To the Northeastern University community:

Commencement is the time when we celebrate all we have accomplished and all we wish to be. As spring commencement weekend comes to a close, we have many people to congratulate and many people to thank.

I again salute those of you who received your degrees this weekend. We are proud of everything that you have accomplished and confident about your ability to succeed and find meaning in the years ahead. Now, as alumni, you enter into a new relationship with Northeastern. You will have few rewards greater than being part of the history and the future of your alma mater. You are our sustenance. We want you to keep in touch and stay involved.

To those of you who return to Northeastern for further study this summer or fall: I hope that these commencement exercises have left you inspired. You are members of a remarkable academic community. Your friends and classmates who graduated on Saturday demonstrated how much we achieve when we pursue a vision with discipline, determination, and talent. We wish you all the best as you continue your academic careers.

I also want to express the university’s gratitude to those of you who helped make our 105th commencement such a meaningful occasion. Commencement is an opportunity to thank all of the talented and dedicated members of our faculty and staff who have contributed to our graduates’ success over the years. Our commencement is also a tradition, one that reaches back more than a century. We thank all of you who have worked so hard behind the scenes for many months to ensure that this tradition is upheld in such fine form.

During the morning ceremony on Saturday, our student speaker Sergio Marrero reminded us that commencement is the beginning of a new journey. That, too, is a Northeastern tradition — drawing upon our strengths to chart an innovative and distinctive path. In that spirit, may commencement be an inspiration to all of us!

Sincerely,
Joseph E. Aoun
President