Davis College
News/Events

The Davis College celebrated Commencement on Sunday, May 17, 2009. Here are Dean Cameron Hackney’s remarks from the event:

I am very pleased to see so many of you here today to celebrate with us the commencement ceremonies for the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences. It’s wonderful to see our students, their families and friends, our alumni, our faculty and our staff gathered together to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates and to encourage you in your future endeavors.

Because you folks have a few pressing projects on your plate. You’ve got a constantly shifting economy, climate change, consumers who want to know where their food, fabric and building materials came from, who want to know what to eat, how to conserve energy, and how to protect the environment. They want to make their surroundings more beautiful, but they want to shrink their carbon footprint in the process. And you’ll have employers who’ll expect you to know how the world works, and to make them money while you’re saving them money. Piece of cake, right?

For the graduates of the Davis College, I believe that it will be, because you’re already doing all of those things. You’ve learned a lot of things in your classes, your studios and laboratories, your independent projects, and your extracurricular activities. But what you’ve really learned is how to go out into the world and make it better – make it smarter, safer, healthier, more functional, more beautiful, more sustainable. There isn’t an aspect of our lives, or at least any aspect that really matters at the end of the day, that you can’t make better in some meaningful, lasting way.

Just look at the breadth of academic programs that gave us our outstanding seniors for the year? Landscape Architecture; Animal and Nutritional Sciences, Agribusiness Management and Rural Development, Biochemistry; Applied and Environmental Microbiology; Fashion Design and Merchandising; Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources? Factor in the additional disciplines of our outstanding faculty? Wood Science and Technology, Environmental Protection, Wildlife and Fisheries Resources, Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Design Studies, and Interior Design.

Even then, you’re only scratching the surface of the excellence our graduates have to offer our world. The undergraduate students who cross the nation and the globe pursuing new perspectives in learning and opportunities to serve the less advantaged. The graduate students who are well on their way to productive careers as scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs, and leaders.

I know what this college has taught you over the past few years. I know the values you brought to WVU when you enrolled. And I know that you are dedicated to not only succeeding in your fields but to improving them and helping your professions evolve to meet new demands and challenges. I know you’ll change the world for the better, because so many of the men and women who have gone before you are already doing so and are out there waiting for you to add your imagination and intelligence and hard work. You will do amazing things; you already have, and you’re just getting started. I, for one, can’t wait to see what you do next.

Thank you.