Hagen Offers Graduates History, Life Lessons
In honor of the 60th anniversary of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, Pioneer alumnus Thomas B. Hagen gave the commencement address at the college’s spring 2009 ceremony. Penn State Behrend’s first alumni, known as the Pioneers, are those students from the classes of 1948 to 1962. Hagen's presentation is below.
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Penn State Behrend Commencement Address
Thomas B. Hagen
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Chancellor Burke, Trustee Junker, distinguished faculty and staff, Council of Fellows Director Weber, fellow Pioneers, friends of Penn State and Penn State Behrend, and especially today’s graduating class and their families:
What a pleasure it is to be here with you today, in this 60th anniversary year for Penn State Behrend, and to have the honor of addressing this graduating class of 2009, the largest in Penn State Behrend’s 60 years!
It has been a privilege for me to have been associated with Penn State Behrend for over 55 years, starting as a student in September 1953. It was known as Behrend Center then and there were only about 150 students, with most of us being day trippers from the surrounding area. And the campus, while beautiful, had only a few structures. In fact, Erie Hall had just been constructed, the first building completed with private funding.
Little did we know then what Penn State Behrend would be like on its 60th anniversary.
I have had the unique opportunity to have known and worked with all four of the leaders of Penn State Behrend, starting with the late T. Reed Ferguson through Dr. Jack Burke here today. And, let me say, Jack has done an outstanding job leading Penn State Behrend these past eight years and we will miss him when he retires next year. All of these leaders are of great distinction and have been dedicated to the vision of creating a knowledge center of excellence.
With an enrollment of over 4,600 students, Penn State Behrend today is a renowned and highly respected institution—a proud gem of the Erie community and Penn State. I’m sure that all of our graduates here today are as grateful as I am to have been a part of Penn State Behrend’s legacy.
I’m also sure that the last thing in the world you want at this moment is to hear me recount 55 years worth of war stories. I am not too old to have forgotten what I was thinking at my own graduation—get the diploma and go party with friends and family!
However, let me take just a few minutes to leave you with a thought or two as you go out into an ever changing and tumultuous world.
First, I think it is important to remember from whence you came. Your early life has helped to shape who you are today and the kind of man or woman you will be tomorrow.
In my own case, I came from modest means and attended public schools. I started working when I was nine years old with a paper route followed by a great variety of other odd jobs through high school and college. Along with the help of some scholarships, I was able to completely pay my own way through college, first here at Penn State Behrend, which then offered only two years, and then finishing up, of all places, at Ohio State—and, of course, I won’t mention those two words again.
I didn’t have the advantages of world travel growing up, as my own kids did, or of exposure to the vast information we have today on the Internet because it wasn’t invented yet. Even TV then was in its infancy. The point is that I have never forgotten those roots and particularly the people and the opportunities along the way that helped me shape my future life. I’ve always tried in some way to give back.
Secondly, I think it is important to know how institutions such as Penn State Behrend, and the other organizations we associate with, came about.
For example, Penn State Behrend—which we all love and honor—didn’t just happen. It is here only because a group of civic-minded community leaders, freely giving of their time and talent, had the vision for the educational needs of this area. They teamed up with the widow of a German immigrant, Ernst Behrend, who had found great success living the American Dream, and they made Penn State an offer it couldn’t refuse.
The Behrend family wanted to give back to the community that made their success possible. In addition to the wonderful gift of the Behrend’s Glenhill Farm 60 years ago, many of the buildings subsequently built and the programs that you and I may take for granted today were made possible by countless others who gave back to their alma mater and community. That is the American way.
One-hundred and seventy-eight years ago, in 1831, French historian and political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville visited America and made this observation:
“These Americans are the most peculiar people in the world. You’ll not believe it when I tell you how they behave,” de Tocqueville said. “In a local community in their country, a citizen may conceive of some need [that] is not being met. What does he do? He goes across the street and discusses it with his neighbor. Then what happens? A committee begins functioning on behalf of that need. All of this is done by private citizens on their own initiative. The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”
After his visit, de Tocqueville wrote a very famous book called Democracy in America and in it he said, “When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”
I think both of these quotes are as true now as they were then, and are certainly pertinent to my message to you today.
That message is quite simple. As you go forth, remember what you had to do, or overcome in life, to get where you are. Then give thanks to those people and opportunities by giving back, through gifts and volunteering of your time to those institutions and programs that may have helped you in making a better life for yourself—such places as your college, United Way, your place of worship, or a myriad of other non-profit organizations that give so much to so many.
And consider giving back some time in the years ahead through some form of public service, whether as a public official, a teacher, a Peace Corps volunteer or a member of our Armed Forces. When you give back in those ways or in other volunteer capacities, your gift can make an amazing difference. I can tell you from personal experience that you will feel better for it, as will the object of your involvement.
Before closing, I would like to recount one person who had an everlasting affect on me—a teacher, right here at Penn State Behrend. While I chose a business career along with the military, I also acquired strong avocational interests in history, politics and the development of our society. The seeds of those interests were planted in the building on Penn State Behrend’s campus we called the Barn, and which you know as Turnbull Hall.
Indeed, it was my history professor, the late Tom Turnbull, for whom the building was eventually named, who had an everlasting affect on me. He was—without question—one of the most inspiring teachers I ever had. He was a quintessential story teller and he made history come alive. He inspired and challenged us to apply those lessons of the past to the present day.
I hope that each of you, as you look back on your college days, will be able to point to a similar experience—to a particular faculty member or members who inspired you and made your experience at Penn State Behrend as memorable and enriching as mine.
Let me congratulate and welcome as fellow alums, all of the graduates in this 60th anniversary year of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Go forth, do well, and do good—not only in your chosen profession, but also as a human being.
Thank you!
Thomas B. Hagen is chairman of the board of the Erie Insurance Group companies and chairman/owner of Custom Group Industries in Erie. Hagen, a former CEO of Erie Insurance, spent more than 40 years with the Erie-based Fortune 500 company. He is a former secretary of commerce and secretary of community and economic development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, and the current chairman of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Hagen is a member of and former chair of the college’s Council of Fellows. He studied business administration at Penn State Behrend from 1953 to 1955 before earning a bachelor’s degree in business at Ohio State University in 1957. In 1988, Hagen was honored with the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Penn State Alumni Association.