2022 Commencement Address by Interim President Cody Teets

Below are the remarks given to the Regis University Class of 2022 by Interim President Cody Teets.

Regis University Class of 2022, CONGRATULATIONS!  You have faced and endured unprecedented challenges to get to this day.  You have shown grit and grace to bend and adapt to constant change and the unknown.  Above all this, you have remained hopeful and determined. 

You are amazing.  I recognize that we all need love and encouragement to be amazing.  To the friends and family of the Class of 2022, thank you for your foundation and inspiration.  To the faculty and staff of Regis University, thank you for your wisdom and example.  To my fellow Trustees, thank you for your courage and servant leadership. 

Graduates, we are grateful and blessed that you chose Regis University to fulfill your academic ambitions.  Thank you.  Know that our community is better off and sharper because of your commitment to Regis University.  

As an alumna, as a faculty member, as a Trustee and now as your Interim President, I can tell you with delight and confidence that your degree from Regis University has forever changed you and the world is awaiting your gifts. 

Through our Jesuit Catholic mission and values, you will forever see the world through the lens ofcura personalis as women and men for and with others.  Your Jesuit Catholic education has taught you how to think, not what to think.  Whatever your discipline and area of study, your faculty have offered the chance for lively debate about issues that matter for human dignity, just communities and the common good.  You see faith and reason as complementary rather than competing. 

You have also learned about the Jesuit ideal of magis or striving for the more.  Saint Ignatius of Loyola advised the early members of the Jesuits to discern how their choices could be guided to the greater service of God and the universal good. Magis is tied to solidarity and justice and calls us to defend human dignity, deliver on human rights and responsibilities and to dedicate ourselves to the common good of all.  Magis reminds us that there is no them, only us.   We truly are better together!!

Our Jesuit Catholic education at Regis University and the ideal of magis reminds us that who we are is God’s gift to us and our gift back to God is what we do with who we choose to be.  Let this ideal of magis become a reality for you in your day-to-day by maximizing every opportunity and experience.  Never be complacent.  Never settle.  Always aim for more. 

Cherish and honor the weight and impact of your diploma from Regis University. 

On December 30, our neighbors in Boulder County were severely impacted by the fast moving and devastating Marshall Fire.  We sprang into action to identify and reach out to members of our Regis University who were directly impacted.  One of our nursing graduates found her pin in the rubble of her burnt out home and wrote to tell us of the hope and solace she felt from this discovery.  We proactively sent duplicate diplomas to all of our graduates within the range of the fire.  The responses we received were overwhelming.  One alumna wrote, “I received my diploma today and I’m so grateful to you and Regis University for replacing something that meant so much to me.  In her words, “ I was the first in my family to graduate from college at the age of 42, my parents drove from Tennessee to watch me walk in the graduation.   My degree supported a very successful career and I will be forever grateful to Regis for the opportunity to obtain a degree in your professional studies program.” 

Beauty can spring from tragedy.  Imagine the world today had St. Ignatius of Loyola not been wounded by a cannon ball and inspired during his long recovery to rededicate his prior life as a soldier to God and education.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote as a prisoner from Birmingham jail to remind us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  We are caught in an inescapable world of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Let the Jesuit Catholic mission and values from your time at Regis University be your guide.  Be champions for the vulnerable.  Open up the world for the marginalized.  Seek the common good for all.  Recognize God in all people and things. 

Jesuit Father Michael J. Graham said, “Service is what prayer looks like when it gets up off its knees and walks around in the world.”  The world is yours.  Serve it well.  And know you will always have a home at Regis University.