As I mentioned in my last post, I got to be a part
of this year’s graduation ceremony…and I don’t mean just showing up
because it’s a university event. No, thanks to Dr. Steven Vibbert, this
year’s selected faculty speaker, I was actually an integral part of the
program.

Dr. Vibbert is a professor in the Eugene Pulliam School
of Journalism and specifically teaches undergraduate courses related to
public relations. You may remember his name from my blog as Dr. Vibbert
is the only professor that invites me to pay a visit to each one of his
classes, every semester.

He’s also my dad’s favorite professor
from his undergraduate days and it’s easy to see why, especially after
I had the pleasure of hearing him “profess” to the graduating class of
2008 on Saturday.

Dr. Vibbert started his speech off with a very
valid point. He said to the graduates, “Look around you right now and
soak in the feeling that fills this field house. You know what that
feeling is? It’s accomplishment. And now look at those around you—at
your friends and family and at this proud faculty in their own very
spiffy hats behind me, look at all the people who supported you—and who
share your sense of accomplishment. Here’s the good part about
accomplishment. It is a renewable resource. You’ve earned the good
feeling—I’d say the good vibe—of this accomplishment, but you know that
having done it once, you can do it again and again. You can achieve
this feeling over and over, by doing things as you’ve done here at
Butler—the Butler Way–and by sharing in the accomplishments of others
as parents and friends in future years.”

I found that to be some
great perspective, even from my point-of-view, which is affixed on four
legs and about a foot and a half off the ground. However, the crux of
his message was based on an acronym…an old trick he uses a lot in his
classes.

He told the graduates to use the acronym BLUE to guide
them. B for “be flexible,” because “change is going to happen to you”;
L for “let someone know they made a difference to you; U for “use the
front-page test – if you’re doing something you wouldn’t want everyone
to read about on the front page of your hometown newspaper, then don’t
do it”; and E for “enthusiasm,” which they’ll need to succeed.

He
ended it with, “As I look back on the four points I’ve written: Be
flexible; Let someone know they made a difference; Use the front page
test; Enthusiasm matters…B.L.U.E. I see that they spell BLUE. I want
you to remember BLUE, Butler Blue, to do things the right way—what is
sometimes called the Butler Way.

Are these four points really
part of what it means to be Butler Blue? Can they in some way connect
you all, today and in the future? Are they worth remembering, as I
think they are? How could I prove such a statement? How could I make
your last class at Butler stay with you?

I have an idea—a friend of yours and mine whom I’ve asked to come to commencement just to make this call.”

This
is the part where I made my grand entrance and found my spot on stage
next to Dr. Vibbert and the podium, amid the cheers, laughter and
clapping. It was quite fun.

Really, I was probably on display
for a minute, but like Dr. Vibbert, I think it drove home the point and
maybe made that one of the most memorable speeches in all of Butler’s
152 commencement exercises.

In all, the University conferred
degrees on 877 students – 275 from the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, 196 from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 185
from the College of Business Administration, 120 from the Jordan
College of Fine Arts and 101 from the College of Education.

Dr.
Susan Solomon, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, was the keynote speaker. She was part of
the group that won the 2007 Nobel Prize for their efforts “to build up
and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to
lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such
change.”

I don’t really know anything about that, nor will I
pretend to. When it comes to climates, I just know that I’m the sort of
breed that pretty much has to live in a temperature controlled
environment, thus, I need a very mild climate…i.e. indoors.

Anyway,
Dr. Solomon got an Honorary Degree during the ceremony. I did not,
however get an Honorary Degree. That’s okay, I’m probably only
deserving of an “Ornery Degree.” I know…bad joke.

In other news, fellow Butler Bulldog and IndyCar Series driver, Ed Carpenter, did make the field for the Indianapolis 500 on the first day of qualifying this past Saturday. He will start the 92nd running from the 10th position. Go Ed!

Blue II