News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

May 30, 2009

Indiana Gov. Daniels delivers Rose-Hulman commencement address

TERRE HAUTE — Friends and family milled about in the shade south of Root Quadrangle as hundreds of future engineers and scientists prepared for commencement.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology hosted a packed campus Saturday, with parking spaces at a premium amidst a sunny sky and temperatures in the breezy 80s. The Indianapolis Fire Fighters Bagpipe Band led the march past Olin Advanced Learning Center, with honor guard, trustees and robed graduates following in step.

And by 11 a.m., the Sports and Recreation Complex was full of fans, as years of effort and training were about to be recognized.

“I often pose to friends a trivia question,” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said from center stage as he offered the Class of 2009 its commencement address. “Name three mythological creatures never actually found in the natural world. To which the answer is Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, and an unemployed Rose-Hulman graduate.”

Daniels told the school’s 131st graduating class, “if any graduates in America today are ready for the tough world of a prolonged recession, you are.”

Of the 365 students earning a bachelor’s degree, and 19 a master’s degree, 82 percent have accepted employment, graduate school appointments or military commitments, with an average accepted job offer of $59,697 and a high of $92,000, according to class literature.

But it’s not just the employment prospects of Rose-Hulman alumni that have the governor a self-described “unabashed, vocal admirer,” it’s the country’s dire need for more scientists and engineers.

According to Daniels, the U.S. Congress has eight times as many lawyers as scientists and engineers. In the Indiana General Assembly, only five of the 150 members have a technical background. Meanwhile, in India and China, scientists and engineers are being produced in numbers that dwarf those in America.

“We have passed the time when our best scientific minds can devote themselves solely to their chosen work, or to solving huge, avoidable problems after others have caused them,” he said. “The issues that now face our country often require a technical understanding, or a grasp of statistics, or cost-benefit analysis, or an appreciation of the scientific method with which the general public is not equipped, and which our politicians neither understand nor particularly want to.”

Carbon dioxide emissions and alternative energy solutions are what America needs, he said, not more talk.

“Justice Louis Brandeis said that, in a democracy, the highest office is that of citizen. I ask you today to add the pursuit of that high office to your career to-do lists,” Daniels told the graduates. “You will add value to society well beyond that added by all our society’s lawyers, celebrities, or, of course, mere governors.”

But more than future service was on the minds of graduates, staff and faculty, as Rose-Hulman President Gerald Jakubowski requested a moment of silence for three road fatalities this year which prevented members of “the Rose-Hulman family” from participating in Saturday’s ceremonies.

Mandy Kronmiller, senior class president, said “the college years are the best years of our lives,” as she recounted late night trips to Walmart and area restaurants, studying with friends or playing intramural sports.

And as she thanked the friends, families and Rose-Hulman community for their help, she left the stage to enter a new phase of life.



Brian M. Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Join the Conversation
Helium
Front page
AP Video
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout Video of Ga. Man Who Killed Girl Released Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration Foreclosures Down 34 Percent in 2011 Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows Androgynous Model Walks Runway As Man and Woman Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs Eastwood in Super Bowl Ad 'Compassionate' States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
NDN Video
Christie Brinkley's Runway Slip Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames Lady Gaga's Battle With Bulimia Evacuation at Sea SJP Talks About Replacing Demi Moore in 'Lovelace' LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal Osama Bin Laden Zombie Movie: "Osombie" Teaser Released Thomas' moratorium: 'I'm out, peace' VS Model Quits Over Religion Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life NASCAR Drive for Diversity Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart Androgynous Model Walks Runway As Man and Woman Khloe Kardashian Responds to O.J. Rumors Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week 2012 SportsTalk Live: Most hated athletes - 2/8 Louis Vuitton Condoms?! Tiger Woods 13: Legacy mode Michelle Obama vs. Jimmy Fallon Buffalo Barges Into Car
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News