Sam Davis
Interim Dean and Professor of the Graduate School (Architecture), College of Environmental Design

May 21, 2009

As an architect I believe a certain amount of symmetry is acceptable, and that is certainly the case for me and today's event, for it was 40 years ago, in 1969, at my own graduation from this college, that I last spoke at commencement.

Today I do so again, as the only graduate of the college to ever serve as its dean, and I do so as my last official act in that role. I was part of the first group of freshman to enter Wurster Hall in the fall of 1964, and next month, after 45 years as a student, to professor, to department chair, and finally as dean, I will retire. Many things have changed — we did not have computers or cell phones or the internet — but some things have not. My talk then was about the war, and we are still at war. We were four months into an 11-month recession. And we too had an actor as governor.

So I share this special day with you, our graduates, as we all embark on a new adventure. I realize that the last thing you could possibly imagine on this day is spending another 40 years in Wurster! But let me tell you, being part of this college has been an honor, and what I learned has guided me throughout my career.

That we are a college in a great public university brings with it a particular and special responsibility as faculty and for you as graduates. Our founding dean, William Wurster, said in 1959:

Our first duty is toward our students, of course, but we have another and very pressing duty. That is our duty to California as a fast-growing and increasingly urban state, and we must serve her well in creating beauty, preventing disorder, and making the best use and preservation of her natural resources. Hills, water, land, and forest must all be carefully conserved as the structures of man compete for the space they occupy.

In simple terms, you are now the stewards of our environment. In many ways my generation has made your job difficult; we have made some very poor decisions, but I have every confidence you will prevail.

Like the painter or sculptor, we have an obligation to the integrity of what we design, be it a building, landscape, or city plan, but we also have responsibilities that reach beyond our own ambitions for the work. We do not create from a blank canvas or a block of stone, nor can we make whatever moves us, as regulations and a public process bound us. What we create, therefore, has to be artful, useful, and appropriate, and you are now among the arbiters of what this means.

Throughout my career as a teacher, writer, and architect, I have been guided by the principle that what we construct should represent the best of our values and our culture. Architecture not only reflects, but also serves, all of society, and not just those who can afford it. It is our duty to use our skills, knowledge, and resources to provide for those with the greatest need and the fewest options. This was not a revelation out of the blue — I learned this at Cal. My hope for you is that you have learned this too, and that you will uphold this value that has been the 50-year legacy of this college.