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Manuel Correia and family Esperanza DeLa Vega and son Barry Collins (a.k.a. “Little Bear”) Marnie Curry hooded by Judith Warren Little
Keynote Speech Rouses Large Commencement Crowd
Dean David Pearson, Commencement speaker Kati Haycock, and Pedro Noguera A moving speech by Berkeley alumna Kati Haycock gave a high-powered sendoff to the more than 140 graduates who took part in Commencement on May 17, 2003. Haycock, director of the non-profit advocacy group, the Education Trust, and an M.A. graduate of the School of Education, stirred the audience with her call for greater recognition of educators who work with children who do not have all the advantages. “There is honor in the poorest classrooms where kids don’t come with the keys to the future,” she said. “Status in education should not be based on how elite the kids are that you teach.”
Haycock also criticized the shortage of credentialed teachers in schools in the poorest neighborhoods: “We have to put aside the quiet bargains that have perpetuated this inequity.”
Lauding all educators, Haycock spoke with calm but urgent emphasis: “What you are going out to do matters terribly to the children you are going to serve, and matters terribly to our country.” Her speech was greeted with a strong, sustained ovation from the overflow crowd that packed Zellerbach Hall.
Student speakers Salvador Huitzilopochtli and Derek Briggs Other speakers included Salvador Huitzilopochtli, a future math teacher, representing the credential students. He recalled that the inspiration of his instructors has buoyed him at moments when he felt like giving up. “My teachers were always with me,” he recalled. He encouraged the graduates to give students the capacity to be their own mentors: “Students need to feel that they themselves are capable teachers.”
Representing the doctoral students, Derek Briggs argued that passion is an important quality for an educator—but not sufficient. “Is our passion about an issue bolstered by research?” he asked. He cited the example of the No Child Left Behind legislation, that has gained widespread congressional and popular support despite the fact that its methods are not backed up by educational research. He urged the graduates to use their knowledge to take part in debates about education: “Let’s not underestimate our ability to inform the public and influence policy.”
Charles Brydon, president of the Education Alumni Association, presented the Outstanding Dissertation Awards to Jean Yonemura Wing and Ilana Seidel Horn.
As the many graduates filed across the stage to be hooded and to accept their diplomas, they met their advisors with bear hugs. Ph.D. graduate Pharmicia Mosely walked on stage with her mother, as a tribute to all her mom had done to get her to that point.
This group of graduates was the largest in many years and featured over a hundred recipients of master’s degrees, as well as a large crop of doctoral recipients. Dean P. David Pearson, in his closing remarks, thanked Deborah Friedman and the Student Academic Services staff for their part in organizing the ceremony. He also thanked Professors Pedro Noguera, Ann Haas Dyson, and Eugene Garcia, no longer teaching at Berkeley, for travelling across country to be present to hood their graduating advisees.
Marie Hsu with Lily Wong Fillmore, family, and friends
Student Academic Services staff: Felicia Angeja, Deborah Friedman, Jennifer Elemrani, Ilka Williams, Jeanette Luong, Karen Sullivan, Telesa Patra, (front row) guest Brandon Chu
photos this page by Peg Skorpinski
return to BEL Fall 2003 contents return to GSE publications
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