Undergraduate Academics
Aims of Education
»Aims of Education
Each year one of Chapman's distinguished faculty members shares their thoughts and reflections on the aims of education during the Convocation ceremony. This annual tradition commenced in 1994 with an address by Chapman President James L. Doti. The speeches have covered a variety of topics over the years. Some share personal stories and astute wisdom while others invoke great educators of the past, but all of them convey unbounded joy at the prospect of discovering and guiding the promise that each new class of students holds at their fingertips.
Below are excerpts from Chapman's convocation speeches of the past few years.
Vikki Katz, Ph.D.
2025
"Because ultimately, the aim of education is not to teach students what to think,
but how to think—and how to live productively in community with those who think differently.
If we do this well—if we succeed in forming students who are curious, compassionate,
and critically engaged—then we do more than educate. We repair."
Kelli Fuery, Ph.D.
2024
"We should not be afraid to expect or demand that education possesses a core revolutionary
intention. It isn’t just that you, as students, come to develop your critical thinking
at university but that we, as faculty, should also be transformed by the process.
Why else are we here?"
John Howell, Ph.D.
2023
"Happiness, self-fulfillment and well-being in life are found in important relationships
with others (like family), service, gratitude and importantly in life-long learning.
Your university years can build important foundations in all these areas."
Katharine Gillespie, Ph.D.
2022
"I invite you to remember as you sail, that you are not alone, that you should not
be afraid... that you do not travel empty-handed... and, finally, that you will indeed
encounter the unknown. The question is, who will you be when you get there?"
Norma Bouchard, Ph.D.
2021
"Make it the aim of your education to constantly hone your cognitive flexibility so
that you may cultivate the system thinking and the higher order skills to always integrate
your education in a continuum of never-ending learning."
Lori Cox Han, Ph.D
2020
"It's easy to say all the right things but backing it up with action is what matters
most."
Amir Raz, Ph.D.
2019
"... pursuing ideas with the characteristics of curiosity, conviction, openness, and
discipline more than paves the road to knowledge; it paves the road to becoming healthier,
a better member of your family, an informed citizen of your country, and a meaningful
denizen of the world."
James L. Doti, Ph.D.
2018
"I hope there will be times at Chapman when you, like this student, struggle with
an idea and through that struggle find your way. So embrace the struggle, don't shy
from it."
Reginald Gilyard, Ph.D.
2017
"The importance of self-reliance goes well beyond discussions of money. With self-reliance
comes independent thought."
Jennifer Funk, Ph.D.
2016
"Embrace your fears, take chances, broaden your path. I promise you the outcome can't
be worse than finding yourself face-to-face with a polar bear."
Don Cardinal, Ph.D.
2015
"Education can be more powerful than a bullet, and the lack of education can be more
devastating than a bomb. It must not be taken for granted and it must be defended
and promoted for all."
Richard Bausch, MFA
2014
"Real education is something you take up, not as a means to make a living, but as
a habit of being through a lifetime."
Tom Campbell, JD, Ph.D.
2013
"You, as students, and I, as a teacher, have been given a precious gift - the blessing
of education. My sincerest good wishes for your using that gift to achieve tremendous
happiness for yourselves, and those whose lives you touch."
Anna Leahy, Ph.D.
2012
"Education leads us out of our childhoods, out of the homes we have known, out of
habits into which we may have settled."
Roberta Lessor, Ph.D.
2011
"From where or whence does our capacity for innovation and creativity come, and why
in some moments of history rather than others?" These are but a few big questions
that, in one way or another, you will ask, contemplate and perhaps even answer here
at Chapman. And in doing so, the character of what you have to offer and achieve as
you move on will be markedly enhanced."
Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D.
2010
"I discovered that the best way to approach my studies was to create my own personal
projects and questions that fascinated me the most. I would then use all the knowledge
that I acquired in order to solve these personal projects and questions. I was interested
not so much in studying the facts, but in studying what it meant to understand in
the first place."
Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D.
2009
"That what is important is not what you know, but what you can do with what you know
that brings magic to your personal experience of enquiry. What is magical about research
is the discovery it engenders."
Jennifer Keene, Ph.D.
2007
"You are intelligent and inquisitive people, and I am sure that many examples of how
inspired action can initiate a movement or bring an issue to the public consciousness."
Daniele Struppa, Ph.D.
2006
"This, in my opinion, is what the liberal arts are: a constant search for the universal
unifying principle. This is the content of the conversation that we initiated almost
2,500 years ago, and which has no end."
Harry Hamilton, Ph.D.
2005
"Education seeks to have you control your life to the greatest extent possible by
asking questions rather than merely accepting the information someone else wants to
supply to you."
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