KINGSTON, R.I. – May 18, 2026 – Standing center stage in a packed Ryan Center, Marc Randolph drew on lessons from high school baseball and co-founding Netflix to deliver one clear message to University of Rhode Island graduates: success isn’t about perfect plans—it’s about showing up, adapting when luck arrives, and defining what truly matters to you.

“I’m convinced that a huge part of success in every field is luck,” said Randolph, who co-founded Netflix in 1997 and was the company’s inaugural CEO. “I know, we’re not supposed to say that out loud. But it’s OK, because an even bigger part of success is preparing yourself to take advantage of luck when it arrives—and preparing yourself to adapt when it doesn’t.”

Randolph spoke during the College of Business Commencement, one of eight graduation ceremonies held May 15-17 that celebrated URI’s Class of 2026. The University awarded graduate and undergraduate degrees to more than 4,000 graduates.

Randolph, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, told graduates that failure and luck often shape success more than careful planning. He recalled how he and co-founder Reed Hastings unsuccessfully tried to sell Netflix to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000—a rejection Randolph once considered the worst moment of his career, but which ultimately allowed Netflix to grow into a global streaming giant. Drawing on a baseball metaphor about always “backing up first base,” Randolph said success comes from repeatedly showing up and pursuing unlikely ideas so you’re prepared when opportunity finally appears.

Along with Randolph, URI alumni Daniel L. Harple Jr., chair and CEO of Context Labs; and Katherine Angell Brewster, CEO of South Kingstown-based Jonnycake Center for Hope, were also awarded honorary doctorates during the weekend ceremonies. 

Harple, who offered advice to graduates during the College of Engineering ceremony, urged graduates to embrace engineering not just as a profession but as a way of thinking about leadership, innovation and human connection. Reflecting on a career spent developing collaborative technologies that helped pave the way for modern tools like FaceTime and Zoom, he encouraged students to stay “close to the edge” of new ideas, resist narrowing their ambitions, and approach artificial intelligence as a tool guided by human creativity rather than a replacement for it. Above all, he told graduates they were prepared for an uncertain future and left them with a simple mantra: “Love. Serve. Remember.”

Additionally, Gov. Daniel J. McKee, URI President Marc Parlange, Board of Trustees Chair Margo Cook, and other University officials offered congratulations, reflection and encouragement to the graduates 

Parlange spoke about how this year’s graduates and the moments they created at URI offered reasons for “hope”—Rhode Island’s state motto. What he saw in this class was not disengagement or cynicism, Parlange said, but rather resilience, compassion, humor, ambition and caring for one another.

“Hope is not blind optimism. It is built through those friendships you made, through navigating challenges, through responsibility, curiosity, and service to something greater than yourself,” Parlange said. “And it will carry you through times where there is nothing to believe in but hope. After these past four years, I can think of no better reason to remain hopeful than all of you—the Class of 2026.”

Cook told graduates that opportunities exist, even when the world feels the most uncertain and chaotic. 

“The world outside these doors is noisy. But I’ve spent a career finding opportunity inside noise—as an investor, and as a woman in rooms that weren’t always built for me,” Cook said. “I learned that sometimes you have to work harder to be seen, but that is not a reason to shrink. It is a reason to be excellent.”

Along with acknowledging that URI was for the second year in a row ranked the top public university in New England by The Wall Street Journal, McKee shared with graduates the advice his father—a local business owner who helped establish the Boys & Girls Clubs in Cumberland—gave him. Success is there for you, he said, and all you have to do is earn it.

“You have certainly earned it with your degrees today,” McKee said during College of Business ceremonies. “I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am as your governor to celebrate this day with you and the families that you love.”

Olivia Rose Skapczynski described her journey through URI over the last four years as “a roller coaster in the best way.” Skapczynski, a Guilford, Connecticut resident who earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics with a minor in kinesiology from the College of Health Sciences, said along with learning to become a healthcare professional, she also learned a lot about herself as a person.

“The people I have close to me have been huge,” said Skapczynski, who will take online graduate classes at URI next year with the goal to become a registered dietician. “The saying is ‘the five people you surround yourself with most are who you become most like.’ The people I chose to surround myself with have shaped me into a better person I couldn’t have imagined.”

It’s not just the academics that made URI enjoyable for Tewksbury, Massachusetts, resident Alexander Arbogast, who graduated in three years with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the College of Arts and Sciences. He’s had a successful run—literally and figuratively—with URI’s men’s track team, which won its 17th Atlantic 10 Conference championship this spring.

“We’ve set the standard every year on the track. Celebrating with my teammates with the trophy has been the best moment for me,” said Arbogast, who is returning to URI next year to pursue his MBA. “I’ve enjoyed winning, this campus and faculty. The professors have all been incredible. I’ve been truly blessed with this school.”

Arbogast’s future plans include law school and hoping to run, and win, in local politics in his home state—and continue a family tradition. “My grandfather was a state representative for 40 years,” he said. “I’ve done two internships with local senators and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Words of wisdom, encouragement

Nine student speakers addressed their fellow graduates during the weekend’s eight commencement ceremonies, sharing their journeys at URI, the challenges they’ve overcome, the opportunities they’ve seized, and how their experience at the University helped build their character and shape them into the people they are today.

Julia Johnson, who received her doctorate in physical therapy, told her fellow College of Health Sciences graduates her patients often reminded her that healing is not just physical, but it’s also deeply personal.

“Each individual we encounter carries their own story, shaped by culture, family, hardships, and

hope,” Johnson said. “Our patients will not fit into a single mold. They will challenge us, teach us, and trust us often at their most vulnerable moments. And that trust is a privilege.”

Jordyn Hickey, a first-generation student, said in her speech during the College of Business ceremony that the world will meet you with two hands, she said. One hand holds a flower representing celebration and a feeling that everything is falling into place, Hickey said, and the other holds a stone—representing rejection. Hickey told her fellow graduates to take recognition with humility, setbacks with determination, and to keep moving forward.

“As we move into the next chapter—into new careers, new cities, new challenges, and opportunities we can’t even see yet—I hope we remember this: There will always be people ready to hand you a flower, and there will always be something that feels like a stone,” said Hickey, who earned her master of business administration. “Take both and build something extraordinary anyway. Because the measure of what we’ve accomplished is not in the titles we hold—it’s in the resilience we built on the way to earning them.”

Skyla Anderson’s journey through URI was inspired by her mother, who immigrated to the United States from Cape Verde for better opportunities and pushed Anderson from a young age to take education seriously. Anderson, who received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was privileged to see her mother walk across the same Ryan Center stage as a URI graduate four years ago.

“I watched her dedication and hard work, and I would not be where I am today without her,” Anderson said. “I know many of you carry similar stories of parents or family members who believed in the power of opportunity and encouraged you to keep going even when things were difficult.”

Gianna Petrangelo, who earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing, recalled to her fellow College of Nursing graduates how she got “punched in the face” during her very first nursing shift—which at the time felt like the worst possible start. Looking back, though, it was an accurate introduction to nursing, she said.

“Over the last four years, I’ve realized that no matter how much you study, prepare, or try to get everything perfect, there will always be moments that catch you off guard,” Petrangelo said. “None of us got here having everything figured out. We got here by learning, adapting, and continuing forward even when things felt difficult,” she said. “Whether we realize it or not, we’re capable of more than we think. And honestly, if I could get punched in the face on my first day of clinical and still come back the next shift—I think we’re all going to be just fine.”

Victoria Reilly, who graduated with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, told fellow College of Engineering graduates that no one went through their journeys at URI alone, and each graduate had a network of people who sacrificed, encouraged, and believed in them along the way. She also said time is our most valued resource, and how one utilizes it is critical.

“I want to encourage each of you to optimize your time. Invest it in work that gives you purpose. Invest it in people who challenge and support you. And invest it in the balance that allows you to live fully,” Reilly said. “Because in the end, the most meaningful measures of success will not be our titles or accomplishments. They will be the relationships we build, the impact we have on others, and the lives we help improve along the way.”

Asta Habtemichael, who is from Eritrea, told graduates from the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and Graduate School of Oceanography in his speech that despite their differences in backgrounds or reasons for coming to URI, everyone had a unified goal to create a better future. That, he said, helped forge a path for him and his fellow graduates to create a community at URI.

“Moving thousands of miles away from everything I loved and cared for was not easy. The cultural and environmental differences were real. However, I overcame those challenges and thrived at URI, because I found a second home among the URI community,” said Habtemichael, who graduated with a doctorate in oceanography. “From my first Thanksgiving experience with my friend’s family to the different on- and off-campus leadership roles, that community has shaped my professional journey and helped me in building lasting relationships.”

Zoie Ndonye summed up her journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to URI in her address to CELS and GSO graduates through an old African proverb: “He who looks for honey must have the courage to face the bees.”

“The meaning of this proverb is that one who has goals to find the sweetness in life, must also go through the bitter,” said Ndonye, who received her bachelor’s degree in animal and veterinary science. “You must be able to face the challenges that come along the way. And as you, Class of 2026, are seated here, there is no doubt, you have managed to find your honey.”

Angel Vega, who became the first in her family to earn a master’s degree, told her fellow Feinstein College of Education graduates that having doubt is not a sign that you’re in the wrong place, but rather a sign that you’re doing something that matters.

“Every person in this room has faced their own version of doubt, of fear, of wondering, ‘Can I really do this?’ But look at us. We chose to believe in something greater than our fear. That is not luck. That is not a coincidence. That is courage,” said Vega, who earned her master’s in college student personnel. “And the same courage that carried us to this moment cannot just stay in this room. It must go with us into every space we enter, every table we sit at, every door we walk through. Because the world we are walking into doesn’t just need our degrees. It needs our resilience, our voice, our story.”

Prachi Patel learned more than just chemical structures in earning her Doctor of Pharmacy from the College of Pharmacy. She told her fellow graduates that their success is not achieved alone, but through the support of mentors who believed in their students.

“As we step into our next chapters, whether that means further education, launching our careers, or embarking on new adventures, always remember to stay curious. Challenge what’s already been said and done. Think bigger. Carry forward that spirit of determination and compassion that defines the URI experience,” Patel said. “When challenges arise, as they inevitably will, remember that this community has given us the tools to face them with confidence.”