 Each year the Ford School's graduating students are asked to elect people to play key roles at commencement. One faculty member is chosen to speak to the class and our BAs and Masters graduating classes choose a representative student speaker. As the faculty speaker, the classes of 2019, by an extremely large margin, elected associate Dean Paula Lance. I'll give you a Paula's official bio first. She is the James B. Hudak Professor of Health Policy at the Ford School, with an appointment as well in the School of Public Health. She studies how public policy can help improve the health of populations and reduce social disparities in health. Paula earned an MA in Sociology from Washington University and an MS in Epidemiology and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin. Now her unofficial bio, Paula means everything to the Ford School. She's led more initiatives than I can count, from the launch of a new set of degrees to strategic plans for equity and inclusion to leadership training. When something goes right at the Ford School, Paula is almost always involved. And when something goes wrong, Paula is the first one called to help out. She's an incredible teacher, a mentor, and a friend, a great partner in leading this school, and I'm delighted to welcome her now to speak on behalf of our faculty. Paula. Good afternoon, everyone, and congratulations, graduates. On behalf of the Ford School faculty, I'm honored to be offering heartfelt congratulations to each and every one of you, all the amazing humans who are graduating today. It's an honor to be part of the faculty and staff who have been dedicated to your education in the field of public policy. Given the Ford School brand, you might not all know this. We are the number one program in policy analysis and social policy in the country. Thank you. So, given our brand, you are, of course, leaving us with a lot of technical skills and deep knowledge. And as your faculty speaker, I am obliged to take a little time today to highlight some of the key parts of your education. So you've all learned some very important economic concepts and principles, and you have learned to never, ever, ever confuse correlation with causation. Yes, ma'am. You have learned that regression can be ordinary with least squares, and that regression discontinuity is clever, and that P actually has value. You've honed your communication skills, and you've learned that critical analysis and the objective use of evidence are essential for defining problems and designing and analyzing policy solutions. You've also deepened your understanding of how politics and power drive public policy, and that every single policy decision at its core involves values, ethics, and moral reasoning. In sum, you've become experts in how public policy and advocacy can be used to address the complex problems facing governments, societies, communities. Policy can be used to improve markets, to protect consumers, to address inequities, to codify and protect rights, to improve social welfare, the environment, and international relations. However, you are also experts in the reality that public policy is oftentimes the core root driver of the problems before us. You know a sad truth. The public policy has created differential access to opportunities, resources, and life chances, and that public policies often fuel and reinforce institutionalized discrimination and structured inequality. Dear graduates, you have chosen a complex and challenging, yet noble field. It is quite daunting to be standing in front of you here today. It's daunting enough to stand in front of you in a classroom, even when I know that every single one of you has read all the readings that were assigned for the day, and are eager and ready to discuss them, right, Public Policy 479. All right. So, honestly, standing at this podium on this very special day is quite humbling. So I want to first take the opportunity to acknowledge and sincerely thank all of you for the amazing ways in which you've had a positive impact on the Ford School community during your time with us. First, you've had an impact on each other by forming friendships and bonds that truly will last a lifetime. You've also had an impact on your fellow students by the important, insightful, provocative, and sometimes irritating and weird things that you have set in class over coffee at Dominix and other places around town. You have influenced others through your contributions on team projects, through student organizations, and student government. You've also had an impact on your professors through the insights, ideas, and opinions that you've shared in your writings in class, during office hours, at public events, and yes, through your constructive and sometimes snarky comments on course evaluations. And you've made important and lasting contributions through your work with us as research assistants, GSIs, and student reps on committees. And believe me, every one of your professors feels that the best part of teaching is learning with and from you. Now, to be honest, you really didn't contribute much to the Ford School through your holiday party skits, but that is totally offset by the myriad other ways in which you have left indelible and important imprints on the Ford School. So, as you go forth to continue to make your contributions in the world, I would like to offer some parting pieces of advice, two themes. First, leadership, we are going to talk about leadership. And please remember that you are all indeed leaders, and leadership is not about hierarchy. Leadership is quite simply and fundamentally about having a positive impact on others, organizations, and communities. One important leadership trait is what is referred to as challenging the process or pointing out how the status quo is not good enough. Identifying what is wrong and needs attention. Calling people out when they are part of the problem. And an important leadership trait is to be able to articulate and bring attention to problems, and many of you are really, really good at this. However, this alone is not leadership. The changes that you want to inspire and make require a number of additional skills. This includes the ability to bring people together around shared values and goals. The ability to rally and effectively use the resources needed for the change you envision. And the ability to have empathy for others and understanding of competing points of view and the willingness to model leadership in your action and your words. To paraphrase a motivational mantra that I believe is relevant to all of us, be mindful of your thoughts because they become words. Be careful with your words because they become actions. Watch your actions because they become habits. Be aware of your habits because they become character. And be ever mindful of your character for it will shape your destiny and your impact in the world. It's really hot up here. And finally, I want to urge you all to please take care of yourself and others. I know that many of you are very tired right now. Am I right? Yes. You are tired not only because you've been working hard to finish your degrees, to figure out your next chapter and to get the hell out of here. But many of you are also tired because of the relentless energy you have to spend just living in this world. You're tired because you care deeply and with immense passion about the significant problems and inequities in the world that seem to be getting worse. If you're like me, you're exhausted by daily examples in the face of true human suffering, of terrible global leadership, of corruption, of ideological power plays, the blatant use of alternative facts and policy debates, I could go on, but I won't. And too, too many of you are tired because who you are fundamentally, your race, ethnicity, cultural background, your citizenship, your religion, your core values and beliefs, your gender and who you love are under constant attack politically, socially and even physically. Many of you are exhausted because you've had to navigate college or graduate school as the first person in your family to do so. And many of you have the extra burden and stress of being responsible in some very big ways for taking care of others as well as yourself. Despite these moments of exhaustion and fatigue, I hope you find solace in Martin Luther King's brilliant insight that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. I know you will all continue to work in this arc for the causes in which you believe, for the change that you demand, and for the communities in which you live, work, love, pray, play and vote. I know you will continue to stand up for truth and facts. I know you will continue to advocate for equity, fairness, social justice and human rights. You will work steadfastly for policy changes that will improve the world. And you will continue to fight against public policies that reinforce institutionalized racism, discrimination, inequality, oppression and hate. The work you do will involve crossing difficult bridges, building new bridges and sometimes burning bridges that deserve to be gone. This work is without question incredibly difficult, and it will continue to make you both inspired and tired. So please take care of yourself and others along the way. Ask for help if you are struggling, even if you don't know exactly what kind of support or assistance you need. And please make the time to refresh, relax, laugh, dance, sing, sleep. Enjoy and nurture your relationships with family, friends, partners and your dogs. Have adventures and travel. Get those stamps on your passports. You can enjoy this beautiful planet in between your efforts to improve the planet and the lives of the people on it. A wise character in Toni Morrison's novel, Song of Solomon said, if you surrendered to the air, you could ride it. So to all of you beautiful, entire people who are now Ford School alumni, surrender to the air and ride the winds that are going to take you to amazing places and allow you to be the leaders and best in a troubled yet beautiful world. Thank you for sharing your hearts and minds with the Ford School. I am so grateful that your winds carried you to Ann Arbor. And I'm eager and proud to watch where they carry you next. Thank you.