Harvard University

As delivered.

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum tonight. I would like to thank Dean David Ellwood and Bill Purcell for inviting me to participate in this celebration of public service. I am honored to welcome all of you and Governor Deval Patrick to this special event during Public Service Week. You’ll hear more about the governor from Dean Ellwood, but I, too, would like to say a few words about the governor and why his being here during this week is significant.

I, and perhaps many of you here, have come to know the governor best as the leader of our state. But prior to becoming governor of the commonwealth, he served local and national communities at various points in his career as a volunteer, as an attorney, and as a senior government official. Indeed, public service has been an ongoing dimension of both his professional and personal life. Under the governor’s innovative leadership, the commonwealth is emerging from the economic downturn faster than anticipated. The governor’s administration has invested heavily in the life sciences, clean energy, IT, health care, and education — the very sectors that are leading Massachusetts out of the recession. The administration has also invested more in education, in rebuilding the state’s roads and bridges, and in public and affordable housing than any other administration in the history of the commonwealth. The governor’s example reminds us of what is possible when we dedicate our time, talent, and energy to a cause greater than ourselves. Thank you, governor, for joining us tonight.

We have arrived at a unique moment in our national history. Research conducted by the IOP [Institute of Politics] suggests that students and young adults, in numbers not seen since the 1960s, are heeding the call to serve. The spirit of public service is exemplified by the numbers of students who volunteer in their communities, who go to Washington in droves hoping to effect change through developing policy and government solutions, and the number of college-age Americans working on campaigns to advance democracy.

Public Service Week at Harvard provides the University with a special opportunity to celebrate our community’s ongoing commitment to serving the common good. By shining a spotlight on public service this week, we recognize the many contributions made by all of you every day. This week is really about your hard work. It is about your teaching, your research, and your volunteer efforts. Kennedy School students and graduates lead nonprofits and NGOs. You lead rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and spearhead preservation efforts for our nation’s natural treasures. I know that the School will be leading clean-up efforts at local parks tomorrow for the Kennedy School day of service. Thank you for all that you do.

My predecessor, Derek Bok, once wrote that “universities have a major opportunity and responsibility to set about the task of training a corps of people to occupy influential positions in public life.” Training leaders for public life is the core of what the Kennedy School does, and it accomplishes this in many ways. Here are a few.

The Kennedy School offers programs for service-oriented executives at every level of their professional life, but has a particular focus on developing leaders at the beginning and middle of their careers, through master’s and executive-education programs, so that they have a lifetime to make a difference.

Educating and training students from more than 80 countries, the Kennedy School transcends boundaries and transforms nations. As a former Kennedy School dean [Graham Allison] put it: “Public policy and management do not stop at the water’s edge.” The internationalization of the School’s teaching, research, and student body is an integral component of the School’s central mission. Counted among the Kennedy School’s alumni are United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Founded as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, from whom Americans of my generation heeded a call to service, the Institute of Politics serves as a bridge between academia and politics, working to unite and engage students, particularly our undergraduates, with academics, politicians, activists, and policy makers, and to nurture their interest in public service and leadership. Harvard undergraduates are applying to IOP programs in record numbers. The director’s internship and summer stipend programs saw 60 percent and 120 percent increases, respectively, last year. The selected students spent their summers in a variety of places, ranging from Punjab to Sao Paolo, from San Francisco to Cape Town. One student spent this past summer working for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s office on health policy. Thrown into the center of a national debate, this student spent his days talking to constituents and working on policy analysis. This student has ambitions to return to Capitol Hill after graduation.

Through its research and policy centers, the Kennedy School works to identify and address our most pressing challenges. Students and faculty at the Kennedy School work on issues, such as climate change, world hunger, welfare reform, and international security, among other things.

One particular problem that has great implications for our country is one in which Dean Ellwood is particularly interested. The federal government — comprised of 1.9 million men and women — is expected to lose nearly one-third of its most talented and experienced employees, largely as a result of the baby boomer retirement wave. As a former federal employee, the dean approaches this problem with a personal perspective. As a dean, he also gets a fresh perspective from the Kennedy School community. He understands that salaries for even the most senior officers in government pale in comparison to those in the private sector, and must be made more equitable to attract the best and the brightest into public service.

He understands the challenges presented by the recruiting calendar ¬— that the private sector recruits earlier and faster than the public sector. He understands that creating financial incentives or expanding loan repayment opportunities are ways to help make the transition from student to public leader a little smoother, something he is working on for students here. Since he has become dean, the Kennedy School has nearly doubled financial aid to students and increased funding to the loan repayment assistance fund, helping students after graduation. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather see on this case.

President Kennedy once wrote that “the educated citizen has an obligation to serve the public. He may be a precinct worker or a president. He may give his talents at the courthouse, the state house, the White House. He may be a civil servant or a senator, a candidate or a campaign worker, a winner or a loser. But he must be a participant and not a spectator.” Tonight we celebrate those who participate. Thank you.