Change course when needed, Tripathi advises Brock grads

Having a career path in mind is important, President Satish Tripathi told graduating students at Brock University on Wednesday, but he urged them to be willing to change course when needed.

Tripathi was awarded an honorary doctorate from Brock during the Ontario university’s Spring Convocation, and in his address he encouraged graduates of the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Math and Science to not be afraid to venture off that path.

“I know that each of you has set a very ambitious course and many of you are on your way to this path already,” he said. “I applaud your ambitiousness, but I caution you not to be so fixed on your intentions to close new doors before they open.”

Born in India, Tripathi said he wanted to match the career success of his teaching family.

“As a young student, I hoped I would be able to become a high school principal to follow in my father’s footsteps, and I would have been proud of that achievement,” he said. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to lead a major North American research university.”

  After graduating top of his class from Banaras Hindu University in India, Tripathi went on to earn a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto. He served as dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California-Riverside from 1997-2004 and spent the 19 years prior to that as a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, including seven years as department chair.

He was UB’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs from 2004-11 before being named the university’s 15th president in 2011.

Tripathi said what has helped him throughout his career is a willingness to listen and take advice from others, even while remaining self-reliant.

“You know the great value of sharing ideas across disciplines. This is the basis of almost all great knowledge and important discoveries,” he said. “No matter how brilliant your idea is, make sure to test it against other theories and from a different vantage point.”

The willingness to take risks is also a principle Tripathi has followed over the years. “I explored computer science when only a handful of people were doing that … I took a risk when I left India to pursue education in Canada,” he said. “There’s no magic formula for success. There comes a point where each of us must choose our own way and you’re at that point now.”

In receiving the honorary Doctor of Laws, Tripathi said he’s proud of the working relationship Brock and UB share, a relationship that goes back half a century.