U-M Provost Susan Collins welcomes the class of 2022. April, 2022.
Transcript:
Thank you, Regent Brown. We are also honored to be joined by University of Michigan Provost, and former Ford School Dean, Susan Collins. Provost Collins is a highly distinguished macroeconomist who has been named president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and she will finish up her impressive tenure at the University in just a few short days. I’m so glad to have her join us here to speak to our graduates before she heads to Boston to fill this important and prestigious position. Susan, welcome. Thank you Michael and I'm delighted to congratulate you on your nomination to serve as the vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve. What a pleasure to be here, as provost, to represent the university at this graduation ceremony! And as a faculty member at the Ford School, I am absolutely delighted to be here to congratulate the class of 2022. The Ford School embodies things we think are best about the University of Michigan a diverse community, intellectual rigor, creative thinking, collaboration, impact, and lasting friendships. In your years here, you have contributed to each of these. As you go forward to careers that will help to shape the world, we have every confidence that you will draw on these resources, gain strength from what you learned here, and help to foster these qualities in the communities where you live and work. One of my predecessors as dean of the Ford School was Ned Gramlich, an economist who went on to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. When welcoming students each fall, he would note that to work in the policy world requires hard heads and soft hearts. To develop effective policies, he believed, it is critical to do rigorous analysis and to blend it with compassion, with understanding of the hopes and dreams of those we are serving. Nelson Mandela, who knew a great deal about bringing change to the world, expressed a similar idea, saying that, A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. As you move on to new work, new people, and new communities, I hope you will put this formidable and effective combination to use in addressing the challenges facing the world. Today, with tremendous pride in your accomplishments and confidence in your abilities, we welcome you to the community of University of Michigan graduates and look forward to your continued success.