St. Ambrose University

Commencement Address


Edward Rogalski photoDelivered by Dr. Edward Rogalski,
president of St. Ambrose University

 

Bishop Amos, honored guests, distinguished colleagues on the board of directors, faculty and staff, honored graduates, family and friends of the graduates: Good morning and welcome to this commencement ceremony in the 125th year of St. Ambrose University’s history.

It is my privilege to share with you this momentous day in the lives of our graduates. It is also Mother’s Day, and I extend a heartfelt greeting to all mothers who are sharing their special day with us. And to all of the families and friends of today’s graduates, we want to thank you for being part of this memorable occasion.

Most importantly, I wish to offer my heartfelt congratulations to you, our graduates, the Class of 2007. Your hard work, your dedication to your studies, your perseverance throughout your time here — all have brought you to this day, on which we celebrate this milestone achievement in your academic career.

This 2007 commencement ceremony marks the culmination of my own career here at St. Ambrose, as well, for it is my last as this great university's president.

So … here we are. I imagine the feelings you’re experiencing at this moment are much the same as mine, as we prepare to embark upon the next chapter in our lives.

Certainly, there’s a sense of nostalgia as we think about our time at St. Ambrose, isn’t there? It is simply the nature of this kind of life event, where we mark the passing of a time that can never be regained and come to the bittersweet realization that some journeys in our lives must end in order for us to begin new ones.

It occurred to me in the past few months that my wife, Bobbi,and I have been Ambrosians longer in our lives than not — nearly 40 years. We were in our twenties and planning for a married life together when we came here in the spring of 1968 to consider my taking the position of dean of students at St. Ambrose, as Monsignor Sebastian Menke, then the president of the college, had been trying to persuade me to do.

Bobbi and I were looking for more than merely an employment opportunity. We were looking for a place to make a home together, a community in which we could raise our children. But most of all we were seeking a place where we could dedicate ourselves to making a difference.

Monsignor certainly wanted to take the college in a direction that spoke to my own views about student rights, responsibilities and governance. As the son of Polish immigrants and the first in my family to earn a college degree, Iliked St. Ambrose's long history of providing the opportunity to receive a college education to the children of the Quad Cities' largely immigrant population, like me, often the first in their families to go to college.

And as the future husband of a woman who held a graduate degree, I also liked the progress Monsignor told me St. Ambrose was making in providing more opportunities for young women to participate fully in the academic and collegiate experience, and so in the future of our country. In fact, it was 1968 when St. Ambrose officially became a co-ed institution.

All good things. But it was only after Bobbi and I set foot on campus that we knew this was where we were meant to be.

This is what I wish to speak to you about today, graduates: Destiny and purpose. Your individual destiny, and especially the destiny we share as members of this academic community, as members of this country, and as members of this world. Your purpose — why you are here on this earth, what you’re meant to achieve and to contribute to the greater good.

When students such as you first come to college, as students everywhere have done for centuries, you come seeking the answers to life’s mysteries, hoping to resolve the burning questions as to the meaning and purpose of your lives. And any institution of higher education worth its mission endeavors to create an environment of inquiry where such questions can be pondered and expanded upon. It is, in fact, the ultimate purpose of this university to commit to an impartial search for the truth, and through such pursuit develop the human mind and spirit, thereby establishing a basis for goodness.

But I’d venture that we find so much more than that at St. Ambrose. And while I'll endeavor to define it, I believe it's something that each of you graduates here today already know deeply, as I knew when I first stepped onto campus nearly 40 years ago.

First, it's the feeling of hospitality you experience when you come to St. Ambrose that goes far beyond such simple words as "welcome" and "how are you?" It's the atmosphere of warmth and generosity of spirit that makes one and all feel included from the first. At St. Ambrose, we’re a community where the individual is valued and respected in a way that could only emanate from Catholic social values and the mission on which this university was founded, a mission that permeates our community at all levels, is lived by students, faculty, staff and administration alike.

It’s only in this kind of setting that students can begin the real work of their academic career: that of developing what has been described as “an attachment to something larger than the lonely self,” so essential to finding purpose and ultimately finding happiness.

It’s only in this kind of setting, as well, that educators can achieve their life’s work — that of giving a name to the yearning inside each of you and helping you to form its voice. And as I think about my time at St. Ambrose, and as you think about your time here, we should acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to the faculty and staff of this place, past and present, whose lives as Ambrosians have done so much to shape our time and our experience here.

Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” As I look out upon our faculty and staff, many with 10, 20, 30 or more years as Ambrosians, I know that you graduates will look back in later years and count them among your own “giants.” Perhaps they taught you to recognize and speak in an authentic voice for social justice; or to carry out your work — be it in business, healthcare or education — with the highest ethics and utmost integrity. Perhaps they helped you to move from theory to healer, or fired your imagination by bringing alive the past or the Word, or they expanded your view of what it means to be a steward of the environment.

Or perhaps, in the case of our staff here at St. Ambrose, it was the support you received beyond the classroom and your studies that you include among the influences that added meaning to your Ambrose experience: support that strengthened your faith, your sense of confidence, or your ability to make a difference in the lives of others.

Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring includes a wonderful tune titled “Simple Gifts.” I’ll spare you all a vocal rendering, but just the words are probably enough to bring the melody to mind: “…’tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free, ‘tis a gift to come down in the place we ought to be…” And when we speak of purpose and destiny, we can’t underestimate the influence of these people who came down in the place they “ought to be.” and gave you the direction to seek your own unique place in the world. Indeed, each of us here now wouldn’t have come down where we are today if not for them. Together they offer a remarkable wealth of scholarship and caring … caring about truth, and about you, our students.

Each of you know in your heart the faculty or staff members whose shoulders you stand upon, and so I would ask the faculty and staff to rise, and let us take a moment to offer them our appreciation.

I think I can speak for them when I say that it has been a privilege and a joy to serve you. You came to St. Ambrose seeking knowledge, and our greatest reward is in knowing you found that and something much deeper and more profound.

And as you leave St. Ambrose, to go on to lives and careers far and near, I wish to provide you with a few parting words to reflect upon. To paraphrase the 19th-century Polish poet Cyprian Norwid: To be happy one should first have something to live on; second, something to live for; and lastly, something to die for.

What the poet is saying is that we need to feel that our life has meaning, and that we are needed in the world. In a few words, he has captured an eternal truth — everyone needs something to believe in, something to embrace with whole-hearted enthusiasm. To do that requires finding something that you truly believe in, something so worth accomplishing that you dedicate yourself to it whole-heartedly — without doubts or self-interest. It means dedicating yourself to a cause, or to many causes, that you consider noble purposes. A life lived in this way will have a sense of purpose that helps you focus your talents, skills and thoughts in an enduring manner. If you can do this, you will know a measure of success and fulfillment greater than any you might imagine at this moment in time.

And that is what I mean by destiny, graduates. Not simply my and Bobbi's destiny, or yours, but our shared destiny that is God's plan for us on Earth. This sense of divine purpose is in some way why you chose to become a part of the St. Ambrose community for your academic career. And it's why Ambrose chose you. Whether you spend four years on campus or 40, you are — we all are — forever Ambrosians.

This is of especially great comfort to Bobbi and me, as we prepare to leave this academic community of which we have been a part for so long. Serving this wonderful university has been a great privilege and honor, one for which we cannot begin to express our thanks. It's difficult to imagine not having this beloved community in our everyday lives, but we go with a sense of peace and accomplishment.

I’m especially proud to have played a role in nurturing and protecting from the ground up and from the inside out this environment of inclusiveness, where all are welcome and valued. This environment of academic inquiry and freedom, where our greatest joy comes from gaining knowledge — about ourselves and the world in which we live. And this environment of service and duty, where we work as a community to ensure that social justice and the opportunities we've been given are extended to all.

So today, on this auspicious occasion in all of our lives, I pray this for all of you, graduates: That you may be as blessed as Ihave been to serve so great an institution and so great a cause. You know now what is to be a part of a community of such generosity of spirit, and to experience such a communion of faith and purpose.

Finally, I pray that God will watch over you in the days and years ahead. Please know that wherever I go, my thoughts and prayers will always be with you and with St. Ambrose.

And you will always, forever, be in my heart.