'Dear 2020 graduates': A letter from WDI president Bob Weis
Bob Weis ('80, architecture) is the president of Walt Disney Imagineering, and the 2018 ENV Commencement speaker. As the creative and design lead of some of Disney's largest and most successful parks, Weis has decades of experience leading project builds around the world. He has been honored for his efforts numerous times, including multiple awards from the Themed Entertainment Association, along with awards for the development of Shanghai Disney Resort including China Construction Engineering Luban Prize and The American Institute of Architects Technology in Architectural Practice Award for the successful implementation of Building Information Modeling.
Dear 2020 graduates of College of Environmental Design,
Congratulations! Today you face challenges that no one could have imagined when you entered the school. And yet, I envy you. They handed me my BS in Architecture Diploma on the lawn in 1980, fully forty years ago. I’ve done a lot in my four decades of career, including more than thirty years with Disney. Many different challenges in so many countries. And people, wonderful collaborators, mentors, committed people who challenged me to do my best.
Yes, I envy you because you have all that ahead of you. No temporary setbacks, no matter how serious and grave, will hold you back from your tremendous talent, idealism, global mindset, and technological sophistication. Yes, I envy you because all the best is ahead of you.
Challenges move us forward. Most of the great cities we think about have over the centuries been rebuilt and ascended further to greatness despite destruction by wars or natural disasters. As designers our opportunity is to innovate, to reinvent, and to be restless with the status quo. As David Libeskind has said, “Cities are the greatest creations of humanity." Your contributions to our future cities will not just be design or planning, but no less than the reinvention of how people live, collaborate, and create a safe and peaceful future for everyone.
David Libeskind by the way, after nearly eighty of his ancestors died during the Holocaust, had the uplifting optimism to re-plan World Trade Center after 9-11.
Yes, each generation has their challenges, and I know you will not only rise to them, you will use your creative capacity to move us all forward
--Bob
Bob Weis
President
Walt Disney Imagineering