Dear Students:You have successfully completed your studies and will graduate today. Some of you will graduate as doctors of audiology. Some of you have completed both Au.D. and Ph.D. degrees and will graduate as clinical audiologists with skills in basic or clinical research. To all of you I say, "Welcome," because this is your commencement. A commencement is a beginning. This day will mark forever the beginning of your professional journey. I have been on my professional "walkabout" for 35 years, and I can still remember the day it began. At a moment like this, sitting in your regalia, hopefully outside and under a perfect blue sky on a beautiful spring day, it is good to reflect, to take stock of all that has taken place to prepare you for this moment. In each of you resides the audiology DNA from the progenitors of our profession. Throughout your training you have become part of the great audiology family tree. Your education has provided you with a link to the past as well as the knowledge and skills to realize your potential. You will replace those of us who are nearing the ends of our professional careers. In this way, with each graduation, a generation of young audiologists enters our field as another generation leaves, and so it goes.
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