 One of my favorite movie quotes is from Saving Private Ryan where an elder private Ryan in the first scene opening scene says I hope I've lived a life that has honored your sacrifice Tonight my remarks are dedicated to my father dr. Jackie and chow who recently passed away unexpectedly in whose life and memory I try not honor and eat each and every single day As an immigrant from China he came to the US for a better life as a young college student He met my mother and as we say the rest is history They ended up having two children my brother and I and growing up as an immigrant family Libraries were a cornerstone of our lives books movies documentaries a safe space to explore and endless adventures All for free as a married graduate student couple with children They didn't have a lot of disposable income in the library was our refuge our place of adventure I'm proud to say that my father lived a full life through hard work and serving as a dedicated husband and father He led a life that was well lived some lessons. I want to impart to you are an honor of his memory First make sure you also live a life well lived We don't know when our end will arrive and so make sure to set aside time to embrace and relish the things that make you happy Make you laugh and bring you joy Make sure this is also done honor and respect to others Second make sure you tell your loved ones frequently how much you love and appreciate them and care for them And that certainly includes our pets and friends and relatives Third libraries and LA's professionals ranked so much joy comfort and serve as a safe space in place for people of all walks of life My parents learned how to use computers at their public library in Florida It served a core role in our quality of life across the lifespan and especially as they retired Fourth I am proud to say through the SJSU iSchools I am less grant entitled reading nation waterfall Which is building book ecosystems for Native American children and communities in five tribes Nationally, and I also want to recognize Sophia LaMonica who I has been a project manager and co-conspirator Over her time with us at the iSchool We're building book ecosystems for Native American children and communities in five tribes nationally We created a new program called reading nation waterfall sunrise and partnership with the United for Literacy Little Free Library and the National Indian Head Start Directors Association Which should add close to 20,000 books and those ecosystems for Native American children in memory of my father He would like that My father lived the life Where giving and providing for others was his primary priority and contribution and this is similar to the iSchools Philosophy and in particular we have a saying which is information is everything With the focus on serving others helping people solve problems and helping increase their quality of life Or by providing access to vetted high quality information services programming and resources This is such an incredible opportunity and privilege to serve others as LAS professions and certainly given the time Times that we live in now our profession could not be more important In conclusion all of our new graduates are empowered with your new degree to move forward in your careers and lives We stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us and we honor their memories and sacrifices every day By helping others and solving problems head on with strength courage Vigor and integrity as you grow strong in your careers member. It is an increased opportunity to also help even more people Congratulations on earning your degree and we are honored to have been a small part of your life's journey Do keep in touch. Let us know how you're doing Let us know how we can help you as you progress through your assuredly successful careers Remember all great things are earned by facing and working through a lot of challenges Solving a lot of problems and continue to grow and learn through our mistakes Work hard be kind to others and live a life well lived It's your time now to do great things and we know you're up to the challenge. Thank you All right, so next we have Associate Dean C. N. D. Hirsch who is the former iSchool director and now our associate director Who'd like to say a few words? Oh Hi everyone on behalf of the College of Professional and Global Education I bring greetings and congratulations from Inner and Dean Mike Matt who's not able to join us today I am currently serving as the associate dean for academics in the college And I previously served as the director of the School of Information for 10 years And it gives me great pleasure to be here today on behalf of the Dean's office To congratulate the graduates of the School of Information Through your course of study in the School of Information You have all gained a deep understanding of how information can be applied to address some of the world's most challenging problems And you have gained the skills and knowledge that will enable you to make a difference in your communities. I Congratulate the School of Information's Outstanding master's degree students who are graduating with their MLIS, MARA and Informatics degrees those who've completed their teacher librarian programs and certificate programs and also the iSchool's undergraduate students who are completing their BS in information science and data analytics Well today we are celebrating the end of one segment of your career journey. It is also Just the first step in what we know will be a rewarding inspiring and impactful future I am excited to see what the future holds for you And I know that you will go on to achieve great things Congratulations and best luck on your next adventure Thank you very much Sandy and congratulations on helping build the iSchool to what it is today So next we have the honor of Elizabeth Martinez as our first keynote speaker She currently is a new Mexico State Library commissioner former iSchool lecturer here at San Jose State and former executive director of the American Library Association She also is the author of a Jaguar in the library Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining us. Go ahead Hello, and thank you. Thank you and gracias. I'm very pleased to be here I have a caveat unfortunately and that's that Earlier this week I was released from the hospital after five days and so one of the medications that I take A side effect is coughing. So if I start to cough during this talk, I apologize and I'll Stop as quickly as I can but thank you. Thank you that When I was executive director of the American Library Association, we had a case before the Supreme Court The Supreme Court it was LA versus United States government and we refer we refer to it as freedom of the internet Access to the internet. This was the 1996 telecommunications act Our attorney and their attorney the government's attorney were told you have three minutes Three minutes to make your case because after that the chief justices will start asking questions Well three minutes Three minutes isn't very long. It was suggested that I talk about what I've learned in my profession And that's daunting because I've been librarian for 50 years I know most of you weren't born then but That's I understand how long that was what I learned at three minutes Maybe I couldn't do it for seven minutes. Surely I could do that and I don't want to be fast concise and brief I learned to be ready I learned to be ready for opportunities and that's what I want to talk to you about today Ready for the unanticipated Ready for the non routine Ready for the great idea from a quiet staff member Ready for a door to open that appears to have been closed ready for challenges to get things done to make things happen and Somewhere out there in this universe of People attending this event There's a friend And I want to tell you a story about dr. Anthony Bernier. Please forgive me, Anthony When I was appointed director of the Los Angeles public library It was a time of construction the new central library after an infamous fire The over half a million square foot new central library would be a blend of the 1928 good hue elaborate magnificent building that had sculptures and mosaics and Mayan and egyptian motifs and And an enormous astrological chandelier and the rotunda And it was to be blended with a seven-story very modern series of escalators that went up And throughout the building and it was surrounded by books You could go up and down the escalators the books all around you. It was called the grand canyon of books by one of the tv anchors There were gardens and there were fountains and there was a classy restaurant There was a food court. There was a gift shop There was a 250 seat theater It was estimated that over 80,000 people attended celebrities authors icons I gave big bird a library cart and he gave me a yellow feather There were celebrities. It was a wonderful time for the community But what was important is something that happened a week later Because a week later a librarian asked to talk to me And if you've been to the central library, you know how magnificent it is and you ought to see the library director's office It's pretty wonderful so the Librarian was Anthony Bernier. He wasn't Dr. Anthony Bernier yet But he told me Something that startled me and it said he told me that in over a half a million square foot do brand new magnificent library There were less than a thousand square feet for teens And I I was shocked I was an advocate for teens. I knew better I knew I hadn't been involved in the design of the facility, but I certainly was involved in everything else and including the opening and the management and I knew that less than a mile from the new beautiful central library was the largest High school in Los Angeles And those students could just come straight down the road to the new library And we didn't have enough space I left LA to be The executive director of the American Library Association, but Anthony stayed and he made sure that teens got space And the new teen space of Los Angeles public library It proclaimed a new era in teen services by public libraries. I started an entirely new service And I'm always grateful a little embarrassed by what happened, but always grateful to have learned Because he showed me that while I was involved with all of the politics and the opening and the media I didn't pay attention to those details and I should have I'm a big picture person, but I need to know the details too And Anthony talked He showed me that way. Thanks, Anthony Now, will you remember that? So what have I learned working in libraries for all these years? I've learned that change isn't really that difficult. All you need is GANAS G-A-N-A-S GANAS in Spanish means will That's all you need I learned that there's always money. Don't believe people that say there's too many. There's plenty I learned how to find it where it is a different accounts a different budgets. It's not in the budget everybody looks at But I learned to find money and I learned to find people who could donate money I learned that policies are not laws They can be changed I learned that practice is only what we did yesterday It's not what we have to We need to do tomorrow I learned to find colleagues who supported us Especially me. I learned to find and follow details that would become important in the future I learned that staff know what is needed Much better than I did. All I all I needed to do was say yes I didn't have to do it myself. They were perfectly capable and better at it I learned to say yes to most requests Especially those who came from the public because they had great ideas for programs I learned from my experiences After watching a movie the first GANAS movie. I am Joaquin A man who had been sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder He tapped me on the shoulder and he said Or asked are you in the librarian working at East LA library? And before I could answer before I could answer He said we need you We need you those words changed my entire career My career path was set in stone from then on It was a time when Libraries did not have multicultural services collections books Staff who spoke other languages It was very Eurocentric and very white centric and it didn't exist So I became the first Chicano librarian Also the oldest Chicano librarian So my career path changed My profession opened up And I became an advocate for multilingual multicultural services And it's still something that I do Libraries that had staff at that point didn't speak the languages libraries didn't have collections or histories or programs about other people And that started to change Today it seems normal and natural, but it wasn't then In the 70s I established four ethnic resource centers the first ones in Los Angeles county and in the nation the American Indian The Asian Pacific Islander The black and the Chicano ethnic resource centers. They're still thriving today and they collect Manage and you can have access to all the documents of local history on all the cultural peoples of Los Angeles county I also learned how to stand up to my community a world famous architect Designed a library that librarians didn't like The community liked it the children liked it the city liked it But librarians didn't because it was very hard to supervise It wasn't a big room where you could look out and see everything It was instead as the architect said I want people to go room to room and discover books And that's what they did a little reading tower A little garden places where you walk and you could read and you could enjoy the library, but I learned to speak up about it. I learned that yes I would have to pay Twice the cost to staff that facility because it wouldn't be easy But it was worth it because that's what the community wanted I also learned about wonders When a librarian at Michelangelo's library in Florence said to me Elizabeth We know who you are And we have something we think you would enjoy looking at well To my surprise and enjoyment she pulled out an enormous metal big metal Book it was leather and it had a big key and it had a big lock And she opened it up and she said this is a Mayan gorex And she gave me time to look through the pages beautiful brilliant paintings of All colors of wildlife and birds and clothes and food and mountains people it was an encyclopedia of the Mayan culture And I spent time with that and I learned about wonder When the millennium was approaching I was looking for the endocrine key of the 21st century why because of the executive director of the american library association I knew That most libraries did not have computers or the internet. How could you enter? A 21st century the century of technology. How could you enter it without computers and access to the internet My staff had calculated that it would take 900 million dollars to get every public library in the country at computers public computers not just for staff public computers software and access to the internet Well, who has 900 million dollars? So I asked bill gates I thought piece of 21st century icon We gave him a proposal at 18 months later He called and said I'll give you 200 million And that's for libraries that are in what we then called the government's pork zip codes So with 200 million dollars we could equip libraries with computers Imagine that today they're everywhere Then they were the first my staff And I were ready for this big project I also learned some challenges are very personal became very personal Because I had heard and I certainly experienced And testified to the fact that a profession is not diverse It wasn't then and it's not now It's still 90% Librarian non librarians of color So I gathered a group of friends california friends, you know the friends that You don't have to tell them what it's about. You don't have to justify. You don't have to document it. You don't have to Convince people friends who know the issue and I Contacted them and so we gathered We gathered in prasadena. We said that I was a library director and we met with him And it was Cheryl Matoir Cherokee Janice Koyama, Japanese American Benny Tate Welkin Black American Patricia studying Mexican American And the six of us got together and said How do we Start the diversification with this profession? So we made a plan the plan was The sga la for 1.5 million dollars. This was 1996 1.9 million dollars And we wanted five years 50 scholarships 50 scholars a year And each would get 5,000 dollars And that would be the beginning. Well spectrum was established it became a hot commodity and people now support it wholeheartedly and There's over 3,000 like spectrum scholars librarians now 3,000 we didn't have before So Things can happen the challenge is that We just have to be ready and you have to take the consequences of those who don't always agree with you there recently I had a call from a former ala friend And she said lesbians I want you to help us recruit scientists of color Scientists and i'm thinking i've never done that before didn't say anything, but didn't haven't done that before But I was ready. I was ready to help a colleague who wanted to diversify the scientific community And so she says You know senescent cells senescent cells. Yes You know the cells that don't multiply the cells in your body that don't multiply and they're connected to the elderly To the elderly. So This is a pilot project. There's new research. It's going to be fantastic. We want you to help us recruit Scientists of color And place them in labs all around the country. So college students 60 of them last summer were placed at MIT in stanford in duke and yale and Northwestern throughout the country to study senescent cells And I think that's what taught me was that there's always time to learn something new I'm not a scientist. I'm not even in bioinformatics She said to me Don't worry about it. We'll get a researcher or a pi to give you a crash course and you'll know all about senescent cells You know in a week so Be ready to learn Be ready to wonder Be ready to for the challenges that are ahead of you Be ready to leave your mark on the profession think about when You're almost ready to retire. I know that seems like a long time now and people aren't retiring But think about it when you leave one job to another job What did you leave behind? What did you accomplish? How did you help other people? What whose doors did you open? Because many people opened my doors? I couldn't have done Of the my accomplishments without somebody else helping me and so Be ready be ready Leave evidence of your good work be excited Be ready for wonder be ready for the excitement of a new profession meeting new people and new colleagues Be ready for an opportunity to do good for your community So my question to you now is Are you ready? Are you ready? For the opportunities that this profession is going to provide for you Because that's where you are you're ready to step into that profession and the opportunities will be there So congratulations and welcome to the librarian's world of opportunities Thanks a lot Truly inspiring Elizabeth and again, let's give her a loud run of applause for Not only a wonderful remarks, but her commitment and impact on our society through her leadership So again, thank you very much elizabeth for joining us and all that you've done For our country Thank you So our next speaker, uh, we are delighted to have uh, rob loy. So rob loy is deputy city manager for the city of san osa And he also served as the former city's chief information officer So let me turn it over to you rob. Thank you so much for joining us Thank you, dr. Chow So good evening class of 2024. It's wonderful to see some faces of our newest professionals and leaders My thanks to san osa state university and the school of information dr Chow and dr Wong for the invitation to speak with you We in silicon valley think highly of sjsu's graduates As much as any class since the emergence of the internet you are coming into this professional world To shape our next 25 years and beyond Our horizon is filled with tremendous change and fundamental questions We have six generations working together for the first time The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence and the path towards general AI will change how we work the the jobs people will hold And we'll reshape economies as well as communities. There's both excitement and apprehension in that We have questions about how to shape common values when social connections are down across the board Marriage rates participation in social and volunteer organizations attendance at churches time with peers at work How do we handle our changing values and needs related to privacy and securing the digital infrastructure and services of nations As scholars you see more than most how we are struggling to determine basic truths In a very noisy world of information and media The ability of AI to generate images and our audio artifacts that warp reality that make the fake Invincing as the real that's only going to undermine our ability to know what we can believe and agree to address All that's to say is you're going to be world-class problem solvers because we have heavy world-class problems But you've studied information and technology You see the world as it should be And to paraphrase alan simpson those that travel The high road of humility and hard work are not often bothered by heavy traffic But they are among the best of us and we need your humble work and leadership um a story for you I see a lot of smart people in our teams ones who work to rise and have opportunities in their careers About five years ago. We had two come through as fellows from different programs By most measures equally bright equally hardworking Both rose quickly to mid-level managers leading in areas of data science and equity planning and permitting and homelessness Same age and both had their master's degrees As they rose We started to see one stay on a fast path the other ran into more barriers They couldn't overcome without increasing help We coached we mentored but we started to see clearly a gap between the two emerge Whereas one truly thirsted for feedback developed the emotional strength to see critiques as gifts And dedicated energy to building strong relationships with others The others started to communicate to us in very different terms Critical feedback meant that others didn't respect or trust them Critiques from team members were interpreted as micromanagement of their work They couldn't have to work so hard because people have different opinions and wouldn't agree and how is that my problem Criticisms show we aren't a supportive team and that kind of language From the other we heard conversations like dang, I hadn't thought of that point Let me work on this policy to make it better Can I go into the field with you so I understand how this process will work for you and your team Some of the lessons that elizabeth mentioned There are some new legal requirements coming can we team up to plan how we address them Or even I didn't know that can you teach me how those things work at police So we can address the public safety needs and plan the community engagement Or they sent out a message. Please hammer this report hard and give me feedback It's important to our plans for the next few years and I need to get it right Guess which of those emerging stars is now part of the executive team for one of our departments And has emerged as a leading young voice in their field nationally There are lessons in that story because we see it so often Consistent elements to success with others, especially where there's fast Adaption to change that's required in an environment One is having expertise in an area of important knowledge There's another great skill in being able to get good work done and having people's trust because you have a high say do ratio And the last is harder to achieve and takes humility And that's the ability to build relationships that make you better How many times have we seen that? A really smart person who talks but can't deliver or maybe even is a jerk The person who works hard but often does it poorly or wrong And refuses to learn what's next But saddest is the person who is smart and does good work But self limits because they can't connect with others They don't take the time to relate they struggle to listen Or unable to improve based on the wisdom of others They're alone and in the shallows But if you hit all three marks, I guarantee you you will be successful And our professionals in the first parts of their careers are making decisions differently We see that you are more likely to accept jobs with companies that show diversity in teams and leadership You are communicating a sense of values And you're hiring processes and a willingness to look for employers that roughly match your values Or at least don't conflict with them You are more diverse and celebrate celebrate traditions of many cultures To you diversity isn't is celebration. It's not just tolerating people And you look for work teams where people can share and critique and grow together And you stay with those high growth teams and bosses longer than other people You've shown that personally, uh, you're here today You've worked to become better experts through your master's program You've been consistent and put yourself in a place of learning and critique on the daily You're emerging professionals and leaders in important areas to communities and industry And I want to be clear. Yeah, you will change things for the better So all that said, I hope that's not a professional and important But I have a favor to ask for you and and I'd like to end our time a little differently I think some of us remember mr. Rogers And and kind of lessons he gave us so All and each of us have people who have helped us come to this moment tonight Parents siblings grandparents who are always in our corner Friends who root us on from here or far away A co-worker who took an extra shift to help us balance classes or who were just happy to see us do well Maybe a professor or classmate who gave the extra time you needed to understand something better Our partners who sacrificed to support us and who give us assurance in our moments of doubt Even loved ones who are past and who may be looking down on us These are people who have shown us a largeness of heart And who have loved us into being the individuals who are here today smiling And so the favor I have for you is will you please take 20 seconds with me to just think of those people To appreciate the strength they give us in life A small moment of silence and devotion and I'll say don't worry. I'll watch the time So those people you thought of how proud they are of you How full their hearts to know that you feel they made a difference in your life and how contented They must feel to have seen you grow through the years And watch you shine today In a time when the world seems inhumane These connections and moments are what remind us about human bonds and the care we need to choose to hold So with that, I just want to say we are proud of you. We look forward to seeing the positive marks you make on this world I know you'll be helpers that others need and you'll be the ones that combine the nobility of talent and hard work and compassion And so on behalf of our san jose community And your sjsu family we're in your quarter. We're rooting you on and congratulations Thank you so much rob. Let's everyone please give rob a a lounge round of applause Rob again, it's a real honor to have you join us tonight and we thank you for all of your leadership and the work that you're doing in san jose And I also want to provide context, especially for families and friends. So the school of information Has four degrees First is the master in library information science We typically average around 2,600 students nationally and we are by far the largest mlis provider in the country and actually the world But we also have three other degrees And two of which are represented I think largely tonight And and actually is a masters in informatics A masters in archives and records management and then our newest Degree which uh, dr. Hirshen mentioned earlier is our bachelor's of information science and data analytics and so This is why we we have Two key needs key two keynote speakers really talking about our two major areas of service So and in fact, I did want to give a shout out to any of our bachelor's Graduates do we have any because this is actually only our third year In in in offering this degree so wonderful Okay, so now we are delighted to Invite our student speaker Tree blossom. So tree go ahead. Thank you for joining Oh, yeah, that's is uh, great. What a wonderful way to celebrate I tree blossom pronounce or he him and um I want to start off. Thank you, uh, dad and mom Convita, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am Thank you to all of you Uh, if you don't have all of you today, um, I'm not here. I'm not standing here. Um, I'm not here um Mahal Kita Asawa Um, you're my rock. Um, it wasn't for you. I wouldn't be here and um My Anak I my children. I love you so much. Very proud of you. Um, your dad's graduating Academics education Keep doing that Um, dear graduates. Whoo I am proud So very proud of the journey you are embarking on I am so proud. I decided to join you on this journey as well. Yep. That's right Six years ago. Yeah um Spent a decade in librarianship and and I'm having a blast. That's fun So graduates Remember your why and maintain the focus of your wish for librarianship You are leaders of the greatest public service that any community organization non-profit and business could ever have Graduating is to embark on a journey full of new challenges Experiences realities connections opportunities and possibilities Librarians of today and into the And into the future I believe in all of your brilliance and moving And guiding the profession to new heights Be leaders that would challenge the status quo Be leaders that will engage in the practice and value of diversity equity inclusion and belonging Challenge yourself to lean into difficult conversations Engage in experiences that will involve you in the richness of librarianship throughout your career Librarianship is an adventure Of co-creating what seems unreal into new realities Where meaningful connections empower communities to thrive and grow And honorable and beautiful profession that collaborates with community members from all walks of life So that the greatness of the of a community can shine bright Yeah, we get to do this work The field of library and information science is a vast arena With limitless possibilities and opportunities for librarians to embed Themselves in that's right embed librarianship everywhere y'all So go Go and be lifelong learning librarians and bring with you the core values of librarianship access confidentiality democracy diversity education lifelong learning the public good preservation professionalism service social responsibility and sustainability I wish to congratulate you all today and thank you and thank you For embarking on this journey that will involve your leadership of self your leadership to your teams and your leadership to the community Welcome to the library community y'all Wonderful remarks tree. Thank you so much and let's join join me congratulating tree and word for an excellent speech Also, I want to recognize our outstanding faculty and staff So faculty and staff if you could just say hello in the chat And let's give them a huge round of applause for their service their Their excellence their support Throughout this process. Obviously, we could not We would not be here without all of you Thank you so much And finally, let us again applaud new graduates We are going to have a slide show where we get to meet them and again For parents and friends. It'll be an opportunity for you to give a shout out and recognize your loved ones again. Congratulations You did it Before we go into the slide show. I did also want to share with you a unique opportunity We are going to be live streaming The physical commencement on monday one of our graduates We will be wearing a meta quest 3 and be then live live stream their entire experience via youtube And uh, I'll free if you can drop that link In in the chat If for those of you that will not be able to attend in person on monday Feel free to check that link out and actually experience the entire event Through the eyes of a graduate that will be there including getting hooded on on stage so um All right, so without without further ado, let's go to our slideshow