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Harvard Chan graduates urged to stay alert to unexpected opportunities

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“You are not just creating a resume. You are creating a biography,” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Dean Julio Frenk told graduates at the School’s 2015 Commencement ceremony. He urged graduates to stay alert for “the tap on the shoulder from unexpected opportunities,” and to not be afraid to follow career paths that diverge from traditional trajectories.

In his final Commencement address before stepping down as dean later this summer, Frenk told graduates, “As you move forward from today, I urge you to make decisions based on your deepest values.”

At the Commencement ceremony, held on a sunny afternoon before an enthusiastic crowd of graduates and their families in a tent in Kresge courtyard, 519 degrees were awarded: 28 doctors of philosophy, 51 doctors of science, 323 masters of public health, 132 masters of science, and 12 masters of arts. Graduates came from 32 countries and 34 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia. Fifty-nine percent of the graduates were women. At a festive reception the evening before Commencement, awards were presented to 24 students, 9 faculty, and 4 staff members.