Graduation Address: Dr Sarah Marsden, Director of the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, School of International Relations
Wednesday 4 December 2024 – morning ceremony
Vice-Chancellor, special guests, colleagues, and graduates.
First, allow me to offer my warmest congratulations to all our graduates, and to your families and friends, here or joining us online, who have supported you and are celebrating alongside you.
It is a great honour to give this address and offer a few words to mark the transition in your journey from student to graduate and, as you lift your eyes to the horizon beyond St Andrews, as you consider what comes next.
This is a moment for hearty celebration, and hope and anticipation for the future, and perhaps for some, a sense of trepidation.
Some of you may know what you are going to do next, others amongst you will be less certain.
None of us can predict the future, but it is probably not too bold to say that your lives will unfold in ways you cannot yet anticipate. That they will be marked by myriad synchronicities that will change your path in ways you cannot imagine.
So perhaps it is helpful to think both about what you will do, and how you might want to be as you navigate the world.
That is a pretty big question, so where might we look for inspiration to guide us?
I think we could do worse than look to the natural world.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Distinguished Professor of Environmental Biology and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, talks about restorative reciprocity and the way it can help nurture more beneficial relationships between people and nature.
It is an idea which invites us to acknowledge and cherish the gifts we receive and recognise the responsibilities that come with those gifts. In particular, the responsibility to give thanks for the gifts we hold, and to share them with others. Because when we do, it produces a bond that over time generates a web of reciprocity and support that creates the conditions for ourselves and others to thrive.
That idea invites us to foster qualities of reciprocity, responsibility, gratitude, and endeavour.
We have the tremendous privilege of being part of the St Andrews community. When you leave here you will carry with you the knowledge, skills, friendships, and sense of belonging that nurtured you in your time with us.
That is part of what ceremonies like today are about. They are an opportunity to celebrate what you have achieved and what you have gained, and to say thank you to all those who have supported you along the way.
Days like today also prompt the question of how to honour the gifts we have received and consider how you might best share them as you move forward into the next phase of your lives.
One of the things education gives us is the space and time to discover our interests and our skills, to refine them, and to reflect on how we can use them for the good of others.
Your gifts will be unique to you, and you can choose how to use them. So I would invite you to continue to cultivate the qualities you have developed in your time at St Andrews, to celebrate your endeavour, and give thanks for the people that helped you bring your gifts to life.
I would also encourage you to believe in your ability to put your talents to good use. To seek out opportunities to share your gifts, in large and small ways, in your daily lives, and in whatever work you turn your mind to.
And, in closing, and in the words of the poet and author Maya Angelou, to quite simply:
Be the best you can be,
and create the conditions for others to do the same
Thank you and warmest congratulations again.