Below are the convocation remarks I delivered at the 2023 Harvard Chan Convocation on May 24.
Welcome. I am Michelle Williams, dean of faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. This is a special day and it’s a privilege to celebrate it with you.
Class of 2023, this is your moment, and I am certain you are ready to meet it.
It warms my heart to look out at this sea of caps and gowns knowing you will soon cross this stage, claim your diplomas, and venture out to improve lives all over the world.
Your courage, your commitment, and your capacity to create healthier and more resilient societies have never mattered more.
You are entering a world at a crossroads. A global pandemic has erased decades of progress on poverty, health care, education, and gender equity worldwide. The climate crisis is urgent. Democracy and human rights are faltering.
Yet in the midst of crisis, lies great opportunity. People may be willing to rethink the world we live in and the future we want to build. Nations may be willing to adopt strong measures to promote healthier populations and greater social and economic resilience. They may be willing to change, to reject the status quo in favor of something better.
And that is why you matter so deeply. You are the next generation of public health leaders. You are poised to take this moment and turn it into a movement—one that embraces health as a human right and respects the dignity and worth of every human being.
In an enduring sense, this is your time. This is your world, for better or worse, and you have what it takes to change, and quite possibly, to transform it. I’ll share more on why in a minute but first let me return to the beauty of this day.
We are here to celebrate you. I applaud all that you have accomplished, all the work, all the choices, all the growth that led you here to this outstanding achievement. Bravo.
To all your proud families and friends, thank you for the support you give; all of it matters. To our distinguished faculty and staff, thank you. It has been an honor to serve as dean to all of you.
Ours is a special community. We are renowned experts in virtually every aspect of public health. We produce visionary ideas for large-scale impact. Our ranks include recipients of the Nobel Prize, the MacArthur “genius grant” and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Justice for every human has always been our ethos — our mission is to improve health and advance equity so all people can thrive. We discover by conducting innovative research to understand disease and disparities; we educate by training public health professionals who both listen and lead; and we activate by promoting powerful solutions for organizations, policymakers, and the public.
The pursuit of equity is at the center of all we do. Our core values flow from that commitment. We aim to transform the world for the better while championing the highest standards of scientific, academic, and personal integrity. I love that our statement of values includes these words: “We believe that our actions can drive positive change.”
It’s not enough to possess the agency to act. We must also hold faith that our actions matter in a world full of obstacles and crises. We must believe.
And this brings me back to those three traits I mentioned earlier—courage, commitment, and capacity. I’ll briefly touch on why each one matters before introducing our inspiring student speaker.
Every single one of you possesses a special courage. You look with clear eyes at the world around you. One of my favorite writers, James Baldwin, articulated the value of this type of hard, honest assessment.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced,” he said.
And you, Class of 2023, have chosen to look long and hard at the difficult things. You see the fractures in our health systems, the underinvestment in the social determinants of health, the rampant disinformation, the systemic inequities that are as heartbreaking as they are stubborn. You see a world that global warming is making warmer, wetter, and more volatile, with catastrophic consequences for the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people.
It is not easy to look at these things. That’s why so many people look away. And that’s why your clarity of vision is remarkable. Indeed, such clarity is power; it is also a form of courage. It makes the status quo unacceptable. It leads you to doggedly, idealistically push for systems-wide change in a world that is willfully blind to the need for it.
Such vision leads to boldness. At our 2021 convocation, student speaker Russell Simmons captured this beautifully. He told us that he came to Harvard Chan because he recognized the magnitude of the systemic issues plaguing our society and wanted to be part of the solution. As he put it, “There is no pill for injustice.” And so, Russell recast the serenity prayer that asks us to accept the things we cannot change. Instead, Russell said, he was setting out to change the things he cannot accept.
Now let’s talk commitment. As you know, the challenges we face in this field are steep, even at a personal level. One-third of public health workers in the U.S. experienced harassment, threats, or stigma during the pandemic. Not surprisingly, those who endured this backlash had a significantly elevated risk of mental health concerns.
People are demoralized. Half the U.S. governmental public health workforce left their jobs between 2017 and 2021. If current trends continue, this means 100,000 staff will have left their jobs by 2025.
And yet, here you are. As older generations are essentially being chased out of their jobs, you are running toward the challenges. Indeed, we saw a notable spike in applications to schools of public health during the pandemic.
I am confident that you will rally the inner resources necessary to stick with this vocation because your commitment is rooted in “strategic optimism.”
This is a phrase that I first heard two years ago from Michelle Bachelet, the former United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights. During an event at Harvard Chan, she described herself as a strategic optimist. She also said that to build healthier and more resilient societies, we must mobilize people around a human rights agenda. “Who are the actors that are likely to spearhead such a movement?” she asked.
Well, I’m looking at hundreds of them right now.
I was reminded of the value of “strategic optimism” by the excellent speech you’ll soon hear from this year’s student speaker, Hailey Hernandez. I’ll not give too much away, but let’s just say she has discovered a strategic way to navigate this field without growing disheartened by the gap between the ideal of what we’d like to accomplish and the reality of what is possible in the here and now.
Belva Davis, a trailblazing Black journalist, once said: “Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you dream it, you can make it so.” I’d just add, strategic optimism helps you stay on that path…. so stay tuned for Hailey’s speech to see what it looks like embodied.
Last but certainly not least is your capacity to create healthier and more resilient societies. As you set out to make your mark, know that you have every reason for confidence. At Harvard Chan, leadership is our superpower.
Our faculty and alumni are global public health leaders. Since 1962, seven directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have come from Harvard Chan. Our graduates have served as minister or secretary of health for Afghanistan, Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. Our programs for world leaders have drawn more than 100 ministers of health and finance from 50 countries.
And so, as you set forth, let’s celebrate the special combination of courage, commitment, and capacity that you bring to the field. In this perilous world, you are a force for good. You will push back injustice by instilling the values of our community into public policies and practices that shape the health of nations. You will bring hope.
Let’s also celebrate your decision to embrace challenge. Whatever comes your way, you have chosen a worthy profession that will shape you in amazing ways. As Bill Russell, the former center for the Boston Celtics, a legendary player, once said: “We work to become, not to acquire.” An excellent motto for our field as well.
And finally, let’s celebrate that we are collectively moving from a public health moment to a movement, and we can all play a role leading it forward. And so, I say to you — and to myself, as I leave the Harvard Chan deanship to start my next chapter: Let’s Get Out There and Make Some Noise.
