Contact: Sammy McDavid
Photo by: Russ Houston and Megan Bean
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Graduates at both of Mississippi State's commencement programs were urged Saturday to continue to learn and grow with the same intensity as they have during their university years.
Some 2,000 students, including 20 seniors with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages, received degrees during separate Humphrey Coliseum ceremonies in the morning and afternoon. The speakers included Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., and MSU alumnus James W. Bagley, a national leader in the microelectronics and semiconductor industries and namesake of the 127-year-old land-grant institution's engineering college.
In his remarks at the first program, the five-term 3rd District congressman chose a patriotic theme based around various national monuments where the U.S. flag is never lowered.
Alluding to the Stars and Stripes planted on the moon in the 1960s by American astronauts, the former missionary to then-communist Hungary urged the departing students to "always seek adventure; do something that scares you at least one time every day, like giving a commencement speech or running for Congress."
While that remark brought laughter from the Humphrey Coliseum audience, he later drew both loud laughter and applause by concluding his remarks "with the same advice I give my five boys before we load up for a long trip.
"I look them in the eye and say 'No whining,'" Pickering recounted. "I've found that's a great key, not only to success, but to well-being and happiness.
"And finally," he added with a broad grin, "in the words of that great philosopher, 'Larry the Cable Guy,' now is the time to 'git 'er done.'"
Pickering also was commencement speaker Friday night at MSU-Meridian.
Bagley, the afternoon speaker, is a former Jackson resident and 1961 MSU electrical engineering graduate who now is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of California-based Lam Research Corp.
"Predicting the change that you will experience over the next 60 years is an exercise in underestimations and inaccuracies, but it is the environment to which you must adapt," Bagley told his fellow alumni.
Observing that "the first 25 percent of your life is the preparation and foundation for what should be a lifetime of learning and accomplishment," Bagley reminded graduates that their "initial preparations" now are complete.
"Couple this preparation with continuous learning, planning, adapting, and execution, and you can live a joyous, fruitful and meaningful life of accomplishments and sharing," he said. "And, when I think about that, what could be better."
Following his remarks, Bagley was awarded an honorary doctorate in science by MSU President Charles Lee. The honorary degree is the school's highest honor.
Bagley, who also has a master's degree in electrical engineering from MSU, and his wife Jean have been major MSU benefactors for many years. In 2002, they topped their previous philanthropic level by announcing a $25 million gift to the College of Engineering. That same year, the state College Board approved the naming of the college in James Bagley's honor.