College of Business and Economics 2021 Virtual Commencement Ceremony
Welcome, I'm Morteza Rahmatian, the Dean of Cal State Fullerton's College of Business and Economics. This is a significant day, it is a joyful day, a day of celebration. I am extraordinarily proud of each of you and I salute your conserve achievements. This is a culmination of one journey in your life and the start of a fresh adventures. And there are many of you stepping into a new odyssey, with more than 4,800 students will have mark their graduation from the College of Business and Economics during this pandemic. This is truly remarkable.
When world shut down, you did not falter. You responded to loss with increased determination. You held true to our commitment to education and achieved your goals. Graduates, you joined the ranks of more than 65,000 College of Business and Economics alumni, who started the next chapter in their career, just as you are now. You have worked extremely hard in pursuit of a positive and productive future for yourself, our community, our nation, and the world.
As you know, our alumni contributes greatly to the advancement of our community. While in the college all our business graduates have built a solid foundation in business principle, leadership and determination to work hard toward excellence. In the same way, you have also laid a strong foundation for yourself.
Our alumni our CEOs, presidents, partners, managers, attorneys and entrepreneurs, and they all contribute to society with philanthropy and volunteer services. You are following their footsteps and we wish you a tremendous success. Our faculty, staff, and administrators propelled you forward with the skills needed to become a future leader. All of the academic challenges you have conquered have helped shape and burnish your qualifications and knowledge and are ready to take on new exciting professional challenges.
Please share those successes with us. We'll continue to celebrate each of your impressive milestone. Your accomplishment serves as an inspiration to current students who will see, by your examples, exactly how their hard work here will serve them well in future world. I know you also traversed your academic years with the help of others. Therefore, I extend congratulations and sincere thank your parents, extended families, friends who love and support, are critical for the graduate's achievement and your immense care does not go unnoticed.
We are grateful for the support you continue to provide. And finally, on behalf of faculty, staff of Cal State Fullerton College of Business and Economics, congratulation Titans! We all are tremendously proud to have made this journey with you. Go Titans! I will forever be grateful to the Cal State University Fullerton College of Business and Economics for allowing me to complete semester units and go on to qualify for the accounting CPA exam. I knew at the time that if I was able to complete an additional 20 semester hours of education and pass the CPA exam, I was positioned to be promoted to partner at EY. This year, I celebrate my 15th year as an EY partner and now have the honor of leading as the EY Orange County Office Managing Partner and sitting on the business and economics, Dean's Advisory Board.
It sounds easy for me to reflect on these accomplishments now but truthfully there were and are no shortcuts, striving for excellence and achievement takes a lot of time, effort and of course learning the lessons of mistake making. 15 years ago, I didn't know the end of the story. I didn't like not knowing and constantly being asked professional and personal questions such as; What are you going to do in your career? Who are you going to end up with? Will you have children? Do you think you will return to Australia to live and work? Uncertainty is hard and uncomfortable, but uncertainty also means there is a tremendous opportunity to forge your own path. What comes next is not already decided, and so you are afforded curiosity and the possibility to pursue your passion.
Cal State University Fullerton has equipped you to begin your journey. I trust and hope that it will be rich, rewarding, curious and full of uncertainty. Congratulations. What's up fellow graduates? My name is Selene, let's play a game. When I say clap once if, and if the sentence relates to you I want you to simply, clap once.
Let's do a practice run shall we? Clap once if you're graduating today. (clap) Awesome. Congratulations to those who just clapped. In this speech we're going to look back, we're going to look forward and we're going to give thanks. Let's start by looking back shall we? Clap once if you joined any CSUF club or organization. (clap) Shout out to ASI and BICC.
Clap once if you ever got a CSUF parking ticket. (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) One for every ticket. These past few years had highs and lows, some of us lived on campus while others lived in the library, some of us barely passed ISDS 361B. Many of us nearly lost our sanity and all of us lost the name of our college. But beyond these losses, we come out winners today, winners with a college degree.
So, let's look forward. Clap once if you got a full-time job, or you're pursuing a graduate degree. (clap) Nice. Clap once if you have no idea what's next. (clap) Same.
Class of 2021, as we enter the real world with greater compassion, patience, and some social anxiety I hope you all see the extra ordinary value, each of us hold for graduating during one of the hardest times in the world. But we couldn't have done it on our own, so let's give thanks. Clap once if a loved one helped you get through college. (clap) Clap once if caffeine carried you along the way. (clap) To our loved ones, professors, staff, and energy drinks, thank you for helping us these past few years.
Also thank you to the class clowns who accidentally left themselves unmuted, the sound of you chewing was quite entertaining compared to the definition of marginal cost. No offense, Dean Morteza. But while we have your attention Dean, we are honored to be the last graduating class you commence. Thank you. In closing, the purpose of this game was to show us that even though we were physically the farthest we could have been from each other this past year, we have more in common than ever before. Class of 2021, we are the only graduating class to experience our entire last year of college from our beds.
Clap once if you did that as a first-generation college student. (clap) Incredible. As we become world leaders, let's remember where we came from and let's clap it up for this unforgettable college experience. Congratulations, class of 2021. (applause) Whooooo! Yeah! Congratulations to all of you on your graduation.
This is an important achievement and you have to be proud of yourself. I wish all of you the best of luck in your future, and always keep CSUF in your heart. Hello. I'm Dr. Ralph Garcia from the Management Department.
Congratulations on your graduation from one of the most academically rigorous and largest business schools in the country. Your persistence, sacrifice, and hard work has paid off. Your Titan education prepares you well to add value and make a significant contribution in your chosen field. This is a very exciting time in your life.
So go out there, continue to learn follow your passion and make an impact. Congratulations, class of 2021. You did it, you made it, we're so proud of you, it's time to celebrate and we're so glad that you have this wonderful summer to relax and rejuvenate. Best of luck to you and come back and visit. Hey, marketing and business grads, I'm Neil Granitz, Chair of the Department of Marketing. I'm Steven Chan, the Vice Chair of Marketing.
Happy graduation. Happy graduation. You made it despite COVID, climate change, election drama and racial unrest. And worst of all virtual classes and exams proctored with Proctorio. You worked hard, you have the knowledge, skills, and experience to do well.
The world is at your doorstep, seek knowledge from cradle to the grave. Keep looking for what you love to do as that is the only way you will create excellent work. Congratulations, class of 20 and 21. Ooh! Woohoo! Dear, Master of Science in Accountancy students, congratulations. You worked hard, you excelled at your work and you succeeded. You're now ready to compete and prove yourselves in today's rapidly changing business environment.
The Department of Accounting and I, Professor Walied Keshk, MSA Director, wish you all the best in your future careers and lives. (bright upbeat music)
2021-06-13 09:02
