166th Augustana Commencement address, May 23, 2026

Remarks from President Andrea Talentino

Congratulations! This is an exciting and hard-earned day. Welcome to all the family and friends, faculty, staff, and trustees who have helped make this day possible in one way or another, and to our speaker and his family.

My topic today is renewal and change. One of the most well-known renewals in history is the period we call the Renaissance, which occurred roughly from the middle of the 14th century to the middle of the 17th. It was a time of cultural, artistic, political, and economic rebirth. Europe had been stagnant for the previous centuries, falling behind many other parts of the world in intellectual and cultural development and trade. The Renaissance was a flowering of sorts, with some of the most influential artists, thinkers, and leaders of the Western world living during that period. 

The Renaissance was driven by a movement called humanism, an intellectual awakening rooted in the study of antiquity and the rediscovery of Greek and Roman culture and values. Humanism was also the birthplace of the liberal arts, which it viewed as important to the growth and health of civic society. Altogether the Renaissance was a time of deep intellectual inquiry, commitment to art and science, technological development through such things as the printing press and international financial structures, and increasing connection through trade. Thought, culture, and goods moved freely across the world, east to west and west to east. 

I refer to that time because some of the realities of our world today—swiftly developing technology, political division, and distrust of science—are calling us to remember some important parts of Renaissance thought. Our world is changing quickly in ways that feel unsettling and even perhaps dangerous. And at the same time, the value of the liberal arts has been criticized as unconnected to the “real world,” providing low return on investment, and outdated in a technology driven job market. 

Yet while public perception is low, employers consistently rate the intellectual habits of mind that the liberal arts teach as desirable and essential. A survey from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, first conducted in 2021 and repeated in 2025, found that employers view the knowledge and skills learned from a liberal arts education as critical to professional success. (AACU 2025).

Why is that? At this moment when the world feels chaotic and politicians, pundits, and the media question the value of education, why is it that the liberal arts emerge as so essential? The answer is simple, and best provided by one of the great thinkers of the Renaissance, Rene Descartes, who said “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things” (Descartes, 2017)  

Doubt is the wellspring of discovery. And at Augustana you have learned to model Descartes’ seeker of truth. You have doubted. Sometimes, yourself. At all times, the answers you are given, and you have demanded further inquiry. The world needs your leadership now, in doubting all things.

For just as was true in the Renaissance, doubt will bring innovation. For you, the Class of 2026, innovation is no longer a buzzword for invention, or a description of a great disruption to a specific industry. Rather, innovation is the baseline expectation for how you will engage with the world. You will succeed precisely because of your ability to adapt, change, adjust, and foresee. And what you will succeed in doing is what we might call micro-innovation—envisioning how to improve a process or community, work with technology, collaborate with others in any setting, or create a new way of thinking about something well known. Innovation is not just about launching a rocket. It is about untangling every day frictions and improving what’s around you.

One of the collaborators you will have in this effort is artificial intelligence. That may seem a stretch, to consider AI a collaborator, but that is what it is. Generative AI and automation are omnipresent in our lives, from our workplace to our leisure. Knowing how to use AI is not sufficient. To be successful in this world you need to know how to direct it. For now at least, you are the brains and the driver. You think, AI compiles. Only you will know your purpose, even as you rely on AI to help provide your path. 

Agility and adaptability will be necessary. Because change is no longer a temporary condition but a lasting and defining feature of the world we live in today. You will succeed by learning, unlearning, and relearning quickly. The world of 2026 doesn’t expect you to have all the answers, but it will expect you to know what questions to ask when the rules change tomorrow. 

Fortunately, you are well prepared for this world, for the core tenets of a liberal arts education are exactly what fuel the micro-innovation mindset. Let me remind you how. 

Your Augustana education has taught you synthesis over silos. Innovation rarely comes from inventing something out of thin air, but from connecting two previously unrelated dots. You are trained to link frameworks across disciplines and bring different structures of thought to a challenge. Bring that confidence to your next endeavor and be the leader who says, what if. What if we organized this differently? What if we consider an alternative perspective?

Augustana has also taught you to ask the why behind the how. Technology can tell us how to do almost anything—fix a dishwasher, install new cabinets, groom a dog, build a bomb. But technology never asks why we are doing it in the first place. When fixing your dishwasher, that’s probably ok. When developing a complex initiative or seeking to advance a community, it’s probably not. 

At Augustana you have learned to challenge assumptions and look for root causes rather than symptoms. You will be the leaders who start not with asking how to improve a process, but asking why it exists. And when you ask, you know how to listen to and integrate alternative viewpoints rather than to fear them. 

Finally, you are comfortable with uncertainty. There’s no instruction manual for navigating an entirely new technology paradigm or political upheaval. And to that, you say, no problem. The liberal arts are built on ambiguity. Every answer you find raises more questions. That probably drove you crazy in your classes but it will serve you well for the rest of your life. So as the rules of the game shift around you, you will not panic. You are used to navigating grey areas, weighing different ethical frameworks, and making informed decisions even when you don’t have all the information. 

As you leave this campus, remember that you are the leaders the world will lean on. And though we live in an age where people express great certainty on topics, whether informed or not, never be afraid to express doubt. In the words of Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century Tunisian philosopher, “He who finds a new path is a pathfinder, even if the trail has to be found again by others, and he who walks far ahead of his contemporaries is a leader, even though centuries pass before he is recognized as such.” (Khaldun).

Find new paths and walk out front. Godspeed. 

References:

Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). 2025. The Agility Imperative: How Employers View Preparation for an Uncertain Future. https://www.aacu.org/research/the-agility-imperative

Descartes, Rene. 2017. Principles of Philosophy.