UMM conferred diplomas on 356 graduates on a day when many of them had to hang on to their caps and smooth down gowns that billowed to their waists.

In addition to musical selections from the UMM Symphonic Winds, the UMM Concert Choir and the Treble Makers, the graduates and audience heard remarks from UMM Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson, University of Minnesota Regent Maureen Cisneros, U of M Senior Vice President Robert Jones, and 2008 UMM graduate Alex Carlson, the recipient of the Curtis H. Larson Award.

Cisneros made light of the blustery conditions, saying that with UMM’s reputation in alternative energy research, that Saturday was “a good wind energy day.�

Carlson gave a humorous address, and he noted that “the passion UMM students have for their work is contagious.�

Carlson said that in keeping with his recent role in the UMM production of “Seussical,� that he would end his address with a quote from Dr. Seuss’s poem, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!�:

“Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.�

Ellison spoke of a teetering economy and how life in America has become extremely difficult for most of the working class. He talked of the injustice of many millions living without health care -- which he said “should be a right for all Americans� -- and that almost as many people live below the poverty line.

Ellison said he believed in markets and that the graduates should, too. But wages have remained stagnant for dozens of years while productivity has increased. No longer can the leaders of companies take large sums of money while workers scrape by with meager raises.

“But we must slice the economic cake for working Americans differently in the future.�

Ellison told the story of being in Haiti earlier this week and seeing rioting over food, and that “the forces that brought food riots to Haiti are at work all over the world.�

He likened speaking before them as he being a worker coming before a boss -- the graduates. He encouraged a new entrepreneurial commitment and “new politics rooted in generosity and inclusion.�

Ellison spoke of the biblical story of Jesus distributing loaves and fishes to a throng that his followers couldn’t believe would feed them all. Ellison said couldn’t speculate on how that was possible, but it’s a circumstance that should resonate with the graduates.

“There was enough then, there is enough now,� he said.