At the 169th Tufts University commencement, speaker Freeman A. Hrabowski III delivered a message to graduates that he first heard during his college commencement in 1970. “You’ll go further in life than you can ever imagine,” he said, echoing Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress. 

“You’ll see more than you thought possible and make such a difference. But you must speak your truth. You must support each other and dream in the possibilities,” Hrabowski, who was president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County for 30 years, told the 3,640 graduates and their friends and families on the Academic Quad. 

Chisholm was one of many prominent historical figures who Hrabowski highlighted because they fought for and brought about positive change in the world despite sometimes overwhelming obstacles. Their stories of strife helped shape Hrabowski’s life path.

He opened his address quoting the poem “On the Pulse of Morning” from author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou that expresses similar themes of hope and resilience:

Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, and into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning.

“Every one of you has a story,” Hrabowski reminded graduates. “I want you to think about your story of how you got here, of your parents, grandparents, and others. You stand on all their shoulders.” 

He shared that his own story began with a frightening experience as a child in Birmingham, Alabama. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Hrabowski was 12 years old when he marched in a peaceful protest at a time of segregated schools for better education for Black children. The protesters intended to kneel and pray on the steps of the Birmingham City Hall, but instead, they were arrested and he spent five days in jail. 

“I’ll never forget being so afraid. And Dr. King told us, ‘What you do this day will have an impact on generations.’ And somehow, we sensed this was a profound message,” he recalled. “That was 1963, and within the next few years, we saw the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Higher Education Act.”

He pointed out that, in the 1960s, Tufts University would not have had a president named Sunil Kumar, and a research university would not have had a female provost like Tufts does today. He said the governor of Alabama at the time told him he could not go to the University of Alabama because he was Black. 

“There are times when things get dark, and we wonder, will we be OK? But all of a sudden, things happen and get better—they really do,” he said.

In that spirit, Hrabowski challenged the graduates to believe in themselves and quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, the longtime First Lady and political activist, who said: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” 

Hrabowski said that “the question for today is, who are you? Not just who do you want to become, but who are you and who do you want to become? The way you think about yourselves, the language you use, the way you interact with each other, the values that you hold, will so important.”

“Don’t let anybody else define who you are,” he said. “Dream big, prepare to serve and to lead. You are well prepared. Roll up your sleeves. Get ready for the fight. You are ready to change the world, because you were born to change the world.”

Under Hrabowski’s leadership, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was among the top-ranked schools nationally in innovation and STEM leadership.

His research and publications focused on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He wrote numerous articles and co-authored five books based on his research and program outcomes. He chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the report Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. 

In 2012, President Barack Obama named him chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. 

With philanthropist Robert Meyerhoff, he co-founded in 1988 the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. Recognized as a national model, the program is open to high-achieving students committed to pursuing graduate and professional degrees and research careers in STEM and advancing underrepresented minorities in these fields. 

Hrabowski was one of six individuals awarded honorary degrees at the morning ceremony, which was followed by convocations for individual schools and for departments in Arts, Sciences and Engineering.

In addition to Hrabowski, other honorary degree recipients were Steven Boxer, A69, longtime professor and chair of the chemistry department at Stanford University; Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox, the first African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, and a STEM advocacy leader; Peter Dolan, A78, A08P, Tufts Board of Trustees chairman emeritus and former chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb; James J. O’Connell, president and founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program; and Nancy Schön, J53, an award-winning artist and activist known for her Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in the Boston Public Garden.