UVU: Anousheh Ansari - 72nd Commencement

Anousheh Ansari, the first woman of Iranian descent to journey into space and a successful engineer and entrepreneur, was UVU's featured commencement speaker. Because of exponential change taking place in technology and an ever-shifting society, graduates will have to be "alert, aware and flexible" and use their creativity and personal dreams as a guide for them to confront life's challenges and opportunities, Ansari said.

"We live in a unique time. Never before have we been given so much individual power. As humans, we had ability to build or to annihilate, to give life or to propagate death," Ansari said. "As graduates, use your imagination, choose life. There is nothing to be afraid in life. Believe me, as someone who has been in the gutter and been up to the stars. Go after your crazy dreams. Change the world, don't let the world change you."

Ansari is co-founder, CEO and chairwoman of Telecom Technologies, Inc., and also co-founded and serves as chairwoman of Prodea Systems. A passionate social entrepreneur and active proponent of world-changing technologies, Ansari actively encourages youths to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees.