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States News Service
May 19, 2013 Sunday
HELLER SCHOOL GRADS CELEBRATE DIVERSITY, ALTRUISM GREGORIAN ASKS NEW
ALUMNI TO CONSIDER THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS
Waltham, MA
The following information was released by Brandeis University:
By Leah Burrows
They came to The Heller School of Social Policy and Management from
across the globe from Ghana to Indonesia, from Israel to Jamaica to
learn how to make their communities healthier, stronger and more just.
At the Spingold Theater on Sunday, The Heller School celebrated the
Class of 2013's commitment to social justice and civic engagement.
Commencement speaker Vartan Gregorian, president of the philanthropic
Carnegie Corporation of New York, called the graduates ancestors in
training, urging them to leave the world a better place than they
found it.
What have you done to deserve your ancestors? Gregorian asked the
graduates. What will you do as ancestors of future generations?
Gregorian, an Armenian Christian born in present-day Iran, has long
been an advocate for higher education. He was among the six honorary
degree recipients at this year's commencement ceremony.
His resume also includes president of Brown University from 1989 to
1997 and president of the New York Public Library from 1981 to 1989.
Gregorian served as a Brandeis trustee from 2006 to 2010.
In his address to Heller graduates, Gregorian stressed the importance
of reaching out across economic, cultural and political divides to
build stronger, better informed and more engaged democracies.
You are the people who will break down the walls that we have
constructed to separate ourselves from each other, Gregorian said.
Cynicism has become trendy. Cynicism has fostered dissolution with our
institutions, politics and policies just at a time when our nation is
facing great challenges. The Heller School has inculcated you against
cynicism, against narcissism. It has given you the education and the
tools to know that you must never give up on yourselves and you must
never give up on America or the world.
This year, The Heller School awarded 180 degrees to candidates hailing
from 46 different countries.
For those graduates, Sunday's ceremony was a time to reflect and offer
one another words of support and wisdom.
Rebecca Loya, graduate speaker for the PhD in Social Policy class,
reminded her colleagues that they must use their education for the
greater good, rather than personal accomplishments.
Steven Masiano, of Malawi, spoke on behalf of the MS in International
Healthy Policy and Management class. Masiano said a defining point of
his experience at Heller was the school's enriching diversity.
Now, I can talk about other countries in much the same way that you
can all talk about Malawi, Masiano told fellow graduates.
Graduate Jayanta Patra, of Odisha, India, graduated from the
Sustainable International Development program. He too said The Heller
School's diversity was an invaluable part of his experience at
Brandeis.
"All of your classmates bring different knowledge. African people use
different methods for community development, Americans use different
methods, so you learn to see things differently," he said.
In India, Patra is part of the Dalit community, India's lowest caste,
known in English as the untouchables. Before coming to Brandeis, he
worked in organizations to protect the rights of Dalits and other
disenfranchised communities in India.
Thanks to The Heller School, Patra said he will return to that work
this summer with a new lease.
"I have seen how people are living in India and how my community,
including me, has been discriminated against," Patra said. I feel I
have more power now to change that."
Some graduates were in disbelief that it was finally graduation day.
Alice Pwamang was lined up with the rest of her classmates in the
Sustainable International Development program. Pwamang, of Ghana, came
a long way to study at The Heller School.
When I came to this place and saw how different the system was to the
one back home, I thought I was going to give up, Pwamang said. Today,
I'm looking at my colleagues, in my gown, and it's like a dream come
true.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
May 19, 2013 Sunday
HELLER SCHOOL GRADS CELEBRATE DIVERSITY, ALTRUISM GREGORIAN ASKS NEW
ALUMNI TO CONSIDER THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS
Waltham, MA
The following information was released by Brandeis University:
By Leah Burrows
They came to The Heller School of Social Policy and Management from
across the globe from Ghana to Indonesia, from Israel to Jamaica to
learn how to make their communities healthier, stronger and more just.
At the Spingold Theater on Sunday, The Heller School celebrated the
Class of 2013's commitment to social justice and civic engagement.
Commencement speaker Vartan Gregorian, president of the philanthropic
Carnegie Corporation of New York, called the graduates ancestors in
training, urging them to leave the world a better place than they
found it.
What have you done to deserve your ancestors? Gregorian asked the
graduates. What will you do as ancestors of future generations?
Gregorian, an Armenian Christian born in present-day Iran, has long
been an advocate for higher education. He was among the six honorary
degree recipients at this year's commencement ceremony.
His resume also includes president of Brown University from 1989 to
1997 and president of the New York Public Library from 1981 to 1989.
Gregorian served as a Brandeis trustee from 2006 to 2010.
In his address to Heller graduates, Gregorian stressed the importance
of reaching out across economic, cultural and political divides to
build stronger, better informed and more engaged democracies.
You are the people who will break down the walls that we have
constructed to separate ourselves from each other, Gregorian said.
Cynicism has become trendy. Cynicism has fostered dissolution with our
institutions, politics and policies just at a time when our nation is
facing great challenges. The Heller School has inculcated you against
cynicism, against narcissism. It has given you the education and the
tools to know that you must never give up on yourselves and you must
never give up on America or the world.
This year, The Heller School awarded 180 degrees to candidates hailing
from 46 different countries.
For those graduates, Sunday's ceremony was a time to reflect and offer
one another words of support and wisdom.
Rebecca Loya, graduate speaker for the PhD in Social Policy class,
reminded her colleagues that they must use their education for the
greater good, rather than personal accomplishments.
Steven Masiano, of Malawi, spoke on behalf of the MS in International
Healthy Policy and Management class. Masiano said a defining point of
his experience at Heller was the school's enriching diversity.
Now, I can talk about other countries in much the same way that you
can all talk about Malawi, Masiano told fellow graduates.
Graduate Jayanta Patra, of Odisha, India, graduated from the
Sustainable International Development program. He too said The Heller
School's diversity was an invaluable part of his experience at
Brandeis.
"All of your classmates bring different knowledge. African people use
different methods for community development, Americans use different
methods, so you learn to see things differently," he said.
In India, Patra is part of the Dalit community, India's lowest caste,
known in English as the untouchables. Before coming to Brandeis, he
worked in organizations to protect the rights of Dalits and other
disenfranchised communities in India.
Thanks to The Heller School, Patra said he will return to that work
this summer with a new lease.
"I have seen how people are living in India and how my community,
including me, has been discriminated against," Patra said. I feel I
have more power now to change that."
Some graduates were in disbelief that it was finally graduation day.
Alice Pwamang was lined up with the rest of her classmates in the
Sustainable International Development program. Pwamang, of Ghana, came
a long way to study at The Heller School.
When I came to this place and saw how different the system was to the
one back home, I thought I was going to give up, Pwamang said. Today,
I'm looking at my colleagues, in my gown, and it's like a dream come
true.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress