On behalf of the Denison Board of Trustees, I'd like to welcome you all to Denison University's 162nd Annual Commencement exercises.

I am particularly pleased to be here today, first, because my son Ben will soon walk across this platform, and second, because when I walked across this platform 33 years ago, the commencement speaker was a young mayor from Indianapolis.

He was an inspiring speaker then, and I'm sure that now, with a much broader and deeper resume, he will be inspirational as well.

Finally, I'd like to ask all the graduates to join me in a round of applause for their mothers. We wouldn't be here without them, and it's their day, too.