A servant of society

Next May, Duke graduates will be sent off with words of wisdom from one of their own. Melinda Gates, Trinity ’86 and Fuqua ’87, has taken up President Richard Brodhead’s long-standing offer to speak at commencement, bringing a world-renowned philanthropist and lifelong Blue Devil back home. For what she has accomplished, what she represents and what she can offer future alumni, we wholeheartedly support her selection.

Famous surname aside, Gates has utilized her Duke degrees to achieve success professionally and to help tackle some of society’s most intractable problems. Immediately following graduation, she parlayed her education—a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics followed by an MBA—into a career at Microsoft in the early 1990s, working at a pivotal company in an era marked by groundbreaking leaps in computing technology.

In the decades since leaving Microsoft in 1996, she has garnered accolades for her commitment to philanthropic giving. The Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband in 2000, has marshaled financial and intellectual capital to help address global health challenges and eradicate poverty. Domestically, the Gates Foundation has actively sought to strengthen our nation’s education system, through well-endowed grants stimulating innovation and reform.

As a world-renowned philanthropist immersed in education—trained in crucial STEM fields in which women are still scarce—Gates’ resume makes her a highly sought speaker at any university’s commencement ceremony. It is her connection to Duke, one that is more profound than perfunctory, that makes her presence so meaningful.

Gates’ relationship with the University goes beyond that of a typical alumnus or donor. DukeEngage, the program she helped found in 2007, has been an integral part of the Duke experience for many students graduating this May, and has done much to further the University’s commitment to civic engagement. The University Scholars Program, initially funded with a gift from Gates in 1998, provides financial support to students seeking to perform innovative, interdisciplinary work. Many of the graduates who will fill Wallace Wade to hear her speak have had their lives tangibly impacted by the programs she has helped make possible.

As an alumna and a former Trustee, Gates’ selection offers students the chance to reflect on the opportunities their degree will afford them going forward. Gates is a living proof that academic knowledge, professional achievement and service to society are complementary, not mutually exclusive. We hope she will use her speech to talk about what Duke has meant to her, while using her own experiences to illuminate how Duke graduates can use their education as they go out into the world.

If Gates were not such a compelling speaker, we might have had an issue with the lack of a formal committee selection process, in contrast to past years. Instead, we hope that future selections, however they are made, will seek accomplished individuals whose genuine loyalty to Duke endows their speech with added resonance. Alumni such as Grant Hill or David Rubenstein, at the pinnacle of their professional worlds but still personally committed to the success of the University, should merit future consideration. Hopefully, their presence will inspire the next generation of Duke students to remain connected to this university for life.