Traditionally, we think of graduation as a time of celebration, a rite of passage that opens up the road of the future to our students, and it certainly is that. We recognize and celebrate the achievements of our students during their time with us, and we look forward to their future accomplishments. But in the present moment, we can’t in good faith view the future with rose-tinted glasses. The journey our soon-to-be graduates will be embarking on is a difficult one. All of us who have gone through this process know that, but this time is unique, and we have to acknowledge that the pressures on our grads, though familiar, are also very different from the ones we felt.

Students leaving the University of Iowa this May are entering a world and a workforce that is unlike the one many of us found ourselves in when we began our working lives. In many ways, true, it is better. We can connect with loved ones across the globe with just the click of a button. Soon, thanks in part to the efforts of researchers here at our very own University of Iowa, we may have the luxury of having our cars pick us up and ferry us to our destination without our having to lay a finger on the steering wheel. But the truth is, this is an unnerving moment. People are still worried about finding work even as the economy itself is picking up. The lines that separate us, particularly politically and culturally, seem to be drawn thicker. There is a lot of fear in the world and anxiety about the future.

Much of that anxiety has been felt on our campus. Although a university attempts to create a space for fruitful study for its faculty and students, it can’t escape reality. We have gone through a lot at the University of Iowa, particularly in the last year. And yet here we are, about to uphold a time-honored tradition. We do so humbly and with an eye to local, national, and international events, but this is, despite everything, a time of celebration. It’s also a time of thanks.

Faculty, I want to thank you for all of the work you have done, for your research and for the hours you’ve spent working on curricula that you hope can reach students and light that spark that you know when you see it. Staff, thank you for your work keeping this university running smoothly, from making sure we have the research equipment we need to looking after our infrastructure to making payroll.

And graduates, thank you for your diligent studies, for the vibrancy you’ve given this campus, and for your passion to defend and pursue what is right. But I also want to ask something of you. We’ve prepared you the best we can. We’ve worked side by side with you. We’ve entrusted you with important research and tried our best to share our knowledge about our work and about this life. As you prepare to leave the University of Iowa, I ask you to do something with that knowledge: make a better world.