President Becker's speech at the graduation ceremony.

June 13, 2022

On Saturday, June 11, the AUCA community held the long-awaited Graduation Ceremony for the 2021 and 2022 classes. President Jonathan Becker opened the ceremony with a welcoming speech, in which he thanked all the guests from various fields of business, education, and the diplomatic wing. Therefore, he smoothly moved on to the graduates and prepared a wonderful speech.

I want to begin by Thanking Parents and family members here, and the many who cannot be here and maybe watching online. Thank you for trusting your children to AUCA.

It is not easy to be a parent, but particularly during the pandemic, it has been difficult… I also
have a son and daughter in university and know how challenging it is. I want to thank you for
supporting your students and to the students, I want to remind you how important it is to thank your
parents. I want to thank the faculty for all of the work you have done and the faculty Senate. Thank the staff.

President focuses on graduates.

You did it!!! When most of you came four years ago, I was interim president and here I am
again, but NO ONE would have predicted what happened in between: a global pandemic, and international challenges from Afghanistan to Ukraine which has impacted so many of you. Yet you have stayed with it and you are here ready to receive your diplomas. AUCA believes in Liberal arts education. This education is about less about memorizing such and such a fact, or learning one specific specialty, and instead is about developing the whole person.

I wrote a paper which some of you read when you arrived during Language and Thinking called “What a liberal arts and sciences education is… and is not..” and that spoke of a liberal arts wager. The wager says that the love of learning, the capacity to think critically, communicate effectively, and to adapt to changing circumstances are more important over the course of your lives than depth of knowledge in one narrow subject.

You all have demonstrated beyond any doubt the adaptability and resilience we envision and we are proud of you.

In these speeches I am also supposed to give you a charge something to commend you to do, and in this charge, I want to talk about another component of liberal arts education which is developing citizens.

My charge is to remember that you are part of society, part of multiple communities and as you go through life the measurement of your success is not simply determined by what jobs you have or what salary you make, but what you give back to the community.

We try to model that behavior here. AUCA as an institution tries to be a good citizen. We try to contribute locally by, for example:
preserving the Elm Grove Forrest, by working with the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences to produce a website that helps teachers teach the Manas epic, by working with in-service teachers to improve education in the country.

We have also acted as a civic actor by working to bring hundreds of students from Afghanistan, particularly women, to AUCA, so that they can complete their education in an environment of safety and security (and we are proud that today’s ceremony will include students form the American University of Afghanistan).

We try to support our students in these civic engagement projects know many of you realize these successes here through our various civic engagement programs, be it Basketball for All, which supports children with autism, the Central Asian Youth Nomad Project, which promotes debate for rural youth in Central Asia, and Teenagers in Free Enterprise (TIFE) which uses case studies and other methods to promote financial literacy and business education among disadvantaged youth and which won the second place , McJannet Prize of the Talloiires network which covers nearly 500 higher education institutions across the globe.

Many institutions say “do as we say, “We try to say, do” as we say and do as we do.: We think that your liberal arts education has prepared you to impact the world and we ask you to remember that as you go forth. Thank you.
My job now is to introduce our next speaker, Edil Baisalov, Vice Prime Minister.

At AUCA we hope to produce graduates who hold democratic ideals close to their hearts, and who will work hard to build a better society and a better future for Central Asia, and for the Kyrgyz Republic. Edil Baisalov, who hails from the rural Kyrgyz heartland of Naryn, has a career trajectory that reflects this aspiration.

There is a debate on what constitutes an alumnus: to me it is anyone who studied at your institution.

Edil studied here in 1998 and 1999 at the American University of Kyrgyzstan. He got his degree elsewhere, but will always be an AUCA alum.

Edil had a long career as an NGO activist. He headed the Coalition for Civil Society and Democracy, and was best known for his at times sharp criticism of Kyrgyz politicians whenever he thought they strayed from what democracy demands in terms of free elections and accountability. With time, however, his career took a turn towards government service, he served as chief of staff to President Roza Otunbayeva and later as Kyrgyzstan’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, and then to his current position as Vice Prime Minister. In all his dealings now, Edil demonstrates the value he places on service to his country and his people, but also a measure of humility.

In recognition of his work, I am awarding him a Presidential Certificate of Appreciation.

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