George Mason University’s spring commencement ceremony May 9 was charged with expectancy of graduates’ future success, acknowledgement that crises are reaching an inflection point around the globe, and that principled, courageous leaders will be needed to confront them.
Student speaker Zayd Hamid said it will not be older, more jaded people who forge the necessary solutions.
“It’s up to our generation to solve the grand challenges facing humanity,” he said. “We are the only ones we can.”
Hamid, who that day received a bachelor’s degree in public administration, noted the Class of 2024 had gone from completing daily COVID health checks during the pandemic to finishing their Mason degrees.
GMU president Gregory Washington touted the graduates’ achievements and university’s growing reputation, then issued a plea for tolerance, reconciliation and informed advocacy.
Washington recommended that graduates glean facts from credible sources, become informed instead of just impassioned, and create a more just and prosperous world.
“True leadership demands the brightest minds, not just the loudest voices, to carry the day,” he said, adding, “You are equipped to seek understanding and common ground and work to ensure that disagreements do not collapse into instability.”
Keynote speaker Barbara Humpton, president and CEO of Siemens, received an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. Humpton, who produced an “Optimistic Outlook” podcast during the pandemic, encouraged the graduates embrace optimism not as pie-in-the-sky thinking, but rather as a way to boost personal confidence and find opportunity amidst adversity.
Humpton recounted being moved out of a job she loved earlier in her career because her employers thought she was too nice, smiled too much and wasn’t executive material.
Instead of wallowing in resentment, she remained upbeat, paved the way for her successor, conversed with mentors and seized the job she really wanted when the opportunity arose.
“Be ready to see things through,” she advised. “Remember to focus on what you’re doing right now and do it well. Stay there long enough to make your mark.”
Because of threatening skies, Mason officials dispensed with the usual marshaling area up by the Johnson Center and instead funneled the soon-to-be graduates directly into the arena without a procession.
Anissa Clay Zelaya, who was due to receive a master’s degree in music, performed a rousing rendition of the National Anthem to much applause.
Mason officials bestowed 10,242 degrees and 646 certificates. These included 6,138 undergraduates, whose top majors were business; information technology; psychology; computer science; and criminology, law and society.
Amongst the 3,578 recipients of graduate degrees, the leading majors were computer science, data-analytics engineering, special education, curriculum and instruction, and business administration.
The 319 students who received doctoral degrees had top majors of education, economics, psychology, writing and rhetoric, and computer science. Another 207 students were set to graduate from Scalia Law School at convocations over the ensuing two days.
The graduates hailed from 114 countries, all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, military installations and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Absent from this spring’s ceremony was the bestowal of the Mason Medal on a prominent person who had helped the university. Mason’s board of visitors did not designate a recipient this year, but the tradition remains “very much alive,” a spokesman said.
