Graduation Address

"Encaenia Address." (28 May 2009): 1-2. (UA Case 67)

Votre Honneur Lieutenant-Gouverneur du Nouveau-Brunswick Herménégilde Chiasson, Chancellor Currie, President McLaughlin, Distinguished Guests, Faculty, Parents, Friends, and most of all Graduates.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the University, the Board of Governors, and Senate for the honor which has been bestowed on me today. For a kid from small town St. Stephen, New Brunswick, I am truly humbled, and very pleased to share in your graduation.

It was exactly 32 years ago, that my parents and grand-parents, like yours, walked up the hill with me and applauded as I walked across this stage to get my diploma – a diploma that hangs proudly on my wall.

When I walked out of the Aitken Centre in 1977, all I knew for certain is that I had a summer job. I didn’t have specific goals, but what I had, was potential – and that is what you have – potential. And the world is at a time and place when it needs -your potential.

You are entering your careers at a point where there are fundamental changes going on in the world. It is a world in which the only constant is, change. Not since the end of the Second World War, have we perhaps witnessed the significant structural changes to the world economy and society, that we are seeing today – and you hold the key of potential, to shape the outcome.

From the 50s thru the 80s, countries and economies were rebuilt. Families moved to suburbs. Careers were usually for life. Pensions provided financial security at retirement. These paradigms are changing. We are fortunate to live in a developed economy. These developed economies representing about 15% of the world population, have consumed 75% to 80% of the output of extractive industries. China, India and developing economies now also want consumer products – so we have to learn to share global resources, some of which are finite. It will be your generation, and the leaders within you, that will develop the strategies that will determine how the world will interact socially, and how we will share global resources of water, energy and materials; all at a time, when we have to be more cognitive of our collective impact on this planet.

Thinking of the future for a moment, in 30 years when one of you will have the privilege of standing here – collectively, you will be at the height of your careers, both in income earning and family development. There will be another 2 billion people inhabiting the planet, and like you, they will all be determined to build a better life for themselves and family. There will be competition. Many will want to live in urban environments so new cities will be built, infrastructure expanded and new consumers created. You may have had five to ten job changes in your career by then and some of you will be working in jobs that currently don’t exist. Personal computers will have the capacity of the human brain, and what we imagine now, may be real. Facebook may well be its own country!

The world will be even more connected and more complex, so it will be necessary to have the ability and capacity to adapt to changes; to be respectful of others’ views and cultures – even if different from your own. Personally having worked in 15 countries on five continents – adaptability is the reality of business today. Your choices will be extensive and one will need discipline to balance career, health and family. The future holds great promise, and opportunity, but what of now?

The economy will take a while to sort itself out, so it may mean creativity in your income sourcing over the next few years. In Vancouver at an event for Dr. McLaughlin last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Jessica Scott, one your valedictorians from last year and she talked about life after graduation. What struck me was the familiarity of starting out.

In 1977 I didn’t have a clear path, so I worked the summer, backpacked around Europe. I opened an RRSP and paid into it for two years and used it to finance my Masters. Within a year after graduating with my Masters at a time of recession, I was laid off from my job, so I went back to work as a summer student. At the time, it seemed two steps forward one or two steps back, but upon reflection, those challenges presented opportunities, and when I join the dots, which is easy to do with the benefit of hindsight, those opportunities continue to this day.

When I think back to what UNB taught me, it wasn’t so much the subject matter I learnt, but how to learn, because we learn every day. In Dr. McAllister’s 4th year economic geology class, I learnt of ore discovery and that ignited my passion for geology. Subsequently though, I have come to recognize, it was the pursuit of discovery that instilled the passion – not the outcome.

Personally, the largest life lesson I have learnt so far, is that all those clichés that your parents or Professors may have told you and you roll your eyes at - they’re true. But that is for you to learn. Live each day to its fullest, be true to yourself, be respectful of others, and so on. And one day, you may also realize if you don’t already, that you have just spent the best two, three or four years of your life here at UNB and have developed friendships and established relationships that will be lifelong. After all, UNB isn’t just a place, it’s a feeling. And although you may leave it physically, UNB doesn’t leave you. For me, it’s part of my home – my family and friends live here, this is where I get maple syrup, and fiddleheads, and lobster, and where I come to watch the fall leaves change colour. UNB matters.

This is a day of your foundations – the foundation of learning from this great institution, and importantly, the foundation of family and friends who have supported you along your way and are here today to celebrate with you. It’s your day to enjoy and to take pride in your accomplishments!

For those of you leaving the Province, I might suggest you have that last Alpine, as you do “have to live here to get it”. I’ll be having one later myself to celebrate, as it has been 28 years between degrees for me.

Shortly, when you walk across this stage and out the door into this beautiful Maritime spring day, the world awaits, and it awaits for you to change it – pick up that challenge! Good luck in discovering your potential, live your life with passion, but most of all - enjoy your journey!

Congratulations!