MIT “ Speaks President Sally Kornbluth Charge to the Class 2026”

 

SALLY KORNBLUTH: Teddy and Heba, thank you both for your remarks and for your leadership. So technically, as MIT'S President, it is now my job to deliver a charge to the graduates. But this year, I faced this assignment with a serious case of humility.

You are entering a world that I am certain you'll navigate better than I could. So for your charge, I decided to draw on a special resource, the collective wisdom of our alumni. I talk with a lot of MIT graduates around the world, across the country, and on our own faculty. They each put it their own way, but nearly all of them talk about how MIT changed their lives. It wasn't a subject they studied or a particular skill they acquired. It was the whole MIT experience of living and working here together and belonging to a community with our distinctive passions, and values. So as you go into the world, I want to emphasize a few of those values that will serve you wherever you go. The banners and Lobby 7 feature our MIT value statement.

 So let's focus on two words at the top, excellence and curiosity. Now, excellence is an easy thing to say. Most companies claim it, probably every university too, but I have never seen a community live its commitment to excellence the way it is done at MIT. It's easy to measure in the outward accomplishments of our faculty and our graduates-- the prizes, the discoveries, the inventions,The architecture in the industries, the companies, and the cures. But you also feel it here every day when everyone you meet in the hallway wants to tell you about what they're working on, and it just blows you away. As members of this community, we strive to hold ourselves to the highest standards of intellectual and creative excellence. Just as important, we inspire each other to reach for those standards too. As one timely metaphor, this week, 400 of you apparently felt that earning a degree from MIT wasn't hard enough, so you also had to jump out of a plane.

 

As an institution, we support these standards of individual excellence with a systematic focus on merit, for instance, no legacy admissions. no backdoor admissions for donors. And that is because we value potential over pedigree. A long ago colleague had a sign in his office.It said "If you take a lick of the lollipop of mediocrity, you will suck forever." Now let me be clear, I'm talking about self-discipline, not self-regard. In the work we do, a conscious commitment to excellence is not the same as arrogance. In fact, it's the opposite. The American poet Walt Whitman captured this idea as he wrote, "I like the scientific spirit, the holding off, the being sure, but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them." This keeps the way beyond open and gives the whole human a chance to try over again. So I hope wherever your life and work lead you, that you will strive to sustain our MIT standards of excellence. And I also hope, in the spirit of Whitman, that you'll accept the risk of failing as a rung on the ladder of growth.Because in all the fields you've studied, the willingness to try and fail, and try again, is the golden path to breakthroughs.

 Now for curiosity, a few months ago, I was interviewed by a journalist who understands the current challenges for higher education. He described me as inexplicably ebullient.

Now he doesn't see me every day, but anyway, if I'm ebullient in leading this community, it's entirely explicable. MIT is custom made for people whose curiosity never sleeps, which describes our faculty, our staff, our alumni, and every one of you. Feeling that curiosity is an incredible source of pleasure. You don't need me to encourage you in this lifelong feast, but I do hope I can count on you to help the world understand. this curiosity, that this curiosity is also our intellectual rocket fuel. And the fact is enormously important for society as a whole. At MIT, we know that curiosity-driven science is the path to new knowledge, the kind that spawns world changing innovations. Curiosity is the force that transforms deadly cancers into treatable conditions, that turn fusion energy from a dream. to a reality, that uncovers new ways to grow more food using less of every resource. We like to say science is curiosity on a mission. But we also know that the curious path to those deep discoveries can look like a long, winding road. Years ago, after a long conversation about my PhD work, my own grandmother said, wait. You're not trying to cure cancer in humans. You're trying to give cancer to chickens? So luckily, over eight decades, the United States had the foresight to see the value of discovery science. It invested public money with steady patience, knowing that the practical payoff could be 20, 30, 40 years away. And today, as many of you know from experience in your own labs, US investment in curiosity-driven science is in sharp decline. The tragedy here is that shrinking the pipeline of basic discovery research means choking off the flow of future solutions, innovations, and cures, and shrinking the supply of future scientists. So I hope you all will join in a great shared effort to sustain the work of scientific curiosity on a mission to serve. A final thought, every one of you here possesses uncommon talent, and with great talent comes great responsibility. I have no doubt that like our alumni, you will be top-flight performers in your fields. innovators, engineers, scientists, doctors, designers, entrepreneurs, investors, and astronauts, pioneers in whatever realm you choose. I mentioned excellence and curiosity, two of MIT'S core values, but I hope we also hold together another core value, the commitment to always act ethically, with integrity, and with consideration for our fellow human beings.

 

After more than six decades on Earth, I know that living up to this standard requires constant reinforcement and awareness. You will face many temptations and opportunities to lose focus on that North Star, and you simply have to resist. I have no doubt that with your uncommon talent, you can do it. And if you keep that goal in sight, I know you will do great things for the world. Congratulations and warmest, best wishes to all of you for a happy life and a fulfilling career. Thank you.

 

🎓 Summary

President Kornbluth framed her address around MIT’s core values of excellence, curiosity, and integrity. Drawing on alumni wisdom, she emphasized that the MIT experience is not just about skills or subjects learned, but about belonging to a community defined by high standards and relentless curiosity. She urged graduates to carry these values into the world, to embrace failure as part of growth, and to act ethically in all endeavors.\

 Highlights

 Humility in Leadership

• Kornbluth acknowledges the graduates will navigate the world better than she could.
• She draws on alumni wisdom to shape her charge.

 Excellence as a Core Value

• Excellence at MIT is lived daily, not just claimed.
• Achievements range from discoveries to cures, but also everyday hallway conversations.
• MIT’s merit-based admissions (no legacy or donor backdoors) reflect valuing potential over pedigree.

Excellence Without Arrogance

• Excellence requires self-discipline, not arrogance.
• She quotes Walt Whitman on scientific humility: being willing to surrender ideas when evidence contradicts them.
• Encourages embracing failure as a step toward breakthroughs.

 Curiosity as Rocket Fuel

• MIT thrives on curiosity that never sleeps.
• Curiosity-driven science leads to innovations like cancer treatments, fusion energy, and sustainable agriculture.
• Warns of declining U.S. investment in basic research, urging graduates to sustain curiosity-driven discovery.

Ethics and Responsibility

• With great talent comes great responsibility.
• Graduates must act with integrity and consideration for others.
• She cautions against temptations that could compromise ethical standards.

Closing Charge

• Kornbluth expresses confidence that graduates will achieve great things.
• She wishes them happiness, fulfillment, and success in their careers.

In essence, her message was: strive for excellence, fuel your work with curiosity, and anchor your life in integrity.