This message is to congratulate and honor the Class of 2020.

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, your year was the best of times and the worst of times. Your academic year began with the move to the new campus and has ended in the midst of a global pandemic. We all expected your class to be the first to graduate from the new campus, but instead it is the first to graduate without a spring Commencement.

But through it all, you have shown strength, determination, and perseverance. Just at the time you were getting ready to finish your studies and move on with your lives, you were presented with a catastrophic, unpredictable, unfathomable life challenge. You met that challenge. You worked with your faculty members, TUJ staff, and most importantly, with each other to complete your education.

I don’t know what the world may have in store for us beyond today, but I do know that it is a global world. It is a world in which all events, good or bad, impact us all. That is why I believe the education you received at TUJ, the friendships you have developed at TUJ, and the confidence that you have in your own abilities, will be the foundation upon which you build your successes whatever challenges may come your way.

Once again, I congratulate you on your success, and I hope you can come back to TUJ in December for your delayed Commencement.

Bruce Stronach

Dean

Temple University, Japan Campus