Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

From global corporations to the entrepreneurial world, to national service, to research and innovation, to education and academic life, our soon-to-be graduates are poised to embark on careers they could not possibly have imagined when they started as freshmen a short few years ago. To ensure career success, however, requires careful transition to a whole new set of realities.

Today and tomorrow, as we celebrate another round of commencements, more than 600 of our newly minted graduates will reflect on their investment of time, commitment and effort and on the promise of their futures. But graduation is also the most important transition in the lives of many as they leave academics and take their first jobs. For me, all those years ago, there was a realization that I couldn’t focus only on my own performance! Rather, a major part of MY job was to make others on my team look good. I also realized that, unlike my school project team members who were all my age, suddenly I was working with colleagues who were older, wiser and more experienced. Soon, they became critical elements of my work success. I also realized that the most successful had a vast network of connections.

To our new graduates, I say, regardless of how talented, hardworking and persuasive you might be, we all need help if we are to achieve tasks bigger than ourselves. If we are to make critical contributions to critical challenges, our ability to connect with others is essential, and our network of friends, colleagues and acquaintances can help us make those key connections. As graduates, you have already established an expandable network of your college friends, professors, project teammates, Greek brothers and sisters, and more. Your network will prove to be golden over the years. Just as important is expanding your network to include our alumni and members of our academies, with whom you have years of common experiences. The alumni networking opportunities are available to you immediately upon graduation through your complimentary membership in the Miner Alumni Association.

There are also some cautions that I would like to highlight – things that are essential if you are to be viewed as an asset to your team. First, don’t be afraid of the grunt work! I won’t tell you about my grunt work that turned out to be a rite of passage for me with the team. Hard work that I did not consider “engineering work!” I completed the work without squawking, with pride and with no sense of entitlement!

I learned not to expect the best assignment, prestigious customer contacts or business trips before I earned my keep. Oh, I also learned not to ask for vacation time too soon and learned to be on time – if not early – because for some appointments when you are on time, you are late! I did not want to arrive at my boss’s office for appointments rushed and out of breath. In short, I wanted to be among the 20 percent of people who achieved 80 percent of the work.

Finally, you are allowed to brag about your great GPA and cool college stories about 2.5 times, at most! Then focus on others and ask them about their stories and experiences. After all, it’s not about us! Rather, it’s about the team, the task and the transition. Focusing on helping others will earn you recognition as a caring member of the team, and that will help you launch a successful career.

I offer my congratulations to our graduates. You will receive your hard-earned and well-deserved Missouri S&T degrees tonight and tomorrow. Now the fun and exciting part begins! In the words of Dante Alighieri, tonight “is the beginning of always.”

In pondering our graduates’ potential futures, I couldn’t help but think about the lyrics of the song “Daydream,” by Lily Meola; “Don’t quit your daydream, it’s your life that you’re making. It ain’t big enough if it doesn’t scare you. If it makes you nervous it’s probably worth it. Why save it for sleep when you could be living your daydream?”

Warmly,

-Mo.

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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu