Wilkerson tells Bates graduates the world needs them ‘so very urgently’

LEWISTON — More than 450 Bates College seniors received diplomas Sunday morning in the college’s 148th commencement ceremonies.

Honorary degrees went to leaders from the arts, business, journalism and technology. The recipients were Isabel Alexis Wilkerson, author of the acclaimed history, “The Warmth of Other Suns;” acclaimed actress Glenn Close; IDEXX founder David Shaw; and John Seely Brown, a visionary computer scientist.

“These four remarkable individuals embody in their lives and work the values we strive to instill in our students,” Bates President A. Clayton Spencer said. “With astonishing talent, creativity and drive, they have pushed the boundaries in their own fields and have opened new worlds for all of us.”

Wilkerson, who delivered the commencement address, said, “The world that you are entering is one of unimagined opportunity, but also a world in peril, and it needs you, the class of 2014, so very urgently.”

Wilkerson told the graduates, “We are in a crisis in our country. It’s a crisis of identity, a crisis of fairness, a crisis of who is seen as deserving and who is not, a crisis of who is American, or who is seen as American, and what it means to be American and what America should be and can be. And a crisis of what we should do about our tangled inheritance, what we should do about the sins of the past and the injustices of the present.”

In her prize-winning book, Wilkerson writes about the courageous migration of African Americans out of the Jim Crow South of the some sixty years ago. She reminded the audience of students and their families that Bates College “was founded out of a desire to end these divisions, founded in the darkest hours before the civil war by abolitionists who dreamed a world different than the one they had been born to, who welcomed the potential of people who did not look like themselves.”

She said, “When the Civil War broke out, half the freshman class volunteered to fight for the Union to abolish the sin of slavery, marching from Hathorn Hall to the (Lewiston) railway station to the music of drum and fife.”

Wilkerson told the new Bates graduates, “It takes courage to confront what has gone before you and more courage still to end an injustice and set a new course.” She concluded by urging them to remember “that you have the courage within you to do wondrous things, miracles even.”

While Wilkerson’s address called upon the graduates to search for an understanding of “our tangled inheritance,” and to confront and correct “sins of the past and the injustices of the present,” the message in the Senior Address by Collin A McCullough, Class of 2014, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., was personal, inspiring and emotional.

“I have learned the value of something I prize above all else, and that is the power of a simple ‘hello’ or a selfless extension of kindness,” McCullough said. A combination of intellect and affability are keys to success he will be taking with him, he said.

“To have one and not the other would be of no use.”

Actress Glenn Close, a six-time Oscar nominee, received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the commencement.

“Love and humanity are benchmarks for her good works in other realms,” Spencer said of Close.

With members of her family afflicted by mental illness, Close co-founded the organization “Bring Change 2 Mind” to eradicate the stigma and misunderstanding these people face. She also is an advocate for ending violence against women and for wildlife conservation.

David Evans Shaw received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Shaw, who is married to Glenn Close, is a leading entrepreneur, supporter of the arts and champion of public service and environmental stewardship. In 1983, he founded IDEXX Laboratories, a Maine-based company and a world leader in providing innovative products and services for veterinary, food and water testing. Shaw has helped create and run more than a dozen companies spanning medical devices, pharmaceuticals, renewable fuels and direct marketing.

An honorary Doctor of Science went to John Seely Brown who has been central to the creation of technologies that have transformed how we learn, relate, converse and conduct business. For two decades, he was Xerox Corp.’s chief scientist and the director of its famed Palo Alto Research Center.

Among the 452 graduates in Bates College’s Class of 2014 were 46 from Maine. They include Jennifer Marie Bergeron and Albert Linyue Shi, both of Lewiston; Alexandra Reber Desjardins, Auburn; Lindsay Sara Wallace of Minot; Charles Richard Munn of Norway; and Chelsea Mae Thompson and Kelly Allyson Yardley, both of Farmington.

Graduates came from 29 states and 32 countries.

The senior gift from the Class of 2014 amounted to $9,506 from 406 classmates. It was the largest class gift ever from the greatest number of donors.

With this graduating class, Bates alumni tops 24,000.

: Glenn Close listens to Bates College President Clayton Spencer after being given an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Matthew Auer, right, during Sunday’s commencement at Bates College.

: Bates College president Clayton Spencer delivers one of 448 diplomas to members of the class of 2014 during Sunday’s commencement exercises at the Lewiston college. The class is made up of students from 29 states and 32 countries.

: Isabel Alexis Wilkerson reacts after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters from Bates College prior to delivering a commencement address on Sunday morning.

: Kaitlin McDonald gives Bates College Dean of Students Tedd Goundie a hug as she and the rest of the graduating class of 2014 file past faculty after Sunday’s commencement on the quad at the Lewiston college. For more photos from the ceremony, visit sunjournal.com.

: Brittney Davis of Chicago rejoices as the last person of her 2014 graduating class at Bates College receives their diploma Sunday morning at the Lewiston campus.

: Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Alexis Wilkerson gives the commencement address during Sunday morning’s commencement at Bates College in Lewiston.

: Members of the 2014 graduating class of Bates College toss their mortarboards into the air following Sunday’s commencement at the Lewiston college.

: Members of the 2014 graduating class of Bates College toss their mortarboards into the air following Sunday’s commencement at the Lewiston college.

: Collin McCullough gives the senior address during Sunday’s 2014 Bates College commencement.

: Collin McCullough points to his classmates after giving the senior address during Sunday’s 2014 Bates College commencement.

: Glenn Close receives an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Matthew Auer during Sunday’s commencement at Bates College.

: Bates College president Clayton Spencer shakes hands with John Seely Brown after Brown received an honorary Doctor of Science award from the Lewiston college during Sunday’s 2014 commencement.

: David Evans Shaw gestures while his accomplishments are lauded prior to being given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during Sunday’s commencement at Bates College.

: Kaitlin McDonald gives Bates College Dean of Students Tedd Goundie a hug as she and the rest of the graduating class of 2014 file past faculty after Sunday’s commencement on the quad at the Lewiston college.