A blue background with the Brandeis seal on the right side
“Brandeis University Class of 2021”
“Graduate Professional Studies”
“Welcome Address - Lynne Rosansky
Keynote Speaker - Arthur Harvey
Live Reading of Names - Lynne Rosansky
Closing Remarks - Lynne Rosansky
Closing Video”
Dr. Lynne Rosansky appears on screen in graduation garb.
Rosansky:
“Good morning. Thank you all for being here. Honored guests, family, friends, and graduates. Greetings. Welcome to the 2021 Brandeis University, Rabb School, GPS commencement ceremony. I'm Dr. Lynne Rosansky, Vice President of the Rabb School. This year has been a year like no other. Last year, we pivoted very quickly. We certainly expected to be back on campus for commencement exercises this year. However, the pandemic took longer than we anticipated, so today we're still celebrating in a virtual modality. This morning we're live streaming and recording our events. For those graduates, family, and friends who cannot join live today, they will be able to view the video later at a time convenient to them so they may also celebrate accomplishments with family and friends. The master's students we honor today embarked upon their degree well before pandemic was a household word. Each of you have persevered through the many challenges, joys, and disappointments of your journey to earn your master's degree. On top of the normal challenges of pursuing a graduate degree while working full time and managing families, over the past year, you have balanced and coordinated so many unanticipated challenges as our world turned virtual. These added challenges hit on all fronts, work, home, family. All this makes your success today even more of an accomplishment. Take a moment. Reflect. Today is your day. The day to celebrate your success. Congratulations to each and every one of you.”
Dr. Rosansky claps to herself.
“And if we can all applaud, you'd hear a really big round of applause for each and every one of you. Before I introduce today's speaker, bear with me for a few moments while I tell you a bit about Brandeis University and about the Rabb School. During your online learning journey, it's easy to focus on individual courses or solely on the program in which you are enrolled. Now that you can look up a bit, let me assure you, you are graduating from one of the finest universities in the world. Founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community at a time when Jews and other ethnic and racial minorities and women faced discrimination in higher education, Brandeis University has remained committed to providing access to bright students from all walks of life, including those who cannot give up their careers and families to come to campus full time. US News and World Report has ranked Brandeis among the top 40 national universities every year since its inception. Please note, there are approximately 4,600 colleges and universities in this group.
While college rankings aren't necessarily a true measure of an institution or university's quality, being so highly ranked for so long is certainly an indicator. Brandeis faculty are considered by their professional associations to be among the best in the world. While they may not all be household names, we have as part of the Brandeis faculty, the 2017 Nobel Prize winners in medicine, as well as other renowned scholars and activists such as Anita Hill and Leonard Bernstein. Former commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients include, Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara Jordan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, George Burns, John Glenn, Elie Wiessel, Helmut Kohl, Marc Chagall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John F. Kennedy, Yo-Yo Ma, and The Dalai Lama. Our alumni include three Pulitzer Prize winners, two MacArthur Fellows, one Nobel Laureate, the former prime minister of Iceland, several Emmy Award winning actors, broadcasters and producers, and one Olympic silver medalist in fencing. Did you even know fencing was a sport?”
Dr. Rosansky chuckles to herself.
“Now you are joining the ranks of the alumni of this incredible institution. Did you realize you are graduating from such an august place? Are you feeling just a little proud of yourself? You have every right to be and you should be. Enjoy it.”
“Graduate Professional Studies launched its initial degree program in 1997. Now we offer 12 master's degree programs, and have nearly 2,500 alumni. Think of the networking opportunities. The primary mission of GPS is to extend a Brandeis graduate education with real world cutting edge curriculum to part-time students looking to enhance their careers, their contributions to society, and the quality of life. As graduates, you embody that mission, as well as the larger university mission, which is the pursuit of truth, knowledge, and academic excellence. Moreover, you have been able to experience a central tenet of Brandeis University. The belief that the best learning derives from working very closely with your faculty. Because your courses were all online, you probably never met your professors face to face but I hope you agree you benefited not only from their knowledge, but from the commitment to teaching and their concern for you as students. The faculty and GPS, your faculty, are respected leaders in their particular fields. The knowledge and experience they bring to class combines with a sincere desire to share this knowledge with others. This makes for the quality experience that is a hallmark of GPS courses.
At this time, I would like to recognize our outstanding GPS faculty. Each one of our faculty members is an experienced, practicing professional, who dedicate their time to teaching, partly as a service to their professional community. To every one of our faculty, we truly appreciate your knowledge, expertise, and most especially your dedication to our students' learning and development journey. Designing and delivering courses, and providing professional advice that ensure our students receive an exceptional education, worthy of the Brandeis name. This is commendable and we truly thank you.”
Dr. Rosansky claps to herself.
“I would give a round of applause to our faculty. I hope they can hear it virtually. Each year we recognize one of our outstanding faculty members with the Rabb School Award for outstanding teachers. This year, I'm delighted to announce that Melissa Kane, faculty member in our Learning Experience Design Program has received this award. Upon review of student evaluations, student recommendations, and feedback from staff it was clear Melissa has a reputation for going above and beyond with respect to her responsiveness, and attention to student needs.
Dr. Melissa Kane is an Associate Director for Instructional Design at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. In this role, she leads a team of instructional designers and collaborates on strategic projects to facilitate learning design innovation to all teaching modalities across campus. In 2021, she was also the recipient of Brown University's Excellence Award for Service. Prior to joining Brown, Melissa was an Instructional Design and Technology Specialist at Johnson and Wales University, where she spearheaded curriculum design and development efforts for both the culinary arts and baking and pastry degree programs. Before entering higher education, Melissa spent 12 years teaching secondary English in New York State. Melissa holds a doctorate of education in curriculum teaching, learning and leadership from Northeastern University, a Master of Science in Education from Suny Oswego, and a Bachelor of Arts in communication from Colby-Sawyer College. We are so proud to have Melissa on our faculty. Melissa, thank you for all you do for our students.
We would also like to take a moment to recognize all our wonderful students. The learning journey is a partnership between students and faculty. Often your colleagues, your fellow students with whom you have worked, are a significant part of what makes for powerful learning. The online nature of the courses has allowed you to attend class with colleagues from across the US and from around the globe. We have students from Massachusetts to California and from 10 different countries. Even an officer in the US Army who began the program while stationed overseas. You would have studied with people from different industries including banking, healthcare consulting, robotics, and IT, who work at notable companies including the CDC, the World Bank, and Meditech. All this professional experience is accomplished with a dedication to family and children. I was amazed as I read some of the bios of our graduates. How many of you care for and manage your children's multiple activities, from sports teams to weddings? All while pursuing a graduate degree. This rich diversity of professional, cultural, academic and familial backgrounds in our student body has meant sharing perspectives that were likely quite different than your own, and enabling lots of learning along the way. We thank each and every student who has participated in our classes and contributed to our community of learning.
Hopefully this overview has given you a clear understanding of what an exceptional university Brandeis is. It will allow you to reflect with additional pride on your own accomplishments today. You have earned a graduate degree from one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Not only have you mastered a rigorous curriculum, most of you have done this while working full-time and often managing kids, spouses, and other family members at home during a pandemic. Your academic achievements are made even more noteworthy because they were made in the midst of real life. I want you to know that the entire university community has great respect for what you have accomplished and how you have done it. We are all so proud that you will shortly be a Brandeis alumni, enhancing our reputation across the United States and around the globe. This one is for you.”
Dr. Rosansky claps her hands to herself.
“Now, I will introduce our distinguished commencement speaker, Arthur Harvey, who we will watch on a video film. Following Arthur's remarks, we will move on to the awarding of degrees. I am pleased and honored to introduce this year's Rabb School commencement speaker, one of our very own alumni, Mr. Arthur Harvey. Arthur graduated from our MS in information technology management program after receiving his BA from Boston College in economics and computer science. Over the past 35 years, Arthur W. Harvey III, has built a career in healthcare informatics with expertise in building high-performing teams at provider organizations. Currently serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Boston Medical Center Health System, Arthur oversees overall IT strategy for both Boston Medical Center and the Boston Medical Center HealthNet plan. In addition to his work at BMCHS, Arthur serves his professional community as chair of the CIOs council for the New England Chapter of the HIMSS, and serves on a number of industry boards and committees, including our very own GPS health informatics advisory board. Here's a welcome to Arthur.”
Arthur Harvey appears in the left-center of the screen, his background showing Brandeis University. Dr. Rosansky’s zoom box is shifted to the top-right corner and replaced with a still image.
Harvey:
“Honored guests, faculty, administrators, friends and family, and of course, most importantly, graduates, good morning. I'd like to begin by noting how incredibly honored I am to be asked to address you this morning. I have a long history with the Rabb school, having received my own masters here and then been an instructor, a program chair, and now an industry advisory board member. When you combine that with my actual career experience, I think it gives me a fairly well-rounded view of the value of all of the hard work you've finally completed. Going to graduate school while you're working, not to mention, having family and personal responsibilities is tough. You're all to be congratulated because you truly did things the hard way. When I was teaching, I was amazed each semester at how many things people were juggling while they were going to school. I remember how hard it was when I did it and I didn't have kids or a pandemic to deal with. I have a lot of respect for your accomplishments.
It is traditional at a commencement address to talk a bit about what the future holds for you and how to use your degree and newfound skills. To do that, I'd like to start off with a bit of a visualization exercise. See what happens when you let the computer nerd give the speech. I'd like to ask you to think back over the last few years and see if any of the following sound familiar. Being up at 3:00 AM working on a paper because you'd planned on taking the day off but get called into work anyway, eating pizza for three days in a row because you couldn't take time to cook a meal, bringing your textbooks to your office so you could study at your desk during lunch, and making it to a family event but being worried about whether you posted the right number of comments in the right discussion forums. I thought some of these might ring a bell. For the record, those are personal memories.
Here's a few others that might resonate with you. Talking with a classmate about a challenge at work and finding out that they do things completely differently in her industry and wondering if you could use her methods to solve your problem, getting a tip from an instructor on a technology that would save your company time or money, being willing to defend your position in the discussion clearly and respectfully with data and well-reasoned arguments, working on a big project and figuring out how to herd the CATs despite crazy schedules, and realizing for the first time that you might have more knowledge or experience about a specific topic than the instructor and that in graduate school it's perfectly appropriate to share your experience with them. In my experience, it's easy to remember the pain, but often the growth happens slowly, so we miss it. The second set of items all represents skills that you develop that will stand you in good stead going forward.
Generally speaking, none of them were on the syllabi. You're entering a working world that has changed dramatically, both due to the natural evolution of society and to the impact of the largest public health crisis in at least a century. While the pandemic has had a profound impact on many of our organizations, it's also provided the opportunity to show how technology leaders can make a real difference in society. From enabling work from home, providing data to enable rapid business changes to dramatically accelerating digitization efforts, technologies have been key contributors to remaking many organizations.
How has your education at the Rabb school set you up to succeed in this new world? Fortunately, many of the skills you've acquired which worked before the pandemic are still valuable. It has now come time for my obligatory Justice Brandeis quote. This one is not one of his best-known, but I've always liked it. “It is, as a rule, far more important how men pursue their occupation than what their occupation is which they select”. From my perspective, Brandeis is saying that there are certain core attributes and values that make a person helpful, and that these are generally universal. The specifics of their occupation are less important than their general qualities. You as a graduating class represent several different degrees. Even within a degree, there could be many different types of jobs represented. The courses you took taught you the technical material you need for your profession. All of you also had a chance to learn what I believe are more important lessons about leadership and professionalism.
To those who have been in an industry for a while, we know with certainty that technologies change. Sometimes they change so quickly it's almost impossible to keep up. My first computer science course as an undergraduate was Fortran on punched cards, and I'm only 56 years old. There are still a few COBOL programmers floating around, most people would agree that whatever we're using today will not be what we're using in five years. The good news is that you also learn general principles that can be applied as technologies change. After all, a loop in Fortran is really not all that different to a loop in C Sharp. The most valuable lessons I took from my time as a graduate student were not really about specifics. They were about general principles, communication, deep analysis, data-driven decision-making, and how to work with all kinds of people in all situations. These things have served me well personally, and perhaps more importantly, it's served the organizations I've worked for over the years. There are many different motivations for pursuing a graduate degree. Here at the Rabb school, many if not most of you were at least partially motivated by a desire to advance at work. Whether it was to switch industries, a specialization, or advance along your current track, you felt the desire to become more of a leader in your organization.
That leadership can and does take many forms. Whether you're leading people, projects, technology, or business operations, there are many different ways to lead. The current pandemic has provided for a myriad of challenges in all types of industries. Perhaps nowhere, then, is profoundly better than my own industry of health care. During this time, I've often been asked if there had been any comparable situations in my career. The closest thing I could recall was the remediation efforts leading up to Y2K. We worked a lot of hours, postponed many non Y2K projects during that period, and there was a great sense of purpose. But in reality, the entire pace of work during the pandemic has been an order of magnitude, at the minimum, faster than anything I've ever encountered. The pandemic also didn't come with a due date. In reality, we still don't know when we're going to be finished. I'd like to give you some examples of challenges that we encountered over the last 14 months, and what types of skills made people succeed as leaders in these difficult situations.
To begin with, I must note that I'm incredibly lucky to be trusted, to be the face of a terrific team. I often tell them that my job is to sit around, drink coffee, and stay out of their way. The good news is that many of them are talented leaders in their own right, capable of making independent decisions, which turned out to be critical during this period. We were asked to do many things that we would have said were impossible just months before. An example of this was being asked to take an abandoned hospital building that had been empty for 18 months, and recondition it to have patients in it in seven days. Now is a good opportunity to go back to Justice Brandeis for a better-known quote, but one that I like just as well as the first one, "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." This brings up the first little things I noticed about leadership during this period. Many of the management team were quick to say, "It can't be done." But there were a few who said, "Why not? What's in the way? What can we do to move it?" The ability to sub-divide a problem, and assess what is really in the critical path, is a fairly rare ability in my experience, and it is enormously valuable. The next thing I noticed, that in these time-driven situations, it's a good way to work with all of the relevant parties to determine what's the minimum necessary scope to succeed. I've seen this done successfully. Typically all the leaders are demonstrating good communication skills. Well, this particular project, not exactly win any prizes for the prettiest Gantt chart. I'm very proud to say we managed to have patients within that time.
The next thing I noted things change This was true before the pandemic and it's true now. We now joke that the requirements were about as certain as New England weather. One of my groups actually stopped keeping weekly planning schedules since things were moving so fast. They just started in the morning and said, "What's next at this moment in time?" They kept doing that until they got to the end of the day. That's probably not the best system for long-term sustainability, but it's an excellent adaptation to the situation they found themselves in. That's really the point of being flexible. A leader needs to make decisions. Typically they're made within the context of some type of policy or framework. A really good leader knows when to stick to that, and when to make exceptions to the normal policy. One thing the pandemic did for us, and for many other companies was to streamline the decision-making process.
Prior to the pandemic, it would take us a thirty-person committee, and a four-hour meeting to decide if a button should be green or blue. Since we found ourselves in a position where we needed to move extremely quickly, the natural solution for us was to let leaders who were experts or experienced at a specific item make the decisions regardless of their corporate rank. I will admit that many of our team showed previously undiscovered leadership potential when put in this position. I personally found that a bit surprising, but very gratifying. The last item I would remark on was the way our leadership team got everyone to be committed to the organization's mission. Now, unless you happen to work in a technology company, your product is not technology. This is often tricky to get technical professionals who we lead to understand. We have somewhat of an advantage at BMC since we are a safety net hospital, and our mission is to take care of people who are underserved in the Boston area. Even with that, we're asking people to work 12 hour days, seven days a week for months. The ability to motivate people to do that was mostly about getting them to ask themselves, how is what I'm doing going to help us take care of the patients? In my experience, it is absolutely critical for leaders at all levels of the organization to keep themselves focused on what the organization is trying to accomplish, and what they can do to enable that.
I thank you again for the honor of addressing you this morning. I have three things I would ask you to consider as you return to the industry. I think about these three things often. I have found it to be very helpful to my career satisfaction. First off, what is my organization trying to accomplish, and how can I help? Does my team know this as well? Next, what new skill have I acquired or practiced lately? Growth is good. Lastly, what have I done recently to help along with the career of one of my team members or a colleague? In my experience, we learn a lot about ourselves when we help others. To keep those in mind. I suspect you'll be on a strong growth path in your career. I would again congratulate each and every one of you on your wonderful achievement. Thank you.”
Harvey’s screen is minimized and replaced by the still image in the top right hand corner. The still image is replaced by Dr. Lynne Rosasnky still in graduation garb.
Rosansky:
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Arthur, that was a very inspiring talk, and he has a very inspiring career. I'd like to pause for just a moment here and to send our thanks to the Rabb school staff who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that your student learning experience is the best it can be. From our admissions team, our advising team, to our learning designers, everyone is at a hand in helping our students along the journey to their master's degree. Most importantly, today, I want to give a special shout-out to Shannon McCarthy, Alina Hicks, Bor Kennedy, and the Brandeis Media Technology Group for all the work they've done to put this virtual ceremony together. It has been a challenge trying to imagine what the live stream would be, and how to integrate the various pieces. They've just been invaluable in terms of support and assistance. Especially to me, a confessed digital immigrant who was not very comfortable with the 21st Century technical world. Thanks to all the help I received along the way. Now, onto the main event of today, awarding the degrees. For those of you who are watching live, please be sure to turn your video on so we may spotlight you when your name is called.”
“Andrew Aradi”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Arielle Almeida Ginsberg”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Luis Alberto Nivelo”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Julie Kahye Park”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Deepa Manthravadi Rice”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Mark Joseph Sheehan”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Jeremy Benjamin Singer”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
“Kerstin Wenzl”,
Masters of Science in Bioinformatics
These are the graduates with a Master of Science in Digital Innovation for FinTech.
“Jacob Cutler”,
Master of Science in Digital Innovation for FinTech
“Steven Little”,
Master of Science in Digital Innovation for FinTech
“Gaston Tchicourel”.
Master of Science in Digital Innovation for FinTech
“Diana Bishop”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Lily Marguerite Gardener,”
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Theodore Groh”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Anne Germaine Harrison”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Aina Margareta Holtz-Lagor”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Loretta Lynn Kennedy”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Adam Shawn Levin”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Haley Meadows”,
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Justin Charles Penney”.
Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Design
“Michelle Hodgerney,”
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics.
“Suchal Karkera”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Tripat Kaur”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Christina M. Kijewski”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Katie Liakopoulos”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Sweta Shah”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Dylan James Smith”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Floyd B. Bethelmie”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Christine M. Imbrogno”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Alex Sylvan Kramer”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Erin Marie Langille”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Charles Nettleton McClure III”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Theary Michelle Sokhom”,
Master of Science in Health and Medical Informatics
“Juliana Carmella Cirillo”,
Master of Science in Information Security
“Endri Caraj”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“Alexander Henry Cunningham”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“Andrew C. Pecinovsky”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“Jaime Ramos”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“William Eugene Riegel”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“George Scarmoutzos Junior”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership
“Bethany Michele Winsor”,
Master of Science in Information Security Leadership, Graduate Certificate in Learning Analytics
“Carrie Ashley Robertson”,
Graduate Certificate in Learning Analytics, Master of Science in Learning Experience Design
“Britt Jonathan Duenyas”,
Master of Science in Learning Experience Design, Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Dylan Eric Matthew Alinsky”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Esther Ruth Brandon”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Caitlin Ann Cavanaugh”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Manuel Hunter Chatman”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Ruth Gisselle Crisostomo”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Julia Kaplan Dauer”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Nicole Susan Delanoy”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Gary Fikes”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Eralba Germenji”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Rebecca Gordon”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Cody Raef Haugen”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Scott A. Henderson”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“David Franklin Holmes”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“German Huerta”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Kellianne Melissa King”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Natrajan Kuppuraj”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Shawanda Legall”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Nancy Ross Leonard”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Yaasmin Lewis”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Bo Li”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Hamanie Maharaj”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Dorauri Ocanto”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Deborah J. Plate”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Jacob Quan”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Claudia Paola Rico Hernandez”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Astrid G. Rojas”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Christopher Christian Spiegel”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Tyler Spotts”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Ines M. Stafford”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Jennifer Ann Susman”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Monica Kimberly Tham”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Inna Tsvang”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Rebecca Ford Vazquez”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Meitra Mae Williams”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Layte Jamal Workman”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management
“Kristin M. Zawatski”,
Master of Science in Project and Program Management, Master of Science in Robotic Software Engineering.
“Benjamin Michael Boor”,
Master of Science in Robotic Software Engineering
“Harry Huy Vuong”,
Master of Science in Robotic Software Engineering, Master of Software Engineering.
"Sasi Mitra Lakshmi Damodara”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Matthew James Ferro”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Naaman Joseph Green”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Edan Kemelman”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Adam Tellermann Sher”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Suresh Srirangam”,
Master of Software Engineering
“Alejandro Amezquita Barajas”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Adam Seth Burkin”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Robert Edward Cheek”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Anthony Alexander Hernandez”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“William Jesus Hiraldo”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Kimberly Jinhee Moon”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Aditi Roy”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Robin Son”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Kevin Thomas Swenson”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Erika Thomas”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Kaitlin Wilhelm”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Johanna Young”,
Master of Science in Strategic Analytics
“Patrick Joseph Gethin”,
Master of Science in Technology Management
“Daniel Jennings”,
Master of Science in Technology Management
“Craig Mantey”,
Master of Science in Technology Management
“Peiyuan Zhang”,
Master of Science in Technology Management, Master of Science in User-Centered Design
“Amber Renee Ballard”,
Master of Science in User-Centered Design
“Dan James Convery-Zupan”,
Master of Science in User-Centered Design
“Erika Lea Gianni”,
Master of Science in User-Centered Design
“Nathan Hahn Norton”,
Master of Science in User-Centered Design
“John Wood Quartana”,
Master of Science in User-Centered Design
Transition to Dr. Rosansky in their graduation garb.
Rosansky:
“That was amazing. But I have to tell you, I really missed shaking hands, seeing the smiles up close and personal. It was wonderful. I thank you all. Congratulations to everybody. The good news is I was able to see a few of your folks and family up close and personal, which if you're going across the stage we can't see. There are some benefits to dealing with the pandemic, shall we say.
Congratulations everybody. You should be so proud of your accomplishments. In addition to the hard work and many hours spent online, my guess is that there's one other factor that led to your success today, that's the support of your friends and family. I encourage you all, I saw a couple on screen, but I encourage you all to stand wherever you are if you're watching this on the video, reach out, help the folks around you, give them a big high-five. Thank them for how much they have done to support, encourage, and enable your success that we celebrate today. Here's to them.
Graduates, we wish you success, health, and happiness. Please do keep in touch with us. We want to know about your achievements. We'd love for you to stay involved with us as you move forward. Come to our networking events, be a guest speaker in a webinar, follow us on social media, take another class, or even teach for us. You've got a Masters now. Maybe someday you will be asked to be our speaker at a future commencement ceremony. Thank you all and congratulations.
Transition to a slide with the Brandeis University Logo. Screen text says “Commencement 2021”, “Alma Mater”, “Performed by the Brandeis Chamber Singers, University Chorus, and Alumni”, “Robert Duff, Conductor.”
Opens to a sweeping view on the Louis Brandeis statue with a springtime campus in foreground surrounded by twenty of the The Brandeis Chamber Singers on Zoom who can be heard singing:
“To thee, Alma Mater.
We'll always be true.”
Singing continues, but the inner video is replaced by more choir singers in the center singing in-person, wearing masks and social distancing. Camera moves towards the right showing more students singing on the right side before zooming in on two of the students and then moving back left.
Music continues:
“All hail to thy standard
the white and the blue.”
Shot zooms out to show the Chamber singers from above. Camera moves around to show other students.
Singing:
“Proclaiming thy future,
recalling thy past
our hopes spring from
memories eternally cast.
With sorrows we'll leave thee,
new worlds to create.”
Transitions to an aerial view to show all of the masked, in-person singers, with the zoom singers still framing the inner video.
“May deeds of thy children
make thee forever great.
May deeds of thy children
make thee forever great.”
Transitions to sweeping view of the Louis Brandeis statue in the foreground with trees and the Shapiro Campus Center in the background.
Fades to black.
Series of slides appear with white background and text in Brandeis blue, each with a header on top reading “Brandeis University”, “Brandeis Chamber Singers, University Chorus and Alumni”.
Transitions to first slide: Conductor- Robert Duff
Transitions to next slide with the heading “Soprano” and the names spanned across two columns:
Transitions to next slide with the heading “Alto” and the names spanned across two columns:
Transitions to the next slide divided into two columns. First column with heading “Tenor” with names under it:
Second column with heading “Bass” with names under it:
Transitions to the next slide with text that reads: “Filmed and Produced by Brandeis Media Technology Services with special thanks to Brandeis Maker Lab”.
Transitions to the next slide with bold and enlarged text reading “Congratulations Class of 2021!!!”.
Fades to black.