Cheryl D. Lovell, Ph.D.
President, Rocky Vista University
Graduation Remarks 2014

It is such an immense pleasure to have an opportunity to talk with you – the Graduating Class of 2014. I join our entire RVU community in congratulating you on your achievement today to be receiving your Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree. 

As your President, I firmly believe you are our greatest legacy — we will always be committed to your successes. After all, as a RVU graduate, your successes are our successes. I also am honored to know we now have a connection for life as you become a member of the RVU alumni association today, you will forever be a member of our RVU family. 

I’m tasked with delivering the President’s message to the Class of 2014. To provide some words of wisdom and advice I talked with several seasoned higher education leaders, veteran medical educators, a few members of last year’s graduating class, and even some of you to ask what a new DO would want to hear at his/her graduation. As you can imagine I got several interesting suggestions. Among them included:

  • Keep studying and stay disciplined with your time like you did when you were taking classes
  • Make sure your malpractice insurance is paid,
  • Stay current with your student loan repayment schedule,
  • Be an active member of the RVU Alumni Association,
  • Be a leader in your community, and
  • Live a balanced life.

From their advice and from years of participating in many college commencement ceremonies, I have decided to share advice about the “RVU Way.” 

The RVU Way is a phrase I have used many times and for many different purposes. I have talked about our successful curriculum as being the “RVU Way.” Our faculty & staff being so special, and they make up the “RVU Way.”  Our students are so talented, and this is part of the “RVU Way.” Our successful outcomes are also a byproduct of the “RVU Way.” All of those are correct and each plays a part in who we are and why we have been so successful. But now I want to add a bit more specificity to how you can uphold the “RVU Way.”  

Our university’s core values tell part of the story about the “RVU Way.” Those core values include 

  • Integrity – The quality of living a unified life in which one’s convictions are well-considered and match one’s actions, demonstrating fairness, honesty, sincerity, professionalism, and a consistent commitment to our mission, vision, and values.
  • Collegiality – Mutual respect, collaboration, and the open exchange of ideas advance mutual goals and facilitate individual growth.
  • Compassion – The willingness to be engaged with the needs of others.
  • Diversity – An awareness and dignity for all, regardless of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical ability, socioeconomic status, or individual life experiences.
  • Excellence – The commitment to exceed expectations in education.
  • Service – Through active service, we support one another and seek to meet the needs of the larger community.

These core values are important to us and we trust each of you will continue to embrace them as you move on to the next phase of your professional life. 

The RVU Way takes these core values a bit further and it talks about what you represent and how you present yourself to others. It is how you can command the most respect befitting of a physician and RVU graduate and to achieve the most rewarding life. The RVU way is founded on RVU’s core values and guides your personal and professional behavior.

These additional qualities and expectations we have of you to make up the “RVU Way” of being include:

  • How you conduct yourself professionally matters and to be aware of how your behavior impacts others around you
  • How things have to be earned without the expectation of entitlement
  • How you must have passion for your work and you must take time to have fun and lead a balanced life

Let me take each one of these and quickly expand on each. 

First, how you conduct yourself professionally matters and your awareness of how your behavior impacts those around you. Your work in your residency program is a representation of our work with you. You are the face of our University; the RVU Way must come shining through you in everything you do. It is a way of life.

Imagine your first day in your residency program. What does it look like? Of course there are the basics – arriving on time, dressed appropriately, being fully engaged and prepared for the day’s work.  Do you see yourself being responsible for your actions? Are you taking the initiative to accomplish things not yet asked of you? Are you being very attentive and providing exemplary care to your patients?  Are you getting along well with others and showing respect for your colleagues and all those you work with? Can you see yourself interacting with others with grace and compassion?  If so, you are capturing the essence of the “RVU Way.”

Often these kinds of qualities are referred to as “soft skills” as opposed to the “hard skills” required of you – the technical knowledge and competencies of being a physician. These soft skills will go a long way to elevate your status in the work setting. These skills will make you shine in the eyes of your  director of medical education and to the existing physicians in your hospital. These soft skills will inspire your colleagues to be better professionals too. They will also reflect that you are good and capable of working well with others.

Shakespeare wrote:

“She is not great who is not greatly good.”

So, the bottom line is your professional behavior is of upmost importance. Your behavior impacts others around you and reflects either positively or negatively on RVU.

The second aspect to the RVU Way involves you really have to “earn” things and realize there are no entitlements. Earn through your work is not a new concept but today many supervisors and employers lament their disappointment with recent graduates who think they are going to be the hospital CEO tomorrow. The message today is indeed you are at the top of your game…so to speak….as you are after all part of that small percentage of citizens in the world to have earned a professional degree. Remember the image you want to portray and how you would like others to see you. Keep this image in the forefront of your mind as you move forward from this day on. You will not be the CEO tomorrow or the Chief Medical Officer or the Director of Medical Education for a hospital immediately after today’s graduation.

Oh, we do anticipate you will rise quickly in your residency setting. For example, we just learned yesterday about one of our 2012 graduates who will be the Chief Resident in her program starting in July! I know there are many other stories of many other successes to share about our graduates’ successes. 

Remember and practice the RVU Way every day and you will rise to these positions – in fact we expect that of you.  These high expectations are part of the “RVU Way” for sure. 

The legendary head coach for the University of Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball team, Patricia “Pat” Summit, is noted as regularly saying “the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” 

Be the kind of person others want to be around and look up to because they can count on you to work hard and earn the reputation of serving others.

You must earn the respect of your supervisors, your colleagues, the members of the medical team, as well as the respect of your patients. You must earn it the old fashion way by working hard and especially by working smart. This quality of earning it rather than being entitled to it is a strong tenant of the “RVU Way.”

Finally the third point of the RVU Way is to have passion for your work and have fun. Passion is described as the desire, the hunger, the thirst, the craving that makes us want to accomplish more. Representing the RVU Way is having a desire to be an excellent physician. We want you to display passion for your work, your patients, and for the health care system. Your passion will drive you to accomplish more than you thought even possible. 

Having passion for one’s work adds greatly to one’s life. The key is to have fun as well.  According to Eleanor Roosevelt, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experiences to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.” And, as Walt Whitman notes in Leaves of Grass, “Do anything but let it produce joy.” Passion for work and having fun in life are key aspects to the RVU Way. 

So why this advice on the RVU Way? Clearly we want you to make us proud by carrying these core values and these tenants of the RVU Way with you. We want you to excel in your residency and continue a joyful life of serving others through medicine.

As you leave to embark on your residency you will need to keep your professional behavior in mind, learn to play and work well with others, and get the most out of work and life to enjoy it as much as possible. 

Rocky Vista University Class of 2014 you have a wonderful future ahead of you and I look forward to hearing about the hard and great work you will be doing, how you are serving others and earning respect from those around you. I cannot wait to hear back from your residency leaders about how well RVU prepared you for your successes….To hear back from them about your abilities to work well in a team. I know you will each become the type of physician and person who will make us proud. Then we will see that you have truly embraced the RVU Way. Thank you for listening.

Tags and Key Words:

Professional Behavior Matters

Integrity Matters

Earn and not be entitled