Boyd Pushes Engineering Graduates to Take on Challenges
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Success starts with yes.
That was the message from Randy Boyd, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, as he addressed the Tickle College of Engineering on Saturday during its spring commencement ceremony.
Boyd imparted some of the wisdom and advice he has gained over the years, with a key point being to view challenges as opportunities.
“How many times do you ask someone at a business for something and they respond, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t carry that?’ That was an opportunity,” Boyd said. “We are all offered opportunities every day. Your life will be defined by those opportunities to which you say yes.
“I have never met a success story that started with ‘no.’”
He told the graduating class stories of how he had turned such opportunities into a successful business, Radio Systems Corporation.
Headquartered in Knoxville, the company employs 630 workers across seven countries and produces pet devices such as Invisible Fence and PetSafe.
With annual sales of more than $350 million, the business has allowed Boyd to take part in several other ventures, such as controlling the organization that owns the Tennessee Smokies and serving on tnAchieves, which allows first-generation college students access to education through donations.
In his current role, Boyd helped launch Governor Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative and Tennessee Promise, both of which seek to improve the number of Tennesseans with a college education.
He told students of his successes outside the business world as well, such as mountain climbing and running in the Boston Marathon, relating each one back to the central point that everything starts by saying yes when the chance presents itself.
“Every day, look for an opportunity,” said Boyd. “Opportunity is all around you. You just have to find it and be willing to take the chance when you can.”
Special Recognition
As part of the graduation ceremony, several students were singled out for additional acknowledgement.
Willie Kemp, a materials science major, was recognized for his selection as a Torchbearer. That award represents the top student honor awarded by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, regardless of college.
Within the Tickle College of Engineering, students earning recognition as top graduates were:
- Matthew Buttrey, nuclear engineering
- William Hawks, chemical engineering
- Liam Weaver, environmental engineering
- Aaron Young, computer engineering
Graduating students who had taken part in the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenge Scholars program were also singled out. They were:
- Natalie Beitel, electrical engineering
- Duncan Greeley, materials science
- Adam Hasse, nuclear engineering
- Katie Rogers, biomedical engineering
Greeley and Weaver were also part of the cohort of Tickle College of Engineering ambassadors who graduated Saturday, along with:
- Steven Shuman, civil engineering
- Melanie Rae Smith, civil engineering
- Greg Tate, chemical engineering
- Haley Whitaker, electrical engineering
Serving Their Country
The Tickle College of Engineering also saw six of its graduates become commissioned as the newest members of the armed forces.
Lieutenant Col. Brian Lancaster, US Air Force, administered the oath to five Air Force graduates and one Army graduate.
From the Air Force, the graduates were:
- Austin Love, industrial engineering
- Austin Martin, civil engineering
- Conor O’Dell, mechanical engineering
- David Place, computer engineering
- Ryan Roper, electrical engineering
From the Army, the graduate was:
- Bradley Pershke, nuclear engineering
Lancaster spoke of the dedication the six have shown, particularly given the current state of affairs in the world.
“During uncertain times, with our nation’s military engaged globally as well as defending our homeland, these young men have answered our nation’s call to serve and to lead in our armed forces,” said Lancaster. “They will now join a military force that not only provides our nation with an umbrella of security and freedom that we generally take for granted but also a military that routinely goes into harm’s way to provide humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters, oppressive regimes, and other hardships around the globe daily.
“And they do this willingly, as Volunteers.”
A Nice Ring to It
It’s not uncommon for someone to earn more than one degree and pass across the graduation stage twice or more.
What made Saturday different when Stan Pickering Hunter joined the ranks of UT alumni was that it wasn’t him, but rather the ring he wore, that made its second journey.
Hunter, who graduated magna cum laude in mechanical engineering, wore the ring his grandfather and namesake Stan Pickering wore when he graduated in accounting in 1950.
Pickering and his wife will be in attendance to see their grandson graduate, in some ways completing a story that began with World War II.
Pickering went straight from high school to the raging inferno of war nearly seven decades ago. In return for that service, he and thousands of others were able to attend college on the GI Bill.
While it covered basic costs, it didn’t allow for other expenses, as Ellen Hunter, daughter of one Stan and mother of the other, explained.
“Dad worked as a bookkeeper at St. Mary’s Hospital just to provide for necessary living expenses, saving what he could,” said Hunter, now the business manager for parking and transit services at UT. “My son has definitely earned this day, but it serves as a great reminder about what my father’s generation went through to make the world we have.”
She also pointed out that because many of the G.I. Bill graduates attended school away from where they grew up they didn’t have family members there to see them graduate. By being able to attend his grandson’s ceremony, that was one thing her father was eager not to see repeated.
CONTACT: David Goddard (865-974-0683, david.goddard@utk.edu)