Convocation 2022

Kingfishers, colleagues, and friends

I am delighted to be here, as your new president, to welcome you back to campus as we embark on a brand new academic year.

First, I would like to thank the Yale-NUS College Governing Board for entrusting me with the responsibility to serve as president and lead the College for the next three years. I would also like to thank my supportive family, who have just moved to campus and have been warmly welcomed, as always, by all of you.

We are in an uniquely important moment in the College’s history as we enter the final three years of this incredible journey. We talk a great deal about the Halcyon in our College. It is, of course, the name given in Greek mythology to the kingfisher, our College mascot.  It is also the term used to refer to a time in life which is special. Let us all work together to ensure the next three years will be our Halcyon days – a period characterised by great success and joy, amidst calmness and peace.

As Walt Whitman so aptly wrote in his poem Halcyon Days:

As gorgeous, vapory, silent hues cover the evening sky,

As softness, fulness, rest, suffuse the frame, like freshier, balmier air,

I thought I would share you with today a picture from my summer holiday [picture shown onscreeen]. My summer holiday in Canada was filled with beautiful sweet warm moments, yet this time of the year in Canada, there was a briskness in the air that signalled that the seasons would be changing. This elusive transience somehow makes these moments more precious, and more treasured. I feel that way as I look forward to the next three years. We are in a precious moment before change. And we are in this moment together as a community.

As I was thinking about what to talk about today, a number of things came to mind. I could elaborate on all the plans we have crafted to ensure that we meet the commitments to you – the plans that we have to continue to support our students in their educational journeys; the plans that we have to facilitate staff and faculty development amidst transition. But instead, I found myself pondering not on what we will do in the next few years, but on how we will do it.

I found myself returning, as I have many times in the past year, to our Core Values: Transformation, Exploration, Respect, Inclusivity and Care. In a spirit of co-creation, which has always characterised this College and its ways of working, these values were generated by a consultation process involving the entire Yale-NUS community. They resonated strongly with me at the time they were developed. Although the College’s context has shifted, these values are just as meaningful to me now as they were then. Perhaps even more so. As we collectively navigate the changes ahead of us, these are the values that will guide us.

In particular, we are heading into a period of transformation. A new honours college has been established, leveraging off the best features and extensive experiences of Yale-NUS and the University Scholars Programme. As I think of how this new college will benefit many in the years to come, I am heartened by the fact that all that we have achieved, learned and accomplished will be shared with this new institution. I hope eyes will be opened, horizons broadened and new experiences gained and lived, leveraging off the wisdom and adventures of Kingfishers past. As an institution, this is truly a transformation.

However, for me, and perhaps for some of you, the greatest transformative effect of our College has always been more personal. Yale-NUS has been home to me for the past number of years. In that time, I have constantly been amazed by the talents and the open conversations that surround me. Yale-NUS is a place where openness, opportunity and trust have given me the space to develop, explore, and learn from all of you, in ways beyond my wildest imaginings. This space for our community to freely exchange views, listen to various perspectives and discuss issues of concern, will continue. Through exploration and our commitment to open inquiry, we enable all of our community – both through the formal curriculum and through our immersive student life experience – to gain new knowledge that is not just confined to the classroom but available to all through our extensive experiential and residential programmes.

Within our small college community, we learn, work and live in close proximity with peers, colleagues, faculty and staff. Valuing pluralism and respecting diversity are hallmarks of our inclusive community. All of us have different backgrounds, lived experiences and aspirations, yet each of us belongs here at Yale-NUS.  It is inevitable that we bring very different perspectives to the same issue of concern. I know that even when we disagree, it will be done with respect.

Perhaps foremost on my mind, is that we have always been a community of care. And this particular core value has manifested itself never more clearly than in the past year. Through the sudden announcement and all the changes we’ve had to navigate, our first instinct has always been to show care, to ask each other – are you ok? Personally, I have been touched by the concern shown by all of you, by our students, our colleagues, and our alumni. This is Yale-NUS at its very best! And this core value of care will be a guiding tenet in the coming years as we look out for each other through this transition.

For a young institution, we have created an innovative curriculum, spearheaded world-class research and nurtured several cohorts of intrepid Yale-NUS students who have made a positive impact to the community around them. We have a history to be proud of. And just as we worked together to co-create our Core Values, I know we will all work together over the next few years to build a lasting legacy for the College.

I have been thinking a lot about how we will define, articulate and share our legacy. We have shared our curriculum, programmes and ways of working with NUS College, and our colleagues there are hard at work integrating our best features and experiences. We have welcomed some new NUS College students onto our campus and I know that many of our student leaders and organisations have reached out to engage and invite them into our College and campus community.

We are also building other notions of legacy, such as our recently launched Yale-NUS College Digital Archives, a rich digital repository that serves to identify, collect, preserve, and provide access to materials relevant to the history of Yale-NUS College. In the coming years, we will have many opportunities to contribute to building this and other forms of lasting legacy for the College. It is important work that will ensure an enduring impact shared with a wider community going forward.

When I think about our legacy, I also think of our alumni. They are and will be our greatest legacy. Our students have always tried to make a difference, whether it is working with faculty on research or distilling what they have learnt into positive action in areas such as environmental sustainability, or reaching out to the disadvantaged beyond our gates. Our talented faculty and staff will also contribute to our legacy. They will carry forward the unique lessons learnt from building and being at Yale-NUS College. After 2025, we will all become alumni of Yale-NUS College and alumni of the transformational experience it has offered. As a community, and as we embark on our future adventures, we will continue to share the Yale-NUS bond and experience. The impact of this College will travel well beyond its walls and long after 2025.

As I think about our Halcyon days in the next three years, bright yet impermanent, I encourage each of us to make the most of the time we have here. Let’s continue to be open to each other and these experiences, to be curious, to learn as much as we can, and to be brave enough to be transformed by this amazing place and the precious time we have together.

I’d like to end with the last lines of the poem I began my speech with:

Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!

The brooding and blissful halcyon days!

And this is our village. Our community. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all back home. Because now and always, #WeAreYaleNUS.