Michael V. Drake, the outgoing president of the 10-campus University of California system, made an unannounced appearance Sunday morning as UC Merced's commencement speaker.
More than 1,500 students graduated over the course of three ceremonies during the weekend, representing the largest graduating class of the school’s 20-year-history, UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said.
Drake, the 21st UC president and the first African American to hold the role, delivered advice Sunday to 800 graduates from the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts: don’t settle, strive for excellence.
“UC Merced is an inspiring reality, a real success story for the entire country, and you are all now a part of that success story,” Drake said.
He mentioned that exactly 30 years ago on May 18, 1995, the Board of Regents approved Merced as the site of the 10th and newest UC campus.
“Hail to the path and all that has gone on to bring us here to this day,” Drake added.
He relayed to graduates the three most important messages he’s retained from officiating more than 125 graduation ceremonies in his career: 1) Always be prepared, 2) mistakes are normal and 3) give your best.
As an example, he narrated the story of how he improvised a nine-minute speech in 2014 at UC Irvine, after a teleprompter malfunctioned in front of 45,000 people during a live television broadcast.
President Barack Obama’s guest appearance at that particular graduation had attracted mass attention.
“The point was I knew my speech, I knew what I wanted to say, and when the teleprompter went off, I kept going on with the message, and it worked OK, and we were able to get through the rough moment,” Drake said.
“It's always good to do your best, to be prepared, so in case there's a rough moment, in case your teleprompter goes off in front of live TV, you can continue to move forward.”
Last July, Drake announced he’d be stepping down from his role as UC president at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. His successor, James B. Milliken, chancellor of the University of Texas system, will begin in his new role August 1.
Drake’s been praised for his leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic and has been criticized for his response to campus protests in support of Palestine. He’s also been a loyal supporter of UC Merced and attended the groundbreaking for the university's medical education building last May.
‘Opening a campus anywhere was a big endeavor, and opening one in the Central Valley was going to take quite a bit of effort,” Drake said during Sunday’s presentation.
“Merced was chosen because of the will of the people of the region. Thousands of people wrote letters, thousands of children wrote letters, about why Merced should be the home of the new UC campus.”
During Sunday’s ceremony, Munoz presented Drake with UC Merced’s Chancellor’s Medal, the university’s highest honor.
Previous recipients have included former first lady Michelle Obama and Cruz Bustamante, California’s former lieutenant governor.
Prior to his time as UC president, Drake served as president of Ohio State University from 2014 to 2020. He was also chancellor of UC Irvine from 2005 to 2014.
He also holds faculty appointments at the UCSF School of Medicine as a professor of ophthalmology and at the UC Riverside School of Medicine as a professor of medicine, according to his biography.