Andreas Acrivos

Andreas Acrivos, Albert Einstein Professor Emeritus of Science & Engineering at the City College of the City University of New York and Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University; Kathryn Scott Fuller, president and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund; and Russell Banks, celebrated author of 15 novels and recipient of major literary awards and fellowships were each awarded honorary degrees from Clarkson at the 112th Commencement.

A pioneer in environmental conservation, Fuller became the first woman to lead a major environmental membership group. She told the graduating class that "Stepping back to see the interconnectedness of all life is one of the great gifts of sight that nature conservation can give you …. One of the lessons that the observation of nature teaches you is that all life on earth, including ours, depends on diversity — on the myriad ways that all species, small and large, simple and complex, interact in the grand biotic enterprise we call the web of life."

Kathryn Scott Fuller

Fuller went on to say, "Keep that in mind because diversity is important not only to the biological enterprise we call civilization, but to the grand social enterprise we call civilization. Keep open in heart and mind, value the opinions of others, especially those who disagree with you. We are in it together: Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Americans and people from every nation and by last count at least 10 million other species both large and very, very small."

City College of the City University of New York Albert Einstein Professor Emeritus of Science & Engineering Andreas Acrivos reminisced how he came to the U.S. in 1947 from Greece with only a few dollars in his pocket, and no family, but he carried with him something infinitely more precious than cash: A superb high school education in the classics and mathematics. "That training prepared me how to think, how to study on my own, and how to overcome obstacles, academic or otherwise, that came my way," said Acrivos. "If I succeeded, given where I came from, there is no reason why all of you shouldn't be equally successful."

Russell Banks

Award winning novelist Russell Banks focused on the importance of collective memory in each generation. He reminded the 2005 graduates that "you are the last generation of Americans who have adult or nearly adult memories of the world that preceded 9/11. On that day, September 11, 2001, one era in American history ended and another began — economically, technologically, militarily, psychologically, everything changed … . In a few years when those of us who are older than you are gone, all Americans younger than you will have no memory whatsoever of the America that existed before 9/11. I urge you graduates to start now, or tomorrow morning, writing your autobiography, as you remember it, before you forget it."