Having tolerated four months of January, here we are, simultaneously celebrating May and graduation. I am always amazed at how quickly time passes, and I’m sure many of our graduates feel the same. Yet here we are...spring commencement, daffodils, pollen, mortar boards, selfies.

The university will miss the talents and contributions of our exceptional graduates, but I take pride in knowing they will use those talents to make a difference in our world. Whether freshly minted dentists practicing in rural Iowa, or business majors off to found startups, or teachers instructing their first class, or artists designing the next community park, I know each of the 4,300 of them is going to have a great and positive impact.

While many of us find our current circumstances challenging, there is enormous reason for hope. I have tremendous faith in the conviction of our Hawkeyes family.

A university like ours is both a reservoir for and wellspring of hope. Our research is opening new frontiers of scientific and medical discovery, making breakthroughs with practical application that will have tangible, positive effects on people’s lives. Our artists, writers, and humanities scholars are showing us new ways to see the world as it is and what it might become. We are informing ourselves how we came to be here and what that means.

Our graduates carry all of this with them. Their talented and conscientious instructors have shared knowledge, made new discoveries, and developed new insights side-by-side with them. Thanks to these dedicated instructors, our graduates are well equipped for the future, ready not just to face it but to mold it. I am proud of that. I am proud of them, and I am proud of our entire university—long may it serve just such a purpose.

To all Hawkeyes—faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni new and old—let’s celebrate this graduation season as a time of renewal, a catalyzing moment of change, with pride and justified hope for the future. As our graduates go out into the world with passionate energy, let the rest of us also pledge to carry the same fire. Be bold and compassionate, thoughtful and brave. This is a moment of great opportunity. Let’s be what’s possible.