Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski yesterday urged the graduating class of Villa Julie College to rely on traditional values to help reverse the direction of the country, which she said "has gone from a progressive society to a permissive one."

"In this time of change, there must be a commitment made to basic values in order to achieve progress," said Senator Mikulski, speaking at the school's 41st commencement exercises held on the Baltimore County campus.

"The first value is respect for yourself and for others; the second is fairness and honesty; the third is a feeling of responsibility and duty, and the last one is kindness," she said.

Villa Julie College President Carolyn Manuszak introduced the Democratic senator from Baltimore, who was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Virginia Tanner, who has served as Villa Julie's director of public relations for 17 years, was given the President's Medal for her "extraordinary service" to the college.

Of the 319 degrees bestowed yesterday, 188 were bachelor's degrees and 131 were associate degrees.

Senator Mikulski paid tribute to the graduates, their families and the faculty. She urged the graduates to use the knowledge and experiences they acquired at Villa Julie to help better society.

"The baby-boom generation before you was the 'me' generation, but your generation will be the 'we' generation -- a generation that will work together to help and improve our society," she said.

"Your life needs to be more than resumes, the most Rolodexes, and 4.0 GPAs because you will be judged in the world more by the person you are than by the degree you have."

In advising the graduates to develop compassion, the senator told them "not to measure your life by glitz and glamour, but rather --in the words of de Toqueville -- by 'the habit[s] of the heart.'"