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Convocation 2025
Wednesday, August 20
9:30 a.m.
Eastman Quadrangle, River Campus
Prelude
Members of UR Carillon Society
Members of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble
Introductions
Polina Chub '28
2025-26 Orientation Leader
Elaine Sia
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Excellence
Remarks
Sarah Mangelsdorf
President and G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor
Nicole Sampson
Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Nichole Waligóra '26E, '26
Students' Association President, Eastman School of Music
John Conduah '26
Students' Association President, School of Arts & Sciences and Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Anne-Marie Algier
Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for University Student Life
Singing of The Genesee
Please stand to sing The Genesee, led by University of Rochester a cappella singers.
THE GENESEE
Lyrics by Thomas T. Swinburne (Class of 1892)
Music by Herve Wilkins (Class of 1866)
Please note: It is a Rochester tradition to sing verses 1 and 3 only.
Full many fair and famous streams
Beneath the sun there be,
Yet more to us than any seems
Our own dear Genesee.
We love her banks and stately falls,
For to our minds they bring
Our dear old alma mater's halls
Where sweetest mem’ries cling.
No castled crags along her way
Romantic splendors cast;
No fabled or historic lay
Recalls the golden past.
But more than battlemented walls,
Or legends they may bear,
Are alma mater’s vine-clad halls
And mem'ries ling'ring there.
As flows the river gath'ring force,
Along her steadfast way,
May we along life's devious course
Grow stronger day by day.
And may our hearts, where'er we roam,
Forever loyal be
To our beloved college home
Beside the Genesee.
Recessional
Members of the University of Rochester Pep Band
Platform Party
Robert Alexander
Vice Provost and University Dean for Enrollment Management
John Blackshear
University Vice President for Student Life
Robert Bones
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Eastman School of Music
Peter Christensen
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, School of Arts & Sciences
Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center
Joseph Ciminelli
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, School of Arts & Sciences
Director of the Statistics Program
Rebecca Fletcher Roberts
Associate Dean and Suzanne Jagel O’Brien Senior Director of the Center for Advising Services
Paul Funkenbusch
Associate Dean of Education and New Initiatives, Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
John Hain
Senior Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Eastman School of Music
Wendi Heinzelman
Dean, Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Mitch Lovett
Interim Dean, Simon Business School
Adrienne Morgan
Vice President, Office of University Engagement and Enrichment
Kate Sheeran
Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music
Duje Tadin
Interim Dean, School of Arts & Sciences
Class Roll
New students sign the class roll during their first week on campus to symbolically join the University of Rochester community and commit to the principles proclaimed by our motto, mission, vision, and values. The class rolls are preserved in the University Archives in Rush Rhees Library and displayed during Commencement Week, class reunions, and by request of class members.
Mission Statement
Learn, Discover, Heal, Create—and Make the World Ever Better
This memorably brief phrase was adopted as the University's mission statement in 2011.
"A mission statement is not a statement about the future, but rather about what is enduring," former Provost Ralph Kuncl explained. "It encapsulates and articulates the purposes, characteristics, and values of an institution, the core purposes and the actions that derive from them. It should explain what drives us, and what it is we are trying to create."
Motto and Values
Meliora was chosen as our motto in 1850 and translates to "ever better." Embedded in the word are values we share:
Meliora
We strive to be ever better, for everyone.
Equity
We commit to persity, inclusion, and access.
Leadership
We take initiative and share responsibility for exemplifying excellence.
Integrity
We conduct ourselves with honesty, dedication, and fairness.
Openness
We embrace freedom of ideas, inquiry, and expression.
Respect
We value our differences, our environment, and our inpidual and collective contributions.
Accountability
We are responsible for making our community ever better, through our actions, our words, and our dealings with others.