Freshman Convocation Charles E. Smith Center August 30, 2009

Good afternoon! On behalf of the Trustees, the Deans, and all my colleagues on the faculty and staff, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the vibrant, engaged community of scholars that is The George Washington University; and to welcome you, at the same time, to the world-wide and life-long community that now connects you with 25,000 current students and some 220,000 alumni around the world. Within that community, you will find friends and mentors who will support you, guide you, and open doors for you for the rest of your lives.

But you are not just joining a new community. You have come to an amazing place, at a truly amazing time. You are entering an historic institution, and you are doing so at an extraordinary moment in history. Last November 4, a little after 11:00 p.m., thousands of GW students streamed to Lafayette Square, directly across from the White House, to celebrate the first election of a person of African descent to the nation's office. This past summer, GW faculty members, led by Sarah Rosenbaum in our Department of Health Policy and Management, have played a key role, lending their expertise to inform a highly contentious national debate on the future of health care. Others are helping to shape the future of foreign policy, homeland security, science policy, and the intellectual property laws that have such a powerful influence on innovation in technology and the arts. In short, no matter what you study, and no matter where you are on the spectrum of political opinion, you'll enjoy the privilege, as a GW student, of a front-row seat in the theater of history that no other university can provide.

We are, after all, a university with a unique relation to American history and, in particular, to the American presidency. While some universities are older, and while a number have larger campuses or larger endowments, we are, quite simply, the one and only university that was dreamed of, and called for, by America's first president, and that proudly bears his full name. In his last will and testament, George Washington very clearly stated his "ardent wish" to establish a national university that would draw students to the capital from around the country, a community of scholars in which they would overcome their local prejudices, forge a shared identity, and be transformed together into the citizen-leaders of the new democracy.

As it happened, Washington's vision could not be realized until more than twenty years after his death. Columbian College, as it was then called, was first established on what is now Meridian Hill, just outside the boundaries of Washington at the time; it later moved to 15th and H Streets (on the other side of the White House) and did not arrive at its current location in Foggy Bottom until 1912. But from the very beginning, this university has been part of the fabric of this great capital city and the nation it symbolizes, participating in one way or another in every event that has shaped that nation's growth, from the Civil War through two world wars and then through the civil rights movement that culminated 46 years ago just a few blocks to the south of where we are gathered this afternoon when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his most famous speech. He did so on the National Mall where, this past spring as we do each year, we gathered for Commencement--a crowd of 25,000 graduates and their families stretched over three full blocks, midway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

As students at GW, once again, you have a front row seat in the theater of history. You also have a chance to be more than a spectator; you have an opportunity, indeed many opportunities, to participate. Pick any decade from the history of this institution, and the testimonials of students to their experiences are extraordinary. Here is one example, from a book that was published on the occasion of our 175th anniversary; the book is titled From Strength to Strength: A Pictorial History of The George Washington University. This particular testimonial is by a student who graduated in 1980. During his four years at GW, he wrote, he "had met [former Vice President] Hubert Humphrey only four weeks before he died; watched Jimmy Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day; dined at the Georgetown home of one of his state's senators; watched Pope John Paul II give a speech on the front lawn of the White House; seen the treasures of King Tut at the National Gallery; celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Washington Post at a party given by [the late publisher] Katharine Graham; endured tear gas from Park Police while observing a political rally on the Ellipse; observed Israel and Egypt sign a peace treaty; and protested at an embassy with 200 other Washington-area residents."

Your years at GW, I can predict with confidence, will be no less exciting than those. And one of the ways in which you'll be able to connect with history will be the many avenues GW offers for engaging in public service. A passion for service is, in fact, one of the hallmarks of a GW student. Take the example of Anna Phillips, class if 2008. In 2004, on a trip to Africa, she had noticed that African women often sat on the sidelines while men played sports. So in 2006, she created a soccer program called "Girls Kick It!", designed to empower Ugandan women and to develop the confidence and sense of teamwork she herself experienced as a GW rugby player. She went on to win a Fulbright Scholarship that enabled her to spend the last year running her program in Uganda. She is now back at GW, working on her master's degree in international development.

The spirit of service that Anna embodies has long been a part of the GW culture. Consider Dr. Bill Magee, the GW Medical School graduate who, in 1982, founded Operation Smile, which offers free surgery around the world for children with severe facial deformities. Since its inception, Operation Smile's volunteer physicians and medical students, including many at GW, have treated more than 130,000 children.

Or consider the four GW undergraduates who started an organization called Banaa--a word that means "build" or "create" in Arabic--to provide scholarships enabling Sudanese refugees to study in the United States. The first recipient was Makwei Mabioor Deng, who arrived at GW last fall. The terms of his scholarship require him to return to the Sudan after he graduates so that he can help his country work toward peace. Banaa is now working to found similar chapters on other college campuses, reaching a total of nine the last time I counted.

In less than two weeks, on September 11, you will have a chance to join these GW exemplars by participating in our newly-established Freshman Day of Service. One focus for this first year of the new program will be on supporting veterans who reside in the greater Washington area. We are using this event to kick-off a year-long theme of public service, while we will use to organize events throughout the year in something like the way we used the theme presidential transition last year. You can sign up easily on the web; just type "freshman day of service" into the search field on the university's main webpage. (This week, the importance of public service has been brought home to all of us by the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in whose honor flags across the nation have been lowered to half mast.)

So far, I have focused on ways in which the members of our university community engage in public or community service. But what about the institution as a whole? In what ways is GW itself, and not just its individual students, staff, and faculty, embracing the values of public service and global citizenship? One way, certainly, is through our efforts to become a model of urban sustainability. Perhaps more than any initiative in recent years, this one is driven by the passion as well as the intellectual interests of our students. Two years ago, I launched a Sustainability Task Force, and by the end of my first year, we had already implemented several of its most important recommendations.

In April 2008, GW became the first university in the District of Columbia to sign the American Colleges and University Presidents Climate Commitment. We have completed the carbon inventory that we can now use to measure our progress toward carbon neutrality. Later that same year, we created the university's first Office of Sustainability, and the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences established the GW Solar Institute. We are recruiting scientists and engineers to study alternative energy sources on our Science and Technology Campus in northern Virginia, and this past year we held two join symposiums on urban sustainability with the District of Columbia government. Our aim is to lead by example -- for instance by the high environmental standards of our newest residence, South Hall--as well as by discovery, through the growing research efforts of our faculty and students.

Sustainability, of course, is only one of the many fields in which we are raising our preeminence as a research university and developing innovative solutions to local, national, and global problems. Here again, just a few examples:

GW Biology Professor James Clark, partnering with Chinese scientist Xu Xing, recently discovered in China fossil evidence of a beaked, plant-eating dinosaur with a unique configuration of fingers that makes it a kind of "missing link," because it helps to explain how ancient dinosaurs evolved into modern birds.

Dr. Valerie Hu, a professor biochemistry and molecular biology, has discovered a biomarker that could lead to the early diagnosis and treatment of autism.

By now you may be wondering what all of this means to you. Where will you make you personal mark, and how will you personally contribute, both in your time here as a student and in your future career? The truth is, there is no way of predicting how your interests will change and grow as you learn from the faculty and, just as important, as you learn from your fellow students--that extraordinary community drawn from all walks of life, all 50 states, and some 130 countries around the world. You may well change your major many times (parents: don't worry!). You may well take a course in a field you never dreamed would interest you and find, in the process, a passion that will feed and fuel you for the rest of your life.

Whatever field you do end up choosing, you will find that extraordinary community I mentioned earlier--that lifelong and worldwide community of GW alumni--ready and eager to welcome you and to help you succeed. In fact, many of our alumni stand ready to help you even before you graduate. One example is Pierre Vigilance, Class of 1991 and currently Director of the DC Department of Health. Dr. Vigilance was in office only 100 days when he was approached by students from the GW School of Public Health and Health Services, who had some very specific ideas about how the Department might be improved by a more robust use of information technology. Together, these current and future alumni developed a state-of-the-art report-care system to monitor health service changes across the city.

One last example: Mary Ann Zoellner, class of 1991 and now a producer with NBC's Today Show, returned to GW to give a talk on the question "How Do I Become a Network TV Producer?" It was attended by then-GW senior John Estrada. They met after the talk, and Mary Ann helped John secure an internship with her show that opened the door to his broadcasting career. When asked about her interest in launching students like John on their careers, she said "I love to help students. GW was such a key part of my life, I was happy to be able to help others and give back."

So, Colonials: while the path you will actually take is unknown, you have the examples of earlier Colonials to guide and inspire you.

Immerse yourself in the history that surrounds you--the history that has already been made, and the history that is being made, and will be yours to make.

Plunge into this vibrant academic environment, and this incredibly cosmopolitan city.

Seize this moment in your lives--and in our times.

If you do, I have no doubt that you will look back on this presidential year--and on this, your own inauguration day--with satisfaction and with pride.

Congratulations. Best of luck. And welcome to The George Washington University.