The University of Waterloo awarded Chris Hadfield with an honorary doctor of science degree from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences on Tuesday, June 10. Following the award of the degree, Hadfield, who joins the University of Waterloo as an adjunct professor later this year, addressed the auditorium:

Chris Hadfield receives his honourary doctor of science degree from Prem Watsa, Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

Chris Hadfield receives his honourary doctor of science degree from Prem Watsa, Chancellor of the University of Waterloo. Credit: University of Waterloo/Light Imaging Download image

"Thank you very much for the level of honour and recognition that comes with what has happened today, so thank you very much.  I'm deeply appreciative.

"But we're really here for the people that earned it today, all of you sitting there. I just want to talk for a few minutes about what you've done and about where you're headed.  

"For me it’s wonderful to be here in general. I went to the university here. My family is from here.  My great-grandparents settled in the area.  My grandparents were born here.  My parents were born just across the 401, before the 401 was there.  My wife and I settled here when I was a student.  We were married here in Waterloo and had our first child here in Waterloo.  

"So it is a delight, especially now after having served 26 years out of the country, to be back in Canada and to be back in Ontario, to be home in Waterloo and specifically today, of course, to be at the University of Waterloo.

"One of the beauties of looking back is that it helps you look forward and think about the things that have gotten you to where you are. It's incredible in that time since I was a graduate student here the things that have happened.  I've had so many opportunities that were enabled by what we almost take for granted as Canadians, with the broadness of the education and the level of mutual support and expectation of stability.  

"I've had the chance to defend our country as a fighter pilot flying CF18s intercepting Soviet bombers that were practising missile launches on North America.  I've had a chance to then go on to be a test pilot and research how to make airplanes fly safer - a combination of the operational side as well as the theoretical side - putting those together to make airplanes that fly more safely in the envelope.  To do research on transonic ignition of hypersonic engines, some tremendous opportunities that are the result of the background that has led me here and has led all of you here today also.

"And often it all comes together to one day, like today.  In my case it's come together to launch, but sort of what's happening today is like a launch.  

"Today didn't happen by accident.  And you don't get an incompetent person sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship and you don't get an incompetent person sitting wearing a black robe in the rows of students that are here today.  And so it's not a day that just happens randomly.  

"Today as a launch is very much a manifestation of the result of years of work, of an initial decision, of years of self-discipline, of improving yourself, of learning things you didn't know.  And then finally the day arrives, you put on the special clothes and you launch your spaceship.  And where that takes you, where it lets you look in the future, of course, is the real purpose of it all.

"Today, like a launch, is not the purpose of what's happening.  Today is the door opening, or the result of you having opened doors to all the things that are coming.  And just as when the engines shut off after eight minutes of a rugged ride, the things that you can now see and the perspectives you now have, the ability to appreciate something in a different way because of a new perspective, is the real purpose of that long, fraught process that either got you above the atmosphere or brought you to be seated in those chairs today.

"Like in any venture, of course, the next thing you ask is, where next?  What will happen now?  The Chancellor mentioned some of the opportunities that are liable to exist for you, but it's a personal choice.  It comes through external opportunity but it comes, of course, through the choices that you make and you have to decide, where are my particular values?  What is my particular measure of success?  What am I hoping to do?  And, of course, self, you have to be self-disciplined and take care of yourself, but then what else will you include in your decision making?  Family, of course, and a steadily increasing family over time and where you're from, the community you're from and the country you're from and, to some degree, the entire world.

"Looking into your heads right now - where am I going to be?  What opportunities do I have and what maybe small differences can I make?  I'm in the same boat myself; having finished one particular phase of life and moving into another it's a time to really re-address what is really important now. I've tried to simplify it for myself.  What are my long-term goals?  Because I think it's really vital.  You've had this goal to get to be able to walk on this stage today wearing your black robes and be recognised for your work that's gotten you to this point, but what is your next long-term goal now that the certification of your work is on the wall?  

"For me, having had the opportunities that I've had, I've tried to simplify my goals into how could we maintain and raise the quality of life for as many people as possible?  A goal should be large and distant, something that helps align you when you're dealing with your day-to-day decisions, something that you can look up in the distance and go, okay, I'm dealing with these problems, but how does that actually support my long-term goal? 

"For me now, my long-term goal is how can we raise the standard of living, raise the quality of life for as many of us around the world as possible?  It's at an unprecedented level.  We're feeding seven billion people on earth through the application of human intellect and capability of people like you.  

"But the part that's often been missing is sustainability.  And I think the two are the real quest that's before me and is before all of us is how can we, wherever our circle of influence is going to be, raise that standard of living to the highest level possible to give people freedom of choice and freedom of personal accomplishment while, at the same time, making that sustainable for an indefinite period?  

"It's a tremendous challenge.  It requires technology and the constant balance of the needs of our species and the needs of each other and the technology to support them.  It requires leadership, as always, and you folks are in that position whether you intend to be or not.  

"You have distinguished yourselves.  You have given yourself a set of skills that by very definition require you to take leadership in the areas that are important to you.  It requires good governance.  It requires an expectation that things I start today will still have an opportunity to flourish.  It requires international partnerships.  It can't be done alone.  And it requires communication.  You have achieved a great level of academic accomplishment, but how are you now going to share that experience, both through your work but also through your communicating of the things that you do in life?  

"The motto of the University of Waterloo is: Concordia cum veritate.  Concordia - like chords together or harmony or in concurrence with the truth. The beauty about Latin, of course, is it sounds very distinguished and you can interpret it any way you like, which I will do, because I think harmony with the truth is important.  You are very specialised in the areas that are written on the certificate that you're receiving today, but how do you blend that into the harmony of your life with everyone else?  How do you express yourself?  How do you share your life with other people?  What are the chords and the harmonies of your life and what means will you use to share that with other people?  

"I'll leave you really with just one challenge and one obligation. 

"You did not get here by yourself.  Even if you paid your way through and you live by yourself, even if you've been a significant progenitor of what's happening and got you here to today, you did not give birth to yourself.  You didn't nurse yourself.  You didn't build this building.  You didn’t build the structure and the stability and the expertise.  And you are the lucky recipient of so many peoples' hard work before you and the guidance of so many people.  But you are that recipient and now I challenge each of you to recognise that you have an absolute obligation to give that opportunity to somebody else at least once in your life.  

"Take the initiative to give at least one other person the opportunity that you have had, whether it's by teaching them directly or whether it's by giving them financial opportunity or whether contributing directly to an organisation like this one.  You're probably not in a position to do it yet, but if you keep that as one of the objectives in mind as a fundamental, life-long obligation and help perpetuate the opportunities that have existed for you and the opportunities that are coming as a result of them.  

"So harmony with the truth, Concordia cum veritate, I wish all of you the absolute very best of success in the life that is up coming.  I congratulate you and honour you and I'm happy to be one of the fellow honourees by the University of Waterloo today. I am delighted and looking forward to seeing the perspectives that you have and how they will shape the world that we're all living in for the future."

About the University of Waterloo

In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's technology hub, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 35,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, please visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

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