A promise of vigilance
Marc Tessier-Lavigne offers bold vision of university’s future in campus speech
STANFORD — Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Stanford University’s new president, used his inaugural address on Friday morning to lay out a bold vision of the university’s future, urging support for the liberal arts, student diversity and the translation of academic research into real-world applications in fields ranging from biomedicine to anthropology.
“We see a blurring of disciplinary lines in problems our students will be tackling throughout their careers,” said Tessier-Lavinge, who has a dual degree in philosophy and physiology from England’s Oxford University.
Speaking to an elegant throng at Frost Amphitheater, in crisp autumn air and under cobalt skies, Tessier Lavinge cited the accomplishments of Stanford alumni with liberal arts degrees, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, a philosophy major; U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a history major; and Dana Gioia, California’s poet laureate, who majored in English literature.
The new Stanford president also vowed vigilance for racial tolerance and free speech, an expansion of the on-campus roles of women and minorities; and rejection of sexual violence on a campus still reeling from the sexual-assault conviction of former student-athlete Brock Turner.
Tessier-Lavigne, 56, succeeds John Hennessy, a computer scientist who is returning to teaching after leading Stanford through 16 years of steady growth and numerous initiatives.
The appointment of neuroscientist Tessier-Lavinge as its 11th president underscores Stanford’s continued commitment to science and has worried those who support the liberal arts.
He comes from The Rockefeller University, a premier biomedical research institution in New York City — which, unlike Stanford, doesn’t have a multidisciplinary undergraduate school.
Stanford is striving to boost interest in the humanities, even as a growing number of its students seek degrees in engineering, math and computer science
Friday morning’s inaugural ceremonies of prayers, music and speeches was attended by alumni and VIPs, including Stanford alumna Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Stanford President Donald Kennedy. Speakers included Hennessy and former President Gerhard Casper, now president of the American Academy in Berlin.
A major highlight of the morning
was a moving guitar tribute by Tessier-Lavigne’s son Kyle, a Dartmouth graduate and software engineer at San Francisco’s Sighten. Other family members included daughter Ella, a Stanford freshman; son Christian, a Princeton graduate and engineer; wife Mary Hynes, a neuroscientist; and Tessier-Lavigne’s 80-year-old mother, Sheila, who earned a bachelor’s degree after raising her family.
A native of Canada who grew up in Europe and was the first member of his family to attend college, Tessier-Lavigne asserted his commitment to financial aid and diversity.
He criticized the lack of federal funding for basic scientific research and urged the strengthening of the nation’s infrastructure to move laboratory discoveries to the patient’s bedside.
Tessier-Lavigne was a professor of biological sciences at Stanford from 2001 to 2005, while also leading research at the South San Francisco biotech company Genentech, now a subsidiary of Roche.
As a leader in New York City’s nascent bioscience industry, he helped establish the New York Genome Center, collaborating with other local academic institutions, city government and private businesses to propel the effort. He began his academic career as an assistant professor of anatomy at UC San Francisco in 1991.
His wife is an associate professor at The Rockefeller University, where she studies the development of dopaminergic neurons — critical nerve cells whose degeneration causes the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Tessier-Lavigne’s inauguration speech was part of a festivities-filled day on campus, during its annual Reunion Weekend. After the formal ceremonies, participants headed to the Quad for a reception. There a long line of people waited to greet Tessier-Lavigne and his wife; Steve Denning, chairman of Stanford’s Board of Trustees, and his wife, Roberta.
“As we leave here today, I ask every one of you to join me in developing a bold vision for the future, a vision of Stanford in the 21st century that leverages all of our resources,” he said. “That is our responsibility — to deploy Stanford’s tremendous strengths and vast intellectual capacity for the benefit of humanity.”