Ben Wise

Hello, I’m Ben Wise, and I am proud to be graduating from The University of Texas at Dallas. I’d like to welcome our faculty, staff, family, friends, and most importantly, the School of Arts and Humanities’ Class of 2022.

Today is a big day for us — we are turning a page, and in doing so moving onto another chapter in our lives. Just as with any new and unfamiliar experience, we’re going to get nerves, anxiety, the jitters — whatever you might call it, we’ve all had that little nagging feeling of uncertainty about our futures after we leave the place that has become our home.

Luckily, we’ve made it through what is hopefully the most uncertain time of our lives. We’re going to get a degree in our hands — a certificate that proves we are ready for whatever is coming next. For some, having that degree is the ultimate goal — it can open up new opportunities or pay scales, proving our worth to some external entity. However, this graduation isn’t about celebrating our pieces of paper, it’s about celebrating us. We are ready for the future because we’ve learned how to think, how to read and how to create whole new worlds during our time here. I hope that in this room together, we can remind ourselves that the School of Arts and Humanities has made us better in ways that aren’t going to be framed and put on the wall.

We’re often tempted to valorize what we do for its worth in the professional world — as students in the arts and humanities, we develop our critical thinking, our logical reasoning, and our ability to perform research, among many other valuable skills. These are all great things that will stay with us long after we’ve left UTD. However, there is a deeper value to the arts than what we’re going to put on our LinkedIn profiles. We don’t need a market incentive to create beauty in the world; not everything in our lives needs to be monetized or quantified. We pursue the arts and humanities because we are called to make people think and feel differently about the world through our creations, and because we’re passionate about the art and the scholarship that happens here in A&H.

What we have in A&H is very special — as the smallest school, we have the ability to form deep connections among ourselves and with our professors. As a singer, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the same teacher since I was a freshman and to make music with the same pianist for over a year. After having to sing over Zoom for much of a year, just being able to perform my junior recital in a room together with friends was magical. Those relationships are also a big part of the support system that I’m glad to have had from A&H. We’re constantly reminded that everyone deserves grace and respect as we (fingers crossed) emerge from the ongoing pandemic. Now, as we go out into the “real world,” I want us to remember our experience of creating a caring and supportive community here and to reiterate that where we can in our daily lives. Show others the care we all need and, even more importantly, have that same compassion for yourself.

I would like to take a moment to thank our professors. In my experience, A&H professors see us first as people and then as students — they ask how everyone’s day is going, recommend books or songs they think we’d like, or even bring cookies to our midterm. They produce brilliant new scholarship, but we interact with them most as our teachers — passing on their wealth of information to a new generation of writers and artists with a passion for both their fields of study and their students. On a personal level, I especially want to acknowledge a few people that have really shaped my experience at UTD. Dr. Palant, Dr. Parsoneault, and Nili Bueckert have all guided my growth as a singer and as a person. Dr. Alibhai has supported me in whatever direction I wanted to go, even when I was changing my path every other week. Finally, Megan Gray Hering has always been there for me and for half of the school as an advisor, but has also had an immeasurable effect on the culture of the School of Arts and Humanities — she has gone above and beyond to really build a feeling of community and fellowship in A&H.

To everyone who made this occasion possible — from those keeping us safe during the return to in-person classes and events to the staff coordinating this ceremony — I want to say thank you. You helped us get to where we are today, ready to move on to our next step in life. Finally, to my fellow graduates, I want you to remember something. No matter how unrecognizably beautiful the campus gets after we’re gone, no matter the incredible things we’ll go on to do after leaving here, UTD will always be a home for us. Now, go forth and bring the joy, passion and empathy we cultivated in A&H out into the world! Here’s to you, Class of 2022!

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Ben Wise is graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in visual and performing arts and summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in public affairs. He came to UT Dallas from Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been involved in several student organizations including the men’s volleyball club and Comet Opera. He has mentored students as a Gemini Ambassador and as a leader in the Liberal Arts Honors Cohort. He also served as the co-director of Novis, UTD’s premier a cappella group. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies and has made the dean’s list multiple times. He has been a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and studied art history while abroad in Florence, Italy. He also volunteers his time as a member of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. After graduation, he plans to attend law school.