On the eve of Commencement, doctoral candidates in the Class of 2026 received one last lesson – three, in fact – courtesy of President Michael I. Kotlikoff.The process of earning a Ph.D. and becoming an expert in their field is only the beginning, he said. They will need to reinvent themselves – more than once.“We no longer live in a world where people train for one job, with the expectation of doing the same thing for the rest of their careers,” Kotlikoff said during the Ph.D. Recognition Ceremony, held May 22 in Barton Hall.At the same time, he offered a strong vote of confidence.
The candidates thanked the friends and family in attendance who had supported their academic journey through encouragement, sacrifice and belief.
“Your training here,” he said, “has prepared you exceptionally well for an unknowable future – with the intellectual courage and the flexibility of mind to try new things, the intellectual rigor to evaluate new situations carefully and the skills particular to your own areas of expertise.”The hundreds of doctoral candidates, who jubilantly entered the ceremony in their flowing regalia amid a sea of camera phones and thunderous applause, were welcomed by Thomas A. Lewis, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education. “Earning a doctorate is exceptionally challenging,” Lewis said. “If your experience was anything like mine, there were difficult moments, moments when you wondered whether you wanted to continue. There were hypotheses that did not pan out, relationship dynamics that weren’t what you expected. You are here today, not because the path was easy or obvious. You are here today because you persisted when it was not.”Provost Kavita Bala then congratulated the candidates and asked them to stand, turn around and thank the friends and family in attendance who had supported their academic journey through encouragement, sacrifice and belief. Speaking on behalf of the university faculty and staff, Bala said it was an honor and privilege to know and work alongside the candidates.
