Three Things Chancellor Syverud Wants New Students to Know (Video)

On Thursday night, Chancellor Kent Syverud, on behalf of Syracuse University, welcomed more than 4,000 first-year and transfer students at the New Student Convocation in the Dome. Photo by Steve Sartori

On Thursday night, Chancellor Kent Syverud, on behalf of Syracuse University, welcomed more than 4,000 first-year and transfer students at the New Student Convocation in the Carrier Dome.

The Dome, a special place for Syracuse University, is where all students begin and complete their academic careers—from New Student Convocation to Commencement.

Chancellor Syverud shared many thoughts with Syracuse’s new students. Here are three key things he wants new students to know:

1) At Syracuse University, education is earned through hard work and discipline.

“Chancellor Erastus Haven told students that education is not something bestowed on you, but something you earn through hard work, and discipline, and seriousness of intent. He urged that a good education encompasses a full range of disciplines—from the arts, to the sciences, to the humanities. He believed that students learn not only from teachers but from their peers, and in the process each students would become a teacher himself or herself, including obtaining friendships that would last a lifetime. I am in wonder that Chancellor Haven in 1871 could so accurately predict what each of you will experience in 2016.”

2) If you have wonder, you will never lack wonderful experiences.

“Wonder is about two things. It is about just noticing what you don’t understand and asking why. And it is about being open to the awe and joy of learning or discovering something new, someone different, some place that is truly wonderful. If you have a capacity to wonder at this great University, you will never lack for wonderful experiences. And that’s because almost everything that happens here—almost everything that has happened here—started out because someone, often a student, wondered ‘why.’”

3) Syracuse University has a glorious history, steeped in tradition.

“I ask you to have the capacity to wonder how you can make this University your own—how you can ask something here, how you can build something here, how you can prove something here, and leave something behind here, that you alone uniquely contribute. We all want to help you do that, because this University is nothing less than the accumulation of all the wonders that thousands of students, faculty and staff have made before you.”

Watch Chancellor Syverud’s address here.