ERIE, Pa. — Penn State Behrend awarded nearly 650 degrees at the college’s spring commencement program, held May 8 at Erie Insurance Arena.
“Today is a celebration,” said the commencement speaker, Tiffany Beers, who earned a degree in plastics engineering technology at Behrend in 2002. “Tomorrow is where it gets real.”
Beers worked at Nike, Tesla and Logitech before moving to VF Corp., where she is vice president of enterprise innovation. She develops products for 10 global brands, including The North Face, Timberland and Vans.
She encouraged the new graduates to plot their own course in life.
“You do not need the whole map,” she said. “You need a way to keep moving when the path isn’t clear. And the best one I know is a maker’s way through uncertainty: Start somewhere, learn fast, and keep building.”
Beers has built her career by embracing, and creating, technology. She helped to invent the Nike Mag — the self-lacing “Back to the Future” shoe.
She encouraged the graduates to trust their instincts as the technology around them shifts.
“I can tell you from the inside: The most sophisticated systems we built could not tell us why something mattered. That part was always human.
“Technology can accelerate work,” she said. “It cannot replace judgment. It cannot replace values. It cannot replace responsibility. Those are yours. Protect them.”
The Class of 2026 had been led onto the arena floor by student marshals — the students with the highest grade-point average in each of Behrend’s academic schools.
This year’s marshals were:
- Ramiro Becerra Jr., of Erie, who represented the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
- Owen Grubbs, of Ohioville, who represented the Schreyer Honors College.
- Lillie Holt, of West Middlesex, who represented the Black School of Business.
- Alexander Irwin, of Erie, who represented the School of Science.
- Lindsey Pawlawksi, of Pittsburgh, who represented the School of Engineering.
- Jacob Rey, of Shrewsbury, who represented the Fox Graduate School.
The faculty address was delivered by Lynne Beaty, associate professor of biology. She used the example of the pebble toad — a small animal that flings itself down the mountainside when attacked — to share her perspective on adaptability.
“Sometimes, the cost of waiting becomes greater than the risk of acting,” Beaty said. “That is when adaptation matters most.
“For the pebble toad, that adaptation is rolling down a cliff,” she said. “For you, it might be changing direction, taking a different opportunity, or moving forward without having every variable resolved.
“The uncertainty you’re stepping into is not just a risk,” she said. “It is an opportunity. It is what allows new paths and new directions to exist at all.”