Biographical Note via FSU, Office of the Provost
Dr. O’Shea oversees FSU's award-winning student academic success initiatives, including the offices of Admissions, Financial Aid and the University Registrar, and units focused on both undergraduate and graduate students, including advising, retention, honors programs, and veterans services. He is a champion of student success, building on FSU's strong foundation forged over decades of data-driven innovation. Joe previously served for five years as Associate Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies. During his tenure, FSU was recognized with the APLU's Degree Completion Award, widely regarded as the highest distinction in student success.
Phi Beta Kappa Induction Ceremony
5:30-7:30 p.m., April 9 – Miller Hall
Vice President Student Academic Success Joe O’Shea
Good evening! It an honor for me to be with you tonight to help celebrate you and your induction into Phi Betta Kappa, our nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society.
Congratulations on this outstanding achievement.
I want to start by thanking you. You are such an amazing group of young people. And I know students of your caliber had lots of options for where to go to college. Thank you for choosing to spend these formative years of your life with FSU.
You’ve made us a better institution and helped nurture the culture of academic excellence that we celebrate today. I am really grateful for all you have done at FSU.
It’s also great to have family members and friends with us today. Thank you for coming to Tallahassee and to campus. And thank you for trusting us with your student over these last few years.
I remember when I was an undergraduate student, and I first learned of Phi Beta Kappa.
I was reading a piece by my favorite writer from the New York Times, Nick Kristof.
Nick is a journalist who has covered some of the most distant and dangerous parts of the world.
I admired his ability to combine deep empathy with such thoughtful insights into the world’s most urgent problems.
I remember when I got to the end of the article, there was a short, two-line bio of Nick.
Of all the things he could put in his bio, all of the amazing accomplishments in his life, he chose to include his membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
I remember thinking wow, Phi Beta Kappa must really mean something and be important if Nick Kristof has it in his bio.
And it’s does.
For 250 years, Phi beta kappa has recognized some of our nation’s brightest young people who have gone on to become presidents, supreme court justices, and leaders across medicine, science, the humanities, business, and so many fields.
Only 10 percent of colleges and universities have Phi Beta Kappa chapters, and within those, only about 10 percent of arts and sciences graduates are invited to join.
So your induction today is, indeed, a rare honor.
It’s fitting that our university is home to Florida’s very first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Ten faculty members from Florida State College for Women fought hard to earn this chapter.
They did so because they knew the college exemplified Phi Beta Kappa’s rigorous standards of excellence and values, and more importantly, that its students were worthy of this honor.
Since 1935 when our first students were initiated into Phi Beta Kappa, this institution has grown from a small liberal arts college of 1,700 students to a major public research university of about 46,000 students.
Our standards of excellence remain, and now as one of the best public universities in America, the academic quality of our students is higher than ever.
Tonight, as Phi Beta Kappa members, you represent the very best of Florida State.
The Phi Beta Kappa key has three stars engraved on it—friendship, morality, and learning—principles that also reflect the values of this university.
On Friendship: At FSU, fostering relationships and community is central.
We understand the power of relationships to inspire students and unlock talent, and to provide a sense of belonging that enables you to learn and explore.
I hope the relationships you have formed at FSU have expanded your perspectives —
that you have learned about other cultures, made friends with people of different backgrounds, and had conversations that challenged and inspired you.
On the second star, morality: I hope FSU has helped you become not just a more knowledgeable person, but a better one.
We want our FSU graduates to have both excellence of intellect and of character—with moral courage, compassion, and integrity.
So many of you do that every day — by volunteering in the community, serving in leadership and mentorship roles at the university, and engaging in research that will improve people’s lives.
The final star on the key represents learning. In 1837, the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a speech to the Phi Beta Kappa Society titled “The American Scholar.”
In his remarks, he discusses the importance of what he calls the “active soul.”
For him, the active soul, and the deep knowledge that comes from it, can only come from living fully — questioning, exploring, creating, and contributing to the world around you.
And you are already doing that here at FSU: through your experiential learning, intellectual debate, creative endeavors, and scientific inquiry.
As you embark on this new chapter in your life’s journey, I hope you will engage your active souls and draw inspiration from Phi Beta Kappa’s motto — Love of Learning is the Guide of Life — as you navigate the challenges and triumphs of the road ahead.
If you do this, and live by the core values of Phi Beta Kappa — friendship, morality, and learning — I believe you will have a meaningful and fulfilling life, and you’ll make the world and your communities a better place.
You have extraordinary potential to be the transformational leaders of your generation, and we’re depending on you.
I know that’s a high expectation, but your Florida State family knows you are capable of tremendous success.
Congratulations again. I am so very proud of you, and I can’t wait to see what you do next.