Purdue News
Purdue News
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May 13, 2000 Beering focuses on power of ideas during graduationWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue President Steven C. Beering told new graduates they should remember that ideas are the real power of society during commencement ceremonies today (Saturday, 5/13). Ceremonies were scheduled at the West Lafayette campus May 12-14 in Elliott Hall of Music. Approximately 4,900 students – 3,840 of whom are undergraduates – were to earn degrees during four ceremonies on the West Lafayette campus. Degree recipients also included Steven C. and Jane P. Beering, who received honorary doctorates during this morning ceremonies. President Beering was awarded an honorary doctorate of science. Mrs. Beering was awarded an honorary doctorate of hospitality management. Beering has announced he will step down June 30 or whenever a new president can be installed. A search committee has been at work since fall looking for his successor. Before earning his new degree, President Beering told new graduates, "Great ideas are all around us and that the real power they possess is just waiting for the right person to come along and to set it free. "Walt Disney -- who may have influenced more Americans than all the political leaders and authors of the twentieth century -- said that the future is not the result of choices among alternative paths offered in the present. It is a place that is created -- created first in the mind and the will; and then realized through action. "The men and women who will be receiving new Purdue degrees in just a very few minutes are at the vanguard of leadership for this new century we are beginning now. They will not simply choose from a finite number of options. They have open to them possibilities that are limited only by their imaginations and their ambitions." Beering encouraged the students to use the stable society to advance humanity. "Here in the year 2000, we have one of those rare moments when our nation and most of the world enjoy peace, prosperity, and relative political stability. The world in which you will live and work is far from perfect, but it offers rare opportunities, and you are uncommonly well-prepared to make the most of them," Beering said. "I am not expecting every one of you to come up with world-changing ideas. Only a few of those come along every generation. It is entirely possible that one of you will indeed originate a revolutionary concept. Many people who have sat in this room before you have done so. "But the important thing is how you react to vital ideas put in your path. How they change you and how you improve them. The Purdue experience was designed to put you in the company of a wide variety of ideas on all kinds of topics. You had the opportunity to read about them, to discuss them with your fellow students and your professors, to challenge them and to be challenged. "You can have a life that is full of adventure, achievement, and satisfaction. Some of you will change the world profoundly, but all of you can and should expect to enjoy the delight and wonder that comes from making the most of your own talents and pursuing new knowledge throughout your lives. Most of you will begin professional careers in the days ahead, but all of you have begun a personal career of self-fulfillment and constant inquiry." Source: Steven C. Beering, (765) 494-9708 Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; mwillis@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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