Okay. Thank you. We are so blessed to have music in our lives. I'm Debbie snores. I'm the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Chair of the Department of Art Conservation. And I realized I almost forgot to bring tissues. This is so emotional, and we are so proud of everyone in this room. Welcome to our honored guests, families, friends, alumni, faculty, staff, and especially the members of the University of Delaware College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2024. I want to extend a special welcome to those joining me on the platform today. I'll ask them to stand. Oh. You should sit down first. And then I'm going to ask you to stand as I introduce them. Suzanne Burton, the associate Senior Associate Dean of the Arts, Wendy Billion Oh, you can hold your applause. And many of them will be speaking to you also later on the program. Wendy Meham, the Associate Dean of the Humanities, Matt Kinzervik vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Miguel Garcia Diaz, Vice President for Research, Scholarship Innovation. Miguel just joined us a couple of weeks ago, and we're very happy about that. Natalia Mitrovich, Chair of the Department of Art and Design, Steve Tag, Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance. Danny Stevens, Director of the School of Music. Okay. You guys can cheer. Kimberly Bache, Chair of the Department of Africana Studies. Sandy istentet Chair of the Department of Art History. John Ernst Chair of the Department of English. Chad Gasta Chair of the Department of Languages, literatures, and cultures. Alison Parker, Chair of the Department of History. And Joel Post. Chair of the Department of Philosophy. I extend my sincerest gratitude to everyone on this platform, collaborating with such a distinguished group of leaders, scholars, and mentors, true mentors is not only an honor, but also a privilege that I deeply cherish. I'd also like to go off script and honor someone else who's in the audience today, and that's our former dean, John Plesco. But he's here in the most important role, and that is as a dad and a father of a graduate. We begin today's ceremony by remembering those loved ones who are not with us today, but who are close in our hearts forever and always. Please join me in a moment of silence. I would also like to recognize all members of the United States military active reserve, and retired who are with us today. We are so grateful for your service and your dedication. Words can't begin to express our gratitude to each of you, and will you please stand to be recognized? Now will everyone please rise for the National Anthem sung by graduating members of the University of Delaware Coral? Oh. And I. C. Oh. Thank you so much for such a beautiful rendition for your talents, your passion. Today, we are recognizing graduate students from the Departments of Art and Design, theater and dance, Africana studies, art conservation, art history, English, history, languages, literatures, and cultures, philosophy, and the School of Music, and the Center for Global and area Studies. Each of these disciplines has the capacity to educate, to empower and to connect global communities in such powerful ways. The arts and humanities educate, they activate, they transform, they shape, and they heal people and communities. The celebrate memory, foster joy, build cultural understanding, enable dialogue, promote empathy, and transmit knowledge from the past to the future. Across the colleges of Arts and Sciences today, 670 students are graduating. That's really remarkable. 1,110 will receive a bachelor's degree. 2009, will obtain associate degree or certificate, and 351 will obtain a graduate degree. These talented graduates range in age 18-76 and represent 21 states, Puerto Rico, and 32 nations on six continents. They've explored a multitude of major and minor areas of study. I would like to especially acknowledge the 204 seniors in our college who will become the first member of their family to earn a bachelor's degree. What an incredible achievement for you and your families and you are an inspiration to all of us. I recently asked our faculty, what makes this graduating class special? They shared wonderful stories of remarkable achievements. Today is about every one of you and all you have accomplished. We are so proud of each of you. As you move forward on your life's journey, celebrate your accomplishments as you constantly strengthen your skills and advance your learning. Be confident and be grateful. Have faith in yourself and each other. Continue to experience the world and the many cultures that exist, B empowered to use your knowledge to address the societal challenges that surround us. Do not be intimidated by the complexity of work that must be done. The world needs you. Many will welcome your knowledge and your remarkable skills. Continue to educate, to encourage, and to mentor others as your many mentors have done so beautifully for each of you. Your creativity, your critical thinking, your positive energy. You can feel it in this room today, and your commitment to excellence offer a solid foundation for your future. I've been privileged to study, graduate from and work at the University of Delaware for a combined 50 years. I started when I was five. No. I wish. Oh, my goodness, 50 years. My education here prepared me for an exciting and enriching and fulfilling career in art conservation, one that has allowed me to preserve photographic treasures around the world. I truly cherish the University of Delaware community. And I urge all of you to hold tight to the connections you have made here both personally and professionally and nurture them. My UD roommate is my best friend, and we still talk. This is 50 years ago, nearly every evening. Our dads now in their 90s, continue to wonder how and why. I hope you two will stay connected to this community. They also we lived in four oh one Kent Hall, and Dad would always say, Oh, my God. Why do you keep staying in that same room? Because we would have to go up and down the stairs. But those are memories that I cherish, and I know each of you have so many memories that will last with you for 50 years and beyond, as well. I hope and know that you'll stay connected to this community. Remember that you are blue hens forever. Friendships and connections forged at the University of Delaware last a lifetime, including those with our stellar faculty and staff who might also like to recognize and thank today. As interim dean of the UD College of Arts and Sciences, it is clear these valued colleagues are an exemplar for higher education. Their expertise, their knowledge, their unparalleled creativity, their compassion, their fortitude and their ingenuity, our bright light and intrical to our students success. Will, our faculty and staff who are here today, please stand or wave your hand, but stand if you can to be recognized, and this includes all of our faculty. You can see many of them here, many behind me, as well as all our staff who are all over this stadium right now helping every single person. So please stand so we can thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you do. For this university. There are many joys that I have as interim dean, but working with the faculty and staff and these students is absolutely unbelievable. And it's a wonderful, wonderful position. I feel deeply, deeply honored. Now, I'd like to introduce our keynote speaker, Steve Tag. Steve is interim chair of the Department of Theater and Dance and the producing artistic director of UDs professional theater program or company, the Resident Ensemble Players, or rep, as we call it. Steve, who is truly, truly a remarkably talented actor and a wonderfully collaborative colleague has been a member of this ensemble since it was founded in 2008. So now I'd like to welcome Steve to the podium to present a keynote speech for all of you. Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the 45th annual VFW Chili Cook off. I'm sorry, Dad. No, honestly, I have the real one. I was just a mistake. That was last night's speech. Hang on. I'm really sorry about that. Not a good start. Hello. What an honor to be here today in front of you. Today, you turn a page in the Great Book of Life. And you deserve all kinds of high fives. Graduation is like a bridge to the next part of your life. And your hard work built that bridge. Soon, you will walk across that bridge into your future. Okay? Okay. This is terrible. This is really bad writing. Okay. Not my fault. See the university's been on us, the big push to use AI. I was a little behind this week, okay? And I confess. I used AI to write this speech this morning. I wanted to keep it fresh. Look, I Matt cervic here? Matt. Look what happened. Look, he's hiding 'cause he's the big AI guy. All right. This terrible speech. This terrible speech is evidence. All right. What now? What do you guys want to talk about? It's terrible. Well, we have a lot of writers here. Anybody come with a convocation speech? Oh, my God friends. Oh, child. Thank you. Oh. Thank you, Colleen Pop. Always prepared. She and her team are responsible for making this whole thing go. Let's see if this is any good. Good morning. I'm Steve Tag. Hey, how did she do that? I am truly honored to be here speaking to you on this great day of celebration. Yes. I thank the deans, Belly and Burton and Hes Norris for giving me this opportunity, even if they now regret it. Yeah. But let's get semi serious here. In the arts and humanities, on occasions such as this, we like to speak in grand terms. Art changes lives. Art washes the dust off your soul. The humanities give us the toolbox to think seriously about the world. And Art allows us to see what is invisible to others, et cetera. I believe these. I really do. I use these in class and when I'm raising money. I like grand poetic statements. We all do. They can inspire us and lift us up. But instead of the grand effect. Let's look at the everyday effect of the arts and humanities on your lives and the lives of others. Allow me to propose the following scenarios. Suppose you play the trumpet. You do a concert in a small town right here in Delaware. The melody you play worms its way into the heart of a young person in the audience. 15 years later, that young person is married with kids. One of the kids comes home from school, says, I want to play an instrument. How about the trumpet? Now, the parent isn't thinking of that concert 15 years ago, but it stirs inside of them. The melody is lurking. The kid gets pretty good at the trumpet joins the marching band. That marching band plays at the St. Patrick's Day parade, perhaps, right here in Newark, bringing joy to families, and the beat of that march gets into the heart of one of those kids on the sidewalk. It's listening. And so it goes. Art is woven into our lives so deeply, it's easy to miss. Let's look at poetry. Talk about frivolous. The only thing worse would be studying acting. Well, really. When we finish here, there'll be parties. You guys will get some cards, there'll be some money in the cards. You'll be rich for a little while. All right. But those somebody right over there and right over there are going to write something gushy on the card. Something heartfelt. It's going to be difficult for them. All right. How do you say in words, what you mean to them. What this day means to them and to you. How do you account for life in language. Poets do that. Writers do that. We talk all day long. We live in language, texting, phoning, watching TV, listening to songs, writing e mails, listening to speeches. Some of you have studied this language stuff. You're good. You're good at making sense of the world and putting it into language. It's easy to miss that, but we're grateful. Human beings have been called the story telling animal. We tell stories all day, every day. You're doing it right now. You're weaving a story about this ceremony. We're all doing it. You can't help it. We're getting kind of metapreky now. Of all days, this is a huge story day, one that you'll tell for a long time. You'll be telling stories about the parking, about the fight in the car, about how beautiful they look. All right. Your story will be filled with emotions, the rain, the thunder. Your neighbor right there will be in your story. Your grandparents will be in the story, your little sister. Stories might be a Spanish or Chinese. Many of our disciplines are steeped in story. History is a giant story. Philosophy comes to us in stories. There are novels, plays, movies, TV shows. We work out life in our stories. You're generally the hero in your story. You suffer and triumph. And as we watch stories, we sympathize, empathize, we gain fellow feeling. We become more human. And this has happened since we lived in caves. Some of you have been asking very difficult questions. Why are we here? Why was I born? Where do I go after I'm dead? Why is there something rather than nothing. You've spent years asking these questions, driving yourself and your roommates to near madness. Look at Kierkegarg. Lo at Nisha. But because of your struggles, we trust you to be able to hold two opposing ideas in your head at the same time. Imagine that. You can lead by example. Let's do just a little bit of art. Try this. Do one of Michael Langlo's hands. You've all seen the creation, right? There we go. Let's try that, right? I think that's Adam's hand. Very nice. And if you like, you can participate with your neighbor. They could do the creator, right? That hand has a little more, right? And so lots of things are happening right now. Some of you feel creative. Some of you feel foolish. Some of you feel like you're in ET, phone home. Yes. But now, you'll look at hands differently. That's what we do. How long will that last? I don't know. 5 minutes an hour all day. How you see has changed. That's the arts and humanities, friends, raising awareness, changing how we see. Do I admire people that invented airbags, seat belts, and smoke alarms? Sure, I do. They save lives, and you can't argue with that. Some say science is the true force for justice and equality. 'Cause a seat belt saves everybody, doesn't care who you are. So they're going to keep us alive, those in the other loser colleges and departments. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But we make it worth living and you do it every day. Casting out ripples out and out and out. I wish for you a lifetime of curiosity and generosity. And I thank you for what you're already doing for the world and what you will do. Now, get out there and celebrate humanity. You make a difference because your intelligence ain't artificial. Thank you. Thank you, Professor Tag for sharing this thought provoking, inspiring and invaluable insight. Good morning. My name is Suzanne Burton, and I am the Senior Associate Dean for the Arts. I'm also a Professor of Music Education. I have the great pleasure of representing the Department of Art and Design and the School of Music. Soon to be graduates. I'm honored to stand before you and celebrate your incredible achievements in your fields of music, art, and Design. Together with your professors, you have faced and navigated many twists and turns during your time at UD. As COVID 19 has influenced the world, it is more clear than ever before that as creators, performers, and educators, you have unique perspectives to address challenging narratives faced today, social injustice, mental health, political unrest. A mission to provoke thought, evoke emotions, and spark, meaningful and important dialogue within society. The arts have always provided a source of solace and inspiration through times of celebration and of hardship. Through music and the visual arts, you bring hope to so many, you possess the ability to catalyze ways of knowing and understanding that transcend language. You have power to inspire, heal and unite the change our communities are desperate for. So I celebrate you with your families, your friends, professors, administrators and staff. You have forged new paths to reach this milestone. And I hope that you'll use your creativity, your expressive abilities, and passion to transform the world as you shape the future. Congratulations. We are now going to celebrate our students receiving terminal degrees and masters degrees from the Arts and the humanities. If you are receiving a graduate degree from the School of Music, please rise and move to the aisle. Music faculty, please rise and move to the aisle and take your place next to the graduate and bestow the hood. Such a large class from the School of Music. Oh, my goodness. And now the moment we have been waiting for, I am pleased to recommend for graduation our graduate students the class of 2024. Julia Piero Montez. Marta Alfonso Cavara Maria Ferre Fuentez Anastasia Warga Fabricio Ferdo Lorena Gama Avga Susanna Garcia Montosa Sintia Brito. Alexa Lauren Bradley. Zoe Lauren Shub. Angel Gabriel De jesuGarcia Jillian Peny. Chloe Tolman. J Todd. Carin Frith. Lee Thompson Condorac Susan Aileen Dala Brita Karen Myrtle Ingram. Gabriel Oiga. Gabriel Clement. Hana Love Powell. Joshua Newman. So, young Chang. Elmira Safavi. Helen Eileen Barnett. Julian dem Gamuge. Andres Eduardo Handel Gonzalez. Ram Shacket. Clara Rosa Hertzog. Rachel Wong. Jenna Stout. William Archer. Jackson Duffy. Blake Downs. Zachary Lorman. Jake Grimsley. How Lee Bryce Daniel Cotton. McKenzie Daniel Barry Allen Weisman. I Grigi Elias. Catherine Tuttle. Joshua Goldstein. Julia Noel Grossman. Thomas Daniel Wagner. Ray Juan Leon Di. Anthony Christopher Sala Barria. Jacob Rilko Eric Martinez. Timothy Mason. Brittany Barry. Andrew Dickinson Troutman. Ki Chen. Janelle Gillespi Amanda Marie Spratt. Elena Carhart. Casey Morris. Marin S. Benjamin Hausman, Cody Weston Cheeto. Garrett Thomas. Benson Kwan. Shino. Good morning, everyone. And congratulations again to the graduate students in the Arts and Humanities. My name is Wendy Belion and I have the privilege to serve as the Associate Dean for Humanities and Sewell Bigs Chair of American Art History. Thank you art historians. Our Arts and Humanities undergraduates represent a wide range of disciplines and programs from fields that explore the global breadth of human diasporas to those that peer through microscopes at a single work of art. Together, these many disciplines share a high value for humanistic expression, Analytic rigor, imagination and empathy. Within the classroom, students of the humanities exercise critical thinking. They practice civil discourse, and they develop exciting new research. Beyond the classroom, they organize museum exhibitions, Advance food justice for communities. Translate for Spanish speaking patients in healthcare. Teach in Delaware classrooms. Travel the world on study abroad programs, sometimes multiple times, and they compose plays and poems that ask what it means to be human. None of this is possible without the teaching and mentoring of our faculty and staff, including the department chairs and directors behind me. The faculty joining us in the audience today and our interim dean, Deborah Hess. Would you please join me in thanking all of these incredible people once again? And with that, I am proud and honored to recommend for graduation, members of the Class of 2024 from the Arts and Humanities. The Departments of Africana Studies. Art Conservation, Art History, English, history, languages, literatures, and cultures. Philosophy, the Center for Global and area Studies, the Department of Art and Design, and the School of Music, and the Bachelor of Arts and Liberal Studies. And we are ready for those folks to come forward. Kathleen Jo enesse. Olivia Joanne Burdick, Sabrina Hettinger. Hannah Grace oval. Connor McDaniel. Jessica Marie Mongol Lian Ed Qubin Pascua. Naomi Toyama. Samantha Levin. Hannah Vilnes. Abby Peterman. Lisa Clifford. Haley A remane. Alexander Dornikowski. Nadia Eller horst. Dylan Joseph. Victoria Salvatore. Jillian Earthman. Rachel Anne Foltz. Anna Elizabeth Wilson. Amy Wa. Jada Michelle Michael. Nathan Elliott Assvdo Aden Kiara Sullivan. Alex Place. Abigail Sap Macy Mars in. Jill Elaine Herrin. Guadalupe Guevara. Evelyn Campbell. Rebecca Rojas. Sydney Mel. Schindler Rizlen. Kelly Noel Shea. Kela G Baker. Francis Christian Johnson. Amber Kristy. Hong Yan Tian. Noel Dorothy Carroll. Ethan Carlo. Okay. Cheyanne Spencer. Christina C Reyes. Miles Christian Timmins. Jonah Robert Steinberg. Isabella Vita. Okay. Liam Michael David Sandals. Shawna Dana Dunn. Kaye Douglas Rosser. Anna Grace Huling. Jessica Martin Gonzalez. Adan Conard. Charles Warren Apgar Junior. Danielle Linkin. Randon Bernardino Canglos. Margaret Grass. Bruno Gomez Martinez. Sean Gibbons. Rianna Justine Lon. Jenna Valerio Rebecca Louise Pimble. Abigail Murray. Sarah Skatana. Sophia Grace Cacianos. Allison Mary Wibkey. Megan Grace Lalo. Owen Frese. Kevin Dominic Romano. Ryan Keenan Booty. Lea Marie Gibson. Cole P Walker. Zoe Lipkin. Jessica Ryan. Nathan Sork. Rebecca Lord France. Sophia A La Bianca. Michael Joseph Faceta. Andrew Steinberg. Catherine Shannon Snyder. Logan Avery Slansky. Emerson Forbes. Elizabeth Kern. Graham Layton. Benjamin Mc Monagle. Joshua Thomas on Frickin. Aryana M Hiram. Okay. Lila Wright. Alexander Kravcenko. Matthew Greco. Raquel Lynn Hackman. Anna Flynn. Evan Taylor. Marie Michelle Caron. Hunter Scott Maddock. Margaret Bornski. Heather A Scott. Carin Anastasia D George. Ting Ting, Yeah. Jake Matthew Cohen. Michaela Faith Cohen. Julia Catherine Murray. Mia Lynn Kelly. Mia Hedgey Gervais. Mason Leah Blowk. Katherine M Mansvinos. Isabella Augustine Kokoza. Ryan Morris, Kara McDonald. Thomas Berney. Rachel Elizabeth Gentry. Natalie Schmidt. Eliza Kelly Andrew. Okay. Abigail Savannah Koch. Audrey Mason Buchanan. Sarah Wessel. Samuel Jenkins. Danielle D Simpson. Julia La Pele. Cameron La Sala. Sabrina Silas. Alexia Caprio. Dylan James Anan. Jacob John Haddock. Max Harrison Newman. Randy Michael Wright. Cameron V Hall. Leo Way. Oh. To Don. Oh. Phoebe Caswell. Olivia Isabella Disprow. Vivian McGinnis. Roxanne Marguerite quit. John Richard Pesco. Diva Abdul Ahad. Jordan Davis. Theodore Gerhart Street. Patrick On. Okay. Jane aperdo. Alexis Mary McKean. Kayla Gatrel. Amber Schlichtg. Olivia Ryan Donovan. Jaden Nathaniel Snipes. Joseph any Lower. Emily Lynn Principe. Elyse Jolie Reznski. Juliana Clement. Ariana Marie De volio. Maria Rose Webster. Elizabeth Fok. Alexis ras. Rachel Briger. Tegan Holland McDonough. Ruben Fox Everhart. Reese Cottle Vincent. Caitlin Kirk. Abigail Hess. Anna Marie Sellers. Samantha Nicole Lo Destro. Do ja Freeman. Eliana Olivo. Danielle Rene Macltrod. Alison Cohen. Jordana Edith Garland. Angela Ramirez Rivas. Victoria rising Danner. Noah William Spergel. Isaiah Porter. Y Beardsley. A Fa Nan Di Asama Ofori Ajikum Jania Meekins. Shannon Yarn. Afiya John. Daniel Edward Pascarela. Patrick Jacob Hubo. Olivia Grace Frost. Michaela Pettit. Julia Elizabeth Manson. Haley Alexis Ryan. Ethan Ryan Macintosh. Cameron Lee H. Zepplin Evans. Jackson Henry Hart. Kaylee Rose De Sender. Reese Levin. Gabriel Michael Allen. Samuel Harrison Koch. Chance Gagnan. Zachary Joseph Al Dube. Robert James Cole. Alison Foley nR. Riley Jane Kavanagh. Aaron Lynch. Marley Johanna Enright. Richard Joseph Pka. Jonathan William Ray. Marbea Rojas. Jack William Rog. John Wilton Gibson. Edward John Holden. Mike Riley. Page Elizabeth Bates. Owen Simon Manchester. Okay. John Bradford Mess. Daniel Patrick Mens. Rachel Gable. Sarah Katherine Lacour. Samuel Griffin. An Hicks. Lucas William Prince. Sam Ferguson. Bradon Moore. Andrew Pritchard. Devin Ryan Ro. Eric Ryan Flynn, Kelly Bonte Eric Ryan Flynn. Emily Oakes. Camille Lp. Alexander Fitzgerald Hurt. Okay. You all can sit down for just a second. Gosh. You don't need a script here, right? It said please join me in recognizing the class of 2024, and we all did it. You guys are amazing. It It's such a joy to stand on the stage and watch each of you go through with so much happiness and pride in your eyes. Congratulations. I would like to thank the many people who contributed to the success. This is a great ceremony. My appreciation to the University of Deware Department of Public Safety to our staff members who are here today, to our incredible College of Arts and Sciences events team and to everyone involved in planning this wonderful ceremony. It takes a lot of time, as you can imagine, last night they were rearranging the ferns to make sure that you all had good sight and you could see the stage and the amount of work that goes into this. So thank you to every single person in this arena and those who couldn't be here for the work that you did. Before closing, I would like to recognize a very, very special group of people here, the parents, the spouses, the partners, the family members and friends who have supported our graduates. You are so greatly appreciated and you've been fundamental to your graduates success. Will parents and friends and others who have offered their support stand up so our graduates can thank you. Please be seated. It always brings tears to my eyes. Thank you all so much for being here to support these wonderful students. Graduates. Congratulations again on your achievement. In so many ways, it's your commitment, your skills, your knowledge, your creativity, your determination, and your desire that are your greatest gifts to us. We've been privileged to work with you for many years. And it's a deep honor. I say that as not just Enter and dean, but Chair of the Department of our Conservation. I'm so grateful for this experience. We have learned so much from each of you. We are so very proud of all you've accomplished. The world awaits your talents, your creativity, and your passion. So best wishes to the members of the University of Delaware, College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2024. Let's applaud them one more time. And so now, I'd like to ask everyone to please rise for the Alma mater. Immediately following the Alma mater, the platform party will recess. So please remain in your seats until the platform party is executed. Thank you so much for coming. This is such a wonderful celebration. I present to you our Aa. Side we I call voice to to. Well, we wait for the music to rest. Thank you all again, so very much for coming. Thank you to our faculty and staff and students and family and friends.
2024 College of Arts & Sciences Convocation - Arts & Humanities
From Andrew Brett May 23, 2024
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