broad intellectual engagement of yourclass. the most popular degrees among our graduate students are in mechanical engineering,followed by analytical finance, accounting, and structural engineering. i've heard about the accomplishments of manyof you receiving degrees today. i am impressed.
but i'm also confident that you will do greatthings, so i'd like to give you just a small taste of what i learned. as a presidential scholar, one of you is graduatingwith both an ibe degree and a bs in mechanical engineering. you were the recipient of thefirst peller undergraduate research assistant award, and your research will be publishedin the journal of macroeconomics. another of you shined as a volunteer. sinceyour sophomore year you coordinated spooktacular, one of our halloween-themed events, that welcomesover 800 south bethlehem community members to campus. that meant organizing some 25 studentgroups, fraternities, and sororities to make this event the success that it is.
two of you presented at the united nationsfirst international day of women and girls in science in february alongside diplomats,politicians, educators, and other world leaders. you spoke about what inspired you to pursuecareers in the stem fields, providing a role model for others to follow. and in addition to writing a stellar dissertation,another of you had the distinction of earning the graduate student merit award. you alsoserved as assistant director of our global citizenship program for three years, and werean adviser on many senior capstone projects. these are just a few examples of the broadexcellence and numerous achievements of the students that we collectively see before ustoday. my heartiest congratulations to each
and every one of you on what you've accomplishedhere at lehigh. it is my honor to begin these exercises byintroducing our graduate student speaker, belinda waller-peterson. belinda, your fan club is out there. afterearning her undergraduate degree in nursing at widener university in 2000, belinda practicedas a licensed registered labor and delivery nurse and a medical surgery nurse until 2006.having decided to continue her education, she pursued graduate work related to the medicalhumanities. belinda first renewed her studies at bucknelluniversity, where she earned a master's degree in english in 2010. she continued her educationat lehigh, and will earn her phd today in
the same field. lehigh recognizes belinda's scholarly potentialby awarding her teaching and dissertation fellowships. she has been teaching literatureand composition courses at lehigh since 2011, was an adjunct faculty member at moraviancollege this past fall, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at lafayette college. her areas of concentration include africanastudies, medical humanities, african-american literature, and women, gender, and sexualitystudies. belinda's dissertation focuses on the work of black women writers of the 20thcentury, sherley anne williams, lucille clifton, toni cade bambara, and toni morrison, who'sliterature reframes the discourse about the
significance of health and wellness in thelives of black women with health concerns. belinda has published and presented her workat major conferences across the us and is an active member of professional organizations,including the modern language association, the society for comparative literature andthe arts, and the african-american literature and culture society. this fall belinda willjoin the english department at moravian college as an assistant professor of multiethnic literature.please join me in welcoming our graduate student speaker, belinda waller-peterson. good morning. thank you, president simon forthat wonderful introduction. i heard some laughing with lafayette but they were goodto me, so-- first, i want to give honor to
god. i also want to thank the english department,afrikana studies program, women, gender, and sexuality program for their support. there are a few people i need to acknowledgeat the outset because without them i would not be here in this moment. to my parents,reginald samuel waller, sr. and valerie diane waller, who sewed into me a spirit of fearlessnessand determination, i love and appreciate you both. to reggie, camille, and little reggie,and my entire peterson family, i love you so much. thank you for loving me as is. to my sister sam, in 2000 they didn't thinkour speech about our struggle as black nursing students was appropriate for the florencenightingale ceremony. we cried from the sting
of rejection and the pain of not being seen.but today i claim this moment and i claim this space for us. thank you to my incredible committee, professorselizabeth dolan, in seth moglen, and mary foltz, and monica miller. also professorsimaani el-burki and hugo ceron-anaya. finally, i think my two incredible children, jamesbraxton peterson iii, and brianna monet peterson, and my amazing husband, dr. james braxtonpeterson. you all are everything to me, and i thank you for all of your love and support. i'm incredibly honored to stand before youthis morning to deliver the 2016 graduate student address, i want to express my sinceregratitude to everyone who nominated me, especially
soon to be phd english candidate cynthia estremeraand my son, who's words helped shape this speech. class of 2016, congratulations. we made it. i want you to take a minute and think aboutwhere you started, whether it was your first year as an undergrad or your first year ofgraduate school. lehigh then was a place of possibility, a testing ground that promisedto provide lifelong lessons. think about where you are now, how hard you've worked, how muchyou've accomplished, and how much you've overcome. the last few years have challenged us to confrontour biases, stand together as a community, and show not only ourselves but the worldthat we demand justice and equality for all
of our lehigh family members. we have grown,and lehigh, as we see it now, is still a place of possibility and promise where we can makehistory and can change lives. i stand before you as the first african-americanwoman to earn an english phd here at lehigh. and i-- and i am only the second black person to completethis program. i want to thank ronald williams, who graduate in the '70s, for paving the wayfor me. born in barbados, his academic excellence and desire for success allowed him to be thepresident of two universities, vice president of the sat, and an accomplished author. i also want to acknowledge nancy barrett,who was also an exceptional senior your teaching
fellow and phd candidate in the english department.she would have been the first african-american phd graduate. born in south korea, nancy receivedher ba from morgan state and her ma in english from lehigh. nancy entered the program in2000 and passed your exams with distinction. however, she passed away unexpectedly december22, 2003. i am standing here in this moment becauseof ron and nancy's accomplishments. however, two black doctoral graduates, separated bythree decades, is not enough. today, i ask that all of the graduate programs reaffirmtheir commitment to lehigh's mandate to adequately reflect the beautiful diversity of our world. we are all here because of the sacrifice andlove shown to us. and the way to honor that
is to love ourselves, not a narcissistic,self-centered love but in agape, godlike love that calls us to honor our spirits, our minds,and our bodies. maya angelou says, love is that condition in the human spirit so profoundthat it allows me to survive, and better than that, to thrive with passion, compassion,and style. i urge you this morning, as you reflect onall that you have accomplished here at lehigh, to also take the time to love on yourself,to affirm your own strength and fortitude, to boldly proclaim that you've reached thegoal you set for yourself, and to prioritize your own happiness. hold fast to this momentand recall it often, especially when others challenge your ideas and you begin to doubtyourself.
remember how great you are, full of possibilityand overflowing with promise. take the time to love yourself always and in all ways. andfinally, to all my black and brown women graduates, we are not the mules of the world. ntozakeshange said, i found god in myself and i loved her, i loved her fiercely. embrace all ofyour intelligence, beauty, and black girl magic but always love yourself first and deeply. class of 2016, we were made for this moment.now let's get information. thank you belinda. we're proud of your achievementsand we wish you the best at moravian college. i would like now to introduce the presidentof the senior class, max dezarn. max, i think you have a big fan club out there-- who'sgraduating today with the arts degree in economics
and political science. max was quoted in the 2015 founder's day programas saying that he feels blessed to have had the opportunity to attend lehigh, and thathe will work to pay it forward. looking at his contributions as a student, i would saythat lehigh was also very fortunate to have had max as an undergraduate. in addition to being 2016 class presidentfor four years, max was a gryphon and head gryphon, where his goal was to promote a respectful,inclusive, and supporting living environment in the residence hall communities in whichhe served as a resident adviser. desiring to build a lehigh legacy, he became chairof the class gift committee, where he led
a student campaign with the goal of achieving750 donors by graduation. not only that goal met and surpassed but the class of 2016 hasset a new senior gift donor giving record. i congratulate you and all the seniors whogave. max minored in probability and statistics,and it's safe to say that he enjoys number crunching and applying his findings to importantissues. for example, he completed database research projects and developed a numericalmethod that helps show policymakers how to best allocate resources to decrease crimein different demographic settings across the country. after graduation, max will returnedto his home state of ohio and begin work as a financial risk analyst for the great americaninsurance group in cincinnati.
i remember first meeting you max. you werefirst fellow cincinnatian i encountered at lehigh. please join me in welcoming the seniorclass president max dezarn. thank you president simon. good morning andwelcome. i would like to take this opportunity to speak on behalf of the class of 2016 wheni say thank you to the faculty, who dedicate their careers to the creation and distributionof knowledge. thank you for encouraging us to seek answers and not shrink in the faceof complex problems. to the staff and administrators, who worked endlessly to ensure that all lehighstudents have the opportunity to reap the benefits of attending this illustrious institution,thank you for aiding us in our voyage to develop into the best versions of ourselves.
to our esteemed alumni, who had helped establishand maintain lehigh's reputation as one of the best universities in america, thank youfor offering your continued support for your alma mater. and to our family and friends,many of whom are here today, for offering us the love and support that we need to pursueour ambitions. whether it is by choice or by lack of chance, not all families make highereducation a priority. there is not a combination of words that could express the gratitudei feel in my heart for my parents, my grandparents, and my sister, who have sacrificed so muchto provide me with such a wonderful opportunity, one that, unfortunately, is afforded to alltoo few. lastly, i would like to personally thank theclass of 2016 for inspiring me and allowing
me to serve as your class president for thesepast four years. it has been an honor and a privilege. our successes this year wouldnot have been possible without my fellow class officers, kelsey leck, hiyab stefanos, carltischbein, and jose sierra. it is often said that to whom much is givenmuch is expected. and while the expectations for this class where high when we began ourjourney here just four years ago they have never been as high as they are today. andas time goes on we will continue to raise the bar. but these expectations are not insurmountable. i know this because in just four short yearsi have witnessed our class achieve great things. we have proposed bright ideas in classroomsand made new discoveries in labs. our scholars
have traveled abroad to conduct research andhave had their findings published in academic journals. our athletes have represented thebrown and white all over the country, winning patriot league championships and competingat the highest levels on the national stage. in this year's record-setting senior classgift campaign over 750 members of the class of 2016 chose to make donations to that whichmade the greatest impact on them during their time here at lehigh. and in what many arecalling the greatest underdog story since lehigh beat duke in the ncaa a basketballtournament back in 2012, i completed a mathematics minor in probability and statistics. ok, notmany are saying that, but a few. so far just me.
c.j. mccollum made mountain hawks everywhereproud that night, scoring 30 points on duke. and it was in that spirit that i scored 30percentage points on my stats exam. really, when you look at it, the similarities betweenthe two events are uncanny. but seriously, the pursuit of that minor wasthe most challenging academic experience i've ever had but it's also been the most rewarding.but in these last few semesters, i have learned more about statistics than i never thoughti could, and i have learned more about myself than i probably wanted to. not to mention,i got to meet and work with some of the smartest people i've ever met. the list of the class of 2016's accomplishmentseems endless. and today, we celebrate the
culmination of our achievements as one lehighfamily. but tomorrow morning we will wake up and be welcomed by opportunities our parentsnever had and most people our age could never dream of. we owe it to ourselves and to theworld to continue using the many gifts which we've been given to make the most positiveimpact on all of those we see and all of those with whom we interact, after all, people arecounting on us. the class of 2016's legacy will not be whatwe have done at lehigh these past four years. our legacy will be what we do with the nextfour years and the four years after that. and with you all, i can't wait to get started. and so i will share with you the words mymother said to me every day before school
for 13 years, go forth and be brilliant. thankyou and congratulations. thank you max. i would now like to invitetrustee emeritus michael caruso, class of 1967, to the podium to introduce our 2016commencement speaker. mike. thank you. it is a distinct honor and privilegeto introduce my dear friend joe perella. and i'm going to give you the abridged versionbecause if i had to talk about joe in his entirety, we'd be here to about 3, 4 o'clock.he is a legend in investment banking, one of wall street's most respected voices fordecades. and to think, he started it all right here on south mountain. joe is a proud member of the class of '64.i was a freshman during joe's senior year.
as a student, he was a member of the accountingsociety, the class cabinet, and phi kappa theta fraternity. after graduating, joe becamea crew chief on f-105 fighter bombers in the air force and new jersey national guard. he also became a cpa in the state of new yorkworking at haskins and sells, now known as deloitte touche. then john went back to school,earning his mba from harvard. his investment banking career spans more than 40 years, andincludes strategic assignments for leading companies in virtually every industry andregion of the world. joe began the first boston corporation, wherehe founded their mergers and acquisitions group, then co-founded wasserstein perellaand company in 1988. he signed on as a managing
director and member of the management committeeat morgan stanley in 1993. he was worldwide head of morgan stanley's investment bankingdivision, then chairman of the institutional securities and investment banking group. andin 2006, he formed perella weinberg partners, where he is currently chairman. now that's something. but as outstanding asjoe's contributions to the world of finance and investment banking have been, we at lehighknow there are so much more to the man. his generous and unwavering support of this universityis evidenced through so many initiatives, including the financial services lab in thecollege of business and economics that was named in his honor, and the endowment of theperella department of finance.
with his wife amy, he established the cbesfor joseph r. and amy m. perella chairs. and he was also awarded an honorary doctorateat this university in 2006. the perellas also established an endowed scholarship fund forlehigh students from newark, new jersey area, where joe grew up, and supported the constructionof the rauch business center, which the largest auditorium is named in both the honor of joeand amy. the perella's are member of asa packer society,the tower society, and leadership plaza. and let me add that i personally won't forgethis leadership gift to the caruso wrestling complex. joe is a long time university trustee,was an honorary co-chair of the successful shine forever campaign, and is an avid followerof lehigh wrestling.
in 2004, he received the l-in-life award fromthe lehigh new york city alumni club. this award recognizes alumni for outstanding achievementsin business and professional life and for continued devotion and loyalty service tothe university. ironically, although we were both born innewark, new jersey in the 1940s, i didn't meet joe until after our college days. wediscovered later on that we had both lived on north 11th street one block apart. our friendship has grown over many decades,proliferated by our mutual passion for wrestling. not only is it an honor to introduce joe,but it's a privilege to publicly tell him and the lehigh community what a mentor anda role model he has been to me throughout
the years. and i am certain that countlessothers can also make that claim. i could go on for a long time, but betterstop now. please join me in welcoming to the podium a great son of lehigh, my dear friend,joe perella. this reminds me of the song, "blinded by thelight." thank you. thank you very much mike, president simon members of the faculty, fellowtrustees, parents, friends, and family, and graduates of 2016. let me digress for a second,belinda, and tell you your comments reminded me of something i read years ago by thomasaquinas. diversity is the perfection of the universe. that wasn't in my speech but youinspired me to say so, so thank you. and thank you for the honor of privilege ofaddressing you today. so i have a question
for you guys out there. so just raise yourhands, you don't have to stand up. how many you are graduating from the college of engineering?ok, we're all over there, back there. how many of you are graduating from the collegeof business and economics? now look at all of them. and how many of you are graduatingfrom the college of arts and science? wow. ok. now there's a special group, i don't knowhow many of you are out there. how many, besides the commencement speaker, have been in allthree undergraduate colleges? oh my god. oh, there's one back there. universe of two, three,ok. if you don't get this now, you will understandwhy i asked in a few minutes. experimentation, let's call it, in all three colleges is oneof the things that helped get me here today.
my parents also played a big part in my beinghere today. so you might call my comments from newark to now. it all started in our home in newark, wherei grew up pretty much in a communal environment my first 10 years. couple of things standout. my education began at home at the family table. my mom fed us her love and her foodfor our tummies, and my dad challenged and fed our brains. they had an obsession and the goal that overrideall other considerations, the education of their children. this stress on education beganwith my paternal grandfather joe, and it's a story my father repeated to us over andover again throughout our childhood. my grandfather
was a blacksmith in italy, and he came toamerica to earn money for my father's education. why was that? well because the schools inmy father's village stopped at age 13. so my father had to move to a town with a highschool and lived with a local family, whom my grandfather had to pay to take care him.and from there, my father went to naples to attend college and get his doctorate in economics.and only then did my father come to america. so all during this time, my grandfather workedin the united states to educate my father. my parents where the gold standard of deferredgratification. any time we wanted something, the answer was usually the same, we can'tafford that, we're saving for your college. growing up in new jersey, i was like everyother guy. i wanted a car by the time i was
17 years old. so dad said, you want a car?you better figure out how to pay for one. i'm saving for your college. so every summer i went to work, starting atage 13, at baltusrol golf course in springfield, where i caddied. and all year long, everyfriday and saturday and sunday night, i worked for tips in a parking lot of a nightclub,and my father drove me back and forth to work each night. i attended public schools in newark and union,new jersey. and let me tell you about my guidance counselor at union high school. his name wasmr. boyle. and my session didn't last that long. joe, sit down. with your grades andyour sats, here's three schools you can get
into. that was it. any questions, he said. i said,no. is that how it was for you? i doubt it. now, one of the three was lehigh. and readingup about lehigh before visiting, i liked the fact there were three colleges for undergraduatestudy. i remember visiting lehigh with my father. and the minute i set foot on campusi knew i was coming here. maybe you think i had it all figured out. well, i had no cluewhat i wanted to do. so three colleges kind of appealed to me. i entered lehigh september '59 in the classof '63 mike. and mike said i graduated in the class of '64 in the college of business.so let me explain.
i entered into the engineering school duringwhat was called the sputnik era. everyone was captivated by the russian launch of abasketball-sized satellite, and the space race was on. it was similar to the adventof the internet in the '90s. two-thirds of the entering class of the classof '63 entered the engineering college. now i'm sure the faculty felt the need to separatethe men from the boys, and they did. so after struggling through freshman year, i transferredthe college of arts and science, again, with no clue as to what i wanted to do and, i mightadd, with very little motivation. i was completely unfocused, muddling throughtwo years of lehigh, even cutting classes when i was bored. and after two years of drifting,lehigh suggests-- or tells me to stay home.
and that was a wake up call. i needed to reflect on what i was doing withmy life. so i thought about my parents, who had sacrificed so much. am i giving them griefand return? looking back, it was indeed the lowest point in my life and, as i see it,lehigh did me a huge favor. i went home humiliated but vowing not to make this failure permanent. i went to work that summer selling encyclopediasdoor-to-door five nights a week all over the jersey suburbs. i found out what cold callingwas like. in the fall of '61 i got a job in the accounting department of a beer companyin newark. i liked being in a business environment. there was lots to learn, there was lots todo, and people relied on me to get things
done. then early in 1962 my dad sat me down at thekitchen table for a heart-to-heart. he said joe, what do you want to do with your life?what have you learned from these experiences of the last few years. and i said i learnedhow to apply myself, i want to pursue a career in business. i want to try and return to lehighin the college of business and economics, major in accounting. dad gave me a second chance and said, ok.then i wrote a letter to lehigh describing my year and what i had learned, and what mygoals were, asking to return. and lehigh gave me a second chance.
so upon returning to lehigh, completed fivesemesters in two years. i came to realize, when i returned to lehigh, that the busieri was the better i did for myself and those who matter to me. at the beginning of the'62-'63 school year, my father, who was then 55 with three kids in college, lost his job. i wanted to help my family during this periodwhile dad look for a new job. at this point, everyone in the lehigh family came to therescue. i got the dishwasher job at my fraternity house that paid for all my meals. and thefraternity let me have the laundry concession. that covered all my dry cleaning and laundry.and finally, in another gesture i will never forget, one of my accounting professors, frankbrady, hearing about my situation, offered
me a job during the year-end tax season tohelp him in his private practice. all the care shown to me during this difficultperiod was amazing. so when lehigh's then president greg farrington, in 2003, askedme to endow four chairs in the college of business and economics, my reaction was instantaneous.i said yes, and now you know why. coming back to the question i asked earlier,namely, how many of you were in all three colleges? you'll recall, caruso said i wasclass of '64. but i entered class of '63. so i was in all three colleges with a yearoff in between. i did well academically in the college ofbusiness economics. i received several offers from cpa firms to work in new york city. itook the job at haskins and sells, as mike
said. and over a period of years, i receivedgreat exposure to the financial services industry, hospital industry, and industrial companies. i passed the cpa examine in 1967. i was learninga lot but i was realizing i didn't want accounting for a career. but again, i wasn't sure whatto do next. and there was one other thing that all men had to consider during this time.for all of us growing up in that era, military service was compulsory for anyone 18 and over.so when you were a junior in college you started to think, how am i going to serve? so i decided i would join the new jersey airnational guard via the 108th tactical fighter group at mcguire air force base. and aftergraduation i did so in 1964. little did i
know how that decision was going to affectmy life going forward. so the 108th tactical fighter group was ahigh performance unit of 20 fighter planes supported by 1,000 personnel. and over theyears, i got to know many of these people. two of them became great buddies of mine,and neither of them knew the other. one worked on the flight line with me, and the otherworked in the hangar. i came to realize though, that these two guyshad one thing in common, they both had gone to harvard business school. i hadn't knownanyone who'd gone to harvard business school from newark. and i thought only geniuses likerobert mcnamara, who was president of ford motor company, and he's secretary of defense,head of the world bank. guys like that went
to harvard business school. i said to myself, god is sending me a message.so i got in my car drove to boston. and i went to the administration office and i said,hi, i'd like to learn about this place. they gave me a brochure. and they said, well, whileyou're here you want to sit in on a class? i said, yeah. so i went to the class, sat down, and my headexploded. these students were debating the cases, and i just said, i got to do this.i ran back to the admissions office. i said, how do i apply? i applied and a year lateri got in. so after my honorable discharge from the unitedstates air force, i left public accounting
in new york for boston and the harvard businessschool in september of 1970. now at harvard i was 29 years old. i knew i wanted the experiencebut i didn't know where it would lead. i committed myself to work hard every day,and i received first year honors. so here i was, 10 years after being tossed out atlehigh, awarded first year honors at harvard. i think you get the message. i hope you do. on the strength of my academic performanceat harvard and financial need, i was granted a sidney weinberg-goldman sachs fellowshipthat paid my second year tuition. and goldman sachs funds 12 of those every year. yearslater, i would be introduced by a mutual friend to peter weinberg, grandson sidney weinberg,and i would form a firm that bears both our
family's names today. so it was during career days at harvard whencompanies came in to talk with students about their business. and in conversations withfellow students after class that i began looking more closely at investment banking. and isaw it as a way to employ all i had learned as a cpa at haskins and sells. my job search wasn't easy. i was 31, and mostfirms we're looking for 25-year-olds. so i have another story for you. here is my interview,and i hope you never have one like this, with one firm that shall remain unnamed. but you walk into the interview cubicle andhe's got a pile of manila folders there. joe,
sit down. he opens it up, he looks at me,he looks down, he looks up. joe, how old are you? i said, i'm 31. he goes [clap], closes the folder and he goes,i'm sorry, you're too old for us. what do we talk about the next 20 minutes. that wasmy interview with one of the wall street firms. they're no longer in existence, by the way. [laughter] i was getting depressed by all of these dingletters i was receiving and rejection. my classmate steve schwarzman, the founder ofblackstone, became my biggest cheerleader. whenever i was down in the dumps with my latestrejection letters, he would pump me up.
one day, my professor of investment banking,sam hayes, who knew of my job search, said to me, joe, there's a new man in charge offirst boston. send them a letter with your resume. i did, and the same resume that onefirm closed the book on opened new opportunities for me at first boston. so i began a first boston in august of '72.the training program lasted six months. so how did i get into the m&a business? well,the head of the department noticed all these people used to hover around my desk from timeto time during the training program asking me questions about merger accounting. so hesaid to me after the training program, what do you think about specializing in m&a forus? and i said, sure.
he was stunned. he goes, well, don't you wantto think about it? i said greg, you've been in the business 24 years, i've been in it24 weeks. i'll do it, and i've been doing it for 44 years. fair to say that the firm at the time thoughtso little of this fledgling sector of finances that they gave it to a person less than ayear out of school. so for the last 44 years i've worked as an m&a specialist in four differentfirms, first boston and morgan stanley, and two that i started, wasserstein perella andperella weinberg partners. so in traveling from newark to now i comeaway with a few thoughts that i'd like to share with you. first of all, know thyself.that's not a new concept. work on increasing
your self-awareness, one of our biggest shortcomings. some people get up every day, they look inthe mirror and they see george clooney. so if you don't have self-awareness you can'tpossibly manage disappointment, and your career development will be compromised ben franklinalso said, what are the three hardest things in the world? steel, diamonds, and knowingyourself. second thing i'd like to share with you, noone has all the answers. you can't do it alone. learn from young and old alike. it was hereat lehigh i learned about a concept called hybrid vigor from the ecology professor, francistrembley. and i've tried to apply this concept of mybusiness life in choosing the people i wanted
around me. i tried not to look for myselfin others. so you need to talk and listen to people, develop human relationships. theywill help and enrich you in ways you can't imagine. third, good judgement comes from experienceand experience comes from bad judgement. i don't have to explain that to you. know howto manage setbacks and disappointments. don't make them permanent. and don't be complacent.strive for excellence each day in all you do. one of my favorite people lives right up theroad from here. i'm pointing to nazareth. maybe the greatest race car driver ever tocome out of-- well, he was born in italy but
raised here in the united states-- mario andretti.and he had a quote i heard him use once years ago, and i never forgot it. if you're on thetrack and you think you've got everything under control, you're not going fast enough. so expect the unexpected. if my story tellsyou anything it should tell you nothing goes as planned. i call that the serendipity oflife. fourth, i would urge you to always tell thetruth, own up to your own mistakes. mark twain said, always tell the truth, that way youdon't have to remember anything. so owning up to your mistakes means having people learnthem from you not from others. and importantly, don't be afraid to admit when you don't knowsomething.
the final point, as you go forward from here,is a concept i wanted to share with you that i got exposed to at hbs, and it's called exit,voice, and loyalty. those are you three choices, wherever you go from here. and what do i mean by that? well, you go towork and you're a loyal employee. you see a problem. go to your boss and say, boss,problem. by the way, when you point out problems, have a couple of solutions because bossesusually have a line of people around the block with problems. here's a solution. now theboss can say-- give you a pat on the back, say joe, great idea. we're going to fix that.and you happily go back to work. or he could say, do me a favor, shut up andgo back to work. at that point you have two
choices, go back to work, remain loyal, orexit. those are your only three choices, exit voice, and loyalty. now i'd like to quote a renowned professorfrom harvard business school during my era there, abraham seleznick, in the behavioralsciences. there will come a time when you will be tested. you will be asking yourself,what is your self-esteem worth and would you give it up and be subordinate to someone whoyou don't respect or is doing the wrong thing? you will face that choice someday, now you've heard a lot about me. and i wantto issue a challenge to the graduating class of 2016. when you get up tomorrow morning,how are you going to make it a better world?
it's a simple question but it's an importantone. now you don't have to have bill gates' moneyto do that. you don't have to have the brilliance of a scientist like jonas salk. your parentsand grandparents will tell you that polio was a nightmare that we all grew up underthe specter of worrying about dying or getting paralyzed. and salk developed a vaccine. and he did somethingvery fundamental. he never patented it. so millions of people, by him forgoing all thatmoney, all over the world could be spared the effects of this deadly disease and obtainthe vaccine. once asked why he did that he said, you can't patent the sun.
so you need the courage of your convictionsto want to make a difference. if you're not indifferent things can be different. you haveto place a value on small gestures, to smile, to open the door. making the world betteris as much about small gestures that no one sees. as maya angelou said-- and i'm you didn'tuse this quote. i froze for a minute-- i've learned people will forget what you said,people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. so when you wake up tomorrow and you're figuringout what you're going to do to make it a better world, i want you remember how lehigh madeyou field because the way this place and the people here made me feel totally change mylife and turned me into the person i am today.
and for that i will be forever grateful. thankyou very, very much. thank you joe. we now come to the primaryreason that we are here, conferring of degrees earned during the last academic year. alldegrees conferred today are awarded upon the recommendation of the faculty for the approvalof the trustees of lehigh university. will patrick farrell, provost of vice presidentfor academic affairs please come to the podium. we will recognize each candidate by readinghis or her name. we respectfully request that all candidates remain in their seats untilcalled upon, and return to their seats after being individually recognized. thank you inadvance for your cooperation. i now recognize donald e. hall, the herbertj. and ann l. siegel dean of the college of
arts and sciences. ok. i will now present the degree candidatesfor the college of arts and sciences. yeah. will the candidates for the degree of doctorof philosophy in the college of arts and sciences please rise. president simon, each these candidateshas completed the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in his or her specialfield, and upon recommendation of the faculty and by vote of the board of trustees, is presentedto you to receive that degree. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of doctor of philosophy, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertainingthereto. please recognize the doctors of philosophywith our hearty congratulations and applause.
i will now present the candidates for master'sdegrees in the college of arts and sciences. will the candidates for the degrees of masterof arts and master of science please rise. president simon, each of these candidateshas completed the requirements for the master's degree in his or her field of specialization,and upon recommendation of the faculty and by vote of the board of trustees, is presentedto you to receive that degree. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of master of arts or master of science, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilitiespertaining thereto. please recognize the master's degree recipientswith our hearty congratulations and applause. will the candidates now for degrees of bachelorof arts and bachelor of sciences in the college
of arts and sciences please rise. presidentsimon, each of these candidates has completed the requirements for graduation, and uponrecommendation of faculty and by both of the board of trustees, is presented to you toreceive the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of science. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of science, with all the rights, privileges,and responsibilities pertaining thereto. and let's hear it now for the bachelor ofarts and bachelor of science recipients in the college of arts and sciences. the ushers will now invite the degree candidatesfrom the college of arts and sciences forward
to be individually recognized. the following graduates are receiving a doctoratelevel degree. [reading names] the following graduates are receiving a master'slevel degree. the following graduates are receiving a bachelor'slevel degree. i now recognize georgette chapman phillips,the kevin l. clayton and lisa a. clayton dean of the college of business and economics. thank you president farrell. i now presentthe degree candidates from the college of business and economics. will the candidatesfor the degree of doctor of philosophy in
the college of business and economics pleaserise. we have a representative sample, yes. president simon, the candidates have completedthe requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in his or her special field,upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the code of the border trustees, i presentyou the candidates to receive that degree, candidates i confer upon you the degree ofdoctor of philosophy, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertainingthereto. please recognize the doctors of philosophy. i will now present the candidates for master'sdegrees in the college of business and economics. will the candidates for the following degreesplease rise. master's of business administration,
master's of science and management master'sof science in economics, master of science in accounting and information analysis, masterof science in analytical finance, master of educational leadership in business administration,will you please rise. president simon, each of these candidates has completed the requirementsfor the master's degree in his or her special field, upon the recommendation of the facultyand the code of the board of trustees, i present you the candidates to receive that degree. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of master of business administration, master of science and management, master ofscience in economics, master of science in accounting and information analysis, masterof science in analytical finance, or master
of educational leadership in business administration,with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertaining thereto. please recognize these master's degree candidates. will the candidates for the degree bachelorof science in business and economics please rise. president simon, each of these candidateshas completed the requirements for graduation, and upon the recommendation of the facultyin one of the board of trustees, i present to you the candidates to receive the degreeof bachelor of science in business and economics. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of bachelor of science in business and economics, with all the rights, privileges,and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
please recognize the bachelor of science degreerecipients with our hearty congratulations. the ushers will now invite the degree candidatesfrom the college of business economics to move forward to individually be recognized. the following graduates are receiving a doctorallevel degree. adam ira biener, nicholas francis wilson. i now recognize gary m. sasso, dean of thecollege of education. thank you provost farrell. i will now presentthe degree candidates for the graduate college of education, our fourth college at lehigh.will the candidates for the degrees of doctor of education and doctor of philosophy pleaserise. president simon, each of these candidates
has completed the requirements for the degreeof doctor of education or doctor of philosophy in his or her special field, and upon therecommendation of the faculty and by vote of the board of trustees, is presented toyou to receive that degree. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of doctor of education or doctor of philosophy, with all the rights, privileges,and responsibilities pertaining thereto. please recognize the doctors of educationand doctors of philosophy with our hearty congratulations and applause. will the candidates for the degree of educationspecialist, master of arts, master of education and master of science please rise. presidentsimon, each of these candidates has completed
the requirements for educational specialistor a master's degree in his or her field of specialization, and upon the recommendationof the faculty and by vote of the board of trustees, is presented to you to receive thatdegree. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of educational specialist, master of arts, master of education or master of science,with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities please recognize the educational specialistsand master's degree recipients with our hearty the ushers will now bring the degree candidatesfrom the college of education forward to be individually recognized. the following graduates are receiving an educationalspecialist or a master's degree.
i now recognize john coulter, dean of thep.c. rossin college of engineering and applied science. [applause and cheering] engineers, are you ready? [cheering] i will now present the degree candidates forthe p.c. rossin college of engineering and applied science. will the candidates for thedegree of doctor of philosophy in the p.c. rossin college of engineering and appliedscience please rise. president simon, each of these candidates has completed the requirementsfor the degree of doctor of philosophy in
his or her special field, and upon the recommendationof the faculty and by vote of the board of please recognize the doctors of philosophywith our hearty congratulations. i will now present the candidates for master'sdegrees in the p.c. rossin college of engineering and applied science. will the candidates forthe degrees of master of engineering, master of science, and master of business administrationin engineering please rise. president simon, each of these candidates has completed therequirements for the master's degree in his or her field of special specialization, andupon the recommendation of the faculty and candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of master of engineering, master of science, or master of business administrationand engineering, with all of the rights, privileges,
and responsibilities pertaining thereto. please recognize the master's degree recipientswith our congratulations. will the candidates for the degree of bachelorof science in the various fields of engineering and apply science please rise. president simon, each of these candidateshas completed all the requirements for graduation, and upon recommendation of the faculty andby vote of the board of trustees, is presented to you to receive the degree bachelor of sciencein that field of engineering and applied science for which the candidate has qualified. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree bachelor of science in the field of
engineering and applied science for whichyou have it qualified, with all of the rights, please recognize the bachelor of science degreerecipients with our applause. president simon, i present to you the candidatesfor the interdisciplinary programs from the college of arts and science, the college ofbusiness and economics, and the p.c. rossin college of engineering and applied sciencefor the degrees of bachelor of science in computer science and business, bachelor ofscience in integrated business and engineering, and the integrated degree in engineering,arts and sciences. will the candidates for these degrees please rise. to you to receive the degree of bachelor ofscience computer and business, bachelor of
science in integrative business and engineering,or the integrated degree in engineering, arts and sciences for which the candidate has qualified. candidates, i confer upon each of you thedegree of bachelor of science in computer science and business, bachelor of sciencein integrated business and engineering, or the integrated degree in engineering, artsand sciences for which you have it qualified, please recognize the recipients of those degreeswith our hearty congratulations. the ushers will now bring these candidatesforward to be individually recognized. so let's give all of our graduates a roundof applause. congratulations. i would like now to welcome kira mendez, classof 1983 and outgoing president of the lehigh
university alumni association board of directors,to address our newest lehigh university alumni. thank you president simon. congratulationsto all of you and your families. it's almost done. it's my great honor and pleasure towelcome you to our lehigh university alumni association family. you are now officiallyconnected to more than 80,000 lehigh alumni all over the world. and if you are truly looking while you'reout there, you will find us everywhere you go. this year i had the opportunity to joinpresident simon on a 10-city tour meeting alumni all across the us. and i can tell you,our network is amazing. today marks an important milestone, the receivingof a degree from lehigh. perhaps some of you
will extend your stay to pursue additionaldegrees. but at some point, now or in the near future, you will leave your student daysat lehigh behind. it feels good to finish, and it is quite an accomplishment. now you will go out into the world to liveyour life and do incredible things. hopefully, you will look back fondly at your time here,maybe come back for reunions or get together at other events to reminisce. and i guessthat's fine but not really the full credit answer. i have far bigger dreams for you. in my alumni dream for you, this isn't theend of your deep relationship with lehigh it is only the beginning, and very early daysat that. consider this. i spent four years
at lehigh getting my first engineering degree.but i have now spent 33 years as a lehigh alumna. for you math people out there, that'smore than eight times as long. and i hope to have many more that's a lot of time for an immensely enjoyableand valuable relationship with lehigh and those other 80,000 alumni i told you about.in my alumni dream for you, your level and type of engagement will evolve as your lifeevolves through career changes, geographic moves, growing families, emerging passions. lehigh is constantly involving as well. sothere will always be new initiatives to explore and places to intersect. perhaps you willdo as i did and collaborate on research and
program design, run workshops, mentor students,serve on boards or councils. alumni of all generations and backgrounds, as well as lehighfaculty and staff, will become your colleagues, your partners, your dear friends. you willwork together on creative projects, business ventures, social causes. the opportunitiesfor engagement or as individual as you are. in my alumni dream for you, you will enjoythe full benefit of this tremendous network connected to lehigh. and by the same token,lehigh will grow as a result of your involvement, both as an institution and as a vibrant communitymaking things happen in the world. after 33 years, my connection to lehigh has more relevanceand significance to my life than ever before. that is my alumni dream for you.
that's what your lehigh university alumniassociation wants to help you to achieve. now i challenge you, as the extraordinarylehigh alumni that you have now become, to go out and make that happen. and so untilwe meet again, i once again congratulate you on today's accomplishment and will look forwardto getting to know you and working together for a long, long time to come. lastly, to continue a very special lehightradition, harry brown, 1966 class president, and max dezarn, 2016 class president, willnow ring the bell. [bell clanging] thank you. following the recessional, pleasejoin lehigh university's newest alumni at
their colleges receptions in tents outsidethe south entrance of the stadium. and now, please rise for the benediction and remainstanding for the alma mater. glorious god of all that is, may the prayersof our hearts be welcomed and received by you. we praise you for this day, wherein ithas been our pleasure to thank you for the gift of the class of 2016. keep them safe.give them strength to be a difference for our country and world, make them instrumentsof your peace in a world that is weary from wars and conflicts, the conviction that whenthey encounter injustice they will correct it with compassion and truth. we pray that they realize that it is in givingthat we receive and dying to our lesser selves that we are liberated to
be your children. go with them lord, and maywe find a perpetual sanctuary in their hearts, for we have loved them dearly. class of 2016, go with our blessing and the secured blessing of a god who loves us more than we will everlove ourselves. and have courage. amen. [singing] where the lehigh's rocky rapidsrush from out the west. mid a grove of spreading chestnuts, walls in ivy dressed. on the breast of old south mountain reared againstthe sky, stands our noble alma mater, stands our dear lehigh. like a watchman on the mountain, stands she grandly bold. earthand heaven's secret seeking, hoarding them like gold. all she wrests from nature's storehouse,naught escapes here eye. gives she gladly
to her dear ones, while we bless lehigh. we will ever live to love her, live to praise her name. live to make our lives add luster to her glorious name. let the glad notes wake the echoes, joyfully wecry. hail to thee, our alma mater. hail, all hail, lehigh.