President Sullivan, distinguished guests, family and friends of the graduates, and members of the class of 2002 of The College of Saint Rose...

Thank you, President Sullivan, for your kind introduction .... I am very honored to receive this recognition today from The College of Saint Rose...an institution known for its dedication to developing graduates with exceptional character, strong determination, and a commitment to serving the community in which they live...

I am delighted to be here with all of you today to celebrate the accomplishments of so many talented individuals...

Men and women who several years ago decided to take a risk...to challenge their minds as well as their spirits...to grow in knowledge as well as in confidence...

Women and men who today we recognize and congratulate for what they have accomplished...men and women to whom you, their families and friends, pledge your continuing support as they go forth, degrees in hand, to positions in such diverse fields as education, business, communication, and the sciences...

This is truly a day to remember...a day to be thankful...and, mostly, a day to celebrate....

I want to briefly share with you some of the memories that come back to me from my time at Saint Rose....

Way back in the tumultuous years of the 1960's...

It was at Saint Rose that I built lifelong friendships and where so many of the values and beliefs that have shaped my life and my decisions over the last 35 years were developed and strengthened.

Over the course of my professional career, I have often been asked who were my heroes and who helped me achieve the confidence to undertake risks and to aspire to goals that might have appeared to many other women to be unattainable...

I will tell you today what I have told many people in the past....I credit much of my personal and professional success to the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, the founders of Saint Rose, and I am deeply grateful to them for all that they taught me...

From Sister Rita Michael, my 6th and 8th grade teacher at Saint Mary's institute in Amsterdam, I learned about commitment to helping others achieve their potential...

From Sister Mary Engelbert, my supervisor at Saint Mary's hospital in Amsterdam, I learned about the joy and fulfillment that come from caring for others who are in need...

And from Sister Clarence Paul, President of Saint Rose when I was student government President here, I learned how competence and a collaborative style were critical to successfully leading an organization...

I owe much to these three special Sisters and to all the Sisters of Saint Joseph who enriched my life and helped shape my values...it was their commitment to caring for others, to educating young women, and to building community that led to the establishment of Saint Rose in 1920...all of us here today owe these special women a debt of gratitude...they are my sheros, and I am confident that you have acquired your own list of heros and sheros during your time at Saint Rose...

Being here today also brings back memories of my own commencements... I am reminded of the many emotions I experienced on those days...pride and joy for what I had accomplished...sadness at leaving friends with whom I had shared so much......excitement about a new job...anxiety about the uncertainty of the future...

I also remember feeling, as you must today, the pride of my family and friends in my accomplishment....

On graduation day I wore their pride like a gown...it enveloped me as much as the graduation robe itself....

As pleased as I was with my own achievement, I was equally pleased in their pride...

In addition to sharing with you in the accomplishments of today, I want to talk with you about your tomorrow and the many tomorrows that will comprise the rest of your life...how can you build on today's wonderful accomplishment?

For most of you, your education thus far has mostly consisted of taking in information...demonstrating that you have adsorbed that information...and applying that information to new problems or situations...the result of this process is knowledge...you are now considered a knowledgeable person...the organization that employs you will expect you to apply your knowledge to the tasks they are undertaking...

But what happens then?... Are your days of learning over?... Of course not...everyone knows that you never stop learning...and as you'll soon find out, if you haven't already, all employers believe that you still have many things to learn that school never taught you...

Some of this learning will be similar to your experiences here at Saint Rose ...there will be new information and skills to master....but much of this learning will be different...

Your most challenging new learning task will, I believe, be the development of professional judgment...

Professional judgment involves more than the straight forward application of knowledge...professional judgment means the ability to perceive and distinguish relationships or alternatives...professional judgment means the ability to understand things that may be subtle or even concealed...professional judgment means the ability to make reasonable decisions based on available, although at times limited, information...whether that be information about the developmental skills of a child, the growth opportunities of a business, or the promise of a new television production...

Much is being asked of today's classroom teacher, school superintendent, business leader, medical researcher...past practices can't always be relied on to direct future actions...you will be asked to address new situations and solve complex problems...

Let me share with you some of what I have learned over the course of my professional career regarding ways to discover the subtle elements or relationships that are essential to the development of professional judgment...

I have found that my greatest learning came from embracing and appreciating the complexities of my colleagues-my fellow teachers, the finance professionals on my staff, other members of the board of directors...I encourage you to allow your curiosity, your thirst to know, your desire to do well to overcome your fear, at times, of displaying your inexperience or uncertainty...remember back to your days at Saint Rose...to the times when you needed the help of other students to complete a project or the words of encouragement from a teacher to keep going when challenges seemed overwhelming...

Find out what your colleagues know about a student, an idea, a topic, an issue...try to appreciate their viewpoints ... Ask yourself, how do my students, my staff, my customers, my clients, my peers see the situation ... What knowledge and perspective do other people have that I can learn about by talking with them and sharing my own ideas...

Foster an environment of open dissent where ideas can be challenged and rigorously debated but where individuals who dissent are treated with respect and dignity...seek out people who are different from you...people with different backgrounds, different life experiences, different beliefs...value diversity of ideas as well as diversity of approach...

Always try to leverage what you know, or think you know, by combining that knowledge with what others know...don't focus on putting yourself or your ideas first...don't concentrate on defending your narrow knowledge base or expertise...

Companies and institutions are interested in the best overall solution...not just the solution that appears best from your specialized point of view...

While it is true that you must be open to the ideas and views of others...you must also strive to be the best in what you do....your area of expertise...you must work to help others understand situations from your perspective...

As a member of the executive team of several corporations, people often looked to me to explain the financial aspects of issues...to help them understand and appreciate the situation from the financial perspective...but as a member of the executive team I also needed to be able to view an issue from a marketing or operational perspective... Individually we might not know the answer but collectively there are not many unsolvable situations...

Developing sound professional judgment will enable you to appreciate, understand and advocate not only your own perspectives but also the perspectives of people outside your own area of expertise...you will gain the trust and confidence of your colleagues...you will demonstrate the ability to bring many perspectives to a problem and, in turn, help to develop the best solution....

Knowing how to do something is, however, not enough. Knowing what the right thing to do from an ethical perspective is even more critical...

When I graduated from Saint Rose in 1968, issues such as civil rights and the war in Vietnam were consuming our country...values were being questioned...leaders were being challenged...calls for action were everywhere...

Today, as you graduate, we face a crisis in corporate leadership, wars in many parts of the world, abuses in the catholic church, threats to individual rights here and abroad...

In addition to the academic and professional knowledge you have gained here at Saint Rose, you have also learned the importance of ethics and integrity in decision-making and relationship-building...you graduate today with your own built in Saint Rose ethical compass that you can use as you determine what is right and what is wrong...

If in your future professional or personal life you find yourself facing a situation where you are called upon to let the ends justify the means and those means seem ethically unsavory, you can fall back on your ingrained Saint Rose compass and ask yourself, would this course of action be supported by the Saint Rose community?

In my professional life when I have been faced with ethical challenges, it was not the specter of the securities and exchange commission or the department of justice that kept me on an ethical path...

But instead, the inner voice of my Saint Rose compass telling me I could not consider anything other than the ethically appropriate course of action.

While this internal Saint Rose compass has helped to guide my moral choices and will help to guide yours, the compass also points outside ourselves to our social obligations.

This dimension I think of as "the Saint Rose ethic"...

The ethic of Saint Rose encourages you to be an active participant in your community and your country...to speak up for those less fortunate than yourself...to make your voice heard on issues such as respect for differences, peaceful solutions for conflicts, and a collective responsibility to make the world a better place for those who come after us...as a graduate of Saint Rose, you will find your voice blending with that of other alums...

In closing I would like to ask you to think with me for a moment about the tomorrows far away... Maybe 35 years from now... As far away from your graduation day as I now am from mine....what will you consider your grandest achievements from the vantage point of the year 2037?

Will your aspirations of today be your most treasured memories tomorrow?

If you obtain the title superintendent, doctor, CEO, director, professor ... Will that be the pinnacle of your life? ... I suspect not ...

You will probably find that as the years pass, the burning desire to achieve will temper... And you will gradually become less concerned with what you want to get from life...and more concerned about what you want to give...

From my present vantage point in my own life, I can say that my greatest professional achievements... As sweet as they have been... Have only been transitory....titles and raises are relatively soon digested and then it's on to the next challenge...

Instead, my greatest and most lasting pleasures have come from what I have given others and what others have given to me...there is something special in sharing a marriage... Raising a child... Being involved in your community... Mentoring and being mentored... That unlocks a dimension in life that titles and salaries can't touch ...

Knowing that you helped someone accomplish something that he or she might not have otherwise been able to do is one of life's sweetest experiences...

That special pleasure I speak of is known today by your parents, your friends and your faculty ... People who have helped you extend your educational reach to bring today's degree within your grasp ... They are enormously proud of your accomplishment and pleased that they had the opportunity to help ...

And now, let's get on with the day... A time to remember ... a time to be thankful ... And, mostly, a time to celebrate ...

Thank you and congratulati

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