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Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich delivers the keynote address during the university's undergraduate c
ommencement on the afternoon of June 13. Gingrich and former Lebanese captive Terry Anderson, the main speaker at the morning graduation, both recieved honorary degrees. Photo: Mike Elicson
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On a day of rain mixed with sunshine, a record 3,600 undergraduate students participated in the two commencement ceremonies.
Anderson's speech came just before he began teaching at OU's Scripps School of Journalism as a visiting professor in July. The longest-held U.S. captive during the war between Israel and Lebanon in the 1980s -- 2,454 -- days Anderson most recently was an associate journalism professor at Columbia University's graduate journalism school.
"What you have acquired is just a basic set of tools, the very minimum knowledge on which to build a decent life," Anderson told graduates. "Those tools aren't limited to academic learning. Even more important for your life are the ethics and values that you learned here."
Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press at the time of his capture, Anderson said his years in captivity taught him the value of learning.
"I learned to enjoy once again simply learning, felt again the pleasure of studying without purpose other than the satisfaction of my curiosity and the stretching of my mind," Anderson said.
Gingrich, a Georgia Republican serving his 10th term in Congress, shared his simple personal philosophy for success with the graduates.
"Dream big, work hard, learn every day and enjoy life," Gingrich said. "If you truly want to be success ful, do something you enjoy. Because to succeed you have to do it all the time. And if you don't enjoy it, you can't force yourself to do it.
"If you get a job you don't like, change it. If you have a hobby that bores you, drop it. But think it through."
Anderson received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Ohio University, while Gingrich was presented with an honorary doctor of public service degree.
Others receiving honorary degrees were John C. Angus, internationally know n scientist and former chair of the chemical engineering department at Case Western Reserve University, honorary doctorate of science; Daniel Shao, AB '72, a Hong Kong businessman and Ohio University philanthropist, honorary doctorate of laws; and James J. Whalen, retired president of Ithaca (N.Y.) College and former OU administrator in the 1960s, honorary doctorate of laws.
Norman Gevitz, professor and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at OU's Colle ge of Osteopathic Medicine, was the keynote speaker at the advanced degree commencement June 12, where 600 master's, Ph.D. and doctor of osteopathy degrees were awarded.
