May 17, 2024
Dear friends,
Today is a day of celebration and recognition. You have coached, shepherded, cajoled and encouraged our students through one of the most important journeys of their lives. Because of you, and many more in the W&M community, they are equipped for wherever their next chapter takes them. They have learned how to challenge their own perceptions, ask questions, explore the bounds of knowledge. They have learned how to learn and that is the greatest gift you could impart.
I look forward to seeing many of you this evening at the Commencement ceremony as we send our students off with many congratulations, a few tears and much joy. It's been a tough year for many of them, and they started in Covid, so this generation deserves our support and good wishes as we send them off while holding them close.
Many of you have a busy day tomorrow with departmental and program ceremonies, and some of you have already held these events for your students. I’m so grateful for all the work and care that goes into planning these events. They are so meaningful to our students and their families.
Recently, the W&M social media team ran a poll on Instagram. (I am not personally on Instagram so I didn’t vote in this poll, and something tells me I was not the target audience for this poll). It asked graduating students what they would miss most about W&M. Nearly every response mentioned the people. And actually that is true for me too.
We like to say that Arts & Sciences is at the heart of William & Mary. But you are the very breath of this campus and you have created the kind of community our students will remember for a lifetime.
For that and so much more this semester, I thank you.
With all my gratitude,
Suzanne
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Charles Dickens' extraordinary novel, Great Expectations (1860-61) tells the story of Pip, who leaves his childhood home to take up residence in London after an anonymous benefactor gives him a great deal of money so that he can become a "gentleman." Taking leave of Pip, his brother-in-law Joe utters the following: "life is made of ever so many partings welded together." I think of this phrase often. When I worked in London, I heard a friend give a lecture on that specific sentence. A year later my friend was dead at 30. He is still with me. Today's goodbyes are partings, but they are also weldings. As we move into the summer, when we move into our research and other spaces - both mental and physical - let's look forward to returning in the fall and continuing to weld.
Have a wonderful summer. The Friday annoyance will return in August.
Suzanne Raitt
Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Chancellor Professor of English
Pronouns: she/her/hers
