Commencement Address Spring 2025

Friday, May 16, 2025

Please be seated everyone, and welcome to the 2025 University Commencement!

Class of 2025, tonight is for you! Congratulations!

Let me give special thanks to your fellow Comet, Debopreeta Bhattacharya, for singing the National Anthem.

Joining me on stage are members of the University leadership and faculty. We were led to the stage by the Speaker of the Academic Senate, Dr. Michael Kesden.

And, on their behalf, I want to say to this wonderful gathering of students, families, and friends: Welcome to UT Dallas!

Students, there is a certain rhythm to your academic life. Semesters begin with your first day of classes and often end with a mad dash filled with papers, projects and exams.

As a community, we also mark the end of the semesters with school-based graduations in December and May. And if you’re a doctoral student, the culmination of your hard work may be celebrated in December, May or August.

University Commencement, though, only happens once a year at UT Dallas. And this is our fourth year to hold this outdoor celebration.

As president over the last eight years and 10 months, I’ve spoken at close to 70 celebrations of our graduating students, from school-based ceremonies, to doctoral hoodings, to university commencements.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of commencements in my life, here and elsewhere. One thing that I have observed in my years of conducting what you might call field research is that graduates have a lot of alluring distractions as graduation day approaches.

Tonight will be one of the best of those times. You will hear from an inspiring alumna, be treated to a cosmic light show, and enjoy an outdoor party after-party.

It is our goal, after all, to make this a special celebration – the kind of event that you will forever remember with fondness.

This is also the last commencement where I will speak as president. So, as you and I end our time here together, I want to present the same question that I first asked 8 years ago at graduation: What can you do with what you know?

Your answer to that question can give shape and help define not only your future, but also that of our society.

All of us on stage have sought to answer this question to some extent. I want to point out that it is a lifelong quest.

I think I speak for all of us on the stage tonight when I say that being a part of these celebrations remind us of our own journey and what it felt like to graduate. It seems like it was just yesterday, even though for most of us, it was in a different century.

What we all had in common was the sense of exhilaration and pride, blended with deep gratitude and friendship for our teachers and classmates.

I wish you that same everlasting pride and joy … which starts today!

Students, you came to UT Dallas for your degrees, and you will soon have them.

When we talk about the purpose of this university – to graduate well-rounded members of the global community – we are talking about you and about what you will do with what you know.

Graduates, take a moment to thank the friends and family, faculty and staff who worked beside you, guiding you to this day.

And, as you move ever forward on your path, I encourage you to stay insatiably curious. We need your bright minds to help solve the tough problems that our world faces.

So, thank you for choosing UTD for your education, and thank you for all you have given back to the Home of the Comets.

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as president of this university and to be a part of your journey.

UTD will aways be a part of all of us, just as we will always be a part of UTD.