華閱文章網理想對年輕人非常重要，而勇敢，是現代女生一項很重要的素質。
“現代女生已和幾十年前大不相同。
她們面臨了更多的機會，接受更多的教育，也應該更加勇敢地去表達和表現自己。”
“雖然許多人最終從事的職業并不一定就是他的理想，但理想能促使你不斷地嘗試新的事物，不斷地挑戰自己，并為之堅持不懈。”
如果你都不試著去做你喜歡做的事，如果你不去追求你認為最有意義的東西，總有一天你會后悔的。
生活的路還很長，總有機會嘗試別的選擇，但不要一開始就想著這個。
我把這個叫作職業選擇中的停車位理論，幾十年來我一直在和同學們說這些。
不要因為你覺得會沒有停車位，就把車停在離目的地20個街區遠的地方。
先到你想去的地方，然后再到你應該去的地方。
放飛我們最富挑戰性的想象力（2007年10月12日）
哈佛大學校長 德魯·福斯特
郭英劍 編譯
就職演講常常會羅列一些新校長的具體構想或是計劃。
但是，當我在考慮今天意味著什么的時候，這樣的羅列似乎過于束縛人，它們限制了而不是去放飛我們最富挑戰性的想象力，限制了我們去思考我們最深遠的責任和義務。
如果今天是超越普通日子的一天，如果今天是我們為數不多的、不僅是作為哈佛人聚集在一起、而是與一個更為廣闊的學術、教學與學問的世界站在一起的一天，那么，現在就是哈佛以及像哈佛這類大學去思考的時候了：在這21世紀的第一個十年中，我們應該扮演什么樣的角色。
大學的確是要承擔責任的。
但我們從事高等教育的人需要首先搞清楚，我們為了什么去承擔責任。
人們要求我們報告畢業率、研究生院的入學統計數字、標準考試的分數，目的是為了在大學評價中提高“附加值”，人們要看研究經費有多少，教師出版和發表論著的數量是多少。
但這些硬性指標本身并不能說明所取得的成就，更不要提大學所渴望達到的目標了。
雖然了解上述指標很重要，它們也可以說明我們事業中一些特別的部分內容。
但我們的目的要比這些宏大得多，因此，要解釋我們的責任感，也更加困難。
那么，讓我斗膽提出一個定義來吧。
一所大學的精神所在，是它要特別對歷史和未來負責——而不單單或著僅僅是對現在負責。
一所大學關乎學問（learning），影響終生的學問，將傳統傳承千年的學問，創造未來的學問。
一所大學，既要回頭看，也要向前看，其看的方法必須——也應該——與大眾當下所關心的或是所要求的相對立。
大學是要對永恒做出承諾，而這些投資會產生我們無法預測且常常是無法衡量的收益。
大學是那些活生生的傳統的管理員——在Widener圖書館與Houghton圖書館以及我們另外的88個圖書館，在Fogg與Peabody博物館，在我們的古典學科的系科，在歷史與文學的系科，都有活生生的傳統。
對于那些努力去證明這些傳統不過是工具性的、不過是對某些當代需求有一定用處而已的說法和作法，我們會感覺很不舒服。
恰恰相反，我們追尋傳統，從某種程度上講，是“為了它們自身”，因為正是它們，千百年來界定了我們何以為人類，而不是因為它們可以提升我們在全球的競爭力。
我們追尋它們，因為它們使我們的——無論是個人的還是社會的——洞察力增加了深度和廣度，而這，則是我們在難以避免短視的當下所無法發現的。
我們同樣追尋它們，也因為正如我們需要食物和房屋生存一樣，正如我們需要工作和尋求教育來改善我們的運氣一樣，我們作為人類同樣需要尋找意義。
我們努力去理解我們是誰，從哪里來，到哪里去，原因何在。
對許多人來說，四年的大學生活不過是允許自己去自由自在地探索這類根本問題的一個插曲而已。
但對意義的找尋，是沒有盡頭的探索，它在不斷地闡釋，不斷地干擾和重新闡釋現狀，不斷地在看，從不會滿足于已有的發現。
事實上，這就是所有學問的真諦，自然科學、社會科學和人文學科，概莫能外，因此，它也就成為了“大學是干什么的”之核心所在了。
就其本質而言，大學培育的是一種變化的文化甚至是無法控制的文化。
這是大學為未來承擔責任的核心。
教育、研究、教學常常都是有關變化的——當人們學習時，它改變了個人；當我們的疑問改變我們對世界的看法時，它改變了世界；當我們的知識運用到政策之中時，它改變了社會。
知識的擴充就意味著變化。
但變化常常使人感到不舒服，因為它在你得到的同時也會失去，在你發現的同時也會迷失方向。
然而，當面對未來時，大學必須去擁抱那不穩定的變化，它對人類理解世界的每一點進步都至關重要
我們對未來的責任還對我們提出了更多的要求。
大學既是哲學家也是科學家的所在地，這是獨一無二的。
對未來承擔責任要求我們，要跨越地理與智力的界限。
正如我們生活在田野與學科正在縮小差距的時代，我們所居住的是一個逐漸跨越國家的世界，在這個世界里，知識本身就是最有力的連接體。
真理是渴望達到的目標，而不是占有物。
而在這其中，我們——和所有以思考和自由詢問精神顯示其特色的大學一道——向那些擁抱不容爭辯的確定性的人們提出挑戰乃至是提出警告。
我們必須將自己置于不斷質疑（doubt）這種令人不舒服的狀態，使自己保持謙遜的態度，不斷地相信：還有更多的知識需要我們去了解、更多的知識需要我們去講授、更多的知識需要我們去理解。
上述所承擔的種種責任既代表著一種特權，也代表著一種責任。
我們能夠生活在哈佛這樣一個理性自由、傳統激揚、資源非凡的王國，因為我們正是被稱為是“大學”的這樣好奇而神圣的組織的一部分。
我們需要更好地去理解和推進大學的目的——不單單是向總持批評立場的公眾加以解釋，更要為了我們自身的價值而堅持自我。
我們必須要付諸行動，不僅是作為學生和教工、歷史學家和計算機科學家、律師和醫生，語言學家和社會學家，更是作為大學中的成員，我們對這個思想共同體負有責任。
我們必須把彼此看作是相互負有責任的，因為由我們所組成的這個組織，反過來界定了我們的潛在價值。
對未來承擔責任包含著我們對學生所承擔的特殊職責，因為他們是我們最重要的目的和財產。
想要說服一個國家或是世界去尊重——不要說去支持了——那些致力于挑戰社會最根本的思維設定，這很不容易。
但這，恰恰就是我們的責任：我們既要去解釋我們的目的，也要很好地去達到我們的目的，這就是我們這些大學在這個新的世紀生存和繁榮的價值所在。
哈佛大學不能孤獨地為此奮斗。
但我們所有人都知道，哈佛在其中扮演著特殊的角色。
這就是我們今天在這里的原因，這就是她對我們意味深長的原因。
上一周，我拿到一個深黃褐色的信封，它是在1951年由哈佛的第23任校長詹姆斯·柯南特（James B. Conant）委托給哈佛檔案館保存下來的。
他在留下的簡短說明上稱，請下一世紀開始時而“不是之前的”哈佛校長打開它。
我撕開了這封神秘信件的封口，發現里面是我的前任留下的一封不同尋常的信。
它的抬頭是“我親愛的先生。”柯南特寫作時給人一種危險迫在眉睫的感覺。
他擔心第三次世界大戰一觸即發，這將“很有可能使我們所居住的城市包括劍橋在內遭到破壞。”
“我們都想知道，”他繼續寫到，“自由世界在未來的50年里會如何發展。”但是，當他想象哈佛的未來時，柯南特就由不詳之兆轉向了堅定的信念。
如果“厄運的預言”證明了是錯的，如果有一位哈佛校長能活著讀到這封信，那么，柯南特就對哈佛的未來有信心。
“你會收到這封信，會帶領一個比我榮幸地執掌時更加繁榮、更有影響的大學。
……[哈佛]將堅持學術自由、容忍異端的傳統，我確信是如此。”我們必須致力于此，確信他在未來也是正確的，我們必須共同擁有和支持他的這種信念。
柯南特的信，就像我們今天在此聚會一樣，標志著在過去與未來之間，有一塊引人注目的交匯地。
在這個儀式上，我接受了我對他來自歷史的聲音所祈求的傳統應付的責任。
與此同時，我也與你們大家一道，確認了我對哈佛現在和未來的責任。
正如柯南特所處的時代一樣，我們也處于一個使我們有充足的理由憂慮不安的世界，我們面對的是不確定。
但我們同樣要對這所大學的目的和潛在發展保持一種不可動搖的信念，她終究會盡其所能地去設計從現在起之后的半個世紀內世界將會怎樣。
讓我們擁抱那些責任和各種可能性吧；讓我們分享它們“緊密相聯……如一體；”讓我們開心地去從事這項工作吧，因為這樣的一項任務是一種難以衡量的特權。
原文見 http://**speeches/faust/071012_*
哈佛女校長福斯特在2008屆畢業典禮上致校友報告
Tyger Tyger 2008-07-04 09:35:43 來自: Tyger Tyger(non sum qualis eram)
President Drew Gilpin Faust’s Report to the Alumni
June 5, 2008
President Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard’s 28th president, delivers her Report to the Alumni at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.
Distinguished guests, graduates and your families, alumni and alumnae, colleagues and friends – witches, wizards, and muggles of all ages – it’s a pleasure to be with you this afternoon.
Looking out from this stage, I’m not surprised that our gathering today includes what I’d imagine to be a record number of audience members who have not yet reached the age when even the most precocious of young people might enter college.
So, I want to say a special word of welcome not only to the members of the graduating Class of 2008 – but also to all of you who may someday be members of the Class of 2018, or 2019, or 2020.
It’s painful to admit, but however hard we might try, I’m afraid that Harvard would be hard pressed ever to measure up to the magic of Hogwarts.
We have our beautiful elms – but no whomping willows.
We have Veritas as our motto – but, though it might come in handy at times, we’ve had no luck concocting a veritas serum.
We have our great residential houses, with their own storied traditions – but, I’m sad to say, no sorting hat to figure out who belongs where.
And, of course, we have a head of the school– but, I have to admit, someone who’s not quite a year into the job, who would not for a moment claim to have the wisdom, let alone the otherworldly powers, of the inimitable Albus Dumbledore.
Still, it falls to me as Muggle in Chief to say a few words about Harvard, before I turn over the podium to our featured speaker. As one of her many admirers here today, I want to thank her for reminding us that reading wonderful books may well be the closest we ever really come to experiencing true magic. J. K. Rowling, thank you for Harry Potter, and thank you for being with us.
I want to focus my remarks this afternoon on one aspect of this first year of my presidency, an aspect that has taken on an importance and urgency I had not entirely anticipated. These are the issues that implicate what we might call Harvard’s “public boundary,” issues that cast into relief questions about the role and purposes of universities and of Harvard in particular.
This has been a year in which Congress has asked detailed and probing questions about the finances of the nation’s top colleges and universities; it has been a year in which the pressure on public funding has challenged the crucial role universities play in science and research; and it has been a year in which we have begun to address widespread concerns about cost and access to make sure that American higher education continues to unite excellence and opportunity in a way unmatched in the world.
Frequently, public discussion of the role of universities fixes on the language of “accountability.” Often, however, it is not clear to whom universities are meant to be accountable, and for what. In my installation address this past Fall, I ventured the following proposition: “The essence of a university is that it is uniquely accountable to the past and to the future – not simply or even primarily to the present….A university looks both backwards and forwards in ways that must – that even ought to – conflict with a public’s immediate concerns or demands.” These principles seem to me to touch directly on the debates that have been swirling around us. They can help us understand and frame our public responsibilities and to embrace them as opportunities for leadership and creative action.
In recent months, Harvard’s $35 billion endowment has become something of a target - - publicly both envied and maligned. But it is poorly understood. Endowments represent a concrete embodiment of our accountability to the past and to the future. They derive from our history and the dreams of those who have preceded us; they are in turn the vehicle that enables us to project our own dreams into the future.
The endowments at Harvard and other great universities have created a system of higher education that is the envy of the world. It has opened doors of opportunity ever more broadly; it has generated powerful new understandings about human nature and the world we inhabit; it has fueled revolutionary advances in science; it has helped drive economic growth and expansion in our nation and the world.
Some critics have suggested that endowments are vast pots of money for presidents to spend at will. Others hold a more sophisticated, but still sharply limited view. As they would have it, universities like Harvard have built up endowments based on their tax-exempt status, and in return have the obligation, pure and simple, to devote those funds to educating the most students at the lowest cost.
Certainly that is part of our obligation - - a vital part - - but it is only a part. Our endowment represents the investment of gifts from generations of donors who have viewed Harvard as a place to bring their philanthropic visions to life. It provides the capital for an ambitious enterprise that supports 20,000 students in Harvard College and a dozen different schools, 16,000 employees, and a physical plant comprising over 600 buildings. We are one of the largest employers in Massachusetts; we operate a huge and very costly research enterprise; we support more than 200 service programs in education, affordable housing and community service in Cambridge and Boston; we partner with governments, agencies and universities in hundreds of teaching and research collaborations in 125 countries around the globe. As custodians of civilization we are home to libraries and museums that house priceless collections of books, manuscripts, art works, cultural artifacts, and scientific specimens.
All of this is funded by an annual operating budget of more than $3 billion. Each year, the income from our endowment contributes about a third of this total, as well as supporting substantial capital outlays. If the endowment were smaller, we would have to do less – less research, less teaching, at a lesser level of quality – or we would have to generate more income from other sources – tuition increases or external funding. And in a world where knowledge is increasingly important, our accountability to the future challenges us to do not less, but ever more - - to use discoveries in new fields such as stem cell research to pursue cures for diseases like diabetes; to reduce the cost of graduate education, especially in our public service schools; to seize the Allston opportunity; to more fully incorporate the arts in our approach to learning and knowing; to enhance our global engagement in a shrinking world; to commit ourselves through both our practice and our research to the creation of a sustainable future.
Our endowment represents an accountability that generation after generation of Harvard graduates have voluntarily assumed, acknowledging the value of their own past education and investing in the future of learning. Their generosity has created an endowment that is in fact a collection of some 11,000 separate gift funds dedicated to the singular passions and purposes that have animated different individuals over time. A sampling of our endowment funds is a window into Harvard history:
The income from the A.F. Holden Fund is designated for the purchase of “meteorites and meteorite specimens;” Lillian Farlow left a bequest for the acquisition of examples of plants that reproduce by spores. The William and Gertrude Arnold Prize fund recognizes “the most understanding essay on the true spirit of book collecting.” In 1894, Harriet Hayden, who had escaped to Boston from slavery in Kentucky in 1844, bequeathed a scholarship for “needy and worthy colored students” to attend Harvard Medical School, and the Nieman Fellowships were established in 1938 to bring working journalists to Harvard. Many funds support financial aid to students from particular states or countries or to those studying in particular fields. Hundreds of funds support faculty, but few are as charmingly unrestricted in their terms as the Fisher professorship in Natural History established in 1834 to focus on any “of the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable or mineral.”
Harvard’s endowment enables students and faculty of both today and tomorrow to search for new knowledge in ways that may produce immediate success, or fail entirely, or come to ultimate fruition only in combination with other ideas yet to emerge. The accumulated gifts of our alumni and friends offer us both the resources and the independence to support work that may not pay off in the short term. They protect us against over-accountability to the present or to the merely trendy. They preserve our ability to be creative and rigorous, to take intellectual risks in pursuit of ambitious ideas.
It is central to the very notion of endowment that we must balance our use of its income to support the current generation against our duty to preserve its purchasing power for future generations. It means that we cannot treat our endowment as a lump sum to be spent on the projects of any given cohort of faculty or students, the demands of today’s politics, or even the vision of an individual Harvard president.
The model of “voluntary accountability” – by which succeeding generations of alumni and friends embrace the obligation of universities to take the long view, the non-instrumental view – is in large measure responsible for the success of the American system of higher education. In an era in which large and important financial organizations have been known to disappear over a weekend, universities are durable, proven institutions, here for the long haul. They remain respected around the globe. In rankings published by an institute for higher education in Shanghai, for instance, American universities accounted for 17 of the 20 top universities in the world.
But we can’t afford to take this success for granted. Other countries are working hard to replicate our system of higher education. Every week, it seems, we read about a new multi-billion dollar investment in scientific research by another country. China, India, and Singapore have adopted biomedical research as national goals. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are creating huge new academic enterprises. Top students and scholars increasingly have significant new opportunities beyond our shores. The proportion of scholarly articles in the sciences published in the United States has been declining in recent decades, and the share of patents owned by U.S. inventors has fallen. Recognizing this shifting scientific landscape, over 400 organizations, including General Electric, Microsoft and others, are opening or moving research organizations to China, taking high-skilled jobs with them.
I cite these facts not to be jingoistic. The most pressing issues of our time – and the solutions to them – know no national boundaries, and the scholarly and research enterprise is strengthened immeasurably by the participation of the best intellects from around the world. Harvard, for its part, educates large numbers of international students. In welcoming the best talent from everywhere, we enrich our intellectual community, and we export important values and lasting relationships when those graduates return to their home countries.
To remain a global destination of choice in education and to continue to produce field- and world-changing research, however, we must do all we can to sustain our leadership in a much more competitive global environment. Internally, we must work hard to overcome barriers to collaboration across fields and to leverage our resources and organizational capacity for the strategic purposes of the University. Externally, we must revitalize the partnership between the nation’s leading universities and the federal government in funding basic research.
The progress of science and basic research in America – and the success of the American research university — has for decades depended on a partnership between the government and higher education. Fields like biotechnology, telecommunications, and environmental sustainability all had their beginnings in university-based research. Such research has enabled universities to isolate the genes that contribute to diseases like breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Alzheimer’s, to create the basis for modern computing and internet connectivity, and to generate the basic science that will be needed to develop alternative forms of energy as we grapple with climate change.
詳見http://**group/topic/3613517/
參考資料：http://**gxg_2008/blog/static/28669400200711192745622/
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