Ithaca College celebrated 1,345 graduates at its 119th Commencement in May, when President Thomas R. Rochon urged graduates to become “the CEO” of their own lives.

“To be the CEO of your own life,” Rochon said, “is to live your life in a conscious, reflective way rather than allowing yourself to be defined by the opportunities and the disappointments that will surely confront you, just as they confront everybody. To be the CEO of your own life is to accept the possibility of greatness, not as determined by others but as defined by the standards you have set for yourself.”

The Commencement speaker was Chris Regan ’89, a writer for the television show Family Guy who won five Emmys and two Peabody Awards while writing for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In his address, Regan suggested that one of the most important things graduates could do was to try to make people laugh.

“If you can’t do that, find space in your life for something that makes you laugh. Greet the many challenges that this world is going to offer you with passion and courage and conviction, yes, but also with some degree of levity.”

View photos of the 2014 Commencement