As Graduation Approaches, President Sullivan Looks to the Future

President Julie Sullivan speaks on cultivating relationships, passion and joy amidst a changing technological world with The Santa Clara’s ‘23-’24 editor-in-chief. Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rhiannon Briggs: How are you feeling approaching Commencement?

Julie Sullivan: I'm feeling like I have ten days of activities to fit into five more days.

The next few days will be giving students many opportunities to live in the moment. How should we approach these celebrations?

There'll be a lot of saying goodbye, a lot of talking about how relationships will continue with people in different physical places. Give yourself some time to do that. 

There will be a lot of happy moments, there will be some nostalgic moments. And transitions generally end up well, though you'll miss some of what you've had here.

In terms of changing relationships, do you have any advice for students who want to hold on to their connections that they've made here?

When holding on to connections, you have to be intentional, purposeful about it. So be intentional and purposeful about continuing to stay in contact and physically seeing, whenever you can, the people that you want to sustain those relationships with. And if you can't physically see them on a regular basis, find a time that you can go see one another. And plan it now. 

Every time I left my mother's house in Florida—I haven't lived with my mother since I was 17, but I love my mother, we're best friends—I would plan the next time we were going to see each other. Even if it was six or eight or nine months later, when we said goodbye, we had that planned, the next time we were going to see each other. So try to plan.

Throughout this past year, and generally with the class of 2024, there have been many movements for change. There's the adjunct lecturer negotiations, the teach-in for Palestine, the valedictorian’s movement to make student art performances free. Will you tell me about what that means to you?

I am very, very impressed with our students. They exhibit real care for themselves, for one another and for our world. I'm pleased they have issues they want to speak out about. And I think our students advocate in a way that's constructive and respectful. 

Engagement has been very big with this class, especially coming out of COVID quarantine. We didn't have a high school graduation. I think it's been important for our class in particular to engage with each other and the world around us in ways that we were prohibited from doing around this time in our high school experience.

And at the beginning of your college experience. 

Exactly. I think there's a lot of making up for lost time and lost connections. What advice do you have about moving forward, taking these steps that we haven't taken before? 

First of all, let me say how proud I am of how resourceful this class was in getting so engaged in Santa Clara with each other so quickly. I mean, you had a shorter time on campus. You really had two years fully on campus, one year fully not on campus and one year kind of in between.

I've been really impressed with the students who've stepped into leadership roles. The ASG leaders, the media leaders, the MCC, SCCAP—people have really found roles of leadership and found issues they wanted to make better on our campus. And they made some real headway.

How do you think those skills and experiences might best translate as we move forward?

I'm very confident that our students will transition easily into their next step. You're very prepared for your next step. Our students should have a lot of confidence, regardless of whether they even know what that next step is. 

I think that we put too much pressure on college graduates: that they need to know exactly what they want to do next and how that's going to lead to their long-term future. Life is a winding and curvy road with lots of changes, and even more so today. 

My daughter graduated from high school in 2008. She’s had seven jobs. She didn't have a job when she graduated, and she's had seven great jobs. She has a psychology degree, and she never said she was going to get on this path or do this or that. She's been very fulfilled that she's learned and grown and had such wonderful experiences. 

I know our students are more than capable of that. And I hope they'll leave themselves open to experience life and let it take them where it may.

In regards to these next steps, what is unique about our graduating class?

Because your class left high school and started college in isolation, I think you have greater values of in-person and personal relationships. Your class also has grown up in a period of rapid technology change and under the influence of social media. You have learned the hard way how to develop your image in your own mind, not social media. That's so important.

I don't think it's the healthiest way. Do you think technology will change how we're able to sustain our college friendships? 

I find talking to people is always such a richer mode of communication than texting or emailing. Whenever I can, I do that. I mean, even with my own kids, in their 30s and early 40s. They text me all the time, and I'll say, “pick up the phone!” There's an interchange that happens in a conversation that doesn't happen as freely in texting back and forth. 

The only real social media I use is LinkedIn, and I use it to keep up with the professional things that are happening to people. I have 10 friends on Facebook. They're all relatives. I fear that if you spend too much time, social media can be addictive. 

In terms of moving forward in a workplace where AI is rising in prominence, how do you encourage students to be confident in their roles and adjust as we move forward?

You have to be adaptable. You can't say it doesn't exist, and you have to learn how to use it and use it productively. You may have to do some experimentation. 

I think your class is one of the first classes to realize they've seen a lot of false things online and that they have to develop the skills to discern the truth, when it may be tricky. And you won't be able to just rely on AI without thinking about what AI has provided. Excitement and skepticism need to go hand in hand. 

There are many things we've learned in class—not the curricula or on the page, but experientially about the changing world around us, and our changing selves. How can we conscientiously choose to apply this knowledge as we move forward?

You've been taught to ask questions. You've been taught not to just accept things on face value. You've been taught to advocate. I think you have to just continue to use those skills. The world that I see is so polar. You're either here or you're there. And neither of the polar extremes are where reality is. It's easier to default to the polar extremes, because reality is in the middle, and it's messy. 

There are all kinds of different aspects to these issues. It's almost the opposite of courageous, going to the extreme, just saying, “Okay, I'm going to be in this camp, I can surround myself with all these people in this camp and I never have to think about anything.” 

Your generation, this class, is understanding that either extreme is not going to give you a full view of a situation. The world's not that simple. I'm hoping that you have the skills and the courage to help us deal with the messiness of the middle.

How should students find their sense of purpose? 

We often think purpose is measured by something external to ourselves. 

I'll give you my personal situation: for many years—and I still fight it—I grew up believing that I had to do everything I did really, really, really well. I was a perfectionist. And my mother gave me this idea when I was younger that it doesn’t matter what you do but that you be the best at it. I measured that perfection with outside accomplishments. 

Faith is a whole different way to measure yourself. It's not about external things. It's about whether your everyday moments, actions, conversations are consistent with the person you want. It's much more freeing. 

Perfection is not attainable, by the way. At least, it hasn't been for me.

What advice would you give for parents of this graduating class?

I hope parents will spend their time, as much as they can, trusting their children, supporting them, realizing that their path may have its twists and turns, and that's okay. 

I remember when my daughter had her fourth job and in five years. My husband said, “don't you think this is going to negatively reflect on you, to have so many jobs in such a short time?” She said, “No.” And she was right. 

We have to trust and support. We don't need to put pressure on them. They put plenty of pressure on themselves.

This story was updated for clarity.