Speakers Predict Wild Ride for Science Grads

by Martha Sadler

Former secretary of defense William Perry (pictured) and
international corporate force Fred Gluck together urged UCSB
science graduates during commencement speeches last Saturday not to
leave their consciences behind when they enter the workforce. “At
the end of the career that you’ll be starting,” said Perry,
speaking to graduates of the School of Science and Engineering,
“let it be said that there never came an end to the good that you
have done.” Perry, who served under presidents Carter and Clinton,
spearheaded development of the F-117 stealth bomber and the ARPA
communication network that became the Internet. He said his
proudest moment in government was a series of visits to the
Ukraine, starting in 1994, to witness the dismantling of a Soviet
nuclear missile installation poised to strike numerous targets in
the U.S. “Never had the stark horror of the Cold War been more real
to me,” Perry said. Gluck spoke to graduates with degrees in math,
life sciences, and physical sciences. Referring to the company he
once led, McKinsey and Company, an international management
consulting firm, as a “well-known tool of capitalism,” Gluck
marveled that the People’s Republic of China recently asked the
company for advice. Gluck noted that the U.S. today consumes 25
percent of earth’s resources, despite comprising less than five
percent of its population; he predicted that during the next 50
years there will be an “inevitable redistribution.” While the U.S.
“will not necessarily decline,” he said, “it will likely be less
distinctive.” Graduates may be “called upon to lead in ways you
don’t expect,” added Gluck, as the coming decades bring “change we
can’t imagine.”