Home / Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2009
№ 2009.010 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Commencement address
Deval Patrick
Governor of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick addressed MIT's 143rd Commencement, framing the economic crisis as an opportunity for change and urging graduates to use their MIT skills to "write the next chapter of the American story." He encouraged them not to fear the crisis but to embrace its potential as a platform for change, telling them to be the change they want to see in the world. MIT President Susan Hockfield's accompanying charge echoed his call, urging graduates to apply their talents to global problems.
Key moments
- 01 Framing the economic crisis as an opportunity in disguise
- 02 Urging graduates to 'be the change you want to see in the world'
- 03 Describing crisis as a platform for change whose outcomes defy prediction
- 04 Calling on graduates to apply MIT skills to shape the future
Visual speech map
Deval Patrick at MIT, 2009
A commencement address about crisis as opportunity, civic courage, public service, change, and writing the next chapter of the American story.
- 01 Economic crisis
- 02 Opportunity
- 03 Change
- 04 American story
- 05 MIT skills
- 06 Public service
- 07 Courage
- 08 Future chapter
Moment
Crisis becomes the occasion for agency
Patrick frames the economic collapse not as a reason to retreat, but as a demanding opening in which graduates can help shape what comes next.
The unstable economy is treated as material for public action.
Disruption creates space for choices that normal times resist.
The story ahead is not fixed; it is waiting for authors.
Charge
Change has to be practiced personally
The speech moves from national diagnosis to individual responsibility, asking graduates to embody the change they want institutions to make real.
Personal conduct becomes a public argument.
Fear cannot be the organizing principle for consequential work.
Graduates inherit the work of repair, not simply the reward of credentials.
Tools
MIT training belongs in public problems
Technical skill is presented as civic capacity: the habits learned at MIT should be aimed at economic, social, and global problems.
Analytical training can make public choices more precise.
The highest use of capability is contribution beyond the self.
Local talent can enter national and global questions.
Echo
The institutional charge widens the frame
Susan Hockfield's accompanying charge reinforces the same pattern: apply MIT talent to problems larger than any single career plan.
The campus sends graduates outward with a public mandate.
Gifts are validated by use, not possession.
Graduation becomes a handoff into unfinished collective work.
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Verified from official archive