President Crow exhorts new grads to 'make this country better, stronger, more just'
Biomedical sciences major Emily Heuchan and her fellow graduates celebrate as confetti streamers fall at the end of Fall 2024 Undergraduate Commencement at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Monday, Dec. 16. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
Thousands of Arizona State University graduates were urged to help heal the inequities and divisions in American society as they celebrated at commencement ceremonies Monday.
ASU President Michael Crow gave that message at the graduate commencement at Desert Financial Arena on Monday morning and at the undergraduate ceremony at Mountain America Stadium in the afternoon.
Overall, about 11,300 ASU students graduated this fall, about two-thirds of them undergraduates and the rest earning graduate degrees.
More than half of the new degree-holders took classes through ASU Online, including more than 1,000 graduates of the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.
At the undergraduate commencement, Crow told the graduates that income disparities have led to social inequity.
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Political science graduate Luca Walsh prepares for the undergraduate commencement ceremony with the help of family on Monday afternoon at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
Photo by Emma Fitzgerald/Arizona State University
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Family and human development graduate Ron Spigelman (left) takes a selfie with Associate Teaching Professor Krista Puruhito before undergraduate commencement on Monday.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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History major Payton Gaines waives to family as the crowds begin to arrive for the undergraduate commencement ceremony Monday in Tempe.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Sparky makes the rounds before the undergraduate ceremony, here posing for a photo with psychology major Amber Huddle (left) and organizational leadership and project management major Jodie Spencer.
Photo by Emma Fitzgerald/Arizona State University
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Starbucks College Achievement Plan graduates walk as a group from the Starbucks forum at the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU to Mountain America Stadium for undergraduate commencement, as Starbucks partners cheer them on. Read more about the forum and the stories shared there.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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ASU President Michael Crow speaks during undergraduate commencement, encouraging the new grads to work toward reducing inequities in American society. “Worry about what you're going to do to make this country better, stronger, quicker, more just and to help everyone in the country have a pathway forward,” he said.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Organizational leadership major Bettina Bravo cheers during the undergraduate ceremony.
Photo by Emma Fitzgerald/Arizona State University
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Biomedical sciences major and first-generation graduate Ken Onowga cheers during Monday's celebration.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
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Economics major Sydney Labine spins amid the streamers that mark the end of the undergraduate ceremony.
Photo by Emma Fitzgerald/Arizona State University
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Liberal studies major Edwin Monico snags a selfie with ASU President Michael M. Crow after Monday's undergraduate commencement in Tempe.
Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
“There's not a single negative number in the top third of family incomes. Lifespan is expanding. Income is expanding. Educational attainment is expanding,” he said.
“And in the bottom one-third of family incomes, you have 7% with college degrees, 35% to 40% high school non-completion. Lifespan going down. Income going down.
“This is at the root of so many things going on in this country right now that it’s beyond belief.”
Crow said the new bachelor’s degree holders must work on fixing it.
“Worry about what you're going to do to make this country better, stronger, quicker, more just and to help everyone in the country have a pathway forward,” he said.
In the morning commencement, Crow urged the graduates to fight for democracy.
“You have an assignment. If you’re from the United States, or you live in the United States, or you’re going to live in the United States, you’re in the middle of one of the most significant experiments in human history — our democracy and its forward progress, which is very, very unusual in the scheme of human history,” he said.
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Nirav Shah, president of the Graduate Student Government, leads the gonfalon processional at the beginning of the Fall 2024 Graduate Commencement on Monday, Dec. 16, at Desert Financial Arena on the Tempe campus. Of the 11,300 fall semester graduates, 3,675 were graduate students.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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(From left) Woo-Jung Amber Kim, Curtis Lawrence and Valeria Rizo pose for a snapshot before graduating with their education doctorates in leadership and innovation on Monday.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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President Michael Crow speaks at the Fall 2024 Graduate Commencement on Monday at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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Outstanding graduate in forensic psychology Linhsey Trinh receives a diploma cover from Executive Vice Provost and Professor Patrick Kenney at graduate commencement on Monday. Trinh, a police officer with the Westfield Police Department in Indiana, earned her degree via ASU Online. Learn more about her story on ASU News.
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Leon Maultsby is the first of eight doctors of behavioral health to be hooded by Clinical Associate Professor Lesley Manson at graduate commencement at Desert Financial Arena.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate Lily Tran (left) hoods Kyla Castaneda on Monday. The two earned their Master of Science in family and human development.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Associate Dean and Associate Professor Dawn Gilpin (left) joins new PhD graduate Nisha Sridaran (right) in celebrating the balloon drop at the end of graduate commencement Monday.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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Rawan Naseef, who earned her PhD in design environment and the arts, poses with her mother, husband and three daughters after the graduate ceremony Monday in Tempe.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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Loralee Castillo-Panagakis, who earned her master's degree in educational leadership, poses in front of the #ASUGrad sign outside commencement. She works at ASU Preparatory Academy in downtown Phoenix.
Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
Crow said that the history of democracy has always included conflict and debate.
“And so there’s no walking into a better future. There’s only hard work. There’s only the fight. There’s only the drive.
“And all of you have been wildly, boldly empowered to do these things.”
And he exhorted both groups to be grateful to the taxpayers.
“People working at McDonald’s are paying taxes for you to be able to be here to pursue your PhD,” he said at the graduate ceremony.
“They're doing that because it is for the good of our society, and you all are here as a part of that.”
Cecilia Mata, chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents, also addressed both ceremonies, describing how she was a first-generation college student in Panama before immigrating to the United States.
“And now as chairman of the Board of Regents, I have come full circle with the privilege of inspiring and encouraging the next generations of the leaders on their commencement day,” she said.
“This is the power that higher education gives you — the ability to chart your own path.”
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