University marshal Loretta Thielman carries the graduation mace at UW-Stout

UW-Stout Chancellor Bob Meyer drew on the lives of two very different people – the late Chancellor Emeritus Charles W. Sorensen and Nick Nelson, a freshman who died this year – to illustrate courage, serving others and being grateful, while delivering his eighth commencement address Saturday, May 5, in Johnson Fieldhouse. A total of 1,146 undergraduate students received bachelor’s degrees and 233 Graduate School students received master’s and doctoral degrees in three ceremonies. Sorensen, who served UW-Stout as chancellor for 26 years, died in February of complications from a stroke. Nelson, a computer science-game design major from Mondovi, died of complications from muscular dystrophy in March. Meyer said of Sorensen, “He’s a big reason why UW-Stout is a widely respected university today, why we have an incredible 98.2 percent employment rate for graduates and why we’re known as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University.” Meyer pointed out many changes that took place under Sorensen, including new and renovated buildings, the laptop program for all students and doubling the number of academic programs. Nelson, Meyer said, “faced life’s toughest challenges and didn’t complain. He embraced the challenge. Even with his physical limitations, he thought of others. ... Today, as you leave this hall, I hope that you will think about Chuck Sorensen and Nick Nelson. Consider how valuable their lives were, albeit in very different ways. But there is no template for life, is there?” Meyer said. He then quoted the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus, who said: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” ... “How will you react to the opportunities and obstacles in your life in the years to come?” Meyer asked. “Will you be courageous enough to try to change the world, like Chuck and Nick?”