Joanne Maguire delivers undergraduate commencement speech
“Be engineers whose word can be trusted. Be engineers who do the right thing when no one is watching. Be engineers who measure success not only by what you create, but by the standards you refuse to lower.”
That was the charge Joanne Maguire — who received a UCLA engineering master’s degree in 1978 and rose to executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company before retiring in 2013 — delivered to the newest bachelor of science degree recipients of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the school’s 62nd commencement, following its establishment in 1945 and first commencement in 1964.
It was a theme that echoed across two UCLA Samueli commencement ceremonies in Pauley Pavilion over the weekend.
Nearly 1,900 engineering and computer science students — 1,111 bachelor’s degree candidates on June 13 and 777 master’s and doctoral candidates on June 14 — walked across the stage to the applause of more than 11,000 family members and guests. The ceremonies featured American Sign Language interpreters and were livestreamed on the school’s YouTube channel.
