By Michelle Hines, University Relations
A student celebrates his new degree at the UNCG commencement ceremonies at Greensboro Coliseum.
When the Russians launched Sputnik in the late 50’s, the U.S. answered the challenge by putting a man on the moon.
Now, it’s up to the newest generation to keep the American moxie alive and well, Molly Corbett Broad told UNCG’s graduating class of 2006 on Friday.
“Strong competition from other parts of the globe, graduates of 2006, defines the world that awaits you. And you must help this nation pick up the pace,” Broad, president emerita of The University of North Carolina system, said. “The spirit of competitiveness, creativity and innovation is wired in the DNA of America, I believe, and you must help us tap into that great creative capacity.”
Broad, an economist and president of the UNC system from July 1997 until her retirement last December, addressed the crowd Friday at UNCG’s 114th annual commencement. The university granted more than 2,000 degrees – including 1,326 bachelor’s, 604 master’s and 47 doctoral diplomas – during the ceremony at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Broad, the daughter of two public school teachers, stressed the ever-increasing importance of education as the world shifts toward a new global order. She also touched on the progress the American South has made since 1938 when Franklin Roosevelt called it “the nation’s number one economic problem.”
“Amazingly, by the time we reached the turn to the 21st century, half of all the new jobs in America were being generated in the South,” Broad said. “Among the most important explanations of how that profound change occurred was a massive investment in university education, beginning with the G.I. Bill. Then research and development began to soar.”
Broad applauded UNCG’s “longstanding commitment to internationalization” in a changing world where “Beijing, Bangalaore, Boston and Boone are but a mouse click away from each other.” She also alluded to the positive impact of the more than 500 international students and scholars now on the university’s campus.
But China may soon turn out more university graduates than any other nation, producing 650,000 engineers in 2004 to the U.S.’s 70,000, she warned. Therein lies the challenge.
“When I was a child, my mother would say, ‘Clean up your dinner plate, there are hundreds of thousands of children in China who are starving,’ Today at the dinner table mothers are saying to their children, ‘Clean up your dinner plate and get busy on your homework. There are hundreds of thousands of children in China who want to get our jobs.’”
Melissa Westmoreland, speaker for the Class of 2006, took up Broad’s call for vigor and innovation, challenging her classmates to break the stereotype of a lost generation raised on MTV and video games, and spoon fed by technology.
“The stereotype of a college student has gone from being that of a passionate political protestor to a couch potato who will go to great lengths to keep from having to move an inch,” Westmoreland said. “Our generation is defined by convenience, laziness and apathy. Now I don’t plan to abide by that definition, and I trust that none of you do either. This is our chance to prove them all wrong, to prove that we are motivated, that we can accomplish great things. This is our chance to make a difference in the world.”
Honorary degrees were awarded to Broad, Doctor of Humane Letters; Henry E. Frye, former chief justice of the North Carolina State Supreme Court, Doctor of Laws; and Frye’s wife Shirley Frye, who has devoted more than 40 years to the Greensboro Public Schools and to higher education, Doctor of Humane Letters.
To close the ceremony, JoAnn McAllister ’56 rang the University Bell, a UNCG tradition since 1892. Joining her was her granddaughter, Mollie McAllister, Class of 2006 alumni representative.
