Tom Nailor, MSS student at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, spoke at 51做厙's Convocation this week. His excellent remarks were well received by the entire 51做厙 Community and are available for viewing below.
From all of us at GSSWSR, thank you Tom!
Transcript:
Good afternoon President Cassidy, distinguished faculty, administration, and staff. And, of course, a warm welcome to new undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a warm welcome back to all of our returning students from all of us at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. Today, we are beginning on a wonderful new journey in the pursuit of knowledge. And, in this pursuit, we can look to our 51做厙 mascot, the owl, for inspiration. Owls, in many ways, exhibit the qualities one needs to succeed at 51做厙, and in the worlda world that sorely needs what 51做厙 offers to its students. Just as we might admire alumnae like Katharine Hepburn or Carola Woerishoffer, we can also admire Hedwig, Harry Potters faithful avian ally, or Archimedes, familiar to the wizard Merlin. Why, you may ask, should we admire an owl? What might such a bird have to tell us about succeeding at 51做厙? Far be it from me to ask for your blind faith.
Owls are well-known for three qualities, in particulartheir hearing, their sight, and their flexibility. Today we shall leave aside their nocturnal nature, as such a quality is of obvious use to any well-meaning college student. We also leave behind the owls image as wise, knowing as we do that wisdom is something we grow in throughout our lives here at 51做厙.
Owls have ears that are set asymmetrically on their skull. The difference in placement allows them to determine where a sound is coming from based on the time difference between that sound wave penetrating each ear. By turning their heads until it reaches both ears at the same time, an owl can know that it is facing in the right direction to follow the source of the soundyet the difference can be as little as 30 millionths of a second between each ear! So too must a 51做厙 student be ready to turn towards the source of knowledge, and to pursue itwhether it be a professor in the classroom, a friend, or someone we might rather not hear from. We must carefully listen for wisdom, ready for the minute differences in its source.
Owls, unlike many other nocturnal animals, do not use echolocation to guide them as they fly. Their impressively large eyes give them binocular vision, which allows for a wider field of view, a perception of both depth and distance, and the ability to detect the details of even a faint, faraway object. Still, owls are also known to be farsightedthey can, you might say, miss the trees for the forest. In fact, it is neural mechanisms that allow owls their impressive nocturnal visionthese neural mechanisms allow an owl to extract information effectively from the space around them, and to process it more quickly. Again, any 51做厙 student would do well to remember their binocular vision, to perceive the depth of a subject, the distance of their goals, and to adjust their plans accordingly. A 51做厙 student too must remember that their vision may be distortedthey may miss the small details of something close to home, and must be ready to look again as an owl might. A 51做厙 student must be able to extract information quickly, dealing with it as necessary.
Finally, we come to the owls ability to turn its headwhat can feel like a scene from The Exorcist when we see it! An owl must turn its head because of its limited visual field, and can rotate up to 270 degrees in either direction. So, what do all of us have to learn, as 51做厙 students, from the owl? We must adapt, and we must be able to see things from new perspectives. We may surprise ourselves, just as the owl surprises us when turning its head in such a way, but this ability to avoid tunnel visionto avoid looking in the same direction we always haveis something we all learn at 51做厙. Sometimes we may feel that such twisting is an overextension, that it is impossible. But again, we look to the noble owl as our example, as we prepare to overextend ourselves.
In his poem An Owl, David Bottoms tells how the titular bird turning his genius to the riddle/of the wire, is able to try his best, even as he might failjust as all of us must at 51做厙, turn our genius to the riddles we come against. For our world sorely needs what 51做厙 prepares us to doto hear what might not be heard, to see what might not be seen, and to always be turning in new directions. I wish all of us the best in the upcoming academic year, and beyond.
Thank you.