A fledgling red-tailed hawk is preparing to make it's first flight from the nest atop Harvard's Maxwell Dworkin building. Photo by Brock Parker.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

From atop the Maxwell Dworkin building, higher than a Harvard College student’s SAT score, the last of three fledgling red-tailed hawks is preparing for its maiden flight.

Passersby below along Oxford Street in Cambridge can be seen craning their necks for a look up at the baby hawk, which has courage enough to step out of the nest atop a fourth floor ledge, but is not ready to fly, just yet.

Next door, at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, staff members can be seen crowding at the windows, holding up cameras and snapping pictures of the fledgling hawk before it takes off.

The fledgling’s siblings, two of them, took flight over the weekend for the first time, said Andy Provost, a 66-year-old wildlife photographer who’s been watching the birds for a couple of weeks.

But the other hawks are still nearby. One of the siblings, likely a female, has been hanging out in a tree nearby that hangs over the sidewalk along Oxford Street. Another family member, possibly the bird’s mother, prefers to perch atop the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and made a visit to the last fledgling this morning.

Provost said the mother is very good mother, and one day while she was away from the nest it began to rain heavily. Within seconds, Provost said the mother had returned to the nest and spread her wings and tail to give shelter to her chicks.

“It’s really heartwarming to see,” he said.

Don Claflin, a facilities manager at Harvard, said hawks had been nesting in a tree near Pierce Hall a few years ago before a hawk began building a nest next door on the Maxwell Dworkin building about two years ago.

At the time, Claflin said he got the idea to mount a camera on the building to watch the hawk’s progress building the nest and he brought in some information technology experts at the college to assist. They mounted a camera on the building beside the nest, and put the feed from the camera up online.

The video soon became a hit, Claflin said, with Harvard staff constantly watching the hawk’s activities.

“I think they spend more time watching these birds than they do doing their work,” he said.

Then one day about two years ago Claflin got a call that the hawk wasn’t there. Then Susan Moses, Deputy Director of the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health, heard about a hawk that had been hit by a car nearby, and had been saved by the Animal Rescue League of Boston. The hawk was taken to Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton to heal, and when it was ready Moses brought the bird back to Harvard and released it.

Last year, Claflin said the bird did not nest at the Maxwell Dworkin building, but it returned to the nest this year and this spring laid eggs.

The camera caught most of the action, including the mother returning to the nests with squirrels and rats to feed the fledglings. Finally, the camera broke down on the day of Harvard’s commencement, Claflin said. A replacement camera has arrived, but Claflin said he’s been instructed that installing it right now may scare the remaining fledgling to jump off the roof before it is ready.

“I don’t want that on my conscience, then I’ll have everybody at Harvard blaming me for the death of the bird,” Claflin said.

But birdwatchers continue to keep a close eye on the fledglings and the other hawks flying around that part of the campus, though, Claflin said.

“Interest in the birds has really taken off,” he said.

Moses said she continues keeping a close eye on the hawks and their fledglings. She said that over the weekend after two of the fledglings left the nest for the first time, the third fledgling that had been left behind made a distressed sound as if it missed its siblings.

Moses said the mother then flew to the nest and seemed to comfort the one remaining fledgling. It’s the type of interaction that she thinks helps pique people’s interest in the birds.

“They really have individual personalities,” Moses said. “They communicate with each other. Nature is really fascinating.”

--Brock.globe@gmail.com

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Two professors in Illinois have determined that a piece of Abraham Lincoln’s math homework, currently housed in the Harvard archives, is part of a larger arithmetic manuscript. According to archivists, this problem set is the earliest surviving Lincoln document.

“There is nothing that predates it,” said Leslie Morris, the curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Harvard Houghton Library.

Morris said that the leaflet, which has been at Harvard since 1954, was originally part of a collection from Lincoln’s law partner.

“It has a lot of resonance for people,” she said. “Not only is this the earliest surviving document from one of the country’s most beloved presidents, it is a document that everyone can identify with.”

According to a joint statement released by Illinois State University and the Houghton Library, the leaflet at Harvard is the eleventh leaf in Lincoln’s arithmetic set. Lincoln completed the document while attending schools in Indiana between the years of 1820 and 1826, the statement said.

The problem sets included the following questions:

If the tuition of 3 boys for two quarters of a year be $40-20 cts how much will the tuition of 60 boys amount to for 4½ years?

If 4 men in 5 days eat 7 lb. of bread, how much will be sufficient for 16 men in 15 days?

If 100 dollars in one year gain 3½ dollars interest, what sum will gain $38.50 cents in one year and a quarter?

Nerida Ellerton and Ken Clements, the professors who figured out that the separate documents were part of a larger manuscript, said in the statement that Lincoln was a very good math student.

“The solutions to the mathematics problems in Lincoln's manuscript show that the young Abraham not only knew what he was doing, but also that he understood the mathematical principles he was applying," said Clements and Ellerton. "Almost all of his problem solutions were correct."

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Local colleges and universities are hiking tuition costs by an average of 3 to 4 percent for next year, with some school officials calling the increases among the lowest in recent history.

Suffolk University has announced it will increase undergraduate tuition prices by 3 percent for next year, making it the smallest increase in 36 years.

The president of Suffolk University, James McCarthy, said in a statement that rates for the 2013 to 2014 school year will be $31,592, up $920 from this year.

"The undergraduate increase is built upon a base Suffolk University tuition that remains among the lowest of comparable New England institutions," McCarthy said in the statement.

At MIT, tuition and fees will cost $43,498, compared to $42,050 for this year, for a 3.4 percent increase. Officials called the hike among the lowest in recent decades.

And at Boston University, prices are expected to rise 3.7 next year to $43,970. In a statement, university officials called the new tuition price “one of the lowest rates of increase among BU’s peer universities.”

Among other local schools:

- Emerson College will raise its tuition by 4.5 percent, from $33,568 this year to $35,072 next year.

- Boston College plans to hike prices by 4 percent, from $43,140 to $44,870.

- Northeastern University’s rates will break the $40K mark -- from $39,320 last year to $40,780 next year.

But the University of Massachusetts system is pushing for a major increase in funding from the state -- an additional $39 million -- which could keep tuition rates at a standstill.

The Globe reported in late May that elected student trustees from the University of Massachusetts system are calling on Senate officials to approve a $478 million funding proposal from Governor Deval Patrick. If the proposal passes, UMass officials have said that the university system could freeze tuition and fees for next year.

Some schools are saying that the new rates will be offset by financial aid budgets that are at a “historic high.”

MIT officials said that the undergraduate financial aid budget has risen to a record $97.6 million.

“MIT has more than tripled its spending on financial aid since 2000 - a rate of growth that far exceeds tuition and fee increases during that same period - as part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to shield students and families from the impact of price increases,” the university said in the statement.

And Northeastern University has announced that it will invest the largest amount of financial aid in the school’s 115-year history, providing a total of $204 million in grant aid for next year.

But other schools will be giving out financial aid to less students. For example at Boston University, approximately 53 percent of students will receive grant aid, which is down from 57 percent for this past year.

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

Oprah Winfrey energized the sea of Harvard graduates when she took to the podium Thursday afternoon to deliver the commencement address.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “I’m at Harvard!”

Some 32,000 people were expected to attend the Morning Exercises, which started at at 9:45 a.m. and continued through the afternoon.

Watch her speech below:

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent and Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and talk show host Oprah Winfrey received honorary degrees from Harvard University today, as thousands of graduates, family members, friends and celebrities gathered for commencement activities.

When it was Menino’s turn to receive his honorary doctor of laws, he beamed, but was also solemn. Harvard Provost Alan Garber told the crowd that Menino is the “boss of Boston,” who has a passion for the people he serves.”

“He is known near and far as one of the most effective, dedicated, and deservedly popular servants to hold public office,” Garber said.

Garber said that during his time as mayor, Menino has invested his whole being into the city.

“He treats his constituents like family,” Garber said, adding that, “he has been a true friend of higher education and research.”

Winfrey clasped her hands as she stood to receive her honorary doctor of laws degree.

Harvard President Drew Faust delivered brief remarks as she conferred the degree upon Winfrey.

“Opening books, opening doors, opening minds to life’s possibilities, a bountiful altruist and a woman of valor whose audiences owe her a standing O,” she said of Winfrey.

Winfrey, in a personal, at times poignant set of remarks, referred to her new network, and its less than stellar reviews, as she urged graduates to see setbacks as opportunities.

“Remember this. There is no such thing as failure,” she said to the large crowd fanned across Harvard Yard. “Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.”

On the steamy spring day, Winfrey energized the crowd when she took the stage, her excitement over speaking at the prestigious college on clear display.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “I’m at Harvard!”

Some 32,000 people were expected to attend what are known as the Morning Exercises, which kicked off at 9:45 a.m. and continued through the day.

Harvard College graduate Melissa Niu of State College, Penn., said the commencement was a culmination of years of hard work.

"As much as it is an end, it really is a commencement," said Niu, 21, who studied computer science. "It's a new beginning for us, to use our 16 years of education in the real world."

As he stood just outside the campus gates, Edward Becker, 25, said that he has been impressed by the diversity of the student body, and how the Harvard community truly wants to better society.

"The students at Harvard are extremely motivated to do good," said Becker, who pursued his master's in architecture at the graduate school of design.

Sydney Green, 22, said that the past few days have been surreal.

"When I got the diploma, I couldn't believe it," she said with a smile. "This is a Harvard degree, with my name on it."

A New York police sergeant Jon Murad, one of the speakers this morning, urged the class of 2013 to use their newly conferred degrees to better society.

Murad said he is likely one of the few municipal cops in the US with two Harvard degrees, which is “not a boast, it is a lament.’’

“There is as much stature in our being social workers and teachers, soldiers and preachers, nurses and, yes, even cops, as being president and poets laureate,’’ said Murad, who got his Harvard undergraduate degree in 1995 and graduated from Harvard's Kennedy School today.

“The world needs people like you in these roles,’’ he added. “Success doesn’t mean rising to the top. It means changing the world. And here’s the secret: everyone changes the world. Everything ripples. It’s how we do it that counts.’’

During this morning’s ceremony, graduates wore red robes as the degrees were conferred, in a mix of solemnity and light-hearted moments. Some educators got a hug from Winfrey. An A Capella group sang a rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.’’

After the morning event luncheons and diploma-awarding ceremonies took place at the undergraduate houses, Graduate and Professional Schools.

In the afternoon, Harvard’s president and Winfrey delivered their speeches.

“Oprah’s journey from her grandmother’s Mississippi farm to becoming one of the world’s most admired women is one of the great American success stories,” Faust said in a statement posted on the Harvard Gazette website in March. “She has used her extraordinary influence and reach as a force for good in the world, with a constant focus on the importance of educational opportunity and the virtues of serving others.”

Winfrey’s nationally syndicated talk show ran for more than 20 years, reaching an audience of over 40 million people a week in the United States as well as viewers from 150 countries, according to the Gazette. The Gazette also said that Oprah's book club has encouraged reading worldwide and featured many unknown authors.

Before Menino received his degree, the university issued a statement praising his leadership.

“As Boston’s longest-serving mayor, Thomas M. Menino has shepherded the cradle of the American Revolution into the 21st century. In wedding major development projects to a focus on neighborhood renewal, Menino earned overwhelming popular support for his 20-year stewardship of what he often calls ‘the greatest city on Earth,’ ” the university stated

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Harvard Dean Evelynn Hammonds, a top administrator who faced backlash for authorizing searches of e-mail accounts regarding the massive cheating scandal last year, addressed the graduating class today, a day after the school confirmed that she will step down in July.

At Class Day, Hammonds reflected on the Boston Marathon bombings, and praised the first responders.

“The whole world recognized the nobility of Boston’s response to the bombings,” she said. “Everyone at Harvard is proud our our larger community, proud to be Boston strong.”

Hammonds urged the graduates to mirror the actions of the first responders, and serve others in whatever way they see fit.

“You now have the power of the Harvard degree to help you do what you want to do,” Hammonds said. “You can use it to benefit yourselves, and your families and your friends. but there will also be things that you can do to improve the situation for humanity at large. No one can tell you exactly what these things will be, because nobody else is on your path. You’ll have to keep your eyes open for opportunities to serve.”

Hammonds has served as dean of Harvard College for the past five years, and she will resume to teaching and research in the History of Science and African and African American Studies departments, the university announced on Wednesday.

She will head a new program on the study of race and gender in science and medicine at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

Hammonds is the first woman and the first African-American to serve as dean of Harvard College.

At a meeting last month, Hammonds said she had authorized the search of two e-mail accounts belonging to a resident dean last fall, to uncover the source of a media leak about the cheating scandal. Hammonds said the search was to prevent the names of the students suspected of cheating from becoming public.

In her speech today, Hammonds expressed a wish of her’s: that Harvard has spurred the graduates to serve society.

“I hope and believe the college has set you on a path where you can both realize your dearest dreams and become an asset for the whole of humanity,” she said.

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

On an overcast day in Harvard’s Tercentenary Theatre, Emmy-award winning journalist and senior Class Day speaker Soledad O’Brien urged the graduates not to listen to the advice of others.

O’Brien told the graduates that by refusing to listen to advice, they will be more likely to follow their dreams.

“If you go where your passion and your heart leads you, I guarantee you will have incredible experiences,” she said.

O’Brien, a CNN special correspondent, graduated from Harvard in 1988, according to the college. The speaker for Class Day, which is held the day before commencement, is selected by the seniors.

The college said that in 2011, O'Brien won an Emmy for her reporting on Haiti in the category of Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story -- Long Form. O’Brien was a member of teams that won CNN George Foster Peabody Awards for coverage of the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.

She was also the recipient of the Edward R. Murrow and RTDNA/UNITY 2010 award for her series, “Latino in America."

O’Brien intertwined the tale of her interracial parents into today’s speech, and how they “were excellent role models in not listening.”

“When their friends said, whatever you do, don’t have kids, because biracial kids will not fit in this world, well, I’m number 5 of 6,” she said. “My parents were terrible listeners, every step of the way. And from that, I’ve learned, do not listen to other people’s take on the life you should lead.”

They were married in 1958, when interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states, she said. People would occasionally spit on them, but O’Brien said her mother did not let that discourage her. Instead, she pushed forward, which ultimately led to all six of her children attending Harvard.

“[My mother] said, ‘we knew America was better than that, and we knew we had to be a part of making it better,’” O’Brien said. “That’s what it was about. She knew, that if you were knocked off your path every time someone spit on you -- literally or metaphorically -- you might not get where you were trying to go.”

O’Brien also told the graduating class to not let their world-class education go to waste, because they have a responsibility to better the world.

“You have the greatest education that money can buy, if you are sitting here. And that means that you have an obligation, because not everyone has the chance that you get to have, and that obligation is to use the power you have been given to help others who have not been quite so lucky,” O’Brien said, adding, “Do not let people kill your joy. You will find them, they will glom onto your shoes like gum. So I would advise you, starting today, remove people from your life who make you feel bad about who you are and who you want to be.”

To listen to O'Brien's speech in full, click here.

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

A prominent Harvard professor is facing criticism from the philosophy faculty at San Jose State University, after they were asked to use the professor’s online course as part of the San Jose State curriculum.

The San Jose faculty members wrote a letter to Harvard Professor Michael Sandel, in which they condemned the use of Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOC's, as part of a public school curriculum.

According to the letter, which was republished on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, San Jose State University recently announced a partnership with edX, an educational initiative in which colleges offer online classes to thousands of students at no cost. The faculty wrote that the administration encouraged them to pilot Harvard professor Michael Sandel’s “JusticeX” course, but they refused.

In the letter to Sandel, the philosophy department says that MOOCs will diminish the quality of public colleges and universities.

“We fear that two classes of universities will be created: one, well- funded colleges and universities in which privileged students get their own real professor; the other, financially stressed private and public universities in which students watch a bunch of video-taped lectures and interact, if indeed any interaction is available on their home campuses, with a professor that this model of education has turned into a glorified teaching assistant,” the department wrote. “Public universities will no longer provide the same quality of education and will not remain on par with well-funded private ones.”

As the use of MOOCs grow, so, too, is the pushback from some colleges and universities. At Amherst College, for example, faculty recently voted against partnering with edX, for fear that online classes will not mesh well with the small college environment.

Earlier this month, 15 higher education institutions, including Boston University and the Berklee College of Music, joined edX.

The faculty said that they are not needed to teach blended courses, which mix online material and in-class instruction. Instead, the school could save money by hiring a teaching assistant to oversee the class.

“Public universities that have so long and successfully served the students and citizens of California will be dismantled, and what remains of them will become a hodgepodge branch of private companies,” they wrote, adding “Let's not kid ourselves; administrators at the CSU are beginning a process of replacing faculty with cheap online education.”

Sandel responded to the letter, and wrote that online classes are no substitute for professors. In a statement to the Chronicle, Sandel said that he made his course, “Justice,” available for free “to enable anyone, anywhere, to have free access to the lecture videos, a discussion blog, and other educational materials.”

Sandel said he knows very little about the partnership between edX and San Jose State.

“My goal is simply to make an educational resource freely available--a resource that faculty colleagues should be free to use in whole or in part, or not at all, as they see fit,” he wrote.
“The worry that the widespread use of online courses will damage departments in public
universities facing budgetary pressures is a legitimate concern that deserves serious
debate, at edX and throughout higher education. The last thing I want is for my online
lectures to be used to undermine faculty colleagues at other institutions.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

The media executive and entrepreneur spoke to Smith College graduates on May 18. She spoke about her accent, the trait of "wonder" passed on by her mother, and the path to success for the next generation. This text is taken from her LinkedIn page.

Congratulations. You have reached the light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm sure that when you first arrived at Smith you never would have imagined that at the other end of that tunnel would be a lady talking to you from behind a podium in a funny accent. This accent, incidentally, was the bane of my existence -- until, that is, I moved to New York in 1980 and met Henry Kissinger, who told me not to worry about my accent, because you can never, in American public life, underestimate the advantages of complete and total incomprehensibility.

Commencement speakers are traditionally expected to tell graduates how to go out there and climb the ladder of success, but I want to ask you, instead, to redefine success. Because the world you are headed into desperately needs it. And because you are up to it. Your education at Smith has made it unequivocally clear that you are entitled to take your place in the world on equal footing, in every field, and at the top of every field. But what I urge you to do is not just take your place at the top of the world, but to change the world.

What I urge you to do is to lead the third women's revolution.

The first was led by the suffragists over a hundred years ago, when brave women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought, among other things, to give women the right to vote. The second women's revolution was powerfully led by Smith alumnae, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. They fought -- and Gloria continues to fight -- to expand the role of women in our society, to give us full access to the rooms of power where decisions are made.

And while the second revolution is still in progress, we simply can't wait any longer for the third revolution to begin. And I can't imagine a place where I would be more likely to find the leaders of that revolution than right here at Smith.

At the moment, our society's notion of success is largely composed of two parts: money and power. In fact, success, money and power have practically become synonymous.

But it's time for a third metric, beyond money and power -- one founded on well-being, wisdom, our ability to wonder, and to give back. Money and power by themselves are a two legged stool -- you can balance on them for a while, but eventually you're going to topple over. And more and more people, very successful people, are toppling over. Basically, success the way we've defined it is no longer sustainable. It's no longer sustainable for human beings or for societies. To live the lives we want, and not just the ones we settle for, the ones society defines as successful, we need to include the third metric.

Now I guess it's no big surprise that the image of success created by men would be, yes, a long, phallic-shaped line.

But if we don't redefine success, the personal price we pay will get higher and higher. And as the data shows, that price is even higher for women than it is for men. Already, women in stressful jobs have a nearly 40 percent increased risk of heart disease, and a 60 percent greater risk for diabetes. And in the last 30 years, as women have made strides and gains in the workplace, self-reported levels of stress have gone up 18 percent.

Here's another fact that will likely be no surprise to you: the Millennial Generation, aka you, is the most stressed generation of all, outranking Baby Boomers and the gently euphemistic "Matures." Right now, America's workplace culture is practically fueled by stress, sleep-deprivation, and burnout.

Another Smith graduation speaker, Alistair Cooke, notoriously told the class of 1954 that their way to the top would be determined by whom they married.

I want to do old Alistair one better, and tell you that you don't get to the top by marrying someone. A much simpler way is to sleep your way to the top. Right now I imagine President Christ is thinking she probably should have vetted this speech.

But no, I'm talking about sleep in the literal sense. I know of what I speak: In 2007, sleep deprived and exhausted, I fainted, hit my head on my desk, broke my cheekbone and got four stitches on my right eye. And even as it's affecting our health, sleep deprivation will also profoundly affect your creativity, your productivity, and your decision-making. The Exxon Valdez wreck, the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle, and the nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island -- all were at least partially the result of decisions made on too little sleep.

According to researchers at Walter Reed hospital, the only thing that gets better with sleep deprivation is "magical thinking" and reliance on superstition. So for those of you majoring in fortune telling, go ahead and burn the midnight oil. The rest of you: not so much.

As you can tell by now, I'm a major sleep evangelist. The Huffington Post's office in New York sports two nap rooms: at the beginning our reporters, editors and engineers were reluctant to use them, afraid that people might think they're shirking their duties. We have to change workplace culture so that it’s walking around drained and exhausted that’s stigmatized. I’m happy to say, our nap rooms are now always booked. Although the other day I was walking by and I saw two people walking out of one of the nap rooms. But, hey, whatever it takes to recharge. Just don't tell HR, ok?

What adding well-being to our definition of success means is that, in addition to looking after our financial capital, we need to do everything we can to protect and nurture our human capital. My mother was an expert at that. I still remember, when I was twelve years old, a very successful Greek businessman coming for dinner. He looked rundown and exhausted. But when we sat down to dinner, he told us how well things were going for him. He was thrilled about a new contract he had just won to build a new museum. My mother was not impressed. "I don't care how well your business is doing," she told him bluntly," you're not taking care of you. Your business might have a great bottom line, but you are your most important capital. There are only so many withdrawals you can make from your health bank account, but you just keep on withdrawing. You could go bankrupt if you don't make some deposits soon." And indeed, not long after that, the man had to be admitted for an angioplasty.

The problem is that as long as success is defined by just money and power, climbing and burnout, we are never going to be able to enjoy that other aspect of the third metric: wonder.

I was blessed with a mother who was in a constant state of wonder. Whether she was washing dishes or feeding seagulls at the beach or reprimanding overworking businessmen, she maintained her sense of wonder, delighted at both the mysteries of the universe and the everyday little things that fill our lives. And whenever I'd complain or be upset about something, my mother had the same advice: "Darling, change the channel. You are in control of the clicker. Don't replay the bad, scary movie."

Well-being, wonder, and now I'd like to talk about another indispensable W -- wisdom.

Wherever we look around the world, we see very smart leaders -- in politics, in business, in media -- making terrible decisions. What they're lacking is not IQ, but wisdom. Which is no surprise, since it's never been harder to tap into our own wisdom. Because in order to do so, we have to disconnect from all our ever-present devices, our gadgets, our screens, our social media, and reconnect with ourselves. Your very own, very wise Smith sophomore, Erin McDaniel, wrote in the Sophian about her decision to disconnect from all her social media. "We have eschewed real social connections in favor of superficial, technology-bridged ones … We have become, in many cases, nearly as (socially) robotic as our computers."

Back to my mother. The last time she got angry with me before she died was when she saw me reading my email and talking to my children at the same time. "I abhor multitasking," she said, in a Greek accent that puts mine to shame. In other words, being connected in a shallow way to the entire world can prevent us from being deeply connected to those closest to us -- including ourselves. And that is where wisdom lies. Don't worry -- you don't have the head of a digital news operation telling you to disconnect from technology altogether. What I’m saying is: learn to regularly disconnect from technology in order to connect with yourself. Learn to unplug in order to recharge. I'm convinced about two fundamental truths about human beings. The first truth is that we all have within us a centered place of wisdom, harmony, and strength. This is a truth that all the world's religions -- whether Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or Buddhism -- and many of its philosophies, hold true in one form or another: "The Kingdom of God is Within."

The second truth is that we're all going to veer away from that place again and again and again. That's the nature of life. In fact, we may be off-course more often than we are on-course. At The Huffington Post, we even came up with an app, called GPS for the Soul, that helps us get back to that place. I know there is something paradoxical about using technology to disconnect from technology, but the snake in our digital garden of Eden has been hyper-connectivity with technology. And we have to be more wily than the snake, hence using technology to help us disconnect from technology.

When we're in that centered place of wisdom, harmony and strength, life is transformed, from struggle to grace, and we are suddenly filled with trust, no matter the obstacles, challenges and disappointments. Because there is a purpose to our lives, even if it is sometimes hidden from us, and even if the biggest turning points and heartbreaks only make sense as we look back, not as we are experiencing them. So we might as well live life as if -- as the poet Rumi put it -- "Everything is rigged in our favor."

We've talked about well-being, wisdom, and wonder. And now, the last element of the third metric of success: empathy, compassion, the willingness to give back.

The founding fathers wrote about the pursuit of happiness, and if you go back to the original documents -- as I'm sure all of you have done -- happiness did not mean the pursuit of more ways to be entertained. It was the happiness that comes from feeling good by doing good.

I was at a neuroscience conference this week in Madison, Wisconsin, with the Dalai Lama, and there was plenty of scientific data provided that shows unequivocally that empathy and service increase our well-being. So that's how the elements of the third metric become part of a virtuous cycle.

So please don't settle for just breaking through glass ceilings in a broken corporate system or in a broken political system, where so many leaders are so disconnected from their own wisdom that we are careening from one self-inflicted crisis to another. Change much more than the M to a W at the top of the corporate flow chart. Change it by going to the root of what's wrong and redefining what we value and what we consider success.

And remember that while there will be plenty of signposts along your path directing you to make money and climb up the ladder, there will be almost no signposts reminding you to stay connected to the essence of who you are, to take care of yourself along the way, to reach out to others, to pause to wonder, and to connect to that place from which everything is possible. "Give me a place to stand," my Greek compatriot Archimedes said, "and I will move the world."

So find your place to stand -- your place of wisdom and peace and strength. And from that place, lead the third women's revolution and remake the world in your own image, according to your own definition of success, so that all of us -- women and men -- can live our lives with more grace, more joy, more empathy, more gratitude, and yes, more love. And now, Smith College class of 2013, onward, upward and inward!