WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Hello everybody, and welcome to the 2017 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Pastega Awards Ceremony for 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.000 outstanding teaching and outstanding scholarship. It's a pleasure to 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.000 have you all here, and it's going to be an enjoyable event to hear from 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 the two of our distinguished colleagues and the work they are doing here 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.000 at Western Oregon University. Unfortunately we do not have any members of the 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.000 Pastega family with us today; they could not get here today but they send their 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.000 congratulations to our faculty, and really appreciate our 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 celebrating Mario and Alma Pastega and the 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 contributions that they made to the university. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.000 On the back of your program you can see that the Pastega 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.000 award celebration has been going on for quite some time with the 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 very first one being in scholarship in 1979. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.000 The very first teaching one started in 1986 and 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:60.000 in terms of what we do at this university, the very 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.000 important faculty roles of teaching and scholarship it's very 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.000 appropriate. With that, what I would like to do is to 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:12.000 introduce division chair 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 Mark Henkels, who is playing several duties today: both 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000 division chair of the division that both faculty happen to come out of this year, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.000 and then he's substituting for interim dean Rob Wittingham who could not 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.000 be here today as the dreadful task that the dean of the 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000 respective colleges have. So, with that, I turn it over to Mark. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000 significantly, is Doctor Vivian 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 Djokotoe, - I almost said your old name - Doctor Vivian Djokotoe, and 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000 I have to tell you, when I saw those announcements come out, I was not surprised. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.000 It's wonderful to be surprised, but 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.000 I could hardly think of anyone more predictable to have won 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:60.000 this award sooner or later. I just want to say 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000 a few things about her qualities that I've observed over a pretty 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 long time now, that have really stood out and are things that 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.000 I continue to aspire to, and one of the 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.000 things that really characterizes Vivian's approach is 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.000 knowledge, a deep understanding of things. She can 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.000 speak with confidence about things, she can handle any issue that 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.000 comes up in a classroom by being able to kind of dig underneath 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000 and think about what is the bigger perspective here. She brings that 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.000 quality. She also brings the quality of communication. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 I really think all of us should go learn 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.000 our English in Ghana. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:48.000 Nobody has better diction, nobody has better sentence 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.000 structure, nobody can think through a whole idea 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.000 and work their way to it more clearly. It plays out well, of course, 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:60.000 in her lectures, but she also writes very, very well, which 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.000 is a really critical component if you teach a lot of classes online. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Students need to know what they need to know, and that's not always easy 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 to convey. They need to know what they have to do, and Vivian 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.000 can do this better than or as well as anybody. Her classes are just 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.000 off the charts, and she teaches the most difficult classes online, perhaps. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 Social research classes. Students respond very 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 enthusiastically. I also think it's important to 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.000 note that she 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.000 embraces newness. She sees 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.000 what goes on and what's coming on. She understands 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.000 student patterns and watches how students are evolving, 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.000 so she was really one of the earlier and most complete embraces of the 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 possibilities of online as well as in-class teaching. She's not one who 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:56.000 went all one way or the other, but she thoroughly embraced the possibilities of both. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:60.000 She really has led the department in developing a program which 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.000 is really a model, if that's an element 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.000 of what you want to develop, it's just a model of the possibilities for the student 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 to take. Furthermore, I think, she continues to 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 evolve and adapt. I think she really has a sense for what 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.000 this generation of students likes, which I think some of us struggle with. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.000 But she seems to continually connect with them. One of the things 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.000 I do, as division chair, is sign all those extra forms to let people get out of 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.000 requirements, you know. And whenever they come in to get out of requirements... 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.000 I do this hundreds of times a year, and every time they come in I say, 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.000 just striking how often Dr. Djokotoe comes through. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.000 I can't say the majority because we have many, many good teachers here. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.000 But in Social Research it has come up at least three times. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 How does that come up as a favorite class? It takes an extraordinary 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:60.000 teacher. So she has these packages of skills, and 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.000 experience, and wealth, and knowledge, and adaptability. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000 But the number one thing that comes out when I talk to students is very clear. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Nothing counts for more around here 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.000 than caring. The students know she cares. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.000 They know when she reads their papers, she's actually thinking about the 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 student when she reads it. They have to take it seriously because they know 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.000 she's taking it seriously, and it raises standards. It awakens slumbering 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.000 curiosity. It motivates people to do things 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 when they were just going through the motions previously. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.000 So all the way around, I think it's just really 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 inspirational that she got chosen, but now I think it's time to 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.000 learn something, so I want to turn it over to the Mario Pastega winner 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:52.000 of Teaching Excellence, Dr. Vivian Djokotoe 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:60.000 applause 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000 I thank the university and its administration 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:16.000 for this wonderful opportunity. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.000 I thank the Pastega family for making this 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.000 a possibility. First of all, 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 I would like to express my deepest appreciation 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000 to my colleagues who make me 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.000 a better teacher every day. I can't 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:40.000 speak highly enough about where I work and who I work 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.000 with, and that is my colleagues, and I'm happy to come to 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.000 work every day because of these people. I have been 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.000 moulded a lot by my interactions with all of 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:56.000 you in the hallways, in the social science building, and 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:60.000 the hallways of the criminal justice department. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.000 My colleagues in criminal justice are awesome, and I really enjoy 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.000 working with you every single day. I would also 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.000 not want to forget to thank my family. I have 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.000 the most awesome family. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Hilda my sister is here with me today because 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.000 my family is international, so 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:28.000 my mom just got on the plane probably a month ago, 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.000 to go back to Ghana, and 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.000 the others are in London or Ghana or someplace, Washington 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:40.000 counts as out of the country right? No, Washington state. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.000 So Hilda is here representing them, 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 and my dad, who would have gotten on the plane from Ghana 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.000 to come to this event, passed away 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.000 in 2000, this month in 2000. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:60.000 I'm sure wherever he is he is proud of me, 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 because this is what he would have been proudest of. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Today I want to talk to you about 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:12.000 what inspires me as a teacher. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 When I was asked to give a topic for my speech, 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.000 I was thinking, 'okay, so, what do you tell 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.000 a group of professors on a Thursday 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.000 afternoon? 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:32.000 They are probably getting ready for dinner. You try to 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.000 not be too academic. So that's what I'll try to do. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.000 I'm normally not academic anyway. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.000 One thing you would notice, for those of you who haven't spoken 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.000 to me, I have an accent. That's because I come from Ghana, as 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.000 Mark Henkels mentioned earlier, and so my 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.000 only thing I say is anytime I'm not laughing, 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:60.000 and you are laughing, you haven't heard what you think you've heard. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.000 laughter 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.000 So watch me for your clues for when to laugh. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:12.000 And I'll be sure to let you know. The only other 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.000 rule which I give my students every term at the beginning 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:20.000 of the term is feel free to sleep 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.000 if my voice puts you to sleep. And the contract 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.000 is I will find a nice way to wake you up without anybody noticing. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.000 If you snore, you're on your own. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.000 So the same thing applies to this group today. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.000 So, what inspires me as a teacher? 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.000 For me, that question is also what inspires me 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:48.000 as a person, because I tend to describe myself as 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.000 a teacher, in a noun form rather than a verb form. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.000 That is who I am, that is the 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:60.000 only thing I can do. And so for me, 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.000 when I'm teaching, teaching is an expression of who I am. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 And I happen to believe that teaching has a lot to do with 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.000 relationships; it has to do with building strong relationships. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.000 Without strong relationships, teaching cannot happen. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.000 And there are many people in this room who 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.000 have been my teachers, and so 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.000 that kind of relationship I built with them 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:32.000 is what has kept me going, so I think relationships are 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.000 very important when we talk about teaching. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.000 What happens when 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.000 we build relationships with students? Let me just 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000 take this brief moment to apologize to 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.000 some of my teachers I see here. Dover, 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.000 Mark Henkels, Dean Braa, 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:60.000 I want to start by apologizing and letting you know I've forgotten 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.000 every single thing I took in your class. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.000 I can't remember one thing right now that I took in 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.000 your class. But what I remember, and will never forget, 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.000 is your passion and the impact you left on me, 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.000 which is what carries me every single day. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.000 This is a thank you for this institution where I came from, 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 this is a thank you to this division, where I came from. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.000 And this is a thank you to this community that has so well 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 embraced me. So a little bit about my 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 journey. I wanted to bring you some... 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.000 I was looking through my emails for comments that students 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.000 often send me, and I get a lot of those, and I happen to just put them 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:52.000 in a folder for bad days, so that whenever I'm having a bad day, 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.000 I open that and I remember the reason I'm here, and the impact 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:60.000 I'm making on people. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 The first one here is an email from a student 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.000 and it says 'Doctor... So this person 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.000 used my previous last name so I blocked it out. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.000 I don't want one more thing to 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.000 keep that last name going because I've struggled a lot 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.000 to change my identity on this campus and it's working, 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.000 so I don't want to do anything that takes that back. So I blocked that out. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.000 Just pretend that's Doctor Djokotoe. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.000 back in the classroom in years. Let me tell you I was nervous. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000 I was nervous about failing your class. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.000 I remember you telling me I would do okay. You gave me 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.000 the confidence I needed to succeed. Since that day I have been 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.000 doing okay. That's what gets me. 'I've been doing okay. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.000 will finish this fall. I will also on a bilingual endorsement 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.000 and will be starting my Phd at the University of 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.000 North Dakota in Grand Forks this coming summer. I was supposed 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:16.000 to start January 2nd but the area is cold in the winter. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.000 So you see he learned very well. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.000 to move. You are one of the best professors that I have met in this University. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.000 Thanks Doctor Djokotoe. This was in August 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.000 comments, I had to bring a few, 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.000 three of them is what I settled on. This one says 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:52.000 me Vivian, because that's about building relationships with them, for me. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000 So it's more about them respecting me than 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:60.000 whatever they call me. 'Vivian, you 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.000 made me cry. But I teach them the right way to write. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:08.000 Don't say 'hey Vivian' because that's not polite. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:16.000 So much in my life has been a struggle to achieve any forward motion. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.000 I have striven hard to remove myself out of 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 the single parent, state funded hole I was in 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 after my boys were born. Even though my boys are now 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:32.000 adults, the struggle to become more than my situation is still a battle 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.000 I am fighting. To have someone of your 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:40.000 professional ilk, verbalize their faith in my possible future 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.000 is almost more than I can fathom. You are truly a gift 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:48.000 to the students of Western Oregon University and I thank 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.000 whatever kismet brought you to this campus. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.000 So this is another one I got. I'm going to 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:60.000 save you; this is the last one. 'Hello, Vivian. Thank you very much. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 You are the best adviser. Of all the professors I have worked 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.000 with in my four years at WOU, you have helped me the most 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 and I really appreciate your care and commitment to your students. Once 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:16.000 again thank you very much. So these are examples 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.000 of what students say, and 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.000 I see that as 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.000 the biggest payoff for me, because that is what I would be doing 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000 with my life. That is what matters more to me than 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:36.000 anything else I do. So this woman right here that I have 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.000 brought on here to show you, 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 is the person who inspires me. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.000 This woman is Ghanian, and 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.000 her story about wanting to be educated 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.000 is really extraordinary. She comes from the northern part 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:60.000 of Ghana, where education was as available. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.000 She grew up when Ghana was still 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:08.000 a colony of the British administration, and so 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.000 people were afraid to take their kids to school. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.000 She went to school because the government said 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.000 any household that didn't have at least one child in school 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.000 was going to be in trouble. So somebody had to go. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:28.000 And she was brave enough to step forward. He grandmother didn't like 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.000 that very much because they still remembered when giving away their 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.000 children meant that they were going to end up on boats to be sent away. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.000 So that wasn't a very easy thing. So this woman 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.000 went to school, walked to school, 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.000 walked long distances to go to school. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 She didn't stop once she found out the value of education. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:56.000 She did not stop. She went on to go to 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:60.000 high school and became the first person from the 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.000 northern territories the Ghana, the first woman, to make it to 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:08.000 the University to Ghana, well, the first person to make it 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000 to university, period, and the University of Ghana no less. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 So this woman really inspires me 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 in many ways. She went on from 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.000 being the first woman from the north to go to the University of 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.000 Ghana, to a medical profession, 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:32.000 where she would do things beyond just treating patients. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 She would later on come to set up her own practice, 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.000 and reach out to villages where no doctors 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.000 exist, in order to save lives. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:48.000 She saved many, many lives. She's had 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:52.000 many awards, and in this picture, 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:56.000 you see her with twenty people who themselves would then 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:60.000 go out and provide healthcare in the most remote 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.000 part of the country. So this is a woman who 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.000 went to school against all odds, and did not just 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.000 end up with a job, but ended up 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:16.000 living her passion. I've been around her, and 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.000 I have seen that nothing drives her more than 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.000 being able to change people's lives around her. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 This woman is 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000 my mother. The woman I just talked about is my 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.000 own mother. So that is my first inspiration. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:40.000 That's me, by the way. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.000 It's my favorite picture because 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.000 in the black community, I was sporting my TWA. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.000 Teeny-weeny afro. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:56.000 So that's me. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:60.000 And if you are thinking, by the way, who is that in the middle, that's me. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.000 In the evolution of my afro towards this. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.000 So that is my mother. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.000 When I was born, and when I started to grow up, 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:16.000 I knew that 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:20.000 my teachers sometimes asked, 'do you even know your mother' when I would 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000 do something silly at school, like not get everything right. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000 And she tells me I can do whatever I 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.000 want to do. I shouldn't be pressured 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.000 by anybody. And that's true. That's what she told us. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.000 But the value of education was really stressed in my house. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.000 And there was nothing we could complain about 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.000 as siblings, and there were five of us, all female by the way-- 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:60.000 there were five of us in the house and all of us knew that nothing could be 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.000 a barrier for us. If our mother had to go through what she went through 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:08.000 then nothing was difficult enough for us. We didn't have any excuses. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.000 So that gown is 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:16.000 a gown that hangs in her closet, and I promised her 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.000 I was going to wear that gown. I really wanted, more than anything 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.000 in the world, to wear that gown, so I kept the gown, and then 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.000 at matriculation when I made it to the University of Ghana, 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000 I went to the same hall of residence that she was in. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.000 I wore that gown for my matriculation, and for me that was all I 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:40.000 needed; I had made it. But while I was 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.000 in the University of Ghana, I would like to point out that my 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.000 professors were a different kind of professors. They were not like us. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.000 To make it to the University of 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.000 Ghana was a very difficult feat, but once you made it there, 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:60.000 you were not there to learn, looking back now, 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.000 you were there to prove that you earned the right to be there. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.000 So the professors, I think, I tell my sister 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.000 it's almost like the glasses they wore were designed for 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:16.000 them to see things to read, but not to see people. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.000 So a relationship was out of the question. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.000 So I looked at these very intelligent people 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:28.000 on this campus, very prestigious, but 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:32.000 I had no desire in me to be a teacher, because 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.000 of what I saw, because there was no relationship at all. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.000 So, long story short, I made it to 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.000 the United States, but before I left Ghana, 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.000 I had the opportunity to work through a field 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:52.000 experience with a UNICEF organization 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.000 for at-risk youth. So I went to work with them, and 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:60.000 it was then that my eyes opened for the first time. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.000 Because I was shocked about what I saw. I thought growing up 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.000 that everybody 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:12.000 had what I had, what my sisters had, what our friends 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:16.000 had. We had the best schools, we had the best education, 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:20.000 we had the best education money could buy. I thought everybody had 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.000 the same situation until I saw these kids and realized 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:28.000 something that my parents had never 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:32.000 been able to teach me: empathy. So that began 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.000 to be my drive for what I would be in the future. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.000 I wanted to help people. I had found that out; that was my life's purpose. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000 I moved to the United States 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:48.000 for my own 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:52.000 journey towards self-actualization. That's me right there, 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.000 with other international students on this campus. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:60.000 That was a very rich experience. I was about to experience another 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.000 kind of professor, because 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.000 up to this point my idea of a professor was somebody who was scary. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:12.000 My very first term on this campus, I was in Ed Dover's class, 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:16.000 I was in Dean's Braa's class. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.000 laughter 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.000 And Dean, I promise you, 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:28.000 I don't have any Nike's on. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:32.000 So I realized that these professors, 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.000 of course I was afraid of them because they are professors; that's what you're 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:40.000 supposed to do. But then, soon enough, I realized that these 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.000 were people who knew what they were talking about, and there was a 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000 passion to what they were talking about. Not to talk about the fact that 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.000 they actually knew we existed as students. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:56.000 So that was an eye-opener, and I thought okay, I was already a political 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:60.000 science minor. So I was going to go for sociology because 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.000 of Dean Braa. Peter Callero was chair then, 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:08.000 I went to talk to Peter Collero, and to be 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:12.000 honest with you, I never talked to any professor that kind. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:16.000 He was very kind to me and 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:20.000 I didn't know what to say. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.000 I thought, 'okay, it's sociology for me', but then Peter 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.000 gave me the bad news, that I only had three terms to go 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.000 and Fall term was already over and I couldn't have started a thesis. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.000 So I went to the social science division, 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.000 and talked to Doctor Roshani Shae. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.000 What surprised me the most 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:48.000 is what she did. She looked at my transcripts and 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.000 the first thing she said was 'wow, you got an A in Ed's class. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.000 laughter 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:60.000 laughter 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000 It was as if I had earned the help now because I had gotten an A 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.000 in Ed's class. Instead of Doctor Roshani 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.000 sending me along to the next person, because I came to talk to her 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.000 about my desire to engage in an internship, 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 she took my hand 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.000 and walked me to Mark Henkel's office. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:28.000 She spoke to him directly. Mark Henkels 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:32.000 was very gracious. I had to work within the restrictions 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000 of immigration rules, as a foreign student. Mark Henkels 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.000 was very flexible and actually helped me. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.000 It's because of Mark Henkels that today I'm in criminal justice. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:48.000 And that is the truth, because Mark Henkels 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.000 made it possible for me to go and work at the children's firm home, 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:56.000 where I would work directly with at-risk youth, 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:60.000 which would begin my eye-opening experience 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.000 into the world of criminal justice. So that happened 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:08.000 and then it began, so now I had met two sets of street children. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:12.000 Two sets of at-risk youth. One in Ghana, 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.000 one in the United States. So I was beginning to see the possibility 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:20.000 of working here as well. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.000 So I'd go on to get my degree and be back here at 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Western, got my PhD, I'll be back at Western to teach. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.000 So on this year, you see Kim Jensen's name 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.000 up there. There's Kim, there's Mary, 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000 Mary Pettinger, there's me, of course. Then you have 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.000 Molly Mayhead, and you have Emily Pleck. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.000 There was Jean Botcher, who 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:52.000 also went to this bowling game. So a number of people had been invited, 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:56.000 but this was the group that could make it. So we go to bowl, 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:60.000 and I had never bowled. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.000 This is my score. I got a 70. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:08.000 So you can see. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.000 But teachers have to be good liars sometimes. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.000 You have to lie to your students sometimes until they believe it. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:20.000 So they all wrote this nice things for me 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000 as if I couldn't read the numbers myself. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.000 This is something that I had laminated which 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.000 stays in my office all the time. It's one of the things I look at 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.000 and I remember who received me when I came. It was a community. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:40.000 I was accepted. I was part of this group of people I 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.000 respected so much. And that, by the way, has 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:48.000 continued where I now can count on people like Diane 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.000 Baxter right here, Diane Tarter, and a bunch of other people 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.000 who are here for me, who I know I can put on my speed dial. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.000 So what does it mean for me to be a teacher? 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.000 Being a teacher, to me, is 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.000 about empathy, respect, understanding, passion, 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:16.000 and purpose. So I have these quotes, and 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 by the way, when I was informed that I had won this award, 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.000 Hillary contacted me and asked me whether I had any favorite 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:28.000 quotes, and I said 'do I!' 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:32.000 I have too many favorite quotes. I live my life 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000 through quotes. The first one which guides 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.000 most of the things I do says 'be kind; 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000 everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 That is something that guides me, whether it's my students, whether it's my 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.000 colleagues, I am keenly aware that we all 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:56.000 just by living has problems. We all, by living, have things that we 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:60.000 are pushing against, and so every time 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.000 I have the opportunity to interact, to me that is an opportunity 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.000 to lighten someone's burden just a little bit. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:12.000 So that's what I do for my students. It's normally very 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:16.000 gratifying when students write to me and use the word 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.000 to me is my life's purpose is to empathize 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.000 and to reach people. So that's one of the 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:32.000 things that speaks to me as a teacher. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:36.000 The other one is 'speak in a manner that people want to listen and listen in a manner 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.000 that people want to speak. This is about respect. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.000 So when I go into my classroom, I tell my students 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000 the very first day, 'you don't have to like me. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.000 I'm not requesting that of you. But you're going to 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.000 respect me, and I'm going to respect you. And through that, a relationship 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:60.000 gets built that then becomes more fulfilling than anything. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.000 For me, this doesn't talk about 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.000 me learning my material and being able to teach it. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:16.000 Yes, that's part of it. But it's about learning about people. Learning about 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:20.000 the things that people are dealing with. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.000 For me, I was this international student from Ghana. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.000 It was very easy for somebody to look at me as an inconvenience, as 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.000 a person who has a filter that needs to be 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.000 broken through. It was very easy to be discarded. 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:40.000 I'm very mindful of that. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.000 So I try to understand the people I deal with, because there's no 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.000 way you can empathize with people if they are just a number. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.000 This is why I get to know the names of my students, every single 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.000 one of them, and I call them by name. It's very difficult to 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:60.000 not connect when a person relates 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.000 to you as a person, so that's another thing I do. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:08.000 The last thing is 'what the teacher is, is more important 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:12.000 than what he teaches. This I also 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:16.000 believe because I have evidence of it right here in this room. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:20.000 That is why I started by telling my teachers that I didn't remember 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.000 what they said. I really don't. I don't remember 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:28.000 any real material in your classrooms, but I remember 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:32.000 how I felt with you. I remember how I felt with you. I remember how you 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.000 made me feel, and so you are bigger than you think. Everybody 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:40.000 has been touched by a teacher. There are people that 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.000 lead their lives thinking that there are A students or B students or C students. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.000 Who told them that? Only a teacher is able to put 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.000 the label on a person that guides the rest of their life's 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:56.000 trajectory. And so I'm very mindful of that, and I 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:60.000 got that from the people here on this campus as well, as a student 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.000 myself, so it's my responsibility to give it to 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.000 my students. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.000 The last one says 'a teacher 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:16.000 affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:20.000 Everybody has a favorite teacher. Everybody has 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.000 that teacher who moulded them in one way or the other. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:28.000 Everybody has a teacher who at some point said 'you can do it. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.000 And so they did. So teachers are very powerful, teachers 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.000 are more powerful than we think we are, and I'm very 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:40.000 mindful of that. On this campus, there are some great 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.000 teachers who have moulded my life. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:48.000 This is during graduation. When I 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:52.000 graduated from Western--this is not me, by the way-- 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.000 but when I graduated from Western, I remember 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:60.000 going through that line that faculty forms. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.000 I had been here for just a little over a year when I graduated, because 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:08.000 I had completed most of my credits from the University of Ghana. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:12.000 When I was going through that line, I didn't realize 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:16.000 that anybody even remembered me. Remember my story about the 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:20.000 professors back home in Ghana? I walked through that 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.000 line and I remember like yesterday, 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.000 Molly Mayhead. Molly Mayhead was in that 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:32.000 line, and she yelled out 'good job, Vivian! 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.000 That was quick!' I still remember that. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:40.000 I don't remember who the commencement speaker was. I don't remember 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.000 what was said at commencement. I remember that. The same 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:48.000 Molly Mayhead who, in my bowling picture, 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.000 was right there to welcome me back here, and was there for me 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:56.000 then, and that left an impact. So we never know how 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:60.000 much we matter in the lives of other people. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.000 I can say that for a fact, and yes, I'm an excellent 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:08.000 teacher. Yes, I'm a pretty darn good teacher, but that 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.000 is because of all the teachers who made me so. Thank you very much. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.000 Thank you. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:20.000 applause 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.000 I think we need Vivian to talk every week, don't you? 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.000 We need this every week. Thank you, Vivian, that was 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:32.000 lovely. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.000 So the next speaker 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.000 will be Doctor Elliot Dickinson, who is the 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.000 Pastega Winner for scholarly excellence 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.000 for this year. I'd just like to 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:52.000 say about Elliot... 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:56.000 I was looking at his resume, and it's quite a significant body of work, of course. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:60.000 He's written about cops; the Christian cops from 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.000 Egypt, living in Michigan 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:08.000 and their adaptation; he's written about German parliament, he's written about 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:12.000 immigration into Germany. He's written about South Africa, 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.000 and civil rights. Recently, he has a 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:20.000 book that just came out on international migration. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.000 He has another book that he's currently working on under contract. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:28.000 You look at that and you go, 'wow, how do they do this stuff? How do they do so much?' 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000 I can tell you two things that I think contribute, in my opinion and my observation. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:36.000 One is 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.000 currency. If you look at his interests, although they are 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.000 different topics, there are links between 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.000 them all. There's human rights through it all. There are questions 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:52.000 of citizenships. There are questions of migration. There are questions of 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000 boundaries. These things come up time and time again 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:60.000 in one form or another, and they interact, and I think he's 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.000 developed a larger vision about how these things relate, and then he can 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:08.000 think about things in a more holistic manner and apply it 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:12.000 in different context with great ease 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.000 and facility, and it's really admirable. The other thing, though, 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000 is that these are the logical explanations of 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.000 publications, but as anybody does any writing knows, you've got 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:28.000 to have drive. You have to have some kind of passion or 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000 fear, or something motivating you. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.000 There is a great congruency also between 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:40.000 Elliot's work and his life experience. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000 He's come a long way from Kettle Falls. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:48.000 Small town in upstate Washington. He has lived 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000 in Austria extensively, Spain extensively, 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.000 mostly while walking around. He's lived in Germany, 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:60.000 significantly, Netherlands significantly, and 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.000 he had a significant sojourn as a post-doc in South Africa. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000 So his life experience is one of crossing boundaries, 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.000 and encountering questions of citizenship, and definitely 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:16.000 sometimes really confronting the challenges of migration and civil rights. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:20.000 But the congruency doesn't just end in his life experience 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.000 and his academic entrance. The congruency really runs deepest in 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.000 what his personal motivations, what he cares about is. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.000 Elliot, as most of us probably know, is really passionate 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.000 about peace. He is peace-motivated and and a peace that 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.000 can come about because of the search for justice. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.000 When you look at his work, whether it directly has to do with that, 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:48.000 or dealing with it in an oblique way, it connects to that notion. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:52.000 Before I turn it over, I just want to say, may that search 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:56.000 for peace and the drive to instill that as a curriculum topic 00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:60.000 on this campus continue. Now, time for me to 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.000 migrate offstage. Elliot Dickinson. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:08.000 applause 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:12.000 Vivian, I can really relate to what you were saying, especially about your mom. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:16.000 This is my mom's birthday today. May eleventh. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:20.000 She's on my mind quite a lot, and it reminds me of everyone who ever 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.000 achieved anything in their life, someone believed in them. For me, that was 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:28.000 my mother, and lots of people. My wife, many times, said 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:32.000 when I was struggling to write, 'you can do it. My colleagues 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.000 at this table and in this room, too, so thank you. 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.000 In 2015, I spent a year from 2014 to 2015 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.000 on sabbatical as a visiting scholar at the University of Vienna, department of government. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:48.000 That just happened to be the year that 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:52.000 over a million refugees came to Europe. It happened to be the year that 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:56.000 I signed a book contract, also kind of by happenstance. 00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:60.000 That process of getting the contract was very 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.000 long; it took six months of back and forth 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.000 with picky editors to actually have them accept it. They wanted all sorts of 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.000 stuff, and they're never satisfied. It took me nine months of 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.000 writing almost every day, even when we went on our honeymoon in Italy. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:20.000 We were at this beautiful villa overlooking the green hills of Tuscany 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.000 and I had a couple of files there with me, and I wrote on my book 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.000 for several hours every day, even then. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:32.000 Then, after that, there were six months of editing. So, yeah, you do have 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:36.000 to be driven by something, and I think that 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:40.000 George Orwell put it right. He said that writing a book is 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.000 a horrible, exhausting struggle, and 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.000 it's like a bout with some painful illness, and you would never undertake 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:52.000 it unless you were driven by some demon. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:56.000 A demon that you can neither resist 00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:60.000 nor understand. That's kind of what it was like for me. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.000 But I realized after I came out the other end, and I've done this, 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:08.000 I had something to say. I had something to write, 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:12.000 and I said what I had to say, and it's in this book. I feel good about it now. 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:16.000 I was able to capture the tone that I wanted to say it in. 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:20.000 I found the words to do it, and I felt like I did it at the right time. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.000 I did it when there were over a million people coming to Europe. 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:28.000 The book was published six months 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:32.000 prior to our absolutely disastrous election. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000 I called out our president using his own 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.000 words a year in advance. I'm quoting him on the 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.000 ugly things he said about migrants, and I was happy to do that. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:48.000 Sadly, nobody took my advice. 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:52.000 Or at least every second American didn't, roughly. Anyway. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:56.000 If we look at global migration, these are the patterns. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:60.000 What you've got is a global south and a global north. 00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.000 The north is rich and industrialized and the south is 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:08.000 poor and non-industrialized. You can see very clearly the pattern. 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:12.000 People are heading north. They're going from Africa and the Middle East 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:16.000 to Europe. They're going from Central America and Mexico to 00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:20.000 North America. 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.000 There are exact reasons for this. The north, Europe, 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:28.000 is the core of the global economy. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:32.000 Africa is very much the periphery, and people are fleeing 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:36.000 poverty and war and climate change, and those are the drivers 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:40.000 of global migration. If we look to Europe 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.000 more specifically, these are some of the routes that you have. 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:48.000 Western, central, 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:52.000 eastern Mediterranean, and East African. 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.000 More specifically there's a Balkan route as well. 00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:60.000 When Barbara and I were living in Vienna, we lived in the tenth district. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.000 There are twenty-three districts in Vienna, and the tenth is known as 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:08.000 the immigrant district. Everywhere, there were immigrants from all over the world. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:12.000 Lot of Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners, even Africans, and I couldn't 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:16.000 walk down the street without running across the whole world, practically. 00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:20.000 So as I was writing, I felt like I was kind of living 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.000 amongst them and, after all, I was a migrant too. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:28.000 So the people who are coming up through the Balkan route 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:32.000 from the Middle East and also Africa were passing through 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:36.000 Vienna, usually on their way to Germany. A lot of people stayed 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.000 in Austria but usually they were trying to get to Germany or Sweden or Holland, 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.000 or elsewhere in Europe. Here's the 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.000 Balkan route that I was talking about, and Vienna I think is on the front lines of that. 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.000 This is where they're going, mostly to Germany. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.000 Also Hungary. A lot of people get registered 00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:60.000 in Hungary but want to move on because Germany is much more generous. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.000 Sweden is, Holland is, Austria is, Western Europe is. 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:08.000 This is where they're coming from. Now they're coming from Syria, 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:12.000 in 2015 most came from Syria, followed by Afghanistan, 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:16.000 and Iraq, and I don't need to point out to you guys that 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:20.000 last month we dropped the mother of all bombs. That's the largest 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.000 bomb ever dropped, non-nuclear. 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:28.000 It was one of the largest bombs in the American arsenal. A twenty-two thousand 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:32.000 pound bomb on Afghanistan. These are some of the 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:36.000 poorest people on Earth, and if we're ever wondering why they are 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:40.000 refugees, that's why. If we're wondering why so many people are coming 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.000 from Iraq, well, we invaded that country. They had nothing 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:48.000 to do with 9-11 and we invaded that country, and we occupied it. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:52.000 Now, a million Iraqis are dead, 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:56.000 perhaps; nobody knows exactly. So if we're wondering why 00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:60.000 these refugees are coming, well, that's why. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.000 Of course, we all know, too, that the war in Syria is an extension of 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:08.000 the war in Iraq. It's not like we haven't played a role. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:12.000 The thing is, here in the States we don't see refugees a lot. But in every 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:16.000 major city in Europe, you do. In the streets of Vienna, you do. 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:20.000 This is what they were leaving: a bombed-out place. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.000 Lots of violence, of the kind that we can't 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:28.000 even fathom, thankfully. 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:32.000 That's a type of post-apocalyptic 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:36.000 hell, I think. No wonder people are leaving. 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:40.000 I would, too. I just hope that I wouldn't pick up a gun if I were in that situation. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.000 Join the resistance or something like that. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:48.000 I'd like to think I would just head to Germany. 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:52.000 It's important to put a face on these people. 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:56.000 They say a million people died. Five million 00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:60.000 Syrians are refugees. Well, who are these people? Here they are. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.000 Real people, with real lives. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:08.000 Just like you and me. 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:12.000 That could be us. 00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.000 A lot of these Syrians, and 00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:28.000 Iraqis and Afghans, and people from farther afield, 00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:32.000 are hopping in little rubber boats and trying to get to 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:36.000 Greece, usually, or maybe Italy, and then since they don't usually 00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:40.000 want to stay there, they go farther north and ditch their stuff 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.000 if they can make it. Not everybody makes it. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:48.000 I think we all know that. Thousands of people have died in the Mediterranean 00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:52.000 in the last couple of years. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:60.000 The Kurdi family was trying to get to Canada but they didn't have papers. 00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.000 And it's quite a melee 00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:08.000 once they arrive. Thankfully, 00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:12.000 we don't live in Athens. We don't see 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:16.000 the refugees in front of us. But if we did live in 00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:20.000 Athens, we would see this. 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.000 Pope Francis a couple of weeks ago said that the 00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:28.000 camps in Europe resemble the concentration camps in World War Two. 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:32.000 I don't know how good that comparison is, really, but it does make you think. 00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:40.000 It's really a stream of humanity. These were people in 2015 walking 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.000 through Croatia and Slovenia. 00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:48.000 They would have passed into Austria, and a lot of them would have felt 00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:56.000 Maybe if they had family in Germany, they would have gone there, or 00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:60.000 Sweden is also one of the most generous, but I think that a lot of these countries 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.000 are hitting their limit. I don't know how many more people they will take. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:08.000 A million people in Germany is an awful lot 00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:12.000 of people. So there are 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:16.000 multiple routes and they're coming from all over. They're also coming from 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:20.000 Africa; a lot of these war zones in Africa. 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.000 There's also the Western route from Morocco 00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:28.000 into Spain. Spain actually 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:32.000 has two little cities, two little enclaves that are in Morocco. 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:36.000 Saiuta and Malilla. These are Spanish outposts in Africa. 00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:40.000 They belong to Spain; they're Spanish cities, and they've been 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.000 Spanish for 500 years. But once you get onto that territory, you're 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.000 actually entering Spain. 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:52.000 Once you get over the fence into these little 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:56.000 enclaves, you're in European Union territory and once that happens, 00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:60.000 a lot of laws kick in. You should be entitled to an asylum procedure; 00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.000 you should be able to claim political asylum. That doesn't always happen. 00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:08.000 A lot of people are trying to get to 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:12.000 the southernmost island in Italy. It's a hundred and eighty miles 00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:16.000 due north of Libya, and as we all know, these people are hopping into 00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:20.000 unseaworthy boats and heading north. It's a hundred and eighty miles 00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.000 but if they make it eighteen miles, they're lucky, and some of them 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:28.000 capsize even before that. 00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:32.000 Images like this get put on the front pages of European newspapers all the time. 00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:36.000 I don't know how many times I saw that in Austria. It's an interesting image 00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:40.000 because it kind of scares a lot of people in Europe. They live very stable, 00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.000 very wealthy lives, and you see these faces and they're 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:48.000 desperate, and so many are coming. 00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:52.000 Some people are afraid of that, because 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:56.000 they wonder, 'when will this end?' 00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:60.000 Here are some pictures of the 00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.000 fences that surround Malilla and Saiuta, the two Spanish enclaves. 00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:08.000 Africans usually try and storm the fence, en masse, 00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:12.000 like five hundred or a thousand people at a time, and they throw themselves 00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:16.000 over the other side. But in the last few years, they have built not one 00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:20.000 fence but two, and now a third fence. So you have to pass three fences 00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.000 in order to get into Spanish territory. A lot of these have razor wire 00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:28.000 at the top, and guards patrolling. Now there are 00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:32.000 twenty feet high, six meters high. If we want to know what 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:36.000 building a wall on our southern border is going to be like, 00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:40.000 this might give you an idea. If we do go through 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.000 with a two-thousand mile wall between us and Mexico, people are going 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.000 to get over it, or under it, or around it, and 00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:52.000 a lot of them will probably hurt themselves doing it. This picture is 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:56.000 in Malilla, and it's one of the more bizarre pictures, because this golf course 00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:60.000 was funded with millions of dollars through the European Union. 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.000 This golf course is just completely unnatural. 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:08.000 It shouldn't be there. It's in the middle of the desert and it's soaking up all that 00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:12.000 water, and what you see here is the juxtaposition between 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:16.000 the haves and the have-nots: wealthy Europe and 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:20.000 poor Africa. You see these presumably 00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.000 wealthy Europeans golfing very gracefully, 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:28.000 swinging the golf club and then preparing for a cocktail afterwards. 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:32.000 And then you've got the Africans that are up on the fence, biding their time 00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:36.000 before they jump over. That really kind of sums up the whole situation. 00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.000 I'll leave you with these images and I'll just move on to 00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:48.000 what is to be done, the famous question. 00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:52.000 This is what I've written. I think we need to bring economic globalization 00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:56.000 under democratic control, and what I mean by that is: there are a lot 00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:60.000 of corporations who have gotten very powerful, and what they want is 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.000 deregulation and privatization. 00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:12.000 If you can see the headline of this, it says 'Poor to be Hit Hardest. 00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:16.000 This is from last month's Oregonian. This is the 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:20.000 effect of our healthcare law. If they get their way, 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.000 tens of millions of people kicked off of healthcare. That's what I'm 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:28.000 talking about: tax cuts for the rich and the poor get hit hardest. 00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:32.000 A lot of these corporations want deregulation and privatization; they want lower 00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:36.000 taxes; they want to stash their money offshore. 00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:40.000 If we live in a democracy we should be able to change that. 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.000 We should be able to bring that money home. We should be able to tax these 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:48.000 corporations so that they pay something back to society. It's gotten extreme. 00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:52.000 I don't need to tell my brother Dean that, 00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:56.000 or any of you guys, because you all know it, but inequality 00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:60.000 in the world is really really extreme. In 2010, according to 00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.000 huxfam international, 388 billionaires in the world 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:08.000 have as much wealth as 3 and a half plus billion people on the planet. 00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:12.000 Well, that got worse. In 2015, 00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:20.000 Well, this year, 8 billionaires 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.000 have as much wealth as 3 and a half of the poorest people on the planet. 00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:28.000 That's what I'm talking about. We need to bring that back under control, and we 00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.000 can do it if we live in a democratic society, I think. 00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:36.000 We need to stop the military industrial complex. 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:40.000 Wars create refugees, it's as simple as that. If you're wondering why 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.000 all these people are leaving their homes, they don't really want to, but they're 00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:48.000 leaving war zones. 00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:52.000 A lot of the companies that make these weapons are American. 00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:56.000 Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed Martin. 00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:60.000 BAE systems. Ratheon. 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.000 They are making weapons. 00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:08.000 They profit from war. They're dealing in death. 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:12.000 In a democratic society 00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:16.000 we have got to be able to stop that. 00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:20.000 These are old lessons, actually. Dwight Eisenhower 00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.000 in 1953 said 'every gun that's made, every warship 00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:28.000 that's launched, every rocket fires, signifies in its final sense a 00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:32.000 theft from those who are hungry. Pretty simple. 00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:40.000 This probably ought to be number one, but the planet is melting down. 00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.000 We've got forest fires and droughts and rising oceans and 00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:48.000 melting ice caps and so on. The reason that global 00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:52.000 refugees are leaving their homes is because they can't live there anymore. 00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:56.000 The water is rising; they're getting flooded out. They can't 00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:60.000 farm during the drought, and they pick up and leave, and that's also what 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.000 happened in Syria. There was a threat multiplier. It made everything worse. 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:08.000 I guess I would say that 00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:12.000 in Africa I learned that 00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:16.000 there's an ancient African belief that the 00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:20.000 ecological health of the planet is directly linked to the spiritual health 00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.000 of the people. Well, something's wrong with the planet. 00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:28.000 I think spiritually we have our struggles, too. 00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:32.000 So it is a moral question; it's a spiritual question. It's not just an economic 00:54:32.000 --> 00:54:36.000 question; it's not a political question but it's everything. 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:40.000 So, we need a green revolution, quick. 00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.000 It's long overdue. 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:48.000 We need to live sustainably. 00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:52.000 We need to support the United Nations and my colleague Mary is 00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:56.000 all over this, and the students on this campus seem to understand that too, 00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:60.000 usually. The UN offers real 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.000 ways to tackle the root causes of these problems, and they do it 00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:08.000 through a lot of agencies and funds and programs. 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:12.000 The World Health Organization, the World Food Program. 00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:16.000 The High Commission for Refugees. The Children's Fund, the Women's Fund, 00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:20.000 it goes on and on. And those are run really cheap. 00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.000 We shouldn't be spending another fifty four billion on military, but we should 00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:28.000 spend that money on the UN, I would say, if we really want to help 00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:32.000 humanity. 00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:36.000 We can reallocate the money from these billionaires I was talking about, 00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:40.000 back to the people who really need it. And we can close loopholes. 00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.000 We can stop all of this 00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:48.000 off-shore hiding of money that was 00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:52.000 exposed in the Panama Papers recently, or in the Cayman Islands 00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:56.000 and elsewhere. And we can only really do that, I think, 00:55:56.000 --> 00:55:60.000 if we raise awareness, but I know I'm preaching to the choir here, because 00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.000 that's what you and I do every day. I do that in my classes; I talk about this stuff 00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:08.000 all the time. And the students seem to get it. 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:16.000 But with this current administration, I don't know 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:20.000 what to say. Our president, President Trump, 00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.000 is ignorant. And he is 00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:28.000 scientifically illiterate, and he's 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:32.000 dishonest; he's a liar. 00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:36.000 He's petty, vindictive, authoritarian. 00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:40.000 And the list goes on and on. 00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.000 He's narcissistic to an extreme degree. 00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:48.000 He's dangerous, an that's what we will have to put up with 00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:52.000 for the next four years or so. 00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:56.000 It's quite a depressing picture if you think about it, after all we've worked for 00:56:56.000 --> 00:56:60.000 all these years, but maybe that just leaves us 00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.000 to do something on our own, on our own campus. What can we do? 00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:08.000 Well, we can reach out to our Hispanic students, for example, and let them know 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:12.000 that we support them when they are living in this time of fear, and their 00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000 families are under threat of getting deported. We can 00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:20.000 do what we can to stop the military industrial complex. We can stop glorifying 00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.000 war; for one, let's start there. The military academy 00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:28.000 down the street leaves in the fall. Why don't we name that building 00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:32.000 not 'The Oregon Military Academy,' but 'The Oregon Peace Academy. 00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:40.000 applause 00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.000 It's in our power if we want it: peace, if we want it. 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:48.000 Why don't we name it the Martin Luther King 00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:52.000 Oregon Peace Academy? 00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:56.000 Ain't gonna study war no more. 00:57:56.000 --> 00:57:60.000 Why don't we divest from fossil fuels at this university? Our endowment. 00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.000 Let's divest that fully. 00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:08.000 We can do it. If you want it. 00:58:08.000 --> 00:58:12.000 Let's put solar panels on all the roofs of this campus. 00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:16.000 There are a lot of other things we could do, and I 00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:20.000 know we're doing them already. When one of our students joins the Peace Corps, 00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.000 let's recognize them on the football field, 00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:28.000 when they graduate. 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:32.000 I could go on but I'll spare you the details, and I'll leave you with this thought: 00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:36.000 that we can build solidarity and not walls. 00:58:36.000 --> 00:58:40.000 applause 00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.000 What I did want to do is take an opportunity to 00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:48.000 highlight both Vivian and Elliot 00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:52.000 and the symbolic representation they are of the fact that here at Western 00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:56.000 Oregon University, what is the role of a university? It's a place to have 00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:60.000 open discussion, to touch on sensitive topics 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.000 but to also touch on those topics in a very informed, 00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:08.000 intellectual debate that is fact-driven. 00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:12.000 One of the most powerful things that we as faculty accomplish through 00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:16.000 scholarship that you know Elliot's 00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:20.000 scholarship informs his teaching, and Vivian's 00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.000 emotional bond with students informs her scholarship, 00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:28.000 and the type of research that she does, that here at Western we don't just 00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:32.000 have researchers, we don't just have teachers, we really have 00:59:32.000 --> 00:59:36.000 teacher-scholars. In my mind, one of the most valuable 00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:40.000 products that we generate at this institution is 00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.000 our hope that these students walking across the commencement stage 00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:48.000 in red caps and gowns are 00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:52.000 more critical thinkers, are going to be able to go out into society 00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:56.000 and apply the kind of knowledge that they gained here 00:59:56.000 --> 00:59:60.000 at Western. Congratulations to our two Pastega Award winners, and 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.000 it's a pleasure to be at this institution with you. 01:00:04.000 --> 01:00:08.000 Thank you all.