GRADUATES TOLD TO BE AWARE OF CHANGES

Lincoln University President Wendell Rayburn advised the graduating students at Southeast Missouri State University Saturday to educate themselves to "a world of constant change."

"Graduation is not the end, it is just the beginning," said Rayburn, who delivered the commencement address at the Show Me Center. He said college "gives you the background to cope with whatever twists and turns your life will take."

The fall commencement class consisted of 550 undergraduate and graduate students, which add to the roster of more than 42,000 people who have graduated from Southeast over the years, said university President Kala Stroup.

About 5,000 people attended the graduation exercises, which commenced to the musical strains of Mozart.

Stroup introduced Rayburn as "a friend and colleague" and called him "one of the most respected and influential university presidents" in the nation.

Rayburn has served as the 16th president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City since 1988. He is also chairman of the board of directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Both Rayburn and Stroup announced that Southeast and Lincoln University are in the process of looking at ways to promote education and economic development in the Southeast Missouri region.

Rayburn said that when he graduated from college in 1952 with a teaching degree he could not have imagined what changes were in store for society, from the emergence of the environmental-protection movement to Americans walking on the moon.

In education, computers are now used in everything from student labs to student records, said Rayburn.

"The 1990s show no sign of slowing the pace," he said. "The U.S. swept victoriously through the desert" in the gulf war. "Rodney King became a household name."

The nation dealt with major disasters from Hurricane Andrew to the flood of 1993.

Rayburn advised the graduates to read a lot, including newspapers, and utilize the technology of computers.

"You are beginning a new phase of your life and it should be one of exploration and discovery," he said. "There will be highs and lows, and there will be change."