Underwood 'honored' to address graduates
President to speak at commencement
Sara Callahan
Issue date: 4/27/06 Section: News
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As many already know, President James Underwood has been announced as the commencement speaker for this year.
Underwood will deliver his speech on June 11 in Hull Plaza to about 500 students, the Class of 2006, who will be graduating that day.
Underwood said, "It never occurred to me that I'd be asked to give the speech, but I'm honored."
At this point, Underwood is not completely sure what he will speak about. He said, "I have notes here and there, I wish I were farther along than I am. It's almost like writing a research paper except without the research. You have a deadline and when that deadline is approaching, you just have to sit down and write it."
"The best thing is that it's a reasonably short speech. Sometimes it's 90 degrees and it's allergy season, it's important to be relatively short so that people don't get too uncomfortable," Underwood added.
Underwood pointed out that most commencement speakers feel the need to give advice. He said, "really good commencement speeches do [give advice], and I don't think I'll be able to resist that."
Though he is not positive what he will talk about, Underwood has some ideas. "I could start by quoting some of the best and worst commencement speeches I've heard, but maybe not, I don't know if I have a good enough memory for that," he joked.
Underwood also had the idea of talking about building a more civil community, which is an issue he is currently meeting with faculty and student groups about.
Underwood said, "One idea that I'm pretty sure of is that I'm going to talk about some Union history and Union alums."
Whatever he decides to talk about in his speech, he knows it is difficult to make speeches particularly memorable. Underwood admitted that over the years, most commencement speeches tend to fade away.
"I only remember the best speeches. I actually remember something from my high school commencement speech. The speaker said that the most important thing was to 'start from where you are' and I just thought that was great advice. That may be the only line I remember from about 40 speeches I've heard over the years," commented Underwood.
Underwood will deliver his speech on June 11 in Hull Plaza to about 500 students, the Class of 2006, who will be graduating that day.
Underwood said, "It never occurred to me that I'd be asked to give the speech, but I'm honored."
At this point, Underwood is not completely sure what he will speak about. He said, "I have notes here and there, I wish I were farther along than I am. It's almost like writing a research paper except without the research. You have a deadline and when that deadline is approaching, you just have to sit down and write it."
"The best thing is that it's a reasonably short speech. Sometimes it's 90 degrees and it's allergy season, it's important to be relatively short so that people don't get too uncomfortable," Underwood added.
Underwood pointed out that most commencement speakers feel the need to give advice. He said, "really good commencement speeches do [give advice], and I don't think I'll be able to resist that."
Though he is not positive what he will talk about, Underwood has some ideas. "I could start by quoting some of the best and worst commencement speeches I've heard, but maybe not, I don't know if I have a good enough memory for that," he joked.
Underwood also had the idea of talking about building a more civil community, which is an issue he is currently meeting with faculty and student groups about.
Underwood said, "One idea that I'm pretty sure of is that I'm going to talk about some Union history and Union alums."
Whatever he decides to talk about in his speech, he knows it is difficult to make speeches particularly memorable. Underwood admitted that over the years, most commencement speeches tend to fade away.
"I only remember the best speeches. I actually remember something from my high school commencement speech. The speaker said that the most important thing was to 'start from where you are' and I just thought that was great advice. That may be the only line I remember from about 40 speeches I've heard over the years," commented Underwood.
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