J. Michael Adams, President, Fairleigh Dickinson University

Academic Convocation

Fairleigh Dickinson University

September 10, 2008

It is my honor this afternoon to deliver on three enviable assignments. The first is to recall the historic relationship of Fairleigh Dickinson University with the United Nations. The second is to introduce our distinguished guest, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the third is to award the Secretary-General an honorary doctorate from FDU. By the way, you will find on the wall in the Mansion a plaque displaying the names of UN dignitaries who have been so honored. Secretary-General Ban’s name will be the 14th honoree memorialized in bronze. I suggest no other university has so recognized and acknowledged its UN alignment as FDU.

Fairleigh Dickinson has been associated with the United Nations since the creation of the organization in 1945. Our founder, Peter Sammartino, embraced the idea and ideals of a world body. And he knew that having the U.N. headquarters nearby represented a rare opportunity to help students better understand the world.

Students and faculty visited the United Nations, and ambassadors regularly lectured and taught on campus. One diplomat from Iran, Nasrollah Fatemi, founded the University’s Institute of Graduate International Studies.

In recent years, we have made a commitment to renewing and strengthening these ties. Our year 2000 declaration of a university mission to prepare global citizens through a global education confirmed that. 

In an era of global interdependence, where the potential for disaster is so great, the only path to peace is education and dialogue. Tanks don’t work. That is why we take so seriously our association with the UN. Education, and particularly higher education, must be in partnership with the only organization representing nearly every nation on the planet and designed to collectively ensure peace and prosperity.

For that reason FDU has added the information about and access to the UN as part of the mosaic of an undergraduate education. We earned accreditation as an NGO associated with the Department of Public Information and we created the U.N. Pathways Program. 

Since 2002 the Pathways Program has brought 60 seated ambassadors or heads of state to campus for interaction with students, faculty and staff. And that is just one example of the depth and breadth of Fairleigh Dickinson’s involvement.

Today, we have the unique opportunity to hear from and learn from the individual entrusted with leading the mission of the United Nations; an individual who well knows the importance of bridging divides through tolerance, understanding and education.

At FDU, we also have enjoyed a long and close relationship with people and institutions in Mr. Ban’s native land of South Korea. Just last month I visited there and met with a group of alumni who had wonderful recollections of their experiences at FDU. 

I’m delighted to report to you that with us today to welcome the Secretary-General is the president of Kyungnam University and the former minister of unification in Korea, Dr. Jae Kyu Park. Dr. Park is one of FDU’s most distinguished graduates. Joining him is Ambassador Sun Joun-yung, former Ambassador to the UN from the Republic of Korea.

With our connections to the United Nations and the Republic of Korea, we have all the more appreciation for the distinguished career of Mr. Ban Ki-moon. We take great pride today in honoring the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. At the time of his election as secretary general in late 2006, he was serving as the Republic of Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Through his career, he has steadily advanced his vision of a peaceful, prosperous and influential Korean peninsula.

His ties to the United Nations go back to 1975, when he worked for the Foreign Ministry’s U.N. division. That work expanded over the years, and in 2001, he was the Chef-de-Cabinet during Korea’s Presidency of the General Assembly. Among many accomplishments, he directed the prompt adoption of the first resolution of the session — condemning the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Mr. Ban has also been active with inter-Korean relations, having served as Vice Chair of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission.

Now, as the head of the United Nations, he is charged with nothing less than leading and inspiring the international community to work together to overcome humanity’s most difficult troubles. He says his view of the United Nations can be summed up by the spirit of principled pragmatism. Under his leadership, the United Nations is driven by a moral calling, backed up by hard work and realistic solutions.

From spearheading efforts to reach the eight Millennium Development Goals to championing U.N. internal reforms, from negotiating complex conflicts in places like Darfur to confronting what he calls the defining issue of our era, global warming, Mr. Ban has wisely and courageously charted the path to progress.

The challenges we face today are indeed many but his resolve is strong.

And so now, on this 10th day of September in the year 2008:

In honor of his extraordinary accomplishments and his legacy of excellence;

In admiration of his determination to build a stronger United Nations, faithful to its original ideals and the enduring principles of justice and equality, and a United Nations responsive to a complex and interdependent world;

And by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Board of Trustees of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the faculty concurring, I hereby confer upon Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities thereunto attached, and cause you to be invested with the hood appropriate to that degree.

Dear friends of the Fairleigh Dickinson University community, I present to you Dr. Ban Ki-moon.