Geography Commencement 2004
The commencement ceremony for the Class of 2004 was held on Saturday, May 15, in the Zellerbach Playhouse.

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Graduate Address: Jeanette Howard

What an honor it is to be standing here with you today, to be receiving my Ph.D. from such a wonderful department in such a great institution that has been turning out great thinkers and scholars for over 135 years. The degrees we receive today are the products of multiple collaborative efforts. The collaborations we have with our fellow students, our professors, instructors and the people that keep the department and the institution running. It is those collaborations/friendships that we honor here today – and will carry with us. And for which I am most grateful. Those of us receiving graduate degrees today come from a variety of backgrounds, classes and cultures. And as you can see from our dissertation titles on the back page of the program, have focused our energies and scholarship on very different topics over the past few years. I’m sure many of the parents of undergraduates here in the audience when told by their son or daughter that they had decided to declare geography as their major wondered why in the world would you do such a thing? I know for myself when I told people that I’m getting a doctorate in geography they often heard geology and preceded to ask me about rocks. I’m sure all of us graduating today have heard comments such as, “So you’re studying geography, that’s about capitals right? What is the capital of Iowa ?” or something like that. But geography, as we all know, is about so much more than capitals or rocks. I think I am correct in saying that those of us receiving our degrees today are drawn to geography because it is a discipline of diversity. As geographers we honor and recognize human and biological diversity, while attempting to understand and preserve that diversity. We are geographers because we see diversity and difference as something special and wonderful. As my advisor Kurt Cuffey has said of geography and the global physical environment, and I’ll expand to say here about the world at large, “It is a vast and complex machine composed set of numerous interconnected systems capable of dramatic change over brief intervals of time.” As geographers, we seek to understand some aspect of the character and dynamics of this machine. Whether it be through studying rip currents as Francis does, or the politics of California’s wine industry as Greig does or the history of natural resources and race relations of the Colombian lowlands as Claudia does, or the biogeomorphology of freshwater mussels, or biogeochemical proxies of environmental change as Brendan does, it is the love of this system of complexities and diversity of the world that geographers find in common. The world is not an interesting place because conformity is the norm, or because opinions are dictated by group consensus, or because there are just a handful of plant and animal species. The world is an interesting place because there are a variety of opinions and ideas, there is collaboration, there are multiviewed takes on the world, and because nature is a kaleidoscope of interconnected parts. Being able to see the world in this manner is the true gift of education. My partner and I just returned yesterday from a 6-week whirlwind trip to Madagascar and South Africa for the very reason to explore some of the diversity the world offers. In Madagascar we went from rain forest to spiny forest observing plants and animals (lemurs and chameleons) found no where else on earth due to 160 million years of isolation from the mainland. In South Africa we were lucky enough to be there for the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of democracy. One of the building blocks to that democracy from its very start was rooted in diversity. In Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech 10 years ago he said: “We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity, a nation at peace with itself and the world.” The first value mentioned in the founding principles of their new constitution was so simple yet so profound -- assuring all the inalienable right to human dignity. We were very moved by the hopefulness and the seeming care of the people to live and achieve this value, which accords another person dignity by assuming they are good, that they share the same human qualities that we ascribe to. The people we met take seriously the covenant that no person in South Africa shall be oppressed by another ever again. In these dark and cynical times in our own nation, when some in our government and society are on the slippery slope of allowing indignities and injustice to prevail, it was truly refreshing to be in a place that, as Mandela said last week before parliament, was “celebrating the capacity of human beings to progress, to go forward to improve, to do better.” As we go forth today, as geographers both undergraduate and graduate alike, we go forth as believers in diversity. Let us work to take diversity in all its forms seriously, to help create a society where the dignity of all is respected. As Professor Mad-Eye Moody tells his students in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, let us use “constant vigilance” against the dark forces, so that the world we live in is one of justice, equality and beauty for all.