The 2,566 graduates walking the aisle Thursday in cap and gown for Brigham Young University's 121st Summer Commencement included Phillip Dukes from Mississippi, a Ph.D. candidate in physics.
Simultaneously, Dukes' paper on combining probability theory and quantum mechanics was being presented to the international scientific community in South Africa. He was also celebrating his 13th wedding anniversary with his wife, Stacy.Duke was one of 34 graduates who received doctorates during the summer commencement. Another 350 earned their master's degrees and 2,200 bachelor's and associate's degrees were awarded to students from 37 countries and 48 states.
The graduates heard advice from President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who warned them that scripture says the love of money is the root of all evil; from BYU President Merrill J. Bateman; and from honorary doctorate recipient Alvin C. Plantinga.
Dukes hopes his graduation provides a springboard to a full-time faculty position. He's currently an adjunct professor to BYU's Salt Lake Center in the physics department and to Salt Lake Community College's math department.
Another graduate in line for his "second time around" was international relations major Casey Chad Peterson from Kanosh, Millard County.
Peterson's graduation marks the memory of his father, Robert. The elder Peterson died five months before the two credit hours he'd earned in a University of Utah extension class caught up with his records. His degree in animal science was awarded posthumously to his then-4-year-old son, who marched alongside grown-up graduates in the summer commencement exercise in 1977, wearing a cap and gown tailored to his small size.
Peterson's mother, Sherry Paxton, said Casey's graduation brings the story full circle for a little boy "who was a little man" 19 years ago.
BYU spokesman Brent Harker said it's not uncommon for the university to award diplomas posthumously, particularly when a graduate has died just a few class hours or credits short of a degree.
Paxton said the year Casey marched for her husband, it made the loss a little easier to bear for all of them.
President Monson said the graduates should shun sin, protect freedom, share their testimonies and live the truth.
He warned them to avoid falling victim to "the twin snares - gold and silver." He reminded the audience there are no luggage racks on hearses and quoted Bernadine Healy from a 1994 commencement address. "People facing death don't think about what degrees they have earned, what positions they have held, or how much wealth they have accumulated. At the end, what really matters is who you loved and who loved you," he said.
President Monson also advised the graduates to "think to thank."
Bateman told the graduates to watch out for three illusions and their corresponding realities in the years ahead. He said the first lies in believing rights come without responsibilities.
He said too often people believe wealth and worldly goods will bring happiness when success and happiness are actually the byproducts of fulfilling one's responsibilities.
The third illusion is believing any significant accomplishment is done alone, without help from others.
"Always be grateful to parents, spouses, children, teachers and others who have paid a price to assist you. Be generous in your recognition and praise of them," said Bateman. "Moreover, there is another source of help to whom you must always express thanks."
Plantinga said the graduates owe it to BYU and to Christians in general to champion Christian beliefs.
Plantinga said religious universities like BYU and Notre Dame, where he is a professor of philosophy, "have a crucial religious role to play and a purpose that goes beyond this world."
He said two beliefs threaten Christian theism: naturalism and relativism. Naturalism relies on the belief that everything happened without a God and relativism acknowledges no truth, presuming man has caused and causes everything.
To combat relativism and naturalism, Plantinga said scholars must be "intensely serious" about Christian scholarship.
"Mormons are known the world over for industry, thrift, sobriety, godliness, plain living and high thinking. Is it too much to hope that this great Mormon university will be similarly known for courageous and deep and powerful Christian scholarship?" asked Plantinga.
BYU's poet-in-residence, Leslie Norris, was also awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters.
A presidential citation was given in honor of Edwin Smith Hinckley, a former teacher who spearheaded construction of the "Y" on the mountain east of the university.