Beebe president addresses UD health sciences graduates

Dr. David Tam, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare, was selected as the keynote speaker for the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences convocation held May 24, at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

The college had about 750 graduates representing six of its seven academic departments receiving bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. 

After welcoming attendees, Dean Bill Farquhar offered his remarks and congratulations to the students. He said, “Today is a special day for all of you, our graduates, as well as your loved ones – whether they are here to support you or cheering you on from afar. You have put yourself on a path to serve society and causes greater than yourselves. Causes that will, inevitably, improve the health and well-being of the communities where you will live and work.”

Farquhar later introduced Tam as a great partner to the College of Health Sciences.

Tam began his remarks by reading an iconic poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken.” Its ending lines are:

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Tam looked back to his own college graduation 40 years ago and confessed he did not recall the speaker or his subject. However, he said, he chose that poem so he could relate his comments to something his listeners would remember and reflect on during their life’s journeys.

“It is now time for you, as young adults, to take the responsibility of choice to heart,” said Tam. “From now on, you must feel good about the decisions you make. Only then, as you look back at some point, can you feel good that the road you took was the one you decided on. The one you took the time to think about. To bear the responsibility for your actions and choices. Hopefully, you will be rewarded with the incredible satisfaction of making satisfying and meaningful choices, regardless of your destination.”