Life holds nothing more important than the "sacred process by which you stretch your heart and mind in the service of others," Westminster College graduates were told Saturday.
Speaking under sunny skies to a large audience in Dane Hansen Memorial Stadium, Gary H. Quehl, president of Quehl Associates, a San Francisco-based consulting firm to colleges and universities, counseled the 323 graduates that whenever they are in doubt to "let love rule" and to press on in life.In an address titled, "Living a Life That Matters," Quehl told those attending the 118th commencement that graduation from college is a special benchmark in society - a "jumping-off place for what promises for most of us to be a long life."
Quehl and several others, including Dr. Charles H. Dick, Westminster president, participated in the commencement, which featured processional and other music by the Salt Lake Scots Pipe Band and the Utah Brass Quintet Inc.
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock of the LDS Church's Quorums of the Sev
enty and former member of the Westminster Board of Trustees, was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters.
Westminster alumna Kim T. Adamson, who recently established a $1 million endowed faculty chair in international studies at Westminster, was the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor.
Bruce M. Demis, professor of mathematics and computer science and member of the faculty since 1962, was presented a $5,000 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Quehl, an international consultant in higher education, discussed challenges facing former generations and society. He counseled graduates to resist the temptation of looking too much into the future instead of focusing on today.
Quoting psychologist-philosopher William James, Quehl said, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that people can alter their lives simply by altering their attitudes."
Dick, who conducted and spoke at the ceremonies, said Westminster "has never been as strong academically and financially as it it is today."
He announced plans for a new college library that will triple the size of the current facility. When completed the new library will, among other things, house 150,000 volumes with space for another 100,000. The $14 million facility, for which the board of trustees is organizing fund-raising efforts, will include technology capable of accessing information from any library in the nation, Dick said.
Also, he announced a $1 million endowment to establish an academic chair in international studies. It will include, he said, not just the School of Arts and Sciences but International Studies in the Schools of Business and Nursing.
This summer the college will undertake a total renovation project of Foster Hall, the last remaining of the original campus buildings. The renovation will be completed during the summer of 1994, Dick said.