So he urged the new graduates to take that good fortune and the responsibility that comes with it and build both career success and to move the world to a better place.

 

“Along with your career success, I urge you to find the big social issues that resonate for you, commit to them and do your part to move our world onward and upward,” Wilkerson said.

 

Wilkerson spoke in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum during USU’s 124^th Commencement Ceremony. He was one of five recipients Saturday of honorary degrees from USU. Others receiving honorary doctorates were: C. Hardy Redd, ranching and environmental activist and a supporter of religious studies; Syng-il Hyun, long-time supporter of learning and democracy in South Korea; Karen Haight Huntsman, philanthropist and community volunteer; and Mike Dmitrich, retired legislator and lifelong devotee of higher education.

 

Wilkerson told the students that talent, ambition and compassion are all attributes that are critical to their success, but not as separate traits.

 

“Each attribute by itself is necessary but not sufficient for success,” he said. “You have the opportunity to combine them and produce a better and just world while simultaneously building a great career.”

 

He said people should relish the idea that they can “reinvent” themselves at any age. Americans should be proud to live in a nation whose mantra is meritocracy — a nation where people can celebrate personal reinvention at the ages of 20, 40 and even 80.

 

“Americans empower each other, and we define failure not as defeat but rather as a learning experience,” Wilkerson told the graduating class. “And when we are at our best, we combine meritocracy and compassion to create America’s ultimate ‘performance’ drink. Just a sip of this liquid is a potent fuel for human progress.”

 

He said he is reinventing himself again now, this time embracing what he called a vibrant youth movement whose aspiration is to make extreme poverty history in his lifetime. 

 

The Global Poverty Project, new in the United States, advocates changing broken systems that keep people poor. The project employs the most advanced social media technologies to attract, educate, engage and mobilize the persuasive and politically powerful 16-35 year old cohort.

 

“There are big social-justice issues out there, and the Global Poverty Project takes them on – we mess with the world’s status quo,” he said to cheers from the graduating students.

 

Wilkerson was a 1965 graduate of USU in biological sciences. He received both a master’s and a doctorate in managerial economics from Cornell University. He spent his professional career as a business leader, consultant and expert authority in the healthcare field, especially in the medical device industry.

 

His far-ranging personal interests include education, conservation, community health and the arts. He served as president and executive committee member of the New York City-based American Folk Art Museum, as a member of the Cornell Council and as founder and president of the E.L. Rose Land Conservancy.

 

He is on the executive committee of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and was recently appointed to the national board of the Smithsonian Institute.

 

Numbers of Degrees:

Bachelor’s: 3,622

Master’s: 902

Doctorate: 113

 

Gender of graduates:

Female: 1,988

Male: 1,634

 

Annual resident tuition/fees (30 credits):

2009-2010: $5,150

 

Geographic origin:

Foreign countries: 22 (China, 250. Hong Kong, 56. Dominican Republic, 33)

U.S. states: 48

Utah counties: 29

 

Ethnicity:

American Indian/Alaskan native: 20

Asian/Pacific Islander: 276

Asian: 76

Black, non-Hispanic: 44

White, non-Hispanic: 2833

Hispanic: 119

Not Specified: 232

Multicultural: 22

 

Most popular degrees (top 10):

General Studies (502)

Economics (340)

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (149)

Interdisciplinary Studies (147)

Business (145)

Elementary Education (138)

Journalism (103)

English (99)

Family, Consumer, Human Development (99)

Human Movement Science (99)

 

Commencement Speaker: L. John Wilkerson, highly successful business leader, community leader and philanthropist

 

Honorary Degree Recipients:

L. John Wilkerson (Commencement speaker), Doctor of Humane Letters

Syng-il Hyun, long-time supporter of learning and democracy in South Korea, Doctor of Humane Letters

Karen Haight Huntsman, philanthropist and community volunteer, Doctor of Humane Letters

Mike Dmitrich, retired legislator and lifelong devotee of higher education, Doctor of Laws

C. Hardy Redd, ranching and environmental activist and a supporter of religious studies, Doctor of Humane Letters

 

Student Speaker: Jason Clark, College of Agriculture valedictorian

 

Valedictorians:

Jon. M. Huntsman School of Business: Curtis Fairbourn

College of Agriculture: Jason Clark

Caine College of the Arts: Catherine Hatch

College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Rachael Jaggi

College of Natural Resources: Caleb Kauffman

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services: Ali Hadfield

College of Engineering: BJ Randall

College of Science: Erinn K. Harris

 

D. Wynne Thorne Research Award: David F. Lancy, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

 

International Professor of the Year Award: Wynn Walker, College of Engineering

 

Eldon J. Gardner Teaching Award: Frank N. Caliendo, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

 

Distinguished Teaching Awards:

College of Agriculture: Ralph E. Whitesides

Caine College of the Arts: Maureen C. Hearns

College of Engineering: Heng Ban

College of Humanities and Social Sciences: David F. Richter

College of Natural Resources: Christopher A. Call

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services: Tim A. Slocum

College of Science: Tonya B. Triplett

 

E. G. Peterson Extension Award: Daniel T. Drost, College of Agriculture

 

Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards: Kenneth L. White, College of Agriculture

 

Department Teaching Excellence Award: Department of Watershed Sciences