President's remarks open new year

The following remarks were delivered by Grand Valley President Mark A. Murray at the opening convocation on Aug. 22, 2003:

Greetings to our Board of Trustees, administrators, staff, the faculty of this great university, our students, and very special welcome to you the freshman class who are beginning your education at Grand Valley State University. I am pleased to offer these remarks to all assembled here today -- but my thoughts are particularly prepared for you as you begin your university education.

Dr. Lee Knefelkamp was on campus on Wednesday to address the faculty as part of our Fall Teaching Conference. She noted how wonderful this time of year is as thousands of institutions engaged in higher education go through the rituals of opening. It is a joy to be part of a broader set of activities occurring throughout the entire nation as higher education is renewed and reengaged for another year, and indeed as all of education, pre-school through graduate, levels go through their openings.

As you have seen in the Lanthorn , it was 40 years ago this autumn that fewer than 250 students began their education at Grand Valley State College. They were the first class -- the pioneering class. Two buildings were complete -- Lake Michigan and Seidman Hall. There were 16 faculty. There were no residence halls.

As we begin a new year, much has changed. But more has remained the same.

Size is the most obvious change. We have extensive and modern campuses. We have 21,000 students. The great majority of our entering freshmen live on campus.

This year we welcome more than 100 new faculty and instructors who join us this year and more than 3,000 new students who join us as well.

Our range of majors is much broader. The laboratories, internships, study abroad, undergraduate research opportunities, athletics, music programs, graduate programs, recreation center -- the magnificent Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences that many of you saw last evening -- all great additions from that first academic year 40 years ago. We are quite different now.

But at more fundamental levels, we are very much the same.

We are a community engaged in learning.

We come from different backgrounds and perspectives but join in a common and noble purpose.

We journey together, growing as individuals, discovering knowledge, building skills, and refining our purpose.

As I reflect on the journey and the learning ahead for you in this academic year of 2003-2004, I am reminded of that great Renaissance work -- the Divine Comedy.

Dante tells us of the journey of Virgil and the Pilgrim through the Inferno, Purgatory, and into Paradise.

It was in fact the Pilgrim's journey but he had, and he needed, a guide.

For you the new students of Grand Valley State University, let's be clear -- the work of this year is your journey -- but you will benefit greatly from your guides. Your faculty will be great leaders as you pursue your learning

When Virgil had done all he could for the Pilgrim, when he had taken him through the Hell and Purgatory and the Pilgrim was about to enter Paradise¿..when Virgil had shown him and taught him enough that the Pilgrim would be able to complete the journey himself into Paradise, Virgil said to him -- 'I crown and miter you lord of yourself.'

Four years from now as you our entering freshmen process across the stage to receive your diplomas, I'd like to offer the same benediction to each of you -- On behalf of Grand Valley State University, I'd like to crown and miter you lord of yourself.

Not because your experience was hellacious -- it won't be. Or because the other side of college is paradise -- it is not. But because a basic goal of your education should be an informed and balanced self-mastery.

You should be building a strong capacity and will to make thoughtful, well-reasoned and purposeful choices. Self-mastery is not self-focus or self-absorption. Nor is it a belief that you alone can accomplish all without the help of others. A true self-mastery helps you better understand your creative gifts and have a clear sense of purpose for service to others.

Master of yourself. Able to engage the broader community professionally. Able to be a full participating citizen and neighbor. Fully yourself, while exhibiting -- to use John Dewey's phrase -- 'the capacity for associative living.'

How will this journey proceed?

Like any, it will involve hard work and not a few setbacks.

Do the tough readings. Explore the sections of material you do not initially understand. For me, there were more than a few hours spent to understand the central limit theorem, to understand what Wallace Stevens was saying in his poetry, to learn how to write a good lead in a newspaper article. When a faculty member or a fellow student challenges a conventional view, take the time to try to see things from a different angle. And when you are confident that you are right and have done the work to be sure of it, respectfully stick to your viewpoints. There is hard work ahead - but right behind the hardest work is the best learning and the deepest satisfaction.

Build your base of knowledge -- the essential facts of the subject at hand. But as important as that core of knowledge is, the greater value comes from our ability for critique and analysis. And these powers of analysis are not simply the powers of pure reason, they are also the capacity to see and respect and honor other viewpoints and experiences.

Every field has a base of knowledge to be mastered. But every field is advanced only by those who have well-developed powers of critique and analysis.

A core liberal education remains the center of our work at Grand Valley for a good reason -- it is of such great value. It fulfills our mission -- the one you will find stated so simply on the back of your ID -- to educate students, to shape their lives, their professions and their societies.

As one of our distinguished faculty members, Robert Mayberry, has noted, the ever-accelerating pace of technological change increases the importance of critical thinking and the traditional liberal arts. We don't know what particular software or systems or machines we will use to support our work, but we know that they will change rapidly. And we know that those who create value in their professions will be those who can properly assess the situations before them and make thoughtful judgments about proper ways to advance.

Much about a Grand Valley education is the same each year. This year, we will work hard. We will develop mastery of the facts and knowledge of many disciplines while putting greater attention on the critical thinking and analysis that provides so much of the lifelong value of education.

And to what end will you do this work? Here your answer is much more personal.

The faculty here today, and we the administrators, find great pleasure in this work. It matches our interests. It reflects and magnifies who we are. It touches our spirits. We are able to be passionate about our work because in this place we can serve such a noble purpose.

To the students I say -- live your passion. Look for your place. Find your noble purpose.

There are so many to choose from -- the discovery of new scientific knowledge, the creative work of a life in the fine arts, the work of the law, health care, public service, education, social work, keeping our businesses customer focused and competitive, finding engineering solutions that make life better -- so many callings to choose from. The choice is yours.

Turn down the volume of the voices around you. Turn down the continuous drone of 24-hour media that have so little to say, and at their worst are so degrading of core human dignity. Find your own voice. Find it in dialogue -- in relationships with others. Find it in personal reflection.

You are wonderfully made. You have great talents and gifts. Find your call. Find your place.
Rachel Voorhees, our Student Senate president, spent the summer in Washington D.C. Some of us think she came back with a case of Potomac Fever. When you feel that kind of fever, you are feeling something about the true tuning of your heart and soul. You are finding something you love. You are finding your voice.

Here is an important place for balance. As part of your lifelong education, it is essential that you continue to develop critical thinking skills. It is important to have a healthy skepticism. Develop some distance from your work so your analysis and reasoning are sound.

But do not let the distance become too great. Skepticism is often healthy. Cynicism is poison. While it is good to create some distance from our work, we must also retain the commitment, the immediacy and intensity, the love for what we do. The commitment that mobilizes our energy and interest makes us better. There is an old bromide that if you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life. There is a great truth behind that view. I've worked in jobs I loved and jobs I have not loved. Work a job you love.

Finally, I call upon all of us in this year to build strong relationships. These relationships will make you better and will serve you for a lifetime.

What wonderful students, faculty and staff we have in this community of learning.

Students -- get to know well at least one faculty member this year. Engage your fellow students in depth. Meet new people -- especially those who come from different places and have had different life experiences. Take the time to enjoy each other. Join other students from Grand Valley or other universities and study abroad if it is at all possible.

Faculty and staff -- continue to engage our students as you have done so well over the years. Engage each other -- especially those outside your own departments. We have so much to learn from each other¿so much to give each other.

Dan Kruger died a little over a month ago. Dan was one of my professors in graduate school at Michigan State. Usually at least once a year, sometimes more often, I talked to Dan or we exchanged notes. What was uncanny was how often in my years of public service I found myself reflecting on a lesson that Dan had taught on how to make negotiation a constructive process leading to a workable resolution. And some of those lessons I learned in the classroom -- others I learned in his office and in the years since I left school. I will miss him. He changed my perspective and helped develop my talents. And he was a friend.

Let this academic year be one of real joy. Let us make new friendships. Let us strengthen our common bonds -- both professional and personal. Let us find pleasure in our hard work and joy in our discoveries.

It is a great honor to be President of this university. What we do this year together will allow us to further discover and to show what is best in us. I look forward to working with all of you to ensure that this, our 41st academic year, is a success for every member of the Grand Valley State University community.