Pardee School Hosts 2022 Convocation Ceremony
On May 21, 2022, the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University hosted its 2022 convocation ceremony recognizing the graduating Class of 2022.
Adil Najam, Dean of the Pardee School, kicked off the ceremony by welcoming the friends, family, and students tuning in to the Livestream broadcast. After a brief introduction, Dean Najam Najam recognized retiring Pardee School Professors Houchang Chehabi, Professor of International Relations and History, and Erik Goldstein, Professor of International Relations and History, by conferring on them the status of Professor Emeritus at the Pardee School. The two were presented with gifts from the Pardee School and honored with tributes read by Noora Lori, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School, and Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Pardee School.
Following the honorary remarks, Najam presented the various student achievement awards. Faculty assisted in presenting the three Pardee School Undergraduate Academic Excellence Awards, the Graduate Academic Excellence Award, the Undergraduate and Graduate Ambassador Hermann Frederick Eilts Thesis Awards, and two Carole A. Chandler Student Citizenship Awards. After honoring the best in academic achievement, Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Pardee School Professor of the Practice of International Relations, and Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy at the Pardee School and Director of BU’s Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), were awarded the Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence and the inaugural Adil Najam Prize and Fellowship for Advancing the Public Understanding of Global Affairs respectively.
After the graduating class was presented with their degrees, Dean Najam presented his Dean’s Charge. In his address, Najam made a recurring call to action for the graduating class to make the world a better place. He added that he hopes this class will be a “band of healers” who will work towards mending a world in need of repair. “In a world that is broken, in a planet that cries out in pain, in societies that are divided, countries that are at war, politics that is divisive, individuals who bare the unbearable pains of inequity, injustice, intolerance, may you become healers. May you bring wisdom. May you endow hope. May you put together all that is broken,” he stated. “May your hopes of tomorrow be rid of the fears of today. May your dreams be lofty, your memories sweet; may charity be in your heart and a smile always on your face…Go forth, class of 2022. Make the world a better world.”
A recording of the ceremony can be viewed below.
BU’s All-University commencement for undergraduate and advanced degree students took place the following day May 2, 2022. A video recapping the sites and sounds of the University’s 2022 commencement can be viewed on BU Today‘s website.