President: Freshmen will learn to ‘negotiate the unknown’

President Joseph Aoun addresses the audience at the annual
President’s Convocation.

Northeastern University doesn’t want to train students for their first career, their second or even their third, President Joseph Aoun told the incoming freshman class.

“Our goal is to get you ready for life,” he said during his welcome address at the annual President’s Convocation. “We want to get you ready … to negotiate the unknown.”

Northeastern’s “very different approach to education” focuses on experiential learning, and the president urged students to take advantage of its many forms, such as cooperative education, study abroad and Dialogues of Civilization.

“Here we don’t believe that the campus is sufficient,” he said. “We actually believe that the campus is too confining. It’s your home base, but we believe the best way to learn is to integrate study and practice.”

The university’s 111th entering class also heard brief remarks from student government president Rob Ranley and from 2008 graduate Kiette Tucker, who echoed the president’s charge to students.

“View your time here at Northeastern as an incredible opportunity to gain a global perspective,” said Tucker, who worked a co-op job in Mexico and heads to Africa next year to advise small businesses.

“I’m talking about going out and experiencing new people and new places, seeing firsthand how we are all interconnected and discovering what role you want to play in our increasingly global society,” she said.

Tucker, who graduated from the College of Business Administration, was named a 2008 Hodgkinson Scholar, the university’s highest honor for graduating seniors, based on scholarship and leadership.

She praised the freshman class as one who’s “histories are so diverse. Your interests are so varied. Your talents are so many.”

Aoun pointed out that the class was winnowed through a rigorous admissions process that chose 2,800 freshmen from 36,000 applicants. “You are part of a very select group that came to Northeastern and was granted access to this great institution,” he said.

Pointing out faculty in attendance, Aoun urged students to “take advantage of their brains, their humor and their dedication” during their time at Northeastern.

After the ceremony in Matthews Arena, the president hosted students at a barbecue on Centennial Common, a tradition during the university’s Welcome Week.