Lynn Gangone, dean of The Women’s College, delivered a rousing address, urging the new graduates to fend off that voice of self doubt, embrace the “I can do it” spirit and, most of all, “be fierce with reality.” Photo: Wayne Armstrong
On a sunny Colorado morning Aug. 17, nearly 700 University of Denver graduate and undergraduate students completed their journey and headed out for their next big adventure, degrees conferred and goals accomplished.
Lynn Gangone, dean of The Women’s College, delivered a rousing address, urging the new graduates to fend off that voice of self-doubt, embrace the “I can do it” spirit and, most of all, “be fierce with reality.”
Chancellor Robert Coombe, before conferring degrees, introduced Gangone, calling her “the perfect dean” and sharing how proud the University has been of its affiliation with The Women’s College and its history of service.
Gangone, a nationally respected writer and speaker with years of leadership in higher education, confessed that after hearing other commencement speeches, she was filled with self-doubt. She hired a speech writer, just in case. And she practiced.
And weighted down with recent tragedies—mass shootings in Aurora, Wisconsin and Texas—Gangone said she started to feel doubt.
“Your inner critic awakens,” she confessed. “You start comparing yourself, you find yourself falling short and you find yourself moving from ‘I can do this’ to ‘I can’t do this.’”
The speech she had a writer produce was fine, she said, but it wasn’t her.
Gangone said she found inspiration in the writings of Florida Scott-Maxwell, who wrote, “You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all that you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality.”
“This is more than just a speech, this is about being here, with you, now,” she said. “Being fierce with reality, it’s living, living in the moment … being viscerally connected to people and places, with purpose … it’s about the richness of life.”
And she drew strength from the accomplishments of others around her: Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who overcame long odds to rise to his office; University of Denver Law Professor Ann Scales, who died unexpectedly this summer after a lifetime of accomplishments; and 2012 University of Denver graduate Alex Teves, who died shielding his girlfriend from a gunman in the Aurora movie theater massacre.
“Each of the people I’ve spoken of are no different than any of us,” she said. “They are, they were, fierce with reality. … In each and every one of us, there is something we can do individually and collectively to say, ‘I can do this.’”