Father Knows Best @ OSU!

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Gordon Gee, the President of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio wrote the inspiring words below to my daughter Kate and all members of the OSU Class of 2010. Graduation festivities will be held in "The Shoe" on Sunday, June 13th - Go Bucks! I think President Gee offers terrific advice for both new graduates and job seekers alike, so I decided to share his important message & call-to-action with all of you! - Tish


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From Where I Stand
Written by President Gee

The graduation season has begun. During the months of May and June, tens of thousands of young people – and some not quite so young – leave colleges and universities across the country with diploma in hand. The great joy of that tassel-and-gown moment is tempered for many people, of course, who walk away from their Commencement ceremonies not only with a degree, but also with uncertain job prospects. It is no secret: These are challenging times.

Having been called a serial optimist, however, I believe utterly and completely in the power of these new graduates to create their own destinies and to guide us all to a brighter future. After leading universities for a full three decades now, I say with all certainty that today's graduates are among the most entrepreneurial, compassionate, determined, and hard-working I have ever known. With great affection and admiration, I offer up a few bits of advice for them.

Top Ten for 2010: Guidelines for Graduates
May 2010

Update your status in person.
Make sure your global experience encompasses more than Shakira and sushi.
Put away your Guitar Hero and be a hero in someone's life.
Disagree without being disagreeable.
Take chances: The biggest failure is not to try.
Always be just as curious as you are at this moment.
Know that you are never too old to play on a swing set.
When opportunity knocks, knock it out of the park.
Start working in your field before you are hired.
Dance when you can, laugh every day, and say thank you.


Copyright 2010, The Ohio State University

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About President Gee:

Born in Vernal, Utah, Gee graduated from the University of Utah with an honors degree in history and earned his J.D. and Ed.D degrees from Columbia University. He clerked under Chief Justice David T. Lewis of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals before being named a judicial fellow and staff assistant to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he worked for Chief Justice Warren Burger on administrative and legal problems of the Court and federal judiciary. Gee returned to Utah as an associate professor and associate dean in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, eventually achieving the rank of full professor. In 1979 he was named dean of the West Virginia University Law School, and in 1981 was appointed to that university's presidency.

Active in a number of national professional and service organizations, Gee served as a Trustee for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation and as chairman of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land Grant Universities. He is a member of the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges, founded by the College Board to improve the teaching and learning of writing. He also serves as co-chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Energy Advisory Committee.

Gee is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Hospice Foundation, the Advisory Board of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, an independent Federal government agency established to "encourage and support research, study and labor designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of mankind." He also is a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum.

Gee has received a number of honorary degrees, awards, and recognitions. He was a Mellon Fellow for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies and a W.K. Kellogg Fellow. In 1994, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah as well as from Teachers College of Columbia University. He is the co-author of eight books and the author of numerous papers and articles on law and education.

Gee's daughter, Rebekah, is an assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tulane University and a Norman F. Gant/American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology/IOM Anniversary Fellow.

November 2009