Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. When Ann Badmus contacted me to ask whether I’d be willing to speak at this year’s Immigrant Journey Awards luncheon I accepted immediately because her husband and I shared a common past. We were both graduate students at the University of Delaware starting a journey that is taken by many immigrants following the path of higher education to a better future. At that time, though, I did not know that I would be staying on in the U.S. – my goal was to get a doctorate and then return to India armed with the latest knowledge in my chosen area.
I thought this was going to be an easy task – I’d talk about myself, my journey from graduate student to president of one of the largest universities in Texas and arguably …show more content…
who came here as immigrants and then went back to their countries of origin hoping to make a difference, to use their knowledge to accelerate progress there and, for one reason or another, found that the climate needed to make those advances and changes from within just did not exist and returned to the country that provided them so many opportunities, and then continued to offer them again after their second entry.
We need to stop focusing on one or the other – the immigrant or the nation that provided the opportunity – and start celebrating both. As immigrants we are all proud, or should be proud, of being Americans. Surely we can feel pride simultaneously in our heritage and the nation that made our success possible. So, yes, I’m proud of my Indian roots and heritage, but I’m American, plain and simple, not “some country” hyphen “American.”
Backgrounds and stories, whether are we here as first generation immigrants or our ancestors came here generations ago, we should all be bound by a strong and powerful commonality – a faith that should be immovable based on all the success stories that are repeated and that we see every day – that in this country hard work, creativity, and innovation can and will ensure that each of us has the ability to make of our lives what we will. That is something to cherish, to celebrate, and to protect as a way of
I thought this was going to be an easy task – I’d talk about myself, my journey from graduate student to president of one of the largest universities in Texas and arguably …show more content…
who came here as immigrants and then went back to their countries of origin hoping to make a difference, to use their knowledge to accelerate progress there and, for one reason or another, found that the climate needed to make those advances and changes from within just did not exist and returned to the country that provided them so many opportunities, and then continued to offer them again after their second entry.
We need to stop focusing on one or the other – the immigrant or the nation that provided the opportunity – and start celebrating both. As immigrants we are all proud, or should be proud, of being Americans. Surely we can feel pride simultaneously in our heritage and the nation that made our success possible. So, yes, I’m proud of my Indian roots and heritage, but I’m American, plain and simple, not “some country” hyphen “American.”
Backgrounds and stories, whether are we here as first generation immigrants or our ancestors came here generations ago, we should all be bound by a strong and powerful commonality – a faith that should be immovable based on all the success stories that are repeated and that we see every day – that in this country hard work, creativity, and innovation can and will ensure that each of us has the ability to make of our lives what we will. That is something to cherish, to celebrate, and to protect as a way of