David Gergen knows something that most graduation speakers of the past did not--the students he will address.
As a professor of the practice at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy this semester, Gergen has had the advantage of conversing with many members of the senior class both inside and outside of his course, titled "Governing in America: The Modern Presidency."
"It is unusual that a speaker has the opportunity to be on campus," Gergen said in an interview last week.
While he already has spoken several times on campus this year, touching on issues relating to the media and the Clinton administration, Gergen said his commencement speech will avoid such national news items.
"I am more inclined to talk to seniors about themselves, which I have not done this year--most of the public forums have been of a political nature," Gergen said. "I hope that I can speak to them more directly as a class and as to what their generation is going to face ."
He said that his experience teaching at the University this semester has been a positive one. "Duke has revived a very warm and stimulating home for me," he said.
The change in lifestyle since leaving Washington has been wonderful, Gergen said. He has found the time to do a tremendous amount of reading, one of the goals he had before coming here. Nevertheless, he said that the teaching was more demanding than he would have predicted.
"The students work very hard here," he said. "I've generally just tried to stay one book ahead of my students."
In addition, Gergen said that he has learned quite a lot through his own teaching. "One of the most satisfying parts [of teaching] is that I have had the opportunity to fill out my own understanding of the presidency," he said.
David Price, professor of political science and a former U.S. Congressman from North Carolina, praised Gergen's contributions to the University. "He has been very willing to extend and work with the students," Price said.
"He has helped us this year to focus on national politics and policy," he added. Price worked with Gergen earlier this year on a forum following President Clinton's State of the Union Address.
Although he has enjoyed his time here tremendously, Gergen said that it is unlikely that he will return in the fall. He said, however, that he may return next spring to teach again and is currently working on such an arrangement.
This summer, Gergen intends to spend time moderating seminars in Colorado for the Aspen Institute, an international think tank to which he was recently named trustee and senior fellow.
Having rented a home in Chapel Hill for the semester, Gergen said he intends to move back to his permanent residence in Washington, D.C. this summer.
Prior to arriving at the University, Gergen served first as an adviser to President Clinton on foreign and domestic issues and later as a special adviser to both Clinton and Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
By the time he was 30 years old, Gergen had already become the head of President Richard Nixon's speech-writing team.
In the interim, he has been a part of the administrations of both President Ford and Reagan, served as editor of U.S. News and World Report, worked as a political analyst on the "MacNeil Lehrer Newshour" and been named a fellow at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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