Cliff Stanley shares story of life journey

They were seemingly strange words for a trained United States Marine -- "Love comes out of everything I do." But yesterday, that's exactly how Clifford Stanley, Penn's executive vice president, opened his speech, which was part of the monthly lecture series "What Matters to Me and Why"sponsored by the Religious Life Liaison Program. Stanley's talk, which focused on his journey from the Marine Corps to Penn, began at the very beginning -- with his family. He said his family built up the foundation of his values through love, and he took that love and manifested it early. "I hustled in a positive sense," Stanley said. "I was the guy on the block who cut the grass and who did a good job of cutting the grass. If I went to the house to cut the grass, I'd trim that bad boy decent." Moving on from lawns, he graduated from South Carolina State University in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. While there, he served as junior class president, student body president and president of his fraternity. He also graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a master's in counseling. So although Stanley is no stranger to the presidency, he said that was not his main reason for coming to Penn. "I didn't come here to be the EVP," Stanley said. "A lot of people said 'Yeah, he came here to be the EVP.' No, I didn't." He went on to explain why he took the job. "I came here to be with you," he said. "That's why I'm here. I came here to be around people who care, people who are pretty passionate." He then spoke of an actual experience when he met a young midshipman on Penn's campus. The midshipman was jogging toward the EVP and retired major general but did not know who Stanley was. When Stanley greeted the man with an energetic "Good morning," the midshipman responded with a detached "How ya doin'." Though Stanley wanted to reveal his identity, he had an epiphany and decided not to. "You're getting ready to enter an environment that's going to require more of you than what you just gave," Stanley said, revealing the thoughts he felt at the time. "All of your people will be looking at you even when you don't think they're looking at you." But Stanley was not discouraged by this and remains confident about becoming a member of the Penn family. "I feel ownership, partnership, fellowship just as much as anybody who's been here for 30 years, 50 years or even longer," Stanley said. And judging from reaction to the speech, the Penn community is equally willing to welcome Stanley. "For some reason, the word that comes to my mind [to describe Stanley] is 'hero,'" said Chien Chow, a second-year graduate student in bioethics.