Innovation Icon Tells UMaine Grads it's Time to Break Away from "Baby Boomer Conformity"
Doug Hall '81 Addresses 206th Commencement

May 10, 2008
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

Embargoed until 3:30 p.m. Saturday May 10.

ORONO -- In a lively commencement address, master inventor and renowned entrepreneur Doug Hall encouraged the 1,860 members of the University of Maine Class of 2008 "to create and take action on ideas for a better world," and to do a better job than the Baby Boomer generation of leading American society to a brighter future.

"It's clear that my generation -- the last wave of the Baby Boomers -- is not a candidate for the Greatest Generation. Then again, we have not been really tested as those in 1776, 1861 or 1942 were," said Hall, who earned a UMaine chemical engineering degree in 1981. "It's not that we've done bad things, it's just that, in my opinion, we've become distracted -- distracted from turning the hopes of youth, our dreams for a better world, into reality as we've come face-to-face with the real world."

In a 10-minute talk laced with humor and reflective insights, Hall went on to encourage the new graduates to lead a revolution against conformity. "In particular," he said, "a revolution against the thinking of me and my fellow Baby Boomers."

To illustrate his advice, Hall offered a "new Declaration of Independence" for the graduates to consider. It included advice about ways to assert their rights to find professional and personal fulfillment.

"To secure these rights, we must stand against the conformity of Baby Boomer thinking," he said. "We must take responsibility for thinking for ourselves just as that band of radical revolutionaries -- Franklin, Adams and Jefferson -- did."

After his UMaine graduation, Hall went to work for Procter & Gamble. After a legendary 10-year career, during which he set new standards for innovation and invention, Hall retired to start his own business. That business, based in Cincinnati and now known as Eureka! Ranch, works with businesses and individuals to develop new ideas and find creative pathways to profitable growth. Hall also remains closely affiliated with his alma mater, where he has been a driving force behind developing UMaine's unique Innovation Engineering curriculum and its Foster Student Innovation Center. Dubbed "The Idea Guru" by Inc.com, Hall has gained international acclaim for his work as an author and public speaker. He was one of three panelists of the ABC television show "American Inventor."

A total of approximately 11,000 family members and friends attended the two ceremonies -- one beginning at 10 a.m. and one at 2:30 p.m. -- held inside UMaine's Harold Alfond Sports Arena. The graduates include 27 who earned doctoral degrees.

UMaine President Robert Kennedy presided over the ceremonies.

"We hope that we have taught you to inquire relentlessly, to think clearly and reasonably, and to be concerned about the future of our state, our country and our culture," Kennedy said in his charge to graduates.

The ceremonies featured the conferral of honorary doctorates on Hall and on sculptor and educator Celeste Roberge. Hall received a doctor of engineering degree at the afternoon ceremony. During the morning session, Roberge received a doctor of humane letters degree. She is a University of Florida faculty member who graduated from UMaine in 1975. Roberge maintains a summer studio in Maine and her work is on display at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, the Portland Museum of Art and other noted galleries in Maine and beyond. As a UMaine student, she co-founded UMaine's Franco-American Centre and served as editor-in chief of its "Le FAROG Forum" publication.

UMaine faculty members played a prominent role in the commencement ceremonies, as well. For the first time since the award's 1963 inception, two professors shared the University of Maine Alumni Association's Distinguished Maine Professor award. Education professor Janice Kristo and electrical engineering professor John Vetelino each addressed the graduates, in keeping with a long-held UMaine tradition.

During the ceremonies, Kennedy also recognized and congratulated the winners of UMaine's other top annual faculty awards:

• Mary Ellen Camire of the Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award

• Alan Cobo-Lewis of the Dept. of Psychology, Presidential Public Service Achievement Award

• Gail Werrbach of the School of Social Work, Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award

The Class of 2008 valedictorian is Marianne Schneider of Jena, Germany. She earned degrees in international affairs and economics, along with minors in French and Canadian studies, in just three and a half years. She is also an Honors College graduate. After a summer internship at the Washington, D.C.-based American Institute for German Studies, she will pursue a master's degree in international economic studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The class salutatorian is Anh Do, a native of Hanoi, Vietnam. She earned a business degree with a double concentration in accounting and finance. An active member of the UMaine community, Do was involved in Student Government, the All Maine Women Honor Society, the student investment portfolio project known as SPIFFY, and several other organizations. She has taken a job as a research analyst at the New York City brokerage firm Sterne Agee. In September, she will take a nine-month leave of absence to pursue a master's degree in finance at the University of Cambridge in England.

This is the first time that UMaine's valedictorian and salutatorian have both been international students.

University of Maine System Board of Trustees member Paul Mitchell of Waterville, a 1949 UMaine graduate, brought greetings from the board to the morning ceremony and he assisted in the conferral of degrees. Board member Marjorie Medd of Norway, Maine, spoke at the afternoon ceremony and helped to confer the degrees.

John Rohman, a 1968 UMaine graduate who is chair of the University of Maine Alumni Association Board of Directors, welcomed the new graduates at both ceremonies to the ranks of the more than 95,000 living University of Maine alumni.

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