distinguished faculty, proud graduates, parents, family and friend, i'm deeply honored to receive this degree and to have the opportunity to be here with you all this afternoon. let me begin by saying to it president beverly pitts, well done. since your arrival here seven years ago, this campus has been transformed, the number of new academic programs has skyrocketed. and so has the number of students taking honors and service learning courses. and if it will weren't enough, you even hosted the super bowl champions. beverly, this entire community has appreciated your leadership and we at lilly the opportunity we've had to work with the university on issues and projects important to our city. we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. please join with me in hanging and celebrating dr. beverly pitts.

class of 2012, good afternoon. i see a whole sea of graduates from the point where i stand. this is quite a day. a day to celebrate your successes as you commence the next stage of your life. the relative importance of my role really hit home with me when i had trouble -- smsh between mad men and star wars and i mean the originals. someone once told me, and it's good to know, that when you give a speech, if you can get your audience to remember one thing, you've done well.

and if you can get them to remember two things, you've hit it out of the park. so i'm going to try my luck today and share with you you two things that i've learned over my life and career, one for the near term, and one hopefully for the rest of your life. let's start with the near term. last week or the week before, many of you probably had papers, deadlines, maybe just a touch of panic. so i want to say congratulations. you made it. but next week, it really gets hairy. many of you might well be asking, what now? what's next? how am i ever going to find a job? you're all too familiar with the headlines. a really tough job market. cynicism about our government and institutions in general.

skyrocketing gas prices. a war in afghanistan and worrisome talk about the possibility of war with iran. wait a minute. believe it or not, i'm not talking about today. i'm talking about when i was in your shoes preparing to strike out into the world in the late 1970s. we had our own economic recession, including gas rationing, high inflation, and double digit interest rates to boot. some quick and somewhat painful memories that your parents will recall. politically there was a huge a disenchabtment after water gate. there was lots of cynicism frankly about the future. meanwhile, at the gas station, i remember that for a while, cars with license plates ending in odd numbers could only gas up on odd numbered days.

and those ending in an even number on even numbered dates. we can't have vanity plates then. the soviet union was the country in afghanistan. and perhaps in the biggest headline, iran took our embassy personnel hostage resulting in a long and frustrating standoff. from the technology perspective, we had not quite hit the boom years. desktop commuting was just emerging from steve jobs' garage. in fact i hand typed my chemistry ph.d. thesis and had to use stencils for the chemical structure illustrations. cut an pasting back then really meant cutting and pasting.d pasy meant cutting and pasting. i said to my wife, six months of my life down the drain. and just to top it off, we had runaway inflation. when sarah and i moved to

indianapolis in 1979, we felt lucky to be able to buy a starter home in broad ripple with a state subsidized mortgage carrying an interest rate of 13.75%. can you imagine the unsubsidized rate? that wasn't all dreary. we did have disco. hey, fortunately for all of us, that craze subsided. now, look, i'm sharing this ancient history with you pot to depress you, but, rather, to give you reason for optimism. because when i think back hidden in all this lousy news at the time were seeds of many positive developments that we never could have recognized then. for example, many historians now see afghanistan as a key to the collapse of the old soviet union. ladies and gentlemen, for all the global hot spots we have

today, no one would want to go back to the world where a nuclear war between two super powers seemed a real possibility. most people also did not foresee that we were on the verge at that time of medical, technological and consumer product revolutions that would turbo charge our economy no dfo decades to come. the first apple computer with all of 8 k ram. not g, k. it seems quaint today. i think it's a museum piece. but it was the first investigation damage of our modern electronics era. similarly the lilly that i joined was a far cry from today's company. our biggest product when i entered as a scientist was a herbicide for soybeans. but three years after i joined, lilly's scientists produced bio synthetic human inside whereiul first medicine using the then

dna redominant technology. and in doing so, we ushered in the era of biotech knowledge. several years later, we launched prozac which helped to revolutionize the treatment of depression and helped create the modern company. ultimately the malaise of the '70s gave way to two decades of almost unprecedented growth. when i think of the 30 years in between, i think i can tell you with certainty what your future will look like. it will look like clapg. that's the one constant you can depend on. and yet with change comes opportunity. whatever field you choose, whether it's health care or education or business or the arts or any other field, keep alert for change. look for the opportunities that change always creates. and take advantage of them.

my advice to you is to not only learn to live with change, but to lead change. and shape to your own ends. in fact that it me is at the very core of leadership. don't let others define success for you. or expect them to hand it to you. take control of your own future. go after it, make it happen. and your experience has given you the tools to do just that. as you commence today the rest of your life, you'll carry with you the knowledge, the judgment, and the discipline you've demonstrated by the fact that you're sitting here today. you'll also carry something else of equal importance, which is the second thing i want to talk about. and that's the capacity within each of you to take on some of the world's toughest problems and make a difference for others. you, the class of 2012, know what i'm talking about.

you've stepped up time and again. just look at the last year alone. a number of business majors here today traveled to ghana and volunteered at the precious kids academy. after seeing a classroom there of eager learners, forced to share a single book, this group returned to u indy, collectsed more than 8,000 books, and shipped them to ghana, creating a library in the process. a group of nursing majors here provided needed care to people in ecuador, honest doorrous and the dominican republic. means of the music fraternity raised money that funded musical instruments for an orphanage in haiti. a number of you took time out of your winter break to do home repair projects for low income or elderly residents in appalachia. many of you you work with the hundreds of special olympians who came to u indy for the special olympics state youth

basketball tournament. seven of you actually planned this this year's tournament. and another group mentored ips students encouraging them to think about college and working to get them ready. regardless of the making any he tud of the issue or the challenge, you did not hesitate to roll up your sleeves, look for solutions and make a difference. in fact over the past academic year, u indy students qulekt differencely contributed 120,000 hours of unpaid service valued at $2.5 million if we dare to put a price tag on on it. but the true value of your service is beyond calculation. graduates, there is no lask you are lack of you are against needs that require solutions.

and right here in the united states, right here in indianapolis.that require solut. and right here in the united states, right here in indianapolis. tackling these problems is not allege easy. always easy. it often entails some type of sacrifice at least on the surface. but as you've seen over your careers here, when you make that commitment, you often find that your sacrifice is in-if i tes mally small compared to the challenges that others face. that it opens your eyes and deepens your connection to others and to the world. and that what you get back in terms of personal fulfillment far, far youth weioutweigh what give. and that brings me full circle. give. and that brings me full circle. i began by talk about the challenges ahead of you, challenges which might seem insurmountable. that you're here today tells that you they're anything but that. class of 20 stwefl, i challenge you not only to be optimistic

about the future, but also to shape and create our collective future. i challenge you to take on the world, find those issues and problems that matter deeply to you and take action. find solutions and make a difference. in ess, gandhi implored, be the change that you want to see in the world. you're very well prepared. you're more socially aware and globally oriented than any graduates in history, you're more adept at using technology and communication tools than any graduates before you. the skills you've acquired here both of the head and the heart, bolstered by the love and support you enjoy from the thousands of people here today, show that you are indeed ready to commence, that there will be no failure to launch. anne frank said how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to

improve the world. class of 2012, never lose your optimism, never lose your passion for pamaking a differen, and never forget your experience at this university and i promise you'll have many, many opportunities to fulfill your dreams and improve the world. it's your turn. it is your time. my best wishes to each and every one of you and once again, congratulations. we'll continue commencement speeches from across the country in a moment. coming up, first lady michelle obama spoke at north carolina agricultural and technical state university in greensboro. and then cia director david petraeus at dickinson college in pennsylvania. that's followed by ohio senator sherrod brown speaking at hyram college in ohio.

on our road to the white house coverage, first lady accomplish she will obama and ann romney, wife of mitt romney, were on the campaign trail this week. tonight at 8:00 eastern, c-span2 will show campaign stops by both. michelle obama in dale city, virginia, and ann romney in. tonight c-span will have live coverage of the radio and division keercorrespondents din. live coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern. two days of live coverage from the "chicago tribune's" printer's row lit fest. gary krist and joe al when on the making of present day chicago. rich cohen on the banana man in latin america. that's at 1:00. and at 5:00, r. dwayne betts was

convicted as an adult at age 16. his memoir. and sunday at noon, gail collins' on texas' role on american politics. and at 2:00, thomas mallon has a story to tell in water gate, a novel. also this weekend on afterwards, madeline albright on growing up in nazi occupikaccupiedoccupied. michelle obama gave commencement speeches at three college in may. one was at north carolina agricultural and technical state university in greensboro. her comments are 25 minutes.

good morning, everyone. y'all rest yourselves. first of all, let me thank chancellor martin for that very kind introduction. i also want to thank davonte and everyone from the board of governors, the board of trustees, the faculty and all of the staff here who have worked so hard on this event and making you the men and women that you are. i also have to thank the university choir. you all are amazing. as the chancellor said, you all are becoming regulars at the white house, and that's a good thing. singing at our black history month events for the last two years, it's just amazing to hear those voices pouring through the white house. very powerful and it is

obviously such a pleasure to hear your beautiful music here today. and of course i want to join in on thanking all the folks who have made this day possible. the people who have been with you all every step of the way. yes, your families, including all those watching on campus or at home. these folks have given you that shoulder to lean on and that hug when you've done well and maybe that kick in the butt when you needed to do a little bit better, right? and none of you would be where you are today without their love and support. so again, let's give them all another round of applause because today is their day, too. and most of all, i want to thank will fine looking group right in front of me.

the graduates of 2012. congratulations. you all have worked so hard and i know you have grown so much. and you've come to truly represent a little something called aggie pride. >> aggie pride! >> all right. i like that. let me tell you, it is an honor to be here at north carolina anc, a true honor. you all have such a proud tradition here in greensboro. for year, you've produced more african-american engineers and more african-american female engineers than just about anywhere else in america.

you have produced some of our nation's finest leaders in business, government, and our military. the first african-american justice on the north carolina supreme court was an aggie. so was the second african-american astronaut. and so were those four young men who sat down at a lunch counter 52 years ago and will stand forever in bronze in front of the d uc dudley building. i know all of you know the story of the greensboro four and how they changed the course of our history, but since we have the nation watching, let's talk a little bit itsbit.

it's easy to forget that before they were known as heros, they were young people just like all of you. even younger, they were fresh men here at a.n.t. three degree up right here in north carolina. they all lived in the same floor in scott hall. they weren't trailblazers or legends back then. so we have to ask ourselves, how did these young men get from where they were to the misser e to history books? and believe it or not, the smashing might have come on a bus road. joseph mcneil spent christmas in new york and he took a bus from theremight have come on a bus road. joseph mcneil spent christmas in new york and he took a bus from there back to school here and when the bus stopped in philadelphia, he could eat wherever he chose. but when he got off the station in greensboro, the food counter here wouldn't serve him.

now, this wasn't exactly new. joseph had lived with these boundaries for years. but this time, it really hit him. that all hoe he wthough he was same person in greensboro that he had been just a few hours earlier in philly, he was made to feel like a fraction of the man he had become. here in the state where he was born and raised, in the city where he was working so hard to get an education and grow into a responsible self respecting man, he was treated like he didn't even matter. like he wasn't even welcome in the place he called home. imagine the humiliation he must felt. imagine his pain and his outrage. so when joseph got back to his dorm room that night, his mind was probably already racing. he started talking to his room

mates. they pulled in two friends from down the hall and together over the next couple of week, they decided to do more than just talk. they decided to act. and on a monday afternoon, the four of them met up after class and headed downtown. and i'm sure their hearts were racing. i'm sure they barely slept the night before. remember, everything was on the line for these young men. they were considered the lucky ones. they were some of the very few african-american young people at the time who had the chance to attend college. they were on the path to achieve something that most black folks could only dream of. and here they were risking all of that for what this they believed in. this was something that a lot of people, black folks back then, didn't do because the stakes were so high. because remember, will this was

fountain or sat in the wrong seat on the bus, you might get spate on or beaten or even worse. so as they were walking downtown, one of the four was actually wondering to himself whether he'd wind upcoming back to campus in a pine box. you but when they saw that wool worth sign, there was no turning back. they sat down on those four stools at the lunch counter and ordered coffee. they were refused, but they didn't get up and a that first day, they were there for just an hour or so and then they went back to campus and told other students what they had done and some didn't believe them, but the next day about 20 more students showed up. and within a week, it was more than 1,000.

in the coming weeks and months, the demonstration spread to places like richmond and nashville and jackson and more than 50 other cities all across the country. and by the end of july, wool worth was forced to end their policy of discrimination and the civil rights movement was growing stronger every day and all of this started because of a bus ride and some dorm room conversations. it saul started because a small group of young people had their eyes opened to the injustices around them. it all started because they decided that it was time for someone to wake up and change the situation. and that, more anything else, is

the story of our nation's progress right from the very beginning. it's the story of the farmers and cobblers and black smiths who took on an empire, the an wligsist who ran the underground railroad, the women who mobilized, the workers who organized, the individuals of every background, color, creed and or yenation who worked in ways large and small to give us the country that we have today every single one of them decided that at some point, it was time to wake up and change the situation. and that is what i want to talk with all of you about today. how all of the work and the sweat and the passion that so many people poured into this country must be met with work and sweat and passion of our own.

and as greats of in proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress,tyhiin proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress,sin proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress,n proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress, proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress,his proud university, as young people like those who always stoked the fires of progress, our country is counting on all of you to step forward and help us with the work that remains. we need you. i'll be the first to admit that it can be easy to lose sight of that responsibility especially when you first graduate from college. i mean, you're struggling to pay off your student loans and you're putting in extra hours to make a name for yourself at work. you're trying to figure out who you want to spend the rest of your life with. oh, yeah. and i remember that like it was yesterday. like all of you, i worked hard all through school. i earned my b.a., my j.d., and i had the student loans to show for it. so i did what i thought i should do, i got a great job at one of the biggest what you firmses in

chicago and before long, i was checking all the boxes that you were supposed to check. fat paycheck, got it. nice car, got it. big fancy office, got it. but then when i was 26 years old, one of my best friends from college died of cancer like that. she was gone. less than a year after that, my father died after battling multiple sclerosis for years. customer like that i had lost two of the people i loved most in the world.like that i had loo of the people i loved most in the world. so theres of not much older than all of you and i felt like my whole world was caving in and i began to do at b little bit of l searching. i began to ask myself some hard questions. questions like if i die tomorrow, what did i really do with my life? what kind of mark would i leave? how would i be remembered?

and none of my answers satisfied me. i had everything i was told i should want. but it still wasn't enough. and i realize that no matter how long i stayed on that job, no matter how many years i pursued someone else's definition of success, i was never going to have a life that felt like my own. and so to the surprise of my family and friends, i quit that high paying job and i took a job in the mayor's office. that hurt. then as the chancellor said, i became the executive director of public allies of nonprofit organization to train young people to pursue careers in public service. oh, i was earning a fraction of my law firm salary and i added years to my student loan repayment process. but let me tell you, i woke up every morning feeling engaged and inspired in ways that i had

never felt before. i spent every day feeling like i was doing something that truly made a difference in people's lives. and 20 years later looking back on my journey, i see that all of that started with those questions i asked myself in that law office. so today as you all are looking ahead toward your own journeys, i would like to pose three of those questions to all of you. the first question i asked myself was who do i want to be? not what do i want to be. but who. and it's so easy to think about your future as a series of lines on a resume, right? in many way that's how our soert is wired. and as an adult when you meet somebody knew, the first question they say, what do you do. and you quickly give the simplest answer. i'm a nurse, i'm an