Treas. Sec. speaks to Wharton grads

By the way Assaf Tranopolsky greeted the recipients of master's degrees from the Wharton School, one wouldn't have thought someone about to embark on a serious corporate career stood before them.

"Wassup!" the president of the Wharton Graduate Association yelled to the approximately 200 graduates assembled at Sunday's ceremony for Wharton MBAs at Franklin Field.

But, despite this playful beginning, the crowd got serious when keynote speaker, United States Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, began his address. He largely centered his speech on today's technologically advanced world.

Summers -- sworn in as Treasury Secretary last year -- began his speech by illustrating the rapid technological developments of the last decade.

While climbing into a canoe to leave a remote village in C“te d'Ivoire, he remembered being surprised as he was handed a cell phone and told "[Former Treasury Secretary] Bob Rubin has a question for you."

Summers noted how today, even when isolated and far from civilization, most still can't escape the grasp of technology.

Contrasting his experience in Western Africa, Summers recollected how only nine years he had been so impressed simply to find himself with able to call his friends and family from inside a car.

"I can't imagine what life was like before there were copy machines," said Summers. "I can very well remember what life was like before e-mail and before word processing, but my children can't."

"We are for the first time in history a truly global economy," Summers told graduates, illustrating his point by noting that more than 40 percent of the MBA class was made up of students from outside of the United States.

Despite changes in the economy, Summers suggested that this era was not necessarily unique and warned graduates to heed the lessons of the past.

"I would suggest to you that there have been other moments when the economy was doing remarkably well," Summers said. "The late 1920s were such a time as well."

Summers concluded his speech by urging grauduates to become involved in public service.

After Summers' speech, the graduates each got their chance to walk across the stage and receive their rewards for years of work at Wharton -- their diplomas.

The Class of 2000 also presented to Wharton Dean Patrick Harker the class gift, $147,000 raised to build a study room in the Wharton's new Huntsman Hall, still under construction.

Last year, Summers' predecessor, Robert Rubin, delivered the main address at the commencement ceremony.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.