Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > Winter Commencement

Winter Commencement Remarks of Chancellor G. P. "Bud" Peterson
December 21, 2007

Chancellor Peterson.

I know today’s graduates join me in extending a special welcome to their families and friends whose love and support have helped to make this day possible.

Also with us today are many members of the faculty who have guided and mentored these students, and shared with them their time, knowledge and expertise to help each student reach this important milestone.

Today more than 2,000 of you are graduating from this outstanding university with a vast array of awards, accomplishments, and notable achievements.

As part of this celebration, I would like to recount some of the remarkable successes that you – the members of the class of 2007 - and our outstanding faculty - have accomplished this past year.

It is important to note that as you have grown during your time here at CU, so too has your university. You were among the first students to study in a number of new state-of-the art buildings which became a reality thanks to the financial support of you - our students, our donors, the Board of Regents and the State of Colorado.

These include the Koelbel Building – new home to the Leeds School of Business, the Wolf Law Building and the new ATLAS Building, a technology-enhanced teaching and learning center.

While these are marvelous new facilities, what are most important are the amazing things that go on inside the walls of these and other buildings.

The University of Colorado at Boulder was again ranked among the top universities placing 35th among the nation’s top public doctoral universities in U.S. News & World Report rankings.

This past year, our students designed and built a satellite that is studying variations in the earth’s atmosphere, contributed to a NASA mission to Pluto and designed and built a new-generation, solar- powered home.

Colton Crandell, a student in Professor Terry Sawchuk’s studio, won the International Trumpet Guild’s prestigious 2007 Young Artist and Leanna Kirchoff won first prize at the Claudette Sorel International Women Composers competition at Carnegie Hall in October.

Many of our faculty were recognized by national and international organizations for their achievements. Deborah Jin was selected as a fellow in the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Noel Clark, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, bringing to 55 the number of our faulty in the national academies. Pat Bianchi, jazz organist and pianist, continued to add to the successes of our College of Music by being named one of the nation’s 10 top jazz organists by Downbeat Magazine.

Our research and scholarly accomplishments also gained national and international recognition. A team of CU scientists found that extensive areas of ice have melted on the polar ice caps in recent years in response to increasing temperatures. Their work is contributing to the international debate on global warming.

Still other researchers at our Snow and Ice Data Center, and other centers and institutes at CU, shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as participants in an international report on climate change.

As part of our continuing contributions to society, our Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics is designing and building a satellite instrument package to help forecast solar disturbances that affect communication and navigation.

We have partnered with other regional universities and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden to form a collaboratory to pave the way for developing new renewable energy sources.

The Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology received major philanthropic boosts this semester which will enable us to advance new discoveries that have direct impact on patient care. It’s an example of another big idea that has become reality.

As new graduates of the University of Colorado at Boulder, you will have big ideas of your own. These ideas will impact those around you, the organizations in which you choose to work, and the future of our rapidly evolving global society.

I would venture to say that since you began your studies here, changes in technology have changed the way you think and live. YouTube, MySpace and Facebook have become a part of your life - a part that may not have existed when you arrived as freshmen.

The inscription over the threshold of the Norlin Library reads, “Who knows only his own generation remains always a child.” As you graduate today, consider how differently you live from the generation that preceded you and the generation that will follow you.

Clearly we must invest in the future of your university just as our forebear’s invested in your future to ensure that you could receive a quality education, earn a valuable degree, and would be prepared for life and work in the 21st century.

To ensure your degree remains as valuable tomorrow as it is today, we are beginning the process of planning for the future – a future for the students who will follow in your footsteps. They may be your eventual colleagues, your younger siblings or even your children.

So we have devised a plan with the help of students, faculty, and business and community leaders across the state to ensure that students studying at Colorado’s flagship university are prepared for the increasingly global and technology-based economy.

The plan is called Flagship 2030 and we have already begun the work of implementing 10 flagship initiatives that will transform our university. Some of these include:

• Multiple degree tracks with the opportunity for entering students to earn a master’s degree in four years.
• A multi-year residential academic program for every entering student.
• An academy for individualized, customized self directed learning.
• An opportunity for two semesters of experiential learning as part of the undergraduate experience.

Flagship 2030 has been approved by the Board of Regents and we are very excited as we now turn this vision into reality.

Today, you have turned your vision of graduating from the University of Colorado into reality. It’s been a good year, one that has passed quickly -- much like your time here at CU.  Many of you are now preparing to embark on new adventures beyond our university, armed with the skills and knowledge you have gained in the classrooms, the laboratories, the campus and the community.

You are beginning an exciting and transformational time in your life, one in which you can grow and experience new people, places and ideas. There will be new experiences and new challenges. But with these challenges come opportunities, opportunities to truly make a difference and shape the world around you.

Adlai Stevenson said, “When you leave here, don't forget why you came.”

I can only hope that your time here has been as enjoyable, as productive, and as valuable as you imagined when you first envisioned yourself as a student of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

On behalf of the entire university community, I want to thank you for coming here to be a part of this great university. I hope that you will continue the relationship you have started here and stay connected with us.

Congratulations and best wishes to all of you.

Margaret Tolbert introduction

It is with great pleasure that I introduce today's commencement speaker, Professor Margaret Tolbert. Professor Tolbert is on the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She joined the CU-Boulder faculty in 1991 and is nationally known for her research on polar stratospheric clouds and their link to stratospheric ozone destruction.

She earned her bachelor's degree from Grinnell College and her doctoral degree from the California Institute of Technology. In 2004 she was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences for her work on the Antarctic ozone hole.

She also is known for her teaching and research with undergraduate and graduate students – 15 have won prestigious NASA and Environmental Protection Agency fellowship grants.

 Her students have participated in a number of field research projects including a focus on stratospheric chemistry. Recently her research group has been studying the properties of clouds and aerosols in planetary systems, including Mars and Titan, a moon of Saturn.

Even with this record of achievement, scholarship and research, she has taught freshman environmental chemistry for non majors every year for 15 years.

Professor Tolbert is a symbol of the quality of the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder evidenced by her achievements in research and her passion for teaching.  This fall she received CU-Boulder's highest faculty recognition for teaching and research, the Hazel Barnes Prize.  It is my great pleasure to introduce to you, Professor Margaret Tolbert.