President Scholz gave the following remarks at the convocation of the incoming class on Sunday, September 27, 2026.
Good evening! I want to welcome everyone to Hayward Field on the eve of another academic year. Tonight we celebrate our incoming class but with a twist.
To our newest students: welcome to the University of Oregon. Take a moment to look around you. The next time all of you will be in the same place will be on graduation day! What you do between now and then will fill pages of your story.
Today is also our 150th anniversary, our sesquicentennial. Joining us are families, trustees, faculty and staff, alumni, our neighbors, Mayor Knudson and leaders from across our community to celebrate you and the university’s milestone birthday. The UO isn’t just in Eugene, it’s a part of Eugene. Thank you all for being here.
Let me take you back to October 1876.
The University of Oregon opened that fall in a single building that wasn't finished. Classes met on the first floor while carpenters hammered away on the floors above. There were no sidewalks. There was plenty of mud. One of the founders kept his cattle on the grounds.
That building existed because people determined that Oregon deserved a great university in Eugene and a group of community members and school children came together to find a way to fund that first building. When money ran short, they went farm to farm across Lane County collecting wheat, apples, livestock and pennies to help pay the carpenters. A few years later, debts nearly cost the university its campus, until a railroad financier named Henry Villard stepped in and paid them off.
Think about what that took. They were building something they might never fully see. They believed in a university that didn't exist yet, and they kept showing up until it did. That is how this university began.
Our history is full of moments like that, when a few people made a choice that set everything after it in motion. Some of those moments happened right on these hallowed grounds. Steve Prefontaine at one time held every American record from the 2,000 meters to the 10,000 meters. Bill Bowerman coached “Pre” and many others: he changed a sport and in 1963 gave birth to the jogging movement in the United States.
A runner by the name of Phil Knight started a company, Nike, with Mr. Bowerman that has not only transformed our university but the world, revolutionizing sports apparel and athletics.
Ten years ago this fall, Phil and Penny Knight made a gift that launched the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. Just last Wednesday, they gave another historic gift – the largest ever to a comprehensive public university -- that will make possible another leap forward.
For a university turning 150, 10 years is nothing. In that short time, an idea, formed by UO faculty, became a place where discoveries move more rapidly out of the lab and into the world.
So here is my question for you. What will the University of Oregon look like 10 years from now? Or 25 years from now, when our university turns 175? What will that look like for you?
To our students, you're not supposed to know yet. I'd be a little worried if you did. But I encourage you to start thinking about it, to start dreaming about it, now.
The years you spend here are precious. They will go faster than you think, and you will grow in ways you cannot yet imagine. I want you to make the most of them, so let me leave you with four hopes for your time here.
- Find something you're excited about. Take the class outside your comfort zone. Don't just ask, "What can I do?" Ask, "What excites me?" When you find that thing, the subject or the question that makes you want to learn more, that is when your education becomes truly yours.
- Seek out opportunities. Research. Internships. Chances to lead, to serve, to create. Don't wait for them to find you. Knock on doors. Say yes when something interesting comes along, even if it scares you a little.
- Remember that a major is not a career. Your goal here is not to pick a label. It is to build skills that serve you for life: how to think critically, write clearly, work with others and adapt. If you have not settled on a major, good for you! That means you are open to exploration. What matters is depth, passion, curiosity and purpose.
- I know this sounds trite, but it is perhaps the most important: be good to people. College is not just what you learn, it is who you learn it with. The friends you make and the mentors who guide you will lift you up and help you see the world differently. Be kind. Be generous with your time. How you treat people will matter as much as how you do in class.
And I have one very practical request: take 15 or more credits a term. You can do it and you will be happy that you did. And by doing so, I will see you in Autzen Stadium in June 2030!
Closing
There is great spirit at the University of Oregon. I feel it here. And did you know there was a football game last night? I was there – we felt every emotion. Tears, anger, elation. Duck nation was there. We were loud. And we beat USC! Being here, together, for celebrations like convocation are ideal times for us to see the path we have tread and dream about the way forward.
The University of Oregon is still being built. Not just its buildings, but its ideas, its discoveries and its character. You are arriving in the middle of that work, and there is no better time to be here. Someday, people will look back on our choices and our accomplishments, and if we are wise, those in the future will look back at your accomplishments the way we look back on those founders going from farm to farm for wheat and apples.
To all of the faculty, staff, trustees, elected officials and community members with us tonight, thank you for your support and belief in the University of Oregon and its next 150 years in this wonderful city and state.
Class of 2030, welcome. We are so glad you are here.
Go Ducks!