哈佛大学新任校长的2023年开学致辞：知晓“能力”和“意愿”之间的鸿沟，方能达成更高目标…（附视频&演讲稿）

2023-09-07 11:09

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当地时间9月6日，哈佛大学新任校长克劳丁•盖伊（Claudine Gay）发表了一个2分钟的简短开学致辞，随后在哈佛纪念教堂晨祷仪式上又发表了一个7分钟的演讲。

在开学致辞中，盖伊说道：作为个人和作为一个团体，我们将取得什么样的成就？我们如何迎接这个时刻?我们将如何迎接这个时刻？对我来说,，成为我们大学的一员最鼓舞人心的一面就是知道在哈佛,“能力”和“意愿”之间的鸿沟很小。在同事和同学的鼓励下，在非凡成就历史的激励下，我们敢于达成目标。

克劳丁·盖伊此前任哈佛大学文理学院院长，是一位民主方面的学者。2022年12月15日，哈佛大学宣布，克劳丁·盖伊将成为该校第30任校长。她将是哈佛历史上第一位非裔校长和第二位女性校长。于2023年7月1日担任哈佛大学新校长。

哈佛新任校长开学致辞

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欢迎,再次欢迎回到哈佛!

Welcome, and welcome back to Harvard!

每一个学年的开始都令人激动且充满希望。

The beginning of each academic year thrills with possibility.

我们能够取得什么样的成就?

What can we accomplish?

作为个人和作为一个团体,我们将取得什么样的成就?

What will we accomplish as individuals and as a community?

我们如何迎接这个时刻?我们将如何迎接这个时刻?

How can we, how will we meet the moment?

对我来说,成为我们大学的一员最鼓舞人心的一面就是知道在哈佛,“能力”和“意愿”之间的鸿沟很小。

For me, one of the most inspiring aspects of being part of our university is knowing that the gap between can and will is narrower here at Harvard.

在同事和同学的鼓励下,在非凡成就历史的激励下,我们敢于达成目标。

We dare to reach, encouraged by colleagues and by classmates, emboldened by a history of extraordinary achievement.

我们敢于改变,因为知道领导力和影响力需要创新。

We dare to change knowing that leadership and impact demand innovation.

自当选校长以来,我对整个社区存在的愿景了解得更多。

Since my election as president, I've learned more about the aspirations that exist throughout our community.

这些愿景不仅实现我们的使命,还扩大、充实并庆祝它。

Aspirations that not only fulfill our mission but also expand, enrich, and celebrate it.

在活动和会议上,在偶遇中和吃冰淇淋时,我了解到你们中的一些人,并理解是什么驱使你们为大学做出贡献和改变世界的动力。

At events and meetings, in chance encounters and over ice cream, I've gotten to know some of you and to understand what motivates your contributions to the university and your drive to change the world.

虽然我们的目标广泛多样,但我们都共享一些重要而本质的东西,那就是无穷无尽的好奇心。

Though our pursuits are vast and varied, we all share something important and essential, a boundless and probing curiosity.

作为校长,我对你们的雄心、乐观、无畏和才华充满敬畏,也对你们给予我的热烈欢迎充满了无限的感激,开始我的第一个学年。

I begin my first academic year as president in awe of your ambition, your optimism, your fearlessness, and your talent, and with enormous gratitude for the warm welcome you've given me.

在未来的几个月里,我祝你们一切顺利,并期待我们将共同取得的一切。

I wish you well in the months to come and I look forward to everything we'll accomplish together.

再次欢迎,期待很快见到你们!

Once again, welcome and see you soon.

哈佛新任校长晨祷演讲

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Good morning.

Ever since I took office, people have been curious about who I am.

Not in the usual ways.

Not in the ways a CV could communicate the arcs and contours of my academic career.

Not in the ways a biographical sketch could fill in the blanks.

People are curious about who I am, what matters to me.

Because you are here this morning, I wanna share something with you that, that almost no one knows.

I wanna tell you about my very brief career in reality television.

Now, when this happened, it wasn't yet called reality television, it was called "Romper Room." And the premise, if you are unfamiliar with the program, was simple.

It was preschool-aged children singing songs, playing games, and learning lessons with the help of a cheerful and compassionate teacher.

There was also a bumblebee, Mr. Do-Bee, who modeled good manners.

And for 41 years, yes, 41 years, this program delighted young learners, including myself, across the United States.

So it was 1975, and I had just turned five, and was very excited to soon be heading to kindergarten.

And my family lived in Georgia at the time, and my mother somehow had landed me a spot on "Romper Room." And so that Monday morning, we arrived at our local television station, and I took my place with the other children, and things got off to a good start.

I could sing songs, I could play games, I could definitely learn lessons.

And thanks to my parents, my manners were impeccable, for a five-year-old, of course.

And then, the puppet show began.

And at first I was enthralled, sitting very still as the story unfolded before me, but my curiosity soon begged questions.

How are these things moving? What was happening back there, beyond the curtains? What wasn't I seeing? So I began to wriggle in my seat.

and eventually I left my seat and went backstage, and my cheerful and compassionate teacher intervened and I was returned to my seat.

And I was returned to my seat again, and again, and again.

And even unscripted local television has its limits- And with good humor and truly no hard feelings, I was ejected from "Romper Room." And so you know, I had forgotten most of this episode until earlier this year.

My mother, Claudette Gay, passed away just before commencement, and soon after, I found myself sorting through things that she had saved over the course of her rich, rich life.

And I found tucked among her papers, actually, it was right next to her college diploma, my "Romper Room" diploma, affirming that I was, and actually, I brought it today- I was, and I quote at, all times a good Do-Bee.

So there it is.

So this object is one of my mom's belongings, and the object is also evidence of my mother's belonging.

And I think of her, an immigrant woman less than a decade into her life in the United States, a young mother, a college student, navigating an unfamiliar landscape for the sake of an opportunity for her daughter.

I think of the time and effort she must have devoted to getting me on that show in the first place.

And I think of her pride and her joy in her achievement and my achievement.

So this is my first first day of school without my mother, and I share her with you to celebrate her, and also so that you may come to know me better.

So who am I? Obviously, you can read it right here, I'm a good Do-Bee.

And I hope to be a great colleague to all and a great leader for all.

How did I get here? Propelled by belief in the power of education, the power of curiosity and ideas, the power of attentive and industrious work instilled in me by my mother and father, nurtured in me by my teachers and my mentors.

When I helped at move-in day last week, I loved seeing families who never set foot on our campus before, who had never really even been here or anywhere like here.

And I loved seeing parents and siblings sporting their Harvard gear, brimming with pride and joy at their newfound association with this place and all that it means in the world.

And I thought about those belongings, about their belonging, and it reminded me of just how much our work in this place matter for more lives than we can count.

Harvard is not just for her students, not just for the people who are fortunate enough to be considered members of our community.

Our reach, our embrace, our obligation is wider than that, and can and should be wider still.

Each of us has a hand in deepening the connection between our mission and our society, and that connection is what matters to me.

And every year brings fresh opportunity to renew that commitment.

So thank you for sharing this time with me this morning, and welcome to the first day of school, and welcome to a new semester.

哈佛新任校长开学演讲

敦促新生们无畏地迎接个人转变

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It was a day of firsts.

Harvard President Claudine Gay welcomed the Class of 2027 and exhorted them to lean into the journey that brought them to the present moment and gear up for the transformations that await them in the next four years.

“Let your joy and your pride win out,” said Gay, Ph.D. ’98, who spoke at Tercentenary Theatre on Monday afternoon in the annual Convocation ceremony, officially marking the entry of first-year students into the Harvard community. “Each of you deserves it. Each of you has earned it. Each of you belongs here.

“Each of you will make Harvard stronger and better by being who you are, by sharing your perspective, and by contributing to our mission,” she said. “I know this because I have seen it myself. Year after year, as a faculty member, I witnessed extraordinary transformations in students, profound shifts in understanding and awareness across every dimension of being.”

Yesterday was also an extra special Convocation for Gay, marking her first as president of Harvard. Gay succeeded Larry Bacow, who stepped down in June, after serving as Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 2018. Gay, who was also Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and a professor of African and African-American studies, urged the students to be prepared to overcome feelings of self-doubt that may arise at times during their undergraduate years.

She noted such insecurities are difficult to avoid, recounting an incident that took place when she was a child. At the age of 11 she began to feel painfully “insufficient” because she lacked a middle name. She feared being thus incomplete might somehow preclude her from “the possibility of reinvention.” When Gay turned to her parents for advice, they simply responded: “Your name is enough.”

“I turned those four words over in my mind, and they have stayed with me all these years, a powerful statement about my inheritance, my identity, and my capacity,” said Gay. “Sometimes, even now, even as president, when I am pushing a pen across paper and signing my name, those four words surface in my mind.”

“At some point between now and Commencement — probably at several points between now and your Commencement — you will feel insufficient. Despite knowing better, you will feel as if everyone around you knows exactly what is going on, as if everyone around you understands something you do not, sees something that you do not. When that happens, I hope you remember this story — and my parents’ wisdom.”

In closing Gay asked students to be willing to be transformed by Harvard by exploring who they are and who they want to become. “You have been given a name, and that is all that you need, but from this day forward you will make a name for yourself,” she said.

“Who can you be? Who will you be?’ said Gay. “These are the questions that you will consider alongside your classmates; in conversation with faculty, proctors, tutors, and deans; and in connection to your own learning and scholarship.

“Take notice of work and ideas that energize and fulfill you. Take notice of your joy and your satisfaction. Take nothing for granted. Be willing to reconsider assumptions for the sake of your present happiness, but also for future contentment.”

Along with Gay, other University officials took part in the ceremony to salute the newest members of the Harvard community, including Thomas Dunne, dean of students at Harvard College. Representing students were Harvard Undergraduate Association co-presidents John Cooke ’25 and Shikoh Hirabayashi ’25.

Rakesh Khurana, A.M. ’97, Ph.D.’98, Martin Bower Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Danoff Dean of Harvard College, encouraged students to make the best of their Harvard education by being “open to transformation” and “commit[ting] to something beyond yourself.”

“College is not a stop on the way to the rest of your life,” he said. “This is your life. And these four years of College are where the patterns for your lives will be set. If you spend these years taking no chances, reinforcing your beliefs, deferring any reflection on who you are and what you want, you will be doing the same thing in 20 years.

“In embracing your own transformation, you will be embracing the best that a liberal arts education has to offer,” said Khurana. “To embrace your own transformation may sound like a selfish pursuit when there is so much work to be done in our world. But it is the only way forward. We can only begin to change the world if we are open to changing ourselves.”