Speeches and Writings

Good morning, Framingham!

You belong here. 

You’re sitting here:  You got the t-shirt. You got the audience.  You’re getting the love. Everyone’s said, “Yay, you! Off to college!” Hopefully, mostly said with joy and pride, mixed probably with some sadness. 

But mixed in with all these voices of support might also be some wariness – will you be the same person you are now? Is that voice inside your head also saying, “You sure you got this?  You sure you belong here?” OR “No one else in your family has done this” OR “My family needs my help.” 

Worries about your family and finances are real to be sure, but in terms of whether you belong here – do you deserve to go to college? Are you college material? 

The answer is unequivocally, one hundred percent yes. 

There’s a lot of noise in the world right now about how getting a college education doesn’t matter anymore – that you don’t need to go to college in order to have a good life. 

This noise is not an accident.

The reason why people are making so much noise about college educations not paying off and not being for you is that some people do not think you should be here, that you do not belong.

Now who is it that would dare to say that? People with a lot of power—a lot – of power. Think gazillionaires and tech venture capitalists, for starters. They and others with outsized means do not want you to feel like you deserve the learning and connective experiences college offers because they do not want you to have power that these things offer. 

World-renowned Brazilian educator Paulo Freire channeled the idea that radical power of education belongs to everyone 60 years ago, and if you do not know who he is, I encourage you to go find out about him. Freire believed that becoming literate – learning how to read—transforms people. He knew that with education, people have a sense of self, dignity, and the power to make change for themselves and the world. 

Freire began his work teaching formerly illiterate sugarcane harvesters to read in 45 days. After news of these harvesters’ educational success spread, this kind of education caught fire in Brazil. Thousands of people began literacy circles, and proved that learning how to read changed lives forever. Learning how to read gave many people new lives.

In his country, Freire was considered a dangerous political subversive because he showed with his teaching that education is a practice of freedom.

Your education here can be freedom as well – not freedom from anything but freedom to …

• think about the situations that surround you, 
• listen to others more intelligently. 
• see new relationships and see the world with different eyes
• have new ideas – new words for things, new concepts to debate, new places to see. 
• You will gain the courage to question authority. To be curious.
• And, if you take this journey of education seriously, you will have different tools with which to name things, and you’ll have new ways, with professors and mentors’ help, to bridge the gap between what you cannot see now, and what is possible for you to see.

So let’s begin with the end in mind.

You should each have a tassel on your seat – if not, we’ll make sure you get one. I’d be honored if you kept it – someplace where you keep important things -- to remind you of the reason you are here. To remind you that you belong here. And when you’re ready to graduate, I want to see that tassel again. Bring it to me or to anyone who has helped you along this journey and we’ll celebrate how you know what Freire knew and what we who are here to educate you know: 

education is power and it is freedom!

Welcome to Framingham!

Welcome, proud parents, families, and friends of our graduates. Welcome, dedicated faculty, staff, trustees, alumni and honored guests. And welcome and congratulations, Framingham State Class of 2026!

We celebrate with you this day, honoring all that you have worked so hard to accomplish, all that you have learned, and all that you have become as you pursued your degree.  We are proud, and we are excited to share it with you.

I invite you to join me in a moment of silent reflection—to give thanks for all you have accomplished; for the support and guidance of family, friends, faculty, and staff; and to honor those who are no longer with us. We also pause to acknowledge the loss of two students this year, Wilmani Josiah Castillo and Mason Albano, and the impact they had on our community.

Thank you.

Graduates, as you celebrate this grand educational accomplishment, I ask you: what is your origin story and how did it bring you to this place?  How is the degree you are being conferred today reflective of who you are and whom you want to be?

The origin story of Framingham State University is one grounded in hope:  hope that the 57-year-old fledgling democracy that was the United States could pull off its audacious claims: of free speech, freedom of religion, and equality, such as it was, for some people.

If the country was to succeed, it needed people who could read, write, and reason, and the school that became Framingham State was founded in the hope that by creating well-educated, excellent teachers, that they, in turn, could educate those who would fulfill the promises of the new, great democracy.

My guess is that each of your origin stories is grounded in equally hopeful ideas, one of which, I’ll bet, is love:

•    love of your discipline and its ideas about the world;
•    love of the profession in which you want to work and your belief in its power to change lives for the better;
•    love of your families and communities, and your desire to help them thrive, and I hope
•    love of yourself – that you have a part to play in the fabric of the future.

I believe that remembering your origin stories, and the love that surely underscores them, will propel you forward in the life you now want to live.

It is the brew of love, hope, and now more knowledge, skills, and perspectives where you will locate the keys to something different. Where you will locate the answers that you seek and the change you want to make so that, together, we can fulfill the hopes we have for ourselves, our communities, and our professions.

Yet hope is not sufficient to move forward. As you move from where your education has led you to where you will go next, I think you—together with all of us—will need to lead differently as well.

We’ll need to think divergently, and ask hard questions. Sometimes we will need to follow trouble, and perhaps make what John Lewis termed “good trouble,” in order to make a difference.

And most of all, we will need to stand at the intersection of where personal and professional meet, making sure that the love within our personal origin stories manifests itself in what we are pursuing next.

We who are your professors, your advisors, your trustees, and your university leaders are so honored to have been beside you as you learned. We now share a new tapestry, woven by our mutual desire to create change in the spaces, places, and professions we love.

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your journeys. 
We cannot wait to see what comes next.    

Students, please rise and join me in a gesture of thanks to all the significant people in your lives, in and out of Framingham State, who have helped you achieve this moment, for they, too, are part of your individual and collective achievement!

Now please join me in welcoming to the podium Susan Puryear, member of the Framingham State University Board of Trustees.

The two main criteria for inclusion on WBJ’s Power 100 are: How much power does a Central Massachusetts professional hold, and how do they use it?

CEOs of a major public companies with billions in revenues certainly hold plenty of power, but if they don’t use it to significantly influence the regional economy or community, they won’t be included in the Power 100. Conversely, small business owners or vocal community advocates might generate little revenue and have no employees, but if they have innovative ideas or a wide-ranging impact, that merits serious consideration for the Power 100.

So, WBJ’s Power 100 isn’t a list of the people who hold the most power in the Central Massachusetts economy. It’s a list of the people who most effectively wield their power to have outsized influence on the region.

June 8, 2026

Link to President Niemi's profile

Highlighting Framingham State’s renaming of Hemenway Laboratories as the Professor Thomas and Joan Eames Laboratories, recognizing the couple’s transformative $2 million gift to support STEM students, faculty, and programs.

April 13, 2026

Link to article

Highlighting a new Massachusetts initiative to expand paid cooperative education and other work-based learning opportunities at public universities, with Framingham State, Bridgewater State, and MassArt each receiving $20,000 to develop regional co-op partnerships beginning in fall 2026.  Participating in this initiative emphasizes FSU’s goal of ensuring every student has access to a meaningful internship, co-op, or applied learning experience without delaying graduation.

April 6, 2026

Link to Article

Proposition of a $30 million investment in a new library at Framingham State University through the Massachusetts BRIGHT Act, which would provide a modern, more accessible space for students and the broader community, as well as a central gathering place at the heart of campus.

April 3, 2026

Link to article

Governor Maura Healey is aggressively expanding Massachusetts' tuition-free Early College program, aiming to grow enrollment tenfold to 100,000 students as a way to lower degree costs and boost college access. While advocates and participating students praise the initiative for saving families tuition money and building academic confidence, some university leaders express concern these programs could unintentionally compromise educational rigor and deepen systemic inequities.

March 13, 2026

Link to article

Following Massachusetts' decision to allow colleges to experiment with sub-120-credit programs, higher education leaders are fiercely debating the value of three-year bachelor's degrees aimed at cutting college costs by 25%. While proponents view condensed degrees as a necessary response to rising tuition and changing workforce demands, critics worry the shortened timelines could compromise educational quality and create a tiered system that disproportionately affects lower-income students.

March 4, 2026

Link to article

Coming Soon