US Ambassador H E Timmy T Davis speaking at the graduation ceremony.
Doha: Texas A&M University at Qatar, a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university, graduated 126 engineers during the commencement exercices held on May 11 at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The Class of 2023 includes 112 students who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering, and 14 students who graduated with master’s degrees in chemical engineering. The Class of 2023 includes 54 Qatari graduates and 72 female engineers, and represents 23 nationalities.
Texas A&M at Qatar has awarded a total of 1,514 degrees, with 43 percent awarded to Qatari graduates, and 43.5 percent female graduates. Ambassador of the United States of America to the State of Qatar H E Timmy T Davis was the night’s invited speaker. In his remarks to the graduates, Ambassador Davis said, “A degree from Texas A&M opens doors, but it doesn’t do the work. It is a calling card that then demands you represent this institution, your family, and yourselves with honour and a consistent demonstration of the values you learned here.”
The Ambassador offered the graduates lessons from his own life experiences. He said, “Make mistakes. Make as many mistakes as you can. And learn. I am convinced that your 20s are for trying things you are unsure of and getting some of it wrong.
“There are a million things you will not do because you’re concerned how it looks. You’re concerned what people think. Live your life as fully, as completely, and as joyfully as you can. Use the incredible education you got here not to become like everyone else, but to become the person you know you want to be.”
Dr. César Octavio Malavé, dean of Texas A&M at Qatar, congratulated the graduates on their resilience and resourcefulness in completing their degree, and their readiness to join a workforce that demands innovative thinkers to devise creative solutions to the world’s challenges of today and beyond. BG Joe E Ramirez Jr ‘79 (ret), vice president for student affairs at Texas A&M University, inducted the graduates into The Association of Former Students, Texas A&M’s alumni organisation that comprises the nearly 575,000 graduates of the university and is known worldwide as the Aggie Network.
