President Corcoran Delivers IVCC Commencement Keynote

At Saturday’s Illinois Valley Community College commencement, President Jerry Corcoran challenged graduates to “be kind despite others selfishness, forgive those who are unreasonable, irrational or self-centered, be honest even though people may deceive you, spend your years creating while finding serenity and happiness.”

An estimated 200 graduates participated in the 57th annual ceremony in the gym.

Corcoran started at IVCC in 1990 and eventually became director of the Dislocated Workers Center and later as director of purchasing before being named director of human resources. He then worked five years as Vice President for Business Services and Finance before becoming the college’s tenth president. After 15 years he is one of the longest serving presidents at IVCC having served the college for 33 years.

Inspired by other college presidents, judges and a Nobel Peace Prize winner President Corcoran’s greatest inspiration and best friend was his father. “He had an amazing ability to make everyone feel special. He farmed all his life, never finished high school at St. Bede because he could only go to school during the winter months. The rest of the time my dad was needed on the farm to care for the livestock, crops and of course his family. He was a man of great faith and principled leadership. I never wanted to let my parents down, but there were probably times in life when I did, then I was too hard on myself afterwards.”

Corcoran continued by sharing inspirational words of Pope Francis, of which he quipped was his dad’s middle name, Nobel Peace prize winner Mother Teresa of Calcutta and made reference to a eulogy Michael Jordan gave in remembrance of his friend Kobe Bryant.

At the conclusion of his keynote Corcoran encouraged the graduates, “My suggestion to you is to live your life to the fullest, love your family, go out of your way to welcome others in a kindly way, be proud of your achievements and realistic in your expectations of yourself and others, never be afraid to compete, but always walk away knowing that you did your very best.”