David E Shaw awarded honorary degree from University of Southern Maine.

I was pleased to celebrate college graduation for nearly 1700 students at USM on May 9, 2015, and to be awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree.

by David E Shaw

My friend and commencement speaker, poet Richard Blanco, urged students to never stop learning, to challenge themselves, to live their lives with love.

I applaud the students, their families, faculty members and the entire ecosystem of support that brings students to the momentous and happy moment of college graduation. Celebratory events of this kind have become even more meaningful to me as I approach the four-year anniversary of surviving viral encephalitis, a life threatening brain trauma injury. As poet Blanco urged: “never stop learning”. Even the horrendous experience of a brain injury can become an unexpected source of insight, wisdom and gratitude.

Congratulations and best wishes to all those commencing new journeys in life upon college graduation this Spring.