2005 Honorary Degree Recipients and
Commencement Speakers
click on the names below to view bios or on “remarks” to view speeches.
Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN (Ret.), Commencement Speaker (remarks)
Sacvan Bercovitch, Honorary Degree Recipient
William L. Everhart, Honorary Degree Recipient
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Honorary Degree Recipient
Mario Villarreal-Diaz, Student Commencement Speaker (remarks)
Elizabeth Bobo, Student Speaker-Board of Trustees' Dinner (remarks)
Paul K. Longmore, Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient (remarks)
Mary Toepelt Nicolai, Distinguished Alumni Service Award Recipient
César A. Piña, Distinguished Alumni Service Award Recipient
Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN (Ret.)
Commissioned as an ensign in 1952, Admiral Bobby Inman’s U.S. Navy career spanned nearly 20
years, serving around the world as a naval intelligence specialist. Graduating from the National War
College in 1972, he was selected for promotion to rear admiral in 1974 and vice admiral in 1976. In
1981, Inman was promoted to admiral, making him the first naval intelligence specialist to achieve a
four-star rank in Navy history.
Between 1974 and 1982, Inman served as director of Naval Intelligence, vice director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency, director of the National Security Agency, and deputy director of Central
Intelligence. He retired with the permanent rank of admiral in 1982.
After his retirement, Inman went on to become the first chairman and CEO of Microelectronics and
Computer Technology Corporation; chairman, president, and CEO of Westmark Systems, Inc.; and
later chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Inman, who is now managing director of Gefinor Ventures, a venture capital company focused on new
technologies, has spent the last 16 years investing in more than 30 start- up technology companies.
He has also served on the boards of such companies as Xerox, SBC Communications, ESPC, Fluor
Corporation, Massey Energy Company, Science Applications International Corporation, and Temple
Inland Incorporated.
In addition to his corporate work, Inman is active in higher education and nonprofit pursuits, serving
as the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the
University of Texas at Austin. He is a trustee of California Institute of Technology, the American
Assembly, and the Center for Excellence in Education and is an active member of various public
policy and professional organizations. Since 1995, Inman has served on the Board of Visitors for the
School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University.
Remarks by Admiral Boby R. Inman
PUSHING THE FRONTIERS OF A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD
CHAIRMAN GLENN, PRESIDENT EVERHART, DISTINGUISHED TRUSTEES AND FACULTY AND
HONOREES, THE CLASS OF 2005 AND THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
IT IS A GREAT HONOR THAT HAS BEEN BESTOWED ASKING ME TO ADDRESS YOU ON THIS
MOMENTOUS DAY IN YOUR LIVES. THE ONLY THING I REMEMBER ABOUT THE SPEECH AT
MY COMMENCEMENT FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO WAS THAT IT WAS TOO LONG!! LAST NIGHT I
WAS TOLD I HAVE AN ADDITIONAL ELEVEN MINUTES LEFT OVER FROM 1990, FOR A GRAND
TOTAL OF 31 MINUTES. RELAX, I WON’T USE IT.
LIFE IS FILLED WITH CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THE
CHALLENGES PROVIDED TO YOU DURING YOUR YEARS AT THIS VENERABLE INSTITUTION
WILL HELP YOU SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT AWAIT YOU AND OVERCOME WHATEVER
CHALLENGES LIE IN YOUR PATH.
AS YOU GO FORTH TO SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT AWAIT, PERMIT ME TO OFFER YOU
THE SIMPLE GOAL IN LIFE -- THAT IN SOME WAY YOU WILL HAVE MADE THIS A BETTER
WORLD FOR THOSE THAT FOLLOW.
AS YOU LEAVE THESE GROUNDS TO EMBARK ON YOUR LIFE’S WORK, IT IS NOT A SIMPLE
PLACID WORLD THAT AWAITS YOU. MY GENERATION SUCCESSFULLY FOUGHT AND WON
A WORLDWIDE COLD WAR. BUT WE BEQUEATH TO YOU A CHAOTIC WORLD FILLED WITH
CLASHES ALONG ETHNIC, TRIBAL AND RELIGIOUS LINES.IT HAS ALWAYS AMAZED ME THAT
SOME OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE, MOST VICIOUS ACTS AGAINST OTHER HUMANS
THROUGHOUT RECORDED HISTORY HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN UNDER THE CLOAK OF
RELIGIOUS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES INCREASINGLY AFFORD THE WARRIORS THE OPPORTUNITY TO
INFLICT DAMAGE AT GREATER DISTANCES AND WITH WIDER IMPACT ON UNSUSPECTING
POPULATIONS. NEW WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION IN THE HANDS OF STATE SUPPORTED
TERRORISM AND THE ACCELERATED INTERNATIONAL FLOW OF ILLEGAL NARCOTICS
SURROUND US. THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE NEAR
INSTANTANEOUS FLOW OF INFORMATION PROVIDE US QUICK GLIMPSES OF SUFFERING,
STARVATION, THE RAVAGES OF CONFLICT. YET THE ABSENCE OF RAPID MEANS TO SOLVE
THESE CHALLENGES, OR AT LEAST TO AMELIORATE THEM, PRODUCES INSTANT
FRUSTRATION THAT WE CAN’T FIND QUICK AND EASY SOLUTIONS.
AWARENESS IS GRADUALLY INCREASING OF OTHER CHALLENGES – OVER POPULATION,
NEW FORMS OF PESTILENCE, THREATS TO THE ENVIRONMENT THAT SURROUND US. MY
GENERATION HAS SEEN THE ERADICATION OF SMALL POX -- AND THE EMERGENCE OF
AIDS. SURELY THERE ARE ADVANCES OF SCIENCE POSSIBLE WHICH WILL LET YOU
SUCCESSFULLY ATTACK AND SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS. THE REAL CHALLENGE MAY BE IN
BRINGING FOCUS TO WHAT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED, TO FIND THE BUILDING BLOCKS
WHICH, WHEN ASSEMBLED, CORRECTLY PROVIDE THE LARGER PICTURE.
RECOGNIZING WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED AND DEVISING THE BEST WAYS TO ACHIEVE
CHANGE WILL BE ONE OF YOUR CHALLENGES. ON A WORLD SCALE, INSTITUTIONS,
ORGANIZATIONS, ALLIANCES NEED TO BE CHANGED TO DEAL WITH THE EVOLVING
WORLD. ARRANGEMENTS WHICH SERVED US WELL IN WINNING A COLD WAR ARE
PROVING INADEQUATE IN DEALING WITH THE CHAOTIC WORLD WHICH HAS
FOLLOWED. ON A NATIONAL LEVEL, WE ARE IN A PERIOD OF REEXAMINATION OF THE
PROPER RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOVERNMENT AND OF THE INDIVIDUAL. YOU WILL HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP REDEFINE WHAT WE EXPECT OF GOVERNMENT AND WHAT
WE EXPECT OF THE INDIVIDUAL. IN THAT DEFINING PROCESS THERE WILL BE A
PARTICULAR NEED FOR COMPASSION IN HELPING THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE,
WHO HAVE LESSER CAPABILITIES.
ON THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL, THERE WILL BE THE NEED AND OPPORTUNITIES TO PUSH
FRONTIERS, CREATE NEW THEORIES, DEVELOP NEW TOOLS WHICH HARNESS EVOLVING
TECHNOLOGIES AND ACCELERATE YOUR ABILITY TO UNLOCK SECRETS WE COULD NOT
DISCERN IN THE PAST. ON THE COMMERCIAL FRONT, THERE WILL BE NEW INDUSTRIES TO
CREATE, NEW WAYS TO REVITALIZE EXISTING INDUSTRIES, NEW JOBS TO CREATE, TO
ENHANCE THE STANDARD OF LIVING OF THE SOCIETY AT LARGE. IN ALL OF THESE, FULL
USE OF YOUR INTELLECT WILL BE DEMANDED AND YOU SHOULD NEVER BE BASHFUL
ABOUT PURSUING YOUR IDEAS.
HOPEFULLY THIS UNIVERSITY WILL ALSO HAVE HELPED YOU UNDERSTAND AND DEFINE
YOUR OWN CHARACTER. NOTWITHSTANDING THE MONOTONOUS MESSAGE FROM MUCH
OF THE MODERN MEDIA, CHARACTER DOES MATTER. WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR
EACH MORNING MAY YOU ALWAYS SEE IN THE REFLECTION THAT YOUR INTEGRITY IS
INTACT, THAT HONESTY AND FAIRNESS ARE TRULY WORDS YOU LIVE BY.
AS YOU LEAVE THESE SURROUNDINGS WITH ONE OF THE BEST EDUCATIONS THAT CAN BE
FOUND ON THIS GLOBE, YOU WILL FIND YOU ALSO HAVE NEW RESPONSIBILITIES. SOME
WILL BE MUNDANE – EFFECTIVELY MANAGING TIME, WHEN NO ONE TELLS YOU WHAT TIME
YOU NEED TO BE IN CLASS. AS YOU BEGIN TO RECEIVE COMPENSATION FOR YOUR
APPLICATION OF THE KNOWLEDGE HONED HERE, YOU WILL HAVE THE NEW CHALLENGE
OF FINDING A BALANCE BETWEEN CONSUMPTION AND SAVINGS.
AMIDST THE MANY CHANGES ABOUT TO OCCUR IN YOUR LIVES WILL BE FRUSTRATIONS
THAT YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL OF EVENTS. IN MY YOUNG ADULT LIFE I WAS PRIVILEGED
TO HAVE A WISE OLDER COUNCILOR WHO SAT ME DOWN TO LISTEN TO HIS ADVICE ON
THE CONSERVATION OF ENEMIES. HE HAD NOTED MY LACK OF PATIENCE IN DEALING WITH
THE MANY CHALLENGES AROUND ME. HE NOTED THAT I EXPENDED A LOT OF ENERGY IN
ANGER, IN CHALLENGING THOSE WHO STOOD IN MY PATH. HE OBSERVED THAT I
EXPENDED ENERGY IN EVERY ONE OF THOSE FIGHTS, BUT THAT IT WAS NOT ALWAYS
EFFECTIVE USE OF ENERGY. HE URGED ME TO SELECT MY BATTLES MORE CAREFULLY –
TO QUICKLY FIGHT IF THE ISSUE WAS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE AND TO DELIVER BLOWS
THAT WOULD BE REMEMBERED. BUT IN THE VASTLY LARGER INSTANCES WHEN PRINCIPLE
WAS NOT AT STAKE, TO SEEK SOLUTIONS OTHER THAN ANGER AND CONFRONTATION. I
CANNOT HONESTLY TELL YOU THAT I HAVE ALWAYS FOLLOWED HIS ADVICE IN THE
ENSUING FORTY-FIVE YEARS, BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I HAVE USUALLY REGRETTED
THE OCCASIONS WHEN I DID NOT.
EARLIER I OUTLINED THE SIMPLE GOAL OF LEAVING THIS A BETTER WORLD. OFTEN THAT
CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY SMALL STEPS. TAKE TIME TO MENTOR THOSE WHO ARE
YOUNGER OR LESS FORTUNATE. PRESERVE TIME FOR FAMILY AND FOR THE CREATION
OF ENDURING FRIENDSHIPS. AS YOU LOOK BACK ON A LIFE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT, AND
OCCASIONAL FAILURES, YOU WILL NEVER REGRET THE TIME SPENT ON FAMILY AND
FRIENDSHIP. FOR MOST OF YOU, FROM THIS POINT FORWARD YOUR GPA HERE WILL NOT
MATTER, BUT THE FRIENDSHIPS YOU HAVE CREATED WILL.
IN THIS TURBULENT WORLD YOU ARE ABOUT TO ASSAULT, THERE WILL BE SETBACKS AS
WELL AS SUCCESSES. COPING WITH THE PACE OF CHANGE WILL OCCASIONALLY BE
DAUNTING – SELF DOUBTS NATURALLY ARISE ON SUCH OCCASIONS AND CAN EASILY GIVE
WAY TO DEPRESSION. IT IS IMPORTANT WHEN THIS OCCURS TO FIND YOUR BEDROCK, TO
TOUCH THAT WHICH IS CLEAR AND CERTAIN, TO FIND COMFORT IN FAMILIAR
SURROUNDINGS. REMEMBER ESPECIALLY ON THOSE OCCASIONS, AS WELL AS ON
HAPPIER ONES, THAT THIS UNIVERSITY WILL ALWAYS BE HOME TO YOU, A PLACE WHERE
MOST OF YOU WERE YOUNG, VIBRANT, OCCASIONALLY UNCERTAIN, WHERE YOU GREW
UNBELIEVABLY. WHEN YOU NEED THAT SOLACE, COME HOME TO THIS CAMPUS WHERE
YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE ROOTS.
MAY THE CHALLENGES AHEAD ALWAYS BE OPPORTUNITIES AND YOUR
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ONES IN WHICH WE WILL ALL BASK. ALL THE BEST FOR THE EXCITING
FUTURE WE SHARE.
Sacvan Bercovitch, Ph.D. 1965 - English
Sacvan Bercovitch is professor emeritus and Powell M. Cabot Research Professor of American
Literature at Harvard University. Through groundbreaking critical works such as The Puritan Origins of
the American Self and as general editor of the new Cambridge Literary History of the United States,
Bercovitch has remained a seminal figure in American letters for nearly 40 years.
After completing his Ph.D. in English from the then Claremont Graduate School in 1965, Bercovitch
began a series of academic appointments that took him from Brandeis University, to UC San Diego,
to Columbia University. It was during this time that he published his first major works, The Puritan
Origins of the American Self (1975), and The American Jeremiad (1978). From 1983 until his recent
retirement, Bercovitch had been the Charles H. Carswell Professor of American and English literature
at Harvard University, where he published such influential works as The Office of “The Scarlet
Letter” (1991) and The Rites of Assent: Transformations in the Symbolic Construction of America
(1993).
An extensive list of accomplishments includes fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim
Foundation, the Newberry Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council
of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation and a Fulbright Senior Specialists Grant. He has served
as President of the American Studies Association and was selected as a Fellow to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1991, he received the Cabot Award for Achievement in the
Humanities, and the next year was awarded the James Russell Lowell prize from the Modern
Language Association for best scholarly book. He later won the Distinguished Scholar Award for
Extraordinary Lifetime Contributions to the Study of Early American Literature as well as the Hubbell
Award for Lifetime Achievement in American Literary Studies.
Bercovitch is a founding member of CGU’s Alumni Hall of Fame and received a distinguished alumni
award in 1995.
William L. Everhart
William L. Everhart, Claremont Graduate University Interim President, has served higher education
for 25 years, beginning his career at Santa Clara University in Northern California, before becoming
chief financial officer at Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, in 1992.
After serving Mount St. Mary’s, Everhart became CGU’s vice president for finance and treasurer in
1999. In his first three years at CGU, he revised internal management reports, established
relationships with key constituents including city officials, led the effort to develop a master plan for
the campus, and balanced the university budget through difficult times.
In 2002, Everhart’s responsibilities expanded to include oversight of information technology and
student affairs, resulting in his promotion to the newly created position of senior vice president for
finance and administration.
Everhart’s integrity, character, deep institutional knowledge, and dedication to CGU made him a
logical choice to succeed President Steadman Upham on July 16, 2004, as interim president of the
university. His able leadership over the past year has brought CGU through an important transition.
Everhart continues to be active in higher education and professional organizations, serving on the
boards of directors for the MBA Alumni Association of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara
University, The Blais Foundation, and as board chair for the CSJ Ministerial Services Corporation. He
recently completed a term as president of the Western Association of College and University
Business Officers (WACUBO) and sits on the Board of Directors of the National Association of
College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). He has published articles in the WACUBO
quarterly news magazine, and teaches endowment management at the Business Management
Institute held in Santa Barbara each summer.
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is currently in
his 13th season as music director. He made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in November 1984, and has conducted the orchestra ever since. His current tenure is
the second longest in Philharmonic history. Alongside his activities as conductor, Salonen has won
acclaim for his work as a composer.
After studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, Salonen came under the tutelage of composers
Franco Donatoni and Niccoló Castiglioni in Italy, and later made his conducting debut with the Finnish
Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979. His compositions are considered modernist, emphasizing solo
virtuosity, leavened with expressive humor, and have garnered critical acclaim throughout the U.S.
and Europe. In 2003, after numerous recordings for Sony Classical, Salonen signed an exclusive
four-year recording contract with Deautsche Grammophon, with releases to include a new disc of his
recent works.
Salonen is the recipient of numerous awards, and in 1993, he became the first conductor to be
awarded the Siena Prize from the Accademia Chigiana. He received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s
Opera Award in 1995, and in 1997, their Conductor Award; in 1998 he was awarded the rank of
Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and in 2003 received an honorary
doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Finland.
Mario Villarreal-Diaz, M.A. 2002 – International Political Economy; Ph.D. 2005 Political Science and Economics
Mario Villarreal-Diaz, a former Fulbright doctoral fellow, will receive his Ph D. from the School of
Politics and Economics today.
After earning his bachelor of arts degree in finance from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico, Villarreal joined a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Company in
1994 where he monitored sales and managed the marketing budget.
After going on to earn his master of science in industrial economics at the Universidad Autónoma de
Nuevo León, Villarreal began teaching at ITESM, and later joined the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute in
Claremont as a research associate.
Villarreal received a master of arts in international political economy from CGU in 2002 and has
served as a teaching assistant and president of the Graduate Student Council. In 2003, he was the
recipient of the Dream and Believe Award, the most prestigious and generous scholarship awarded at
CGU. Currently, he is a National Research Initiative doctoral fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, DC.
Villarreal’s professional and research interests are rooted in the policy-making process and how
political institutions and processes evolve and affect economic incentives. He is particularly interested
in the reform of social programs and the deregulation of the private sector, and wrote his dissertation
on the political economy of pension systems reform. His future plans include not only academic
research, but work on the design, implementation, evaluation, and enforcement of public policies
related to these topics.
Remarks by Mario Villarreal-Diaz
Good morning, President Everhart, Board Members, Faculty, Administrators, Fellow Students, and
Guests,
Every speech has a theme. Mine is about gratitude. There are many things to be grateful for. To begin
with, we will no longer have to pay $13,000 each semester. Our family and friends should also be
thankful since we will therefore stop asking them for money. By the way, my family and friends can
ignore the last comment.
Today’s ceremony is a great celebration. In terms of formal education, we are among a fortunate
segment of society. That deserves celebration. But an opportunity to celebrate an achievement so
great also provides the chance to assess the path that brought us here.
Certainly, our individual desire to progress in life was instrumental in our decision to pursue graduate
education, but additional key factors nurtured these aspirations: We have parents, family, and friends,
who have encouraged us to excel and pursue our dreams. They have kept our spirits high.
For several of us, the incentive to pursue graduate education was for the benefit of our posterity. I
have much admiration for those with children, especially the single parents, who have embarked on
this venture. You made the right decision for you and for those you love.
During our years here at Claremont, many people have touched our lives:
• For international students like me, our host families and the International Place made us feel
welcome during our first days at Claremont. Their help was invaluable to us.
• Of course, we also owe a tremendous debt to our professors, who became mentors and friends.
With their help we became acquainted with the relevant literature in our fields of expertise. They
guided us and helped us discover our intellectual strengths and overcome our weaknesses.
Their dedication to their students is remarkable. We are grateful for their commitment.
• Some other memories instantly bring a smile to my face: Silviano, who, given the fact he is
everywhere, must have a twin brother, and who is always greeting us, smiling, and cleaning. The
ladies at the cafeteria, working hard every day. People in the administration, handling our
normally “very urgent last minute” requests.
• And I must not fail to mention our fellow students. With them we shared ideas and questions. We
shared books and food. We shared good times and hard challenges. We will treasure forever the
gifts of our friendship.
These have been happy times, but for some of us, our time here was also marked by the loss of
loved ones. In our hearts, we share with them in our achievements.
During these years, many have given us gifts; we took them and made them our own. Wisdom or a
smile. Sometimes a 10-dollar bill to buy a sandwich. Someone was always there. They were in the
classroom, teaching and learning. They were on a phone call, listening and reassuring.
They were at home, supporting and waiting. They were in the many books we read, sharing and
challenging.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What we have learned from others becomes our own reflection.” How
fortunate we are for our families and friends and for being part of the Claremont Graduate University
community.
I ask you to please join me in a well deserved round of applause for all those who have carried us
along the way.
Claremont Graduate University represents a truly multicultural and trans-disciplinary environment,
where diversity does not only involve nationalities or ethnicities. More importantly, it is, as Jacques
Barzun says, a “house of intellect.” We learned here the value and importance of embracing
perspectives different from our own.
In my view, this is a reflection of what the United States of America represents.
What a great country this is -- not only because it shares a long border with my home Mexico, but
because of its generosity, the work ethic of its people, and its respect for others and the rule of law. I
appeal to the authority and eloquence of two great Latin-American writers.
Jorge Luis Borges said, “I found America the friendliest, most forgiving, and most generous nation I
had ever visited. We South Americans tend to think of things in terms of convenience, whereas
people in the United States approach things ethically. This -- amateur Protestant that I am -- I admired
above all.”
And I could not agree more with Mario Vargas Llosa’s remarks about U.S. democracy: “...that
formidable mixture of races, cultures, traditions and customs, which have succeeded in co-existing,
thanks to that equality before the law and the flexibility of the system that makes room for diversity at
its core.”
I will always be grateful for the many good things I have discovered in this country.
I think we are well prepared for the next step. But if as Peter Brougham wrote, “Education makes
people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave,” then there is still
a lot of work to do. I will share some statistics.
The average number of years of schooling of adults in the fifty least educated countries is 4.5 years.
In contrast, the average in the fifty most educated countries is 14.6 years. Tragically, there are 22
countries in the world where more than half the population is illiterate. Fifteen of them are in Africa. So
when I said we are among a fortunate minority, it was a compliment but also a fact.
Does being part of this unique group imply any kind of social responsibility for us? Some suggest that
social responsibility is just another word for self-immolation and that an individual’s primary mission
should be to pursue his or her own welfare. Others say that to make the very most of your life and the
opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your responsibility to give something back to
society.
What is clear is that each of you has the liberty to decide for yourself which of these paths to follow.
I have, however, a piece of advice. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these Truths to be
self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
I will encourage you to act upon your right to pursue happiness. The good life is the life spent in
pursuit of the good life; a pursuit fueled by our abilities and virtues, and the respect for others’ right to
do the same.
This endeavor includes not only the search of material well-being, but investments on learning new
things, giving out time to good causes and nurturing our social capital. Certainly this will reflect on
those around us, on our social network. Our pursuit of happiness will likely have positive
consequences, turning our good fortune into opportunities to give others a chance for a better life.
Finally, allow me to congratulate us again for our perseverance, for challenges conquered, and for
goals achieved and even surpassed. We, our parents, and our friends should feel very proud today,
and very hopeful for the bright future ahead of us.
I wish everyone not only good luck, but success in life. The journey ending today means many
different things to all of us: for some a finished challenge, for others a new beginning, one more step.
As for me ... as for me, it has been a privilege. Thank you.
Elizabeth Bobo – M.A. 1992, Ph.D. 2005 – English
Elizabeth Bobo is receiving her Ph.D. in English literature with an interdisciplinary focus on early
modern studies.
Bobo's dissertation is titled “Milton and Prophetic Authorship in Revolutionary Print Culture.” Through
exploring the self-representations of the great English poet and two of his female contemporaries, the
dissertation attends to the collaborative nature of authorship and to the economic, institutional, and
political contexts in which these texts were produced.
Bobo has presented several papers at The Huntington Library Renaissance Literature and Early
Modern British History Seminars. She organized a panel for the Modern Language Association
Conference titled “The Politics of the Print Trade in Revolutionary Writing,” and a panel for the
Renaissance Society of America titled “Islam in Print: Figures of the Turk in Seventeenth-Century
England.” Her work and travels in over thirty countries has widened her research interests to include
early representations of national and ethnic difference.
She earned her M.A. from Claremont Graduate University in English literature and her B.A. in French
literature from Reed College, and currently teaches in the Writing Program at Scripps College.
Previously, she taught at CSU San Bernardino, Chaffey College, Citrus College, and American
University in Cairo.
Bobo was recently awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in
a seminar this summer on post-Reformation religious persecution to be held at Ohio State University.
Dinner Remarks by Elizabeth Bobo, Ph.D. ’05
Claremont Graduate University Commencement, 2005
Crossing Borders and Bridging Cultures
A few weeks before the Sudanese coup of April, 1985, Secretary of State, George Schlutz, sent a
telegram to my mother. It read: “Daughter destitute in Khartoum.” Three months earlier, I had
postponed college and ventured out to see the world. ... I was not really destitute. I was out of cash
but not totally forsaken. During those ten penniless days, I learned how people’s willingness to serve
others crosses ethnic and national boundaries. I was soon befriended. A hotel owner provided me a
room; others gave me melons, nuts and boiled eggs. At that time in Sudan, the tension between the
Muslim north and the non-Muslim south was coming to a boiling point. But still, citizens among both
groups were cooperating to give shelter to Eritrean refugees in flight from persecution in neighboring
Ethiopia.
Future excursions brought many more such examples. When I returned to North Africa to teach the
children of U.S. military personnel stationed in Maadi, Egyptians helped me learn Arabic even though
they suspected I might actually be an Israeli spy. I met a pair of young entrepreneurs, one Turkish,
one Greek, in their third year of business. I traveled with Syrians and Romanians who were driving
goods back and forth to their respective villages. While lecturing at the American University in Cairo, I
mentored students from Europe, Japan, and the Arab Gulf States who were working together on joint
projects and making plans for the world they were to inherit.
Since returning to CGU, I have been in other predicaments that were easier to get into than they were
to get out of. Often, the process of writing the dissertation seemed like one of these. “Destitute in
Honnold Library.” ... “Abandoned in the Computer Lab.” ... “S.O.S. from Hagelbargers.” ... The
overwhelming sentiment among graduates is one of relief. We are finally going to get a break. As the
release from the pressure settles in, however, it begins to dawn on us that this momentous period is
not only an ending; it is also a beginning. It is a time to set new goals.
Fortunately, in the process of negotiating these futures, role models abound. CGU Professors work
across not only ethnic but also disciplinary boundaries. Prof. Csikszentmihalyi of the Drucker-Ito
School teaches the concept of “Good Work” – work of expert quality that benefits the broader society
as well as one’s self. Prof. Schroedel of the School of Politics and Economics focuses on how people
without power are able to have their concerns heard. Prof. Wimbush of the School of Religion who
directs the national project “African Americans and the Bible” searches not to find scriptural truth but,
rather, the variety of ways people use sacred texts.Commendable figures are to be found among the
alumni as well. Priscilla Fernandez, Class of ’78, servers the community as librarian of Chaffey
College. Marilyn Sutton, Class of ’73, Professor of English at California State University charges her
students to continue their inquiry as they apply their knowledge. Stephen Rountree, Class of ’77,
President of the L.A. Music Center, provides non-profit leadership that enhances lives through the
performing arts. Fred Mednick, Class of ’82, Founder and President of Teachers Without Boarders
recently opened a new chapter in Afganistan. Charlene Jackson, Class of ’87, President HLS
Financial Services, co- chairs a committee for the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Robert Delzell, Class of ’88, leads veterans on excursions to Vietnam to facilitate healing,
forgiveness, and inter-cultural understanding.
Models among students include M.B.A. Jed Dorfman who created and directed “America’s Camp,” a
summer camp offered free of charge to any child who had lost a parent on September 11. Another
M.B.A., Hisham Jabi collaborated with Israeli-American Uri Pomerantz to form Jazoor Microfinance
which brings economic opportunity to rural Palestinian areas. And Richard Cortes of the School of
Education Studies has received multiple awards for his work with Latino youth. The CGU community
provides countless examples of crossing boundaries and bridging cultures. The lessons learned
inside these gates are precisely what is needed for graduates to go outside them and improve the
world.
Yet, with privilege comes responsibility. The CGU graduate is among those for whom noblesse oblige
appertains. The degrees awarded tomorrow indicate personal academic achievements, symbolize the
status that will open doors, confer the authority that will make people listen. But these freedoms have
not come solely from merit. They come also from the immeasurable investment of family, advocates
in home countries, and scores of trustees, administrators, and staff members who have worked to
increase the good reputation CGU enjoys. Further, CGU and most of its community have benefited
from a legacy of global economic advantages. The ethos of the university has instilled a
conscientiousness regarding the duties that accompany these privileges.
I was not really destitute in Khartoum. I might like to think that I got back to college on the strength of
my wits and the kindness of strangers, but, as is evident, I had my country and my parents to support
me. And whereas I hope that future ventures may succeed without the need to disturb the State
Department or wire home for money, I do want to share my keen sense that because the CGU
graduating class of 2005 has been blessed with more than its share of gifts in this unjust and
developing world, these graduates are now the ones to take the torch and run with it.
Paul K. Longmore, Ph.D. 1984 - History
Paul K. Longmore is an internationally recognized activist, historian, and spokesperson for the rights
of people with disabilities. A pioneer in the field of disability studies, Professor Longmore helped to
establish and now directs the Institute on Disability Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU).
He has served as professor of history at SFSU for 13 years.
A prolific author, Professor Longmore has published three books and dozens of articles in early
American history and the history of people with disabilities. His publications include The Invention of
George Washington (University of California Press, 1988; paperback University Press of Virginia,
1998), which is based on his CGU dissertation, and Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on
Disability (Temple University Press, 2003). He co-edited The New Disability History: American
Perspectives (New York University Press, 2000) and is co-editing The History of Disability book series
for NYU Press.
Professor Longmore is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including a Mellon
Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities at Stanford University. He co-directed the first National
Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Disability Studies and a National Institute of
Disability and Rehabilitation Research study to examine the impact of disability studies curricula.
In March, Professor Longmore received the prestigious Henry B. Betts Award from the American
Association of Persons with Disabilities and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The award is
given to “honor an individual whose work and scope of influence have significantly improved the
quality of life for people with disabilities in the past, and will be a force for change in the future.”
A highly sought-after scholar and expert on disability issues, Professor Longmore has appeared on
ABC’s Nightline, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC’s Today, and National Public Radio’s Weekend
Edition, as well as in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, McCall’s,
and TV Guide. He was featured in the documentary film “George Washington: The Man Who
Wouldn’t Be King” on PBS.
Professor Longmore earned his bachelors and masters degrees at Occidental College. He
completed his Ph.D. in History at CGU and is a member of the CGU Alumni Hall of Fame.
Claremont Graduate University 2005 Commencement, Greeting and Charge to
Graduates by Paul Longmore
I have very good news. I am the last speaker on the program and I will be brief and talk fast. Thank
you for that highly motivating response. I am to give you a greeting and a charge. It is my privilege to
be the first person to address you as "fellow alumni of CGU."
And so this day has arrived. You have labored toward it and yearned for it and often feared it would
never come. But at long last it is here. You have made it through this ordeal called graduate
education and lived to tell the tale. You have not made it alone. You could not have made it alone.
You have been bolstered time and again by partners and parents, by teachers and mentors, by
friends and, not least, by one another. There is a special camaraderie among graduate students. This
is a moment of achievement and celebration and pride and astonished relief and gratitude and, I hope
for each of you, when things settle down a bit, of pondering.
What would I call you to ponder? For I am summoned here not simply to congratulate you, but to
charge you, to remind you, to impose on you an obligation, to lay before you a moral choice.
Here is the reminder: You and I are among the most privileged people on the face of this earth. Some
of us started out with great advantages. Some of us began behind the eight ball and had to battle
deprivations and discrimination. Nonetheless, ceremonies such as this one today mark us all as
privileged. That is of course one of the purposes of ceremonies such as this symbolic culmination of to use an old-fashioned phrase - "the higher learning." This ritual confers on us credentials, hands us
keys that will unlock doors for us, open to us wider opportunities, secure us higher status, gain us
greater material remuneration, enable us to wield larger powers, claim bigger clout. We are indeed
privileged among our fellow citizens and fellow human beings.
Here is the obligation: You have not been afforded these privileges, this education, this learning,
these credentials, simply to aggrandize yourself. They entail on you a civic duty, a communal
responsibility.
Here is the moral choice: You can further advantage yourself by combining with other privileged
people to augment your privileges still more. Or you can serve other people and the community and
the planet.
Here is the charge: At a time when so many mindlessly invoke dogma, reflexively operate from
ideology, willingly swallow propaganda, it is for you to think critically, speak honestly, and challenge
the herd mentality. In an ominous historical moment, it is for you to speak truth to power. In an era
when privilege and greed masquerade as equity, it is for you, whatever countryyou come from, to
stand with the dispossessed and to seek justice, and if you come from this country it is for you see to
it that America fulfills the promises of diversity and democracy for all its people.
And so I honor you for your personal achievement, as I call upon you to use what you have learned in
service of the greater good.
I have one more charge to give you: Go celebrate. I wish you well. Thank you.
Mary Toepelt Nicolai
Mary Toepelt Nicolai is a loyal and long-time supporter of Claremont Graduate University. She
recently established the Mary Toepelt Nicolai and George S. Blair Associate Professorship in
American Politics in the School of Politics and Economics, a fund that will impact the lives of future
scholars at CGU. She is also an active member of the James A. Blaisdell Society, a network of
benefactors that advances the mission of the University. The west wing of CGU’s Academic
Computing Building is named in her honor.
Ms. Nicolai earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and in economics at the University of
Washington, and a masters degree in public administration at Syracuse University. She also
completed elementary and secondary education programs at California State University, Fullerton,
University of Southern California, and CGU, and doctoral coursework in the School of Politics and
Economics at CGU.
In 1945, Ms. Nicolai was appointed to a position with the Veteran’s Administration where she was
responsible for developing the Insurance Program for U.S. Veterans. She later served as a civilian in
the Army of Occupation and was placed as an administrator within the Frankfurt Military Post.
In the 1950s, Ms. Nicolai began a 25-year career as a teacher in the Anaheim School District.
During those years, she received numerous awards in honor of her volunteer work in the community.
Ms. Nicolai’s proudest accomplishment is leading the effort to establish a charter committee in
Anaheim. Her efforts resulted in Anaheim becoming a city.
An influential political strategist, Ms. Nicolai also served as Republican Campaign Chair for the city of
Anaheim. She was instrumental in the political campaigns of local mayors, city council members,
legislators, and members of Congress. Her political accolades include three invitations to U.S.
presidential inaugurations, two from President Reagan, and one from President Bush, Senior.
As a tribute to Ms. Nicolai’s service and generosity, the Anaheim City Council recently voted to name
the first floor of the Anaheim Central Library the Mary E. Toepelt Nicolai Children’s Library. Her
papers are housed in the library.
César A. Piña
César A. Piña is a dedicated alumnus and member of the Board of Visitors of the School of
Mathematical Sciences at Claremont Graduate University. A loyal and long-time supporter of CGU’s
Math Clinics, Mr. Piña has sponsored numerous clinic projects, providing students opportunities to
apply their mathematical skills to discover solutions to complex issues in business and industry.
Mr. Piña was born in Cuba and attended elementary school in Cuba and high school on the American
Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. He studied mathematics at California State University, Long Beach,
aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, and physics at the University of California, Los
Angeles. Mr. Piña earned a master of science degree in mathematics at CGU in 1987.
Mr. Piña has spent nearly five decades as a leader and innovator in the semiconductor industry. He
has held positions in engineering and manufacturing, and has been at the forefront of the design and
manufacture of semiconductor devices ranging from solar cells and power rectifiers to submicrometer devices in the integrated circuit industry.
Between 1970 and 1975, Mr. Piña operated his own company in Orange County, manufacturing
specialized semiconductor diodes. In 1987, he joined the University of Southern California, managing
the MOSIS Service, a self-sustaining division within the Information Sciences Institute with a worldwide customer base. The numerous Math Clinic projects offered by Mr. Piña’s organization over the
last 15 years have enabled generations of CGU mathematical sciences students to tackle cuttingedge problems in collaborative teams.