Diana Sorensen’s dictum One of the most intriguing living thinkers, Diana Sorensen, the dean of arts and humanities at Harvard University, defines a knowledgeable graduate taking wing as follows: “He or she is competent in making discerning judgments with tools derived from science, engineering, social science, the arts and humanities. He or she should be a persuasive speaker who can articulate the reasons for his positions; who can write with clarity, elegance and conceptual power; an innovator who will take risks but first makes sure the limb they go out on is a sturdy one; a creative individual who has faced challenges posed by artistic production and experimentation; a global citizen who can speak, read, write in at least a second language; and who will learn what it takes to negotiate different world views emanating from different cultural traditions, a tolerant yet rigorous thinker whose moral compass is guided by ethical reasoning.”3 Class of 2014, I don’t want to put any pressure on you! But that pretty much summarizes the skill set we all hope you have started to acquire at Bryant and will now go on to hone in life. 2  If memory serves from my days at Oxford University, this observation was noted by Graham Chapman, one of the stalwarts of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. 3  Dean Sorensen’s comments are summarized in “Coming Back, Looking Forward”, Harvard Gazette, Sept. 26, 2012.
I also want to salute the outgoing chairman of the Bryant University board of trustees, Michael Edward Fisher, ’67. I want to thank him not only for his six years as chairman and for his total devotion to Bryant, but also for doing his family proud – especially his little brother … me. Blessed to be Americans Mike Fisher and I grew up in what can most charitably be described as “unusual circumstances”. Our father started out his life in conditions right out of Charles Dickens: At the age of 5 years and 2 months, he was arrested for begging for food and sentenced to seven years in Australia’s harshest prison, a God-awful place called Westbrook Reformatory.1 He was spared the destiny of most inmates there – he was released quickly and lived to see better days – but to say he grew up rough is an understatement. Our mother, born in a small South African outpost where Norwegians, Swedes and Danes carved a life out of the “bush”, lost her father at the age of 4 and was raised by a single mom who cooked for a boarding house. Neither of our parents had a formal education. But both were smart and ambitious for a better life. What did they do? They came to America. It was here that their family flourished. If you are ever tempted to doubt what hardworking immigrants bring to our shores and the power and moral imperative of a free economy or American-style democracy, think twice.