Naturalization Ceremony
JOHNSON CITY (Sept. 21, 2018) – Ninety-one individuals from 37 countries around the world were sworn in as official citizens of the United States during a Naturalization Ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 20, at East Tennessee State University, which became the first school in East Tennessee to host such a ceremony on its campus.
These men and women, who had completed all of the prescribed steps to citizenship,
recited the oath of citizenship administered by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S.
District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, who presided over the ceremony.
The district covers the counties of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins,
Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington. 
Greer, an alumnus of ETSU, noted that naturalization proceedings are normally held at the U.S. District Court in Greeneville. Holding this ceremony on the ETSU campus, he said, allowed the large number of new citizens to be sworn in at once rather than dividing that number into two or three ceremonies. It also, he said, “underscores the importance of these proceedings and of immigrants.”
ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland welcomed the participants, comparing the Naturalization Ceremony to the Commencement ceremonies held each May and December at ETSU. He said that just like Commencement, the Naturalization Ceremony represents the end of one journey and the beginning of another.
“Anything is possible,” he said. “Any dream is possible. Your journey to today may not have been easy, but your sacrifices will be worth it.”
“Admitting new citizens to citizenship is one of the most satisfying of all the duties I perform,” Greer said. “Immigrants from many countries, seeking a better life, have flocked to our shores, invigorating our armed forces, enriching our culture, making our democracy stronger.”
Greer noted several prominent American citizens who had come to the United States as immigrants, including physicist Albert Einstein, clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, former U.S. secretaries of state Madeline Albright and Henry Kissinger, and actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“When you take your oath, you are adopting the United States as your country, and
the United States is adopting you as one of its citizens,” Greer said.
Before administering the oath of citizenship, Greer invited several individuals who were present to take their oaths of citizenship to share their stories. Some came to the U.S. for education, some came via marriage, others came in search of work. Some of those who became new citizens were affiliated with ETSU as students or through marriage.
One of those students was Ayesha Khan, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan with her husband, who is a physician. She is currently working on her master of teaching degree at ETSU after earning both her undergraduate degree in biology and master of public health degree at the university.
Khan said one of the biggest reasons she pursued citizenship was her son.
“He can speak his mind, say whatever he wants to, and I think he’s being brought up in an amazing way that I cannot even dream of in my country,” she said. “Whenever I take him to his grandparents, he says, ‘I want to go back home.’ So his loyalty to this country is the biggest reason. I want to share that with my son and other children, because he loves being in America, and he’s proud and he says it out loud.”
Khan’s husband did his residency at ETSU, and they live in Johnson City.
When asked what encouragement she would give to others who wished to walk the path
to U.S. citizenship, Khan said, “They should. There are so many opportunities. It’s
an open, new world, and people like us come from third world countries – yes, we can
work there; yes, there are rights. But bringing the future to your children is the
most important thing. Bring them the future, because we’re missing that. 
“For me, coming here and getting so many degrees after I got married and had three children broke that naïve thinking that a mother of three should not go to college, should not pursue her dreams. So this was the land that helped me pursue all those dreams, and I can go out and I can work as long as I want. I can get another degree if I want, and nobody would say different. That’s what I would advise to everybody else. Pursue your dreams, and this is the land of dreams.”
Van Phan, a fourth-year medical student in the Quillen College of Medicine, also took the oath of citizenship. The daughter of a retired physician, she has been in the United States for 12 years and applied for citizenship a year ago. She is currently doing rotations out of town, and flew back to Johnson City for 36 hours to take part in the ceremony at ETSU.
“I think the thing I look forward to the most,” Phan said, “is being able to vote. “Being the only person in the class who is not a U.S. citizen and not being able to have my voice heard and take part in the democratic process, I would think, ‘One day, it’ll be my turn.’”
ETSU Votes and the Leadership and Civic Engagement division of the Student Organization Resource Center hosted the event, along with the Northeast Tennessee chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which sponsored the reception following the ceremony.
According to Joy Fulkerson, assistant director of Leadership and Civic Engagement,
the benefits of hosting this event include encouraging voter engagement and issue
education. The university will work to host more Naturalization Ceremonies again
in the future.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Hill
hill@etsu.edu
423-439-4317