Ursini addressed graduates of the School of Business during the May 19 afternoon ceremony in our TD Bank Sports Center.

“Some of you will write books, invent new business models and technology and even become CEO’s, many will be ordinary business leaders,” he said. “But ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things.”

Ursini described his own rise, graduating from Quinnipiac in 1986 and guiding Aetna through three decades of IT innovation and growth. He emphasized finding a career of meaning and purpose, and displaying a commitment to it day in and day out.

“If you don’t bring your best each day, someone else will,” Ursini said. “I am sorry to tell you that you have not pulled your last all-nighter.”

With occasional long days on the horizon, Ursini emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. He also advised graduates to be adaptable and to embrace the idea that every change brings with it a new opportunity.

Ursini was one of four to receive an honorary doctor of humane letters during this ceremony. The others were HighPoint Solutions co-founders Michael and Thomas Mendiburu, and Robert Mielżyński, founder of Mielżyński Wine, Spirits & Specialties in Poland.

“You, and only you, control the story written about your life and career,” Ursini said. He closed with a collective call for graduates to step above the ‘hysteria’ of a world where ethics, integrity and trust are questioned at all levels, and do the right things for the right reasons. This is a movement that you all can be proud to be a part of.”

Dean Matthew O’Connor praised the graduates on their early accomplishments.

“Our business students helped lead QThon, which raised over $250,000 for local charities. Our accounting students assisted 270 local tax payers while preparing over 500 State and Federal tax returns, generating tax returns of $4250,000 for low- and middle-income families in Hamden and New Haven. And business students from several disciplines traveled to Nicaragua for our international micro-lending program here at home in Southern Connecticut.”

He urged the students to take these experiences and continue to positively impact their community.

“There is no better way to honor your Quinnipiac degree than to strive for success personally and professionally and to be engaged in building better communities here, and for some of you, around the world,” he said.

Irina Mikhailovna Kustovskaya ’18 spoke of the great expectations placed on the Class of 2018.

She assured her fellow graduates that, like the giants who came before, they possessed the skills and talent to analyze, plan, design and implement their visions. Kustovskaya asked her peers not to think of themselves as future business leaders, but as the business leaders and change agents of the present.

“We, as a collective, have already hit the ground running, putting ideas, passions and expertise into innovative action,” she said. “I have no doubt that each of us will be wildly successful in pushing for positive change after this ceremony marks our release into the world.”

Raymond DelGobbo ’71 welcomed the newest graduates to the alumni community.

The School of Business Commencement was the second of six undergraduate ceremonies the university hosted on May 19 and 20. In all, there were 1,626 undergraduate degree candidates from six schools:

• 353 in the College of Arts and Sciences

• 430 in the School of Business

• 186 in the School of Communications

• 65 in the School of Engineering

• 440 in the School of Health Sciences

• 217 in the School of Nursing

In addition, Quinnipiac awarded a total of 1,244 degrees to graduate, law and medical students on May 12 and 13.

Quinnipiac is a dynamic, three-campus university where professors who want to know students by name come to teach, and where students who want a personal, challenging education come to learn.

Located in Southern New England, Quinnipiac’s top-rated academics, low faculty-to-student ratio and Division I athletics are just some of the reasons why it is consistently ranked among the best universities by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. It is one of 100 universities to have both a law school and a medical school with the opening of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine in 2013, and its Polling Institute is respected by media organizations around the globe.

Faculty members are experts in their fields and generous with their time. The university enrolls 7,000 full-time undergraduate and 3,000 graduate and part-time students in 110 degree programs through its Schools of Business, Communications, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Nursing and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Throughout its rich history, Quinnipiac has remained true to its three core values: high-quality academic programs, a student-oriented environment and a strong sense of community.