The Daily Pennsylvanian
Citing Joseph Wharton's goal of creating not investment bankers, not accountants, but leaders upon founding the Wharton School, Wharton Dean Patrick Harker focused on the importance of leadership in his
opening remarks at the school's undergraduate Commencement ceremony Sunday morning.
Appealing to the graduates to follow in Joseph Wharton's spirit, Harker urged the students to use their education and knowledge to create "economic growth that will benefit society as a whole."
Wharton Undergraduate Vice Dean Barbara Kahn similarly provided the graduating class with advice. To show that knowledge attained through a Wharton education can "help navigate a complex world," Kahn recalled a time when she used her business acumen to circumvent an undesirable, real-world situation ? being stranded on an all-male nude beach with her daughter, then 10 years old.
Kahn described how she prioritized the situation using the Straight Through Processing framework, which led her to the conclusion that she should put all of her energy into building an elaborate sandcastle with her daughter.
The David Hauck Outstanding Teaching Award recipients ? Accounting professor John Core and Operations and Information Management professor Thomas Lee ? also addressed the graduates.
Core offered the class of 2005 one piece of advice.
"Have a good time, all the time," he said.
Core qualified this statement by instructing the graduates to "keep learning, keep growing, keep giving, keep finding ways to make yourself happy."
Lee described the importance of the wide-ranging principles that the students learned while at Wharton, after asking the question, "What could college, or OPIM, possibly be used for?"
Student speaker Lea Cohen described the changes that the members of the graduating class experienced during their undergraduate years ? ranging in scope from the the completion of Huntsman Hall to the tragedy of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Cohen focused on the importance of the close peer relationships the students developed.
"No matter where you go in life, as [a] Wharton alum, you will be in a unique alliance," she said.
Reflecting on the ceremony as a whole, audience members cited the faculty addresses as highlights.
"I thought the honored professors' speeches were really good ? and the dean's, too," said Roseanne DosSantos, a spectator and friend of a graduate.
