Congratulations to the Class of 2019!
During the diploma ceremony for the Program in International Relations (IR), keynote speaker Colin Kahl, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, shared an inspiring speech with the graduates. Kahl, who served as a senior advisor to President Obama on matters related to U.S. foreign policy and national security, reflected on the trends shaping the world today—globalization, inequality, digitization, mass migration, and climate change. He encouraged the graduating class to make the world a better place by “doing good things.”
“In this rapidly evolving international landscape, we will need your help to boldly reimagine and reinvigorate our policies and institutions,” he said. “Your education at Stanford—and your time here in Silicon Valley—has exposed you to many of the forces that are shaping this century. Now we need your help to bend those forces toward the common good.”
IR students Audrey Huynh, who also minored in human rights, and Lloyd Lyall also spoke during the ceremony. While Audrey won a 2019 John Gardner Public Service Fellowship through the Haas Center for Public Service, Lloyd is one of the recipients of this year’s Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.
“I hope we open ourselves to passionate people with good ideas no matter where they come from or who they are, and that we wield our degrees not as crowns of intelligence but as toolkits to help us and those around us make change. It is an enormous privilege to hold a Stanford IR degree. Our job now is to bring honor to our privilege,” said Lyall, who will be attending law school at the University of Toronto next year.
The international relations class of 2019 is comprised of 55 majors and seven minors. Of these students, 18 graduated with honors, 13 graduated with distinction, and eight were elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The class includes students from 16 states and nine countries, and together the graduates demonstrated proficiency in 18 languages and traveled to 17 countries through study abroad programs.
View a video of the 2019 international relations diploma ceremony.