The University of Rochester will inaugurate its ninth president, Thomas H. Jackson, on Saturday, October 22, 1994. The ceremony, at 10 a.m. in Eastman Theatre, will be open to the public. There will also be a live broadcast of the ceremony on WXXI-TV, the local public broadcasting station.
Jackson will deliver an inaugural address, and three individuals will receive honorary doctorates that morning. The Eastman Wind Ensemble will perform under the baton of Robert Rumbelow. During the program, there will be a world premiere of a composition by David Liptak called "The Sacred Harp," commissioned for this inauguration. The work draws upon an American singing style known as "shape-note singing," which is associated with group singing of part songs in the 18th and 19th centuries. The piece is vigorous, rough-hewn, and celebratory in character.
A new design for the University of Rochester academic gown, in the school colors of deep blue and dandelion yellow, will also be unveiled. The robes are "Pacifica Blue" [a dark, royal blue] trimmed with lapels of black velvet. Accenting each sleeve are three velvet cross bars in dandelion yellow, echoing the University flower. The President's gown is different from all others in two respects: It has four rather than three stripes on the sleeves, and its lapels are embroidered with his inaugural logo, a design taken from architectural details of the River Campus.
The hats are a soft tam of blue velvet in the shape of a hexagon with a gold tassel.
Many representatives of colleges, universities, and learned societies from across the country are expected to come to Rochester for the Saturday morning ceremony. Participants will dress in full academic regalia, in the colors of the institutions which granted their degrees. As academic custom dictates, they will march in the order of the founding dates of their institutions.
Three individuals will receive honorary doctorates. Frederick Rudolph, professor emeritus of history at Williams College and one of the foremost historians of American higher education, will receive the doctor of humane letters degree; receiving the doctor of law degree will be Ellen Ash Peters, chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and a former professor of law at Yale University; and Douglas G. Baird, dean, University of Chicago Law School.
During the investiture ceremony, Jackson will be presented with the traditional symbols of authority, including the mace, the University charter, a letter of appointment, and the president's medal.
The inauguration is the highlight of several days of related events. On Friday, Oct. 21, there will be an afternoon seminar on "Higher Education in the 21st Century" in the Interfaith Chapel and an inaugural concert in Eastman Theatre. President Jackson will also meet with students, faculty, University trustees, and business and community leaders of Rochester at various luncheons, dinners, and receptions that week.
SCHEDULE OF INAUGURAL EVENTS
Note: Each of the events listed is FREE and open to the public, though tickets are required for the inaugural concert and for the inaugural ceremony because seating is limited. Free tickets -- available on a first-come basis --can be picked up at the Eastman School of Music Ticket Office, at the Wilson Commons Information Desk on River Campus, or at the Cashier's Office at Strong Memorial Hospital. Or, individuals can request tickets by mail by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope with a note to the Inaugural Committee, Box 41, Administration Building, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627. Tickets are limited to two per person.
Friday, Oct. 21
2 p.m., Interfaith Chapel. Seminar: "A Conversation on Higher Education in the 21st Century." Among discussants are Frederick Rudolph, professor emeritus of history, Williams College; Hugo Sonnenschein, president, University of Chicago; Walter Cooper, member of the New York State Board of Regents; and Jerry Green, former provost at Harvard and now the John Leverett Professor in the university. Free and open to the public; no tickets required.
9 p.m., Eastman Theatre. Inaugural concert, featuring the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, conducted by James Doser, and the Eastman Jazz Ensemble, conducted by Fred Sturm. Free, but tickets required.
Saturday, Oct. 22
10 a.m., Eastman Theatre. Inauguration of Thomas H. Jackson as ninth president of the University of Rochester. Note: Concert prelude, featuring the Eastman Wind Ensemble, begins at 9:30 a.m. Free, but tickets required.
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BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS H. JACKSON
Thomas H. Jackson, 44, took office as ninth president of the University of Rochester on July 1, 1994, bringing to Rochester a distinguished background in both scholarship and administration.
Formerly the vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, Jackson was the major architect of a ten-year academic plan recently developed for the institution, was involved closely with planning efforts for a capital campaign, and led the institution's academic responses to state budgetary cuts -- something that required close cooperation with all of the university's constituencies. As Virginia's highest-ranked academic officer, Jackson oversaw the academic affairs of a wide range of scholarly disciplines. He also had a major role in overseeing undergraduate and graduate admissions, curricular programs, and sponsored research.
As an educational administrator, Jackson sees himself as someone who "relies substantially on consultation and discussion, generates ideas for others to test out, looks for a sense of the shared values among various groups at a university, and ultimately takes responsibility for making the decisions -- especially the hard ones -- and articulating their rationale to those affected."
Jackson's interest in higher education began to crystallize early in life. His undergraduate honors thesis at Williams College was on the response of the "Little Three" colleges -- Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan -- to the rise of the research university at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Although encouraged by Williams College faculty to study toward a Ph.D. degree, and despite his own interest in teaching, Jackson's concerns about the job market for new Ph.D.s tipped the scales in favor of law school. He entered the Yale law school in 1972. After earning his law degree in 1975, he first clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marvin E. Frankel in New York in 1975- 76, and then for Supreme Court Justice (now Chief Justice) William H. Rehnquist in 1976-77.
He joined the Stanford faculty at the conclusion of that clerkship, and at Stanford's urging took a leave of absence to practice law with the San Francisco law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe from 1979 to 1981. He returned to Stanford and taught there until he joined the Harvard faculty in 1986. Jackson went to the University of Virginia as law school dean in 1988. In 1991, he was named Virginia's vice president and provost, and also held the title of Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law.
He has written texts used at law schools across the country: a casebook on bankruptcy; a casebook on secured transactions; and a policy book on the theoretical underpinnings of bankruptcy law, which is often consulted by those in the practice of law as well as academicians.
He has been serving as special master for the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that began in 1988 involving every state in the country over the disposition of unclaimed dividends held by brokerage houses. (A special master is appointed by the Supreme Court to hear arguments and make recommendations to the Court in suits between states that are first heard in the Supreme Court and not on appeal from a lower court.)
Jackson was born June 20, 1950 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is married to Bonnie Gelb Jackson, an attorney; they have two sons, Richard, 8, and Steven, 5. He is an avid photographer, likes to cook, bicycle, and read, has a "rusty" golf game, and now devotes much of his spare time to his two young boys.
He succeeds Dennis O'Brien, the University's eighth president, who retired June 30 after ten years in the office.
BIOS OF HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS
Frederick Rudolph
The history of America's colleges and universities and what they have taught undergraduates from Colonial times to the present has been the subject of much of Frederick Rudolph's lifetime of work. Now professor emeritus of history at Williams College, Rudolph's major works include The American College and University: A History (Knopf, 1962; Revised, University of Georgia Press, 1990), and Curriculum: A History of the American Undergraduate Course of Study Since 1636 (Jossey-Bass, 1977; revised, 1993). He also edited Essays on Education in the Early Republic (Harvard University Press, 1965) and Perspectives: A Williams Anthology (Williams College, 1983).
His distinguished career has included teaching positions at Yale and Harvard, as well as Williams, where he held the Mark Hopkins chair in history from 1964-1982, and chaired the American Civilization Program from 1971-80. He also has served on many national commissions on higher education for such organizations as the American Council on Education, the National Institute of Education, and the Association of American Colleges.
He is a graduate of Williams College (B.A., 1942) and Yale (Ph.D., 1953).
Ellen Ash Peters
Chief Justice Peters has held the highest position in the Connecticut Judicial Branch since 1984. In the ensuing decade, she has become nationally recognized for directing innovative initiatives such as reorganizing the appellate system and for commissioning studies on such major issues as gender, justice, and the courts and legal ethics.
Chief Justice Peters graduated with honors from Swarthmore College in 1951, and with honors from the Yale Law School in 1954, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She taught law at Yale from 1956 until her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1978, and continued to teach there as an adjunct professor from 1978 to 1984. She became the first woman to be named a Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1978. In 1984, she became Chief Justice.
Among the many professional honors she has won are the Ella T. Grasso Distinguished Service Medal in 1982; the Yale Law School Distinguished Service Medal in 1983, and the University of Connecticut Law School Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1993. She also has received numerous honorary degrees.
Her many service activities include being honorary chair, from 1986 to 1991, of the U.S. Constitution Bicentennial Commission.
Douglas G. Baird
One of the nation's leading experts on bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, Douglas G. Baird was named Dean of the Law School of the University of Chicago in the spring of this year.
His scholarly work involves the exploration of bankruptcy law in the context of modern corporate finance theory.
In addition to his latest book The Elements of Bankruptcy (1992), Baird has co-authored two casebooks, Cases, Problems and Materials on Security Interests in Personal Property (1984) and Cases, Problems and Materials on Bankruptcy (1985), both with Thomas Jackson.
Baird received his bachelor's degree in English, summa cum laude, from Yale College in 1975 and earned his J.D. degree at Stanford Law School in 1979. While at Stanford, he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as managing editor of the Stanford Law Review.
Before joining the faculty at Chicago, Baird was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He came to Chicago in 1980 and served as associate dean of the Law School from 1984 to 1987. He now is the School's tenth dean, and also holds the School's Harry A. Bigelow Professor of Law chair.
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CONTACT: Jan Fitzpatrick, 585/275-4128, or
Robert Kraus, 585/275-4124
Order of Program for
The Inauguration of Thomas H. Jackson as ninth President of the University of Rochester 10 a.m. Saturday, October 22, 1994 in the Eastman Theatre
Musical selections performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Robert Rumbelow
Musical Prelude
National Emblem E.E. Bagley
(1857-1922)
Folk Song Suite Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872-1958)
March - "Seventeen Come Sunday"
Intermezzo - "My Bonny Boy"
March - "Folk Songs from Somerset"
American Salute Morton Gould
(1913 - )
Procession
Fanfare I announcing visiting dignitaries
"Festmarsch" from Tannhauser Richard Wagner
(1813-1883)
arranged by Robert Rumbelow
Fanfare II announcing faculties of the University of
Rochester
Pomp & Circumstance March No. 4 Edward Elgar
(1857-1934)
arranged by Donald Hunsberger
Huldigungs Marsch Richard Wagner
(1813-1883)
arranged by F. Winterbottom
Fanfare III announcing the Platform Party
Pomp & Circumstance March. No. 1 Edward Elgar
(1857 - 1934)
arranged by Donald Hunsberger
Invocation by Joseph Brennan, director, University Religious
Affairs
Words of Welcome
From the students
From the faculty
Performance of The Sacred Harp David Liptak
(1949 - )
(World premiere, commissioned for this inaugural event)
Remarks and Investiture Robert B. Goergen
Chairman, University Board of Trustees
Inaugural Address Thomas H. Jackson
Stars and Stripes John Philip Sousa
(1854-1932)
Conferring of Honorary Degrees
Frederick Rudolph, Doctor of Humane Letters
Professor emeritus of history, Williams College
Ellen Ash Peters, Doctor of Law
Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court
Douglas G. Baird, Doctor of Law
Dean, University of Chicago Law School
Alma Mater: "The Genesee"
Audience led by Carol Webber,
Professor of Voice, Eastman School of Music
Words by T. T. Swinburne, Class of 1892
Music by Herve D. Wilkins, Class of 1866
Recession
"Triumphal March" and "Ballet Music" Giuseppe Verdi
from Aida (1813-1901)
arranged by Robert Rumbelow
"Coronation March" from La Prophete G. Meyerbeer
(1791-1864)
arranged by M. Lake
About the Eastman Wind Ensemble
The Eastman Wind Ensemble's core of 50 Eastman School of Music students includes woodwind, brass, and percussion players. Smaller or larger groups can be assembled according to the composer's specification for each work.
The Ensemble has become a model for others of its kind around the world, and has been credited with spurring a renaissance in symphonic wind music. Donald Hunsberger, professor of conducting and ensembles, has directed the group since 1965.
Six major tours have reinforced the Ensemble's reputation. Its most recent was an extensive tour of Japan in the summer of 1994. The Ensemble's more than 50 recordings have set the performance standard for wind ensembles. "Carnaval," a 1987 release of cornet solos with Wynton Marsalis, was nominated for a Grammy Award and reached #1 on Billboard's Compact Disc Chart. The most recent release is "Live at Osaka," a Sony Classical CD recorded during the 1990 Japan tour.
About Conductor Robert W. Rumbelow
The assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman Wind Orchestra, Rumbelow is also an active composer and arranger. Four of his arrangements were included in the Ensemble's tour program and were performed throughout Japan.
About Composer David Liptak
Now chair of the Eastman School's composition department, Liptak has taught at the School since 1987. His compositions have been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and many other major ensembles. His composition awards include prizes in the 1986 Georges Enesco International Composition Competition and the 1978 Minnesota Orchestra 75th Anniversary Composers Competition. Among his recent work is Ancient Songs for baritone William Sharp and the 20th Century Consort. His Seven Songs on poems by James Wright, and his composition for clarinet and piano, Illusions, have been released on compact disc by Gasparo Records.
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THE UNIVERSITY'S EIGHT FORMER PRESIDENTS
The University of Rochester has had only eight former presidents, from the time of its modest beginnings in 1850 as a small college of about 60 students who occupied rented quarters in a downtown hotel to the present. The institution now has seven schools and colleges on three principal campuses serving 8,700 students.
The University of Rochester's eight chief executive officers have been Martin Brewer Anderson (1853-1888), David Jayne Hill (1889-1896), Rush Rhees (1900-1935), Alan Valentine (1935-1950), Cornelis W. de Kiewiet (1951-1961), W. Allen Wallis (1962-1975), Robert L. Sproull (1975-1984), and G. Dennis O'Brien (1984-1994).
Each left his mark: Some are associated with periods of great expansion, when new buildings were erected and enrollments swelled. Other are remembered for such things as elevating the quality of faculty or administration through judicious appointments, improving the quality of the student body and the curriculum, or forging stronger ties with the Rochester community.
Here are some highlights from each president's term.
MARTIN BREWER ANDERSON, 1853-1888
The University, founded chiefly by Baptists, operated for three years before its trustees selected Martin Brewer Anderson, an editor of a Baptist periodical, as president of the fledgling institution.
Anderson's views on education were conservative, even for his day. He believed strongly in the classic elements of a liberal arts education--mathematics, philosophy, logic, chemistry, botany, political economy, astronomy, Greek, and Latin.
The purpose of such a curriculum was to turn callow young men into mature thinkers, rather than to provide them with job- training: "Training, discipline, learning have been undervalued," Anderson declared in his inaugural address, "and that kind of education alone has been deemed 'practical' which tends directly and immediately to make the student a better instrument for production."
Anderson struggled to keep the University solvent through most of his long term. He and others did manage, however, to raise the $38,000 it cost to erect a building off University Avenue between Prince and Goodman Streets that became the University's new home. Built to accommodate classes for 350 students, it was called Anderson Hall to express the trustees' appreciation of the president's "noble-hearted" efforts.
After decades of experience, Anderson defined the role of an academic executive in words that are still relevant: "The college president," he informed a friend, "is expected to be a vigorous writer and public speaker. He must be able to address all sorts of audiences upon all sorts of subjects. He must be a financier able to extract money from the hoards of misers, and to hold his own with the trained denizens of Wall Street. He must be attractive in general society, a scholar among scholars; distinguished in some one or two departments of learning; gentle and kindly as a woman in his relations to the students, and still able to quell a 'row' with the pluck and confidence of a New York Chief-of-Police."
After the Civil War, institutions of higher learning all over the country were reforming their curricula. Though Anderson thought that universities such as Cornell and Harvard had injured the quality of their education by offering students too many elective substitutes for fundamentals, Rochester, too, gradually liberalized its offerings: German, French, medieval and modern history, and Sanskrit were among the newer choices offered to students beginning in the 1870s.
Anderson's health began deteriorating in the 1870s, but he continued in office at the urging of the trustees past his announced retirement until the fall of 1889 when the new president, David Jayne Hill, arrived. Anderson died a few months later.
DAVID JAYNE HILL, 1888-1896
David Jayne Hill was a Baptist minister who became president of his alma mater, Bucknell University, at the age of 29. At Bucknell, he raised the level of academic performance, broadened the curriculum and built up the financial resources of the college.
When he accepted the presidency at Rochester, he had grand designs for it, too: He foresaw an athletics program, dormitories, a women's college, and a school of technology.
But to finance these things, Hill recognized that the University had to expand its sources of support beyond the Baptist community that traditionally had been its mainstay. Hill attempted to forge a partnership between the city and emerging university, and appealed to alumni for support. He failed to raise the money he needed, however, and his discouragement led to his resignation eight years after his acceptance of the top University post.
Though Hill's tenure was short compared to the 35-year terms of his predecessor, Anderson, and his successor, Rush Rhees, he is nevertheless remembered for a number of progressive accomplishments: During his term the faculty assumed a larger role in academic policymaking; students chose classes from a greater array of elective subjects than ever before; scientific studies emphasized laboratory work; and the University launched a football team.
Hill also loosened the ties between the University and the Baptist church, thus paving the way for the city to think of the college as a community enterprise.
After he resigned, Hill became Assistant Secretary of State in 1898, and, later, a diplomat working in Europe.
RUSH RHEES, 1900-1935
The long Rhees administration witnessed the transition of what had been a good regional college into an authentic national university.
When Rhees--a 40-year-old professor at Newton Theological Seminary--took the helm, Rochester had a faculty of 17, a student body of 159, and a campus that included only four buildings.
Rush Rhees was the University's first president to be formally inducted into office on campus; Martin Anderson delivered his inaugural remarks at Corinthian Hall, a large meeting room in downtown Rochester; Hill was in Europe, detained by his wife's illness, when his inaugural speech was read at commencement in 1889.
At Rhees' inauguration, however, heads of other colleges attended and gave speeches; Rhees was given the charter of the University, the seal and keys as emblems of his authority. After his speech, the College Glee Club sang the alma mater, "The Genesee," which had been composed by Thomas Swinburne of the class of 1892.
By the time Rhees retired 35 years later, the University had become a far different institution. It had established many of the strong links that today make the University an essential part of Rochester, bringing a rich vitality to the city's cultural and educational life, and helping to keep the city on the map as a place of scientific, medical, and technological innovation.
Thanks to the insistent urging of suffragist Susan B. Anthony that women be admitted to the all-male institution, Rush Rhees opened up Rochester to females in 1900 and established a college for women. On Rhees' watch, the University also acquired the Memorial Art Gallery, opened the Eastman School of Music, Eastman Theatre, School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Strong Memorial Hospital, and constructed an entire complex of instruction buildings, athletic facilities, and a library on the new River Campus site which the University occupies today.
The individual besides Rhees most directly responsible for this remarkable growth was George Eastman. Before Rhees' arrival at Rochester, the self-taught Kodak magnate had given no money to the University and professed not to be interested in education. Rhees patiently cultivated Eastman, however, and gradually helped him appreciate the profound implications of academic progress. Eastman eventually gave much of his personal fortune to education; his money created and endowed the Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theatre, and he was principal contributor to the School of Medicine and Dentistry and the River Campus. He remains to this day the University's greatest benefactor.
The trustees expressed their appreciation for Rhees' remarkable leadership over three decades by naming the new library on the River Campus for him.
Under Rhees, the University grew not only in size but in quality as well. Appointments to the teaching force from the 1920s on were mostly Ph.D.s. Rhees appointed the University's first dean of graduate studies, Charles Hoeing, in 1928; by 1930, four departments had been authorized to train candidates for the doctorate.
After retiring in 1935 at age 75, Rhees and his wife traveled. He suffered a fatal heart attack on Jan. 5, 1939.
ALAN VALENTINE, 1935-1950
Alan Valentine believed, it seemed, that great academic occasions should be vested with commensurate ceremony. The inauguration of the 34-year-old Yale professor--one of the youngest men ever named chief executive officer of a major institution of higher learning--was the most brilliant spectacle the University had ever staged.
The two days of inaugural festivities included luncheons, seminars given by visiting scholars, and a concert featuring the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra led by Howard Hanson.
"There are many standards of success in life," said Valentine in his inaugural address, "but only one for a university: the extent to which it contributes to the progress of thought and character." He stated his commitment to improving the men's and women's colleges, and to offering more scholarships and a finer quality of instruction. His administration was further distinguished by the extensive development of graduate studies, an undergraduate honors program, and national recognition of the University's strength in the natural sciences.
He carried out those promises, adding scholarships and elevating the level of faculty and administration appointments.
As the country was drawn into World War II, the University assumed an important role in service to the government. The Institute of Optics directed research on the development and identification of detection devices. The division of engineering and University School carried out an emergency training program which helped solve manpower problems.
It was also during World War II that Rochester's Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps was established. The Navy needed a constant supply of men who were officer material, and the Men's College, which had suffered enrollment declines due to conscription, saw the NROTC program as helping the Men's College to survive for the duration of the war. When the news that Rochester had been awarded a unit reached campus, the chimes from the library rang out "Anchors Aweigh" and "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow."
Valentine was on leave from the University in 1949 to direct the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands. After resigning as president the following year, he was appointed head of the U.S. Economic Stabilization Agency. From the mid-1950s until his death in 1980, he concentrated on writing, largely in the field of history.
CORNELIS W. de KIEWIET, 1951-1961
In contrast to the elaborate formality of Alan Valentine's inauguration, the installation of Cornelis W. de Kiewiet (pronounced Kore-NEE-lis duh KEE-wit) in June 1951 was simple.
At his request, the inauguration was a "family" affair, held as part of commencement and limited in the main to faculty, students, alumni and staff of the University, and residents of the Rochester area.
But walking down the aisle of the Eastman Theatre wearing a soft-crowned medieval cap and a claret-colored gown of the University of London, where he earned his doctorate, the tall, husky president stood out in bold contrast against the black robes worn by other participants.
The former acting president of Cornell University came to Rochester at a time of rising expenses, inflation and tuition hikes. In his inaugural address, he noted that "there is in the air a spirit of pessimism about the private universities," but he promised nevertheless to work to help the University "grow and change," to support research, to bridge the gap between the University and industry, and to "confirm men and women in a sense of moral purpose."
Despite the "pessimistic" climate, there was a renewal during the de Kiewiet years of the kind of growth and expansion last seen in the 1920s. The merger of the Colleges for Men and Women into a single College of Arts and Science was probably the most dramatic of de Kiewiet's innovations. Through the early 1950s, women had been housed and educated on the Prince Street campus, near the Memorial Art Gallery. In 1955, they moved to the River Campus for the first time, occupying the building now known as the Susan B. Anthony Residence Hall.
He oversaw a major capital fund drive to finance the new living, dining, and athletic facilities that were needed to accommodate women on the River Campus. New dining facilities and dormitories were also constructed to house the growing male student population.
Born in the Netherlands and raised in South Africa, de Kiewiet was fluent in Dutch, Afrikaans, French, and German. He maintained a strong interest in global affairs, and inaugurated a Canadian studies program and a program on non-Western civilizations.
In addition, he oversaw the creation in 1958 of three of the University's autonomous professional schools: The College of Engineering and Applied Science, the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, and the Graduate School of Management.
De Kiewiet left his post in 1961 in order to address the issue of higher education in the emerging nations of Africa. He was an honorary trustee of the University until his death in 1986.
W. ALLEN WALLIS, 1962-1975
The tradition of conferring honorary degrees at the inauguration of a new president dates back to the University's first chief executive, Martin Brewer Anderson. The incoming president selects the candidates, usually honoring those former associates who were especially important to his academic or professional development.
As his first official act as Rochester's newly installed president, W. Allen Wallis conferred honorary degrees on May 17, 1963, to seven men, one of whom was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Wallis, an internationally known economist and former dean of the University of Chicago School of Business, had served him as special presidential assistant. It was the first time the University had so honored a former United States President.
Representatives of other colleges and universities and of national and local government agencies came to celebrate Wallis' installation in the Eastman Theatre. Howard Hanson, director of the Eastman School of Music, chose this occasion for the world premiere of his composition, "For the First Time," played by the Eastman Philharmonia.
In his inaugural address, Wallis emphasized the need to continue building strength, particularly in the graduate programs. It was, paradoxically, by improving those programs that the University could best serve undergraduates, Wallis declared: "Today, the kind of teacher President Anderson described needs graduate students, and he needs programs of research and scholarship that are viable only in the midst of colleagues and graduate students laboring jointly to advance knowledge of their subject--to get ahead of, not merely keep up with, the times."
Wallis did indeed encourage the expansion and development of graduate programs during his term, but also came to be known as a "builder." Kenneth Clark, then dean of the College of Arts and Science, recollected upon Wallis' retirement that he had "led the trustees in launching a campaign based on a 10-year program of carefully calculated expansion." Hutchison Hall, the new addition to Rush Rhees Library, and Wilson Commons are some of those important additions.
Wallis guided Rochester through perhaps the most difficult time in this century for American colleges: The Vietnam War era.
Mercer Brugler, who was chairman of the board of trustees from 1967 to 1970, recalled that Wallis maintained the campus should be open for discussion of all views, and should avoid commitment to political goals. "Many radicals were unhappy with these policies, and for different reasons, so were many conservatives," wrote Brugler. "But deep splits were avoided and the University emerged from a difficult period with fewer scars than any we knew about."
After retiring as chief executive officer in 1975, Wallis continued serving as chancellor until 1978. He was appointed Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs for the Reagan administration in 1982. He received an honorary degree from the University at the presidential inauguration of Dennis O'Brien in 1984.
ROBERT L. SPROULL, 1975-1984
Until 1975, Rochester's chief executive officer had always been selected from the field of outside candidates.
Robert L. Sproull became the exception to that rule when he took over the top leadership post from W. Allen Wallis in a ceremony in Eastman Theatre on Feb. 1, 1975.
Sproull first came to Rochester from Cornell University in 1968 to become vice president and provost. An internationally known physicist, he had been a vice president at Cornell, where he distinguished himself for his commitment to undergraduate education, his strong interest in both the humanities and the sciences, and his insistence on excellence in faculty appointments.
Sproull was named president in 1970 but continued working alongside Chancellor Wallis until 1975, when the responsibilities of chief executive officer passed to Sproull.
In his inaugural remarks, Sproull defined his major tasks succinctly: "To solidify and make universal the quality of faculty and programs at the high level already established in most departments; to secure the recognition required to continue to attract and retain the students and faculty we deserve; to obtain the financial resources we need to complete this academic development and to guarantee that it will endure."
The Sproull years began with a $102 million campaign to provide an endowment for faculty appointments, scholarship, and library improvements, as well as funds for renovation and expansion of buildings. Under his leadership, recalled David Kearns, then chairman of the board of trustees and chief executive office of Xerox Corp., the campaign exceeded its goal.
"Bob involved himself in every facet of the campaign. He was the chief planner, the chief organizer, and the chief solicitor of many of the key gifts. He drove the campaign with his own personal style of leadership, and it showed. When the $102 million campaign ended five years later, $108 million had been raised."
During the Sproull years, Wilson Commons was dedicated, the new Strong Memorial Hospital opened, the Cancer Center was constructed, and the Zornow Sports Center and Fairbank Alumni Center opened. Under his leadership, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, funded by a consortium of federal, state and industry sources, became a leading center for laser research.
While president, Sproull also served as a member or chairman of many governmental and industrial advisory boards, earning him and the University national recognition.
Sproull, who has been named president emeritus and an honorary trustee of the University, currently retains an appointment in the Department of Physics.
G. DENNIS O'BRIEN, 1984-1994
Perhaps the central challenge facing Dennis O'Brien as he grasped the reins of leadership in the fall of 1984 was how to build upon the institutional strengths his predecessors had passed on so that Rochester would become known throughout the country for excellence in education. To respond to that summons would require action on many fronts, he told the University community as he began his term. Soon he set in motion people and plans to make admissions more competitive, to improve the quality of undergraduate education, to enhance the excellence of some of Rochester's best known programs in music, optics, and medicine, and to help define the special flavor and character of a Rochester education.
Over the 10 years of his stewardship, the annual number of undergraduate applications nearly doubled and the makeup of the student body became more diverse. A larger pool of applicants allowed Rochester to select freshman classes in which there were nearly as many women as men, more underrepresented minority students, more U.S. students from areas beyond the Northeast, and more international students than ever before. Rochester also became the choice of more and more of the country's most talented students: About one in five entering students today ranks first or second in his or her high school class.
Among the most successful innovations that O'Brien introduced to enrich the quality of undergraduate education was the Take Five program, which permits students to broaden their intellectual horizons by taking a fifth, tuition-free year toward the bachelor's degree. He also cleared the way for the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies to open in 1985, and for the Susan B. Anthony Center for women's studies to open in 1986.
Throughout his term as president, O'Brien maintained a personal connection to undergraduate education: He continued to teach popular courses in his discipline, philosophy.
By 1990, U.S. News & World Report ranked Rochester among the nation's top 25 universities; in 1993, the magazine placed Rochester among the top 25 "best value" national universities.
Several important campus buildings went up or were renovated on O'Brien's watch. First erected was the Carlson Library and Computer Studies Building, in 1987. Next was the renovation of the Medical Center's Miner Library. The Eastman School of Music's Sibley Library moved to a magnificent new home at Eastman Place in 1989, and two years later, Eastman students moved into an architecturally significant new dormitory--the Eastman Student Living Center, across the street from Eastman Theatre. Schlegel Hall opened in 1991 as a classroom building for the Simon School. The Center for Optoelectronics and Imaging, a high-technology research center, opened in 1993, and in the spring of 1994, ground was broken for construction of a new Ambulatory Care Facility at the Medical Center.
To finance these and other ventures, a $375 million Campaign for the '90s began its public phase in 1991. As that campaign came to the Rochester area in the Spring of 1994, more than $300 million toward the goal had been raised.
Other achievements during the O'Brien years: Rochester joined seven other national research universities to form the University Athletic Association in 1986; the Graduate School of Management announced in the same year a $30 million endowment and was renamed the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration. The University launched its own academic press in 1990, and awarded its 5,000th Ph.D the same year. The Laboratory for Laser Energetics began in 1992 an upgrade that would make its OMEGA laser one of the world's two most powerful lasers upon completion in 1995. The W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy was established in 1992. The following year, the education school was endowed and renamed the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
O'Brien also recognized the vital role the University plays in the life of the Rochester community, and worked to strengthen ties with the city and surrounding areas. Wilson Day, a day of community service in which squads of entering freshmen fan out to dozens of local social service agencies and work for free that day, became a fall tradition. O'Brien himself always volunteered for duty, too, whether it called for painting, scrubbing, repairing bicycles, planting gardens, or cleaning up graffiti.
The creation of the Bausch & Lomb Riverside Park in 1989 gave birth to a new recreational corridor for University people and their area neighbors, and the annual fall Bausch & Lomb Invitational Regatta, launched in 1989, became an event that draws thousands of spectators in a community celebration of the Genesee River.
Summing up O'Brien's accomplishments, Thomas Mooney, president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, notes that "Dennis has managed a balance between making sure that the University has been among the finest academically in the country, and at the same time--acting both personally and professionally-- bringing it into partnership with the community."
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Contact: Jan Fitzpatrick, 275-4128 HIGHLIGHTS FROM PAST INAUGURATIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY
Here are a few details about the inaugurations of the University of Rochester's eight former presidents, culled from contemporary news sources.
Martin B. Anderson's inauguration, July 11, 1854
Corinthian Hall, a place for meetings in downtown Rochester, was where Anderson delivered his inaugural address. The Rochester Daily Union for July 12, 1854, said the hall "was crowded to its utmost capacity, and many distinguished strangers graced the occasion with their presence." He spoke about "the study of the ancient languages, the higher mathematics, logic, astronomy, and the several other branches constituting the University's course," the article continued, adding that Anderson's claims for each subject "were prominently set forth by the strongest powers of argument and great beauty of illustration."
The Union noted that "the address was one of great length," as was the custom of the day, but the paper added that "the attention of the audience was unflagging to the end."
David Jayne Hill's inauguration, June 19, 1889
Hill's inauguration is unique among such occasions at the University because Hill himself was not present. He and his wife had been traveling in Europe, and she fell ill. He remained in Europe to care for her, and forwarded his inaugural remarks to Rochester.
They were read at an alumni dinner held on June 19, 1889, in Anderson Hall. The Rochester Union and Advertiser notes that when Professor W. C. Morey finished reading Hill's text, the alumni gave a very noisy three cheers and sent a cablegram to Hill asking him to "accept our enthusiastic and loyal support."
Rush Rhees' inauguration, Oct. 11, 1900
Rhees, who was inaugurated in the gymnasium (no longer standing) on the old Prince Street campus of the University, was the first chief executive to have been installed on campus. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle for Oct. 12, 1900, described the scene:
"The capacious gymnasium building was tastefully decorated, the dandelion yellow of the college colors being everywhere in evidence. The college mandolin club and the college glee club enlivened the occasion with choice selections."
Before Rhees spoke, the presidents of Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and Smith College all delivered remarks on education. After those speeches, Rhees was given the symbols of office: the University charter, a gold seal and a set of silver keys on a silver ring that would admit him to the four buildings on campus: Anderson Hall, the library building called Sibley Hall, the Reynolds chemical laboratory and the gymnasium.
Some 800 guests were at Rhees' inauguration, among them Susan B. Anthony, who had led a successful campaign to admit women to the University. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle wrote that the guests included "distinguished educators, the leading divines of the city, the prominent physicians and lawyers, representatives of Congress and Assembly and the elite of the social life."
The Rochester Union and Advertiser for Oct. 12, 1900, remarked that "the event was in every way the most elaborate ever held under the auspices of the University of Rochester."
Alan Valentine's inauguration, Nov. 15, 1935
More than 10,000 individual invitations went out to representatives of other institutions, Rochester alumni, and prominent citizens. Among the 3,000 guests who witnessed Valentine's installation were six New York State Supreme Court Justices, 41 college presidents, and 160 representatives from other institutions. Valentine's inaugural committee was composed of 10 trustees, 11 faculty heads, and the presidents of the alumni and alumnae associations. Howard Hanson, the director of the Eastman School of Music, was in charge of the invitations.
The inaugural activities went on for two days and included luncheons, dinners, lectures, and concerts.
Princeton University President Harold Willis Dodds talked about "Education's Responsibilities in Turbulent Times," and Ada Louise Comstock, president of Radcliffe College, offered "Some Observations on the Civilized Woman."
The day before the inauguration ceremony, Valentine spoke to 2,000 students and alumni in Eastman Theatre. The theatre was filled to capacity the next morning at 10 a.m. with about 3,000 guests for his inaugural ceremonies and address.
After the ceremonies, 700 guests enjoyed lunch with the new president. Valentine's remarks and those of others at the luncheon were broadcast over WHAM radio. Valentine's predecessor, Rush Rhees, was in Boston at the time of the inauguration, but sent greetings to the new president over a nationwide NBC radio hookup. Over the airwaves, Rhees predicted that Valentine "is the man to guide Rochester towards fulfillment of its best destiny."
The University mace, a symbol of the president's authority, was introduced at President Valentine's inauguration. Made of mahogany and hand-wrought silver, it has been used at the University's academic ceremonies ever since.
Cornelis de Kiewiet's inauguration, June 11, 1951
Between the time that Cornelis de Kiewiet left his post as acting president of Cornell University and his arrival in Rochester, he spent several months in East Africa directing a team of American scholars in a study of the area's social, economic, and political conditions.
The Rochester Review for August, 1951, reported that had a bull buffalo in the African jungle charged a few more feet, President de Kiewiet's inauguration might never have taken place.
De Kiewiet had joined an elephant and buffalo hunting expedition in Kenya and had taken a shot at a bull buffalo. Native game scouts went looking for the wounded creature, when it surprised the group by crashing out of the bush some 30 yards away.
At de Kiewiet's request, his inauguration was a modest ceremony held in Eastman Theatre. Most of the guests were from Rochester or the University community, and his inauguration was open to the public.
He received the traditional symbols of office: the charter, the seal, and the University keys.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle for June 12, 1951, noted that "the inaugural address was hardly more than begun when a bat fluttered out over the audience, and flitted silently across and around the auditorium several times. De Kiewiet continued with his address, unperturbed, and the bat finally disappeared into the backstage wings."
W. Allen Wallis' inauguration, May 17, 1963
The inaugural activities for Allen Wallis, like those of Valentine, attracted many out-of-town guests and took place over a couple of days' time. Representatives of 400 colleges, universities, and learned societies came to greet the new president. Many were the chief executive officers of their institutions: There were 41 college and university presidents from New York, and 11 from out of state. On the evening of May 16, Howard Hanson, the director of the Eastman School of Music, led the Eastman Philharmonia in a performance of a piece he had composed called "For the First Time." Commissioned by the Music Teachers National Association, but first played in its entirety at the Wallis inauguration, the piece endeavored to express in musical terms a child's feeling or experience upon doing things for the first time. Concertgoers gave the performance a standing ovation.
Eastman Theatre was filled on Friday, May 17, for the inaugural ceremonies at which Wallis conferred honorary degrees on seven men. One was Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom Wallis had served as a presidential assistant. It was the first time the University of Rochester had so honored a former U.S. president.
During the ceremonies, public relations director Don Lyon interrupted the inaugural proceedings to deliver news that everyone had been awaiting: Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper had landed safely after orbiting the Earth for several days.
Robert L. Sproull's inauguration, Feb. 1, 1975
Like de Kiewiet's inauguration, the festivities surrounding the investiture of Robert Sproull as the University's chief executive officer were deliberately modest. Yet some of the same touches that had graced previous inaugurations also gave luster to the Sproull ceremonies.
The evening before the inauguration, Howard Hanson led the Eastman Philharmonia in a concert that featured a work he had composed called "Pan and the Priest." A reviewer for the student newspaper, The Campus Times, enthused over the performance, saying "Hanson showed himself to be a true maestro, inspiring excellence and emotional dexterity in the piece."
Another distinctive feature of Sproull's inaugural activities was a seminar, "What the University Trustees Should Know for the Future," at which college presidents from other institutions and Rochester community leaders offered views on how the trustees could best safeguard the interests of the University and help it fulfill its responsibilities.
In his inaugural speech, Sproull struck a proud note, vowing that the University would "compete with the best" schools for students and for "faculty who are concerned and effective teachers and, at the same time, outstanding and productive scholars."
He enumerated many "substantial advantages" the University enjoyed, from its dedicated trustees, administrators and alumni, to its fine physical plant. Ending on a light note, he asserted that one of Rochester's most talked about distinctions -- its "bad weather" -- was also a blessing, as it "encouraged intellectual work most of the year." Dennis O'Brien's inauguration, Oct. 1, 1984
"As academic pageants go, this one is definitely high church," a Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reporter wrote on the eve of Dennis O'Brien's inauguration. "Not since Dwight D. Eisenhower received an honorary degree at the inauguration of W. Allen Wallis in 1963 has the University of Rochester staged such an elaborate spectacle."
More than 700 scholars, politicians, business leaders, and other guests marched in procession in the Eastman Theatre ceremony. They marched in full academic regalia of flowing black robes with hoods trimmed in a rainbow of bright colors, the color signaling the discipline in which the wearer earned his or her degree. Some 180 representatives from colleges and universities attended, and three people received honorary doctorates: Donald Kennedy, then president of Stanford University; Mary Patterson McPherson, president of Bryn Mawr College; and W. Allen Wallis, the former chancellor of Rochester, and then Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs for the Reagan Administration.
Personal computers were still something of a novelty the year of O'Brien's inauguration, but the man who orchestrated the ceremonies, Harmon L. Potter, had his staff use one to keep track of the logistics of everything from issuing invitations, to keeping track of hotel accommodations for out-of-town guests, to fine-tuning seating arrangements.
There was no stinting on ceremony. Musical selections were stately, with selections like Wagner's "March for King Ludwig II of Bavaria," Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1," and Walton's "Crown Imperial March." Two pieces performed at a concert the evening before O'Brien's investiture had been commissioned especially for the occasion: Warren Benson's "Wings" and Samuel Adler's "I Continually Think of Thee."
Yet reporters noted that while festivities were regal, the tone of inaugural events was not somber. A Democrat and Chronicle reporter writing about O'Brien's installation noted that "O'Brien had a wide grin on his face when he was introduced and waved to the enthusiastic spectators in the balcony." After his speech, the Eastman Wind Ensemble performed a spirited rendition of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."
O'Brien also charmed the audience with humor. He joked about the omens he had twice received forecasting job changes. Before coming to Rochester, he had served as president of Bucknell University. Just before he began that job, he recalled, a Chinese fortune cookie warned that he'd get a "new and responsible position with an increase in pay." Again, a few weeks before he knew he would be offered the presidency at Rochester, he bought a Chinese fortune that read,
"Probability of Success: Great.
Like a bird freed from the cage,
You are turning a new page.
No matter where you engage,
You may perform like a sage."
In his inaugural address, he spoke of how the growth of professions dominated modern social history, and how Rochester had to reinvent ways to keep alive the ideal of a liberal education, while continuing to prepare students to advance the frontiers of their given professions. The University, he said, would have to "offer distinguished education in all its academic areas" while also seeking "to place our great skills and their powerful institutions into an overall vision of the good for human life."
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ABOUT ACADEMIC PAGEANTRY
Programs such as the Inaugural Convocation celebrating the installation of Thomas H. Jackson as the University of Rochester's ninth president are patterned after ceremonies that began in the 12th century in British universities.
In medieval times, monks, students, and the general public wore long robes and hoods as protection against the cold, drafty rooms and corridors of unheated stone structures.
While gowns in black are still traditional for students earning bachelors and masters degrees at commencement, many leading universities, like Rochester, have distinctive academic attire for doctoral degree graduates and for the academic and governing officials of their institutions.
A new design is being unveiled at the Jackson inauguration. The gowns are a rich, deep blue, with wide, bell-shaped sleeves and black velvet trimming on the front facing. Accenting each sleeve are three velvet cross bars in dandelion yellow, echoing the University flower. The President's gown is different from all others in two respects: It has four rather than three stripes on the sleeves, and its lapels are embroidered with his inaugural logo, a design taken from architectural details of the River Campus.
The hats are a soft tam of blue velvet in the shape of a hexagon with a gold tassel.
The President's Symbols of Office
Originally a simple wooden club used as a weapon, the mace has been regarded as a symbol of authority for at least six centuries.
The mace to be used in the inauguration of Thomas Jackson is a symbol of the president's academic leadership. It was first introduced at the inauguration of the University's fourth president, Alan Valentine, in 1935. Designed by Phillip Merz, a Rochester artist and architect, it is a four-foot rod of mahogany, ringed with two bands of silver engraved in the motif of the University flower, the dandelion. All of the presidents' names are engraved on the bands. The University baton is a companion emblem to the mace. It, too, is made of mahogany and silver.
The Order of the Procession
Participants take their places in line according to protocol. First in line are representatives of colleges and universities, in order of the founding date of their institution. (Thus Harvard would be first, William and Mary next, Yale third.) Next come representatives of learned societies, professional organizations, and foundations; next are University of Rochester faculty.
Members of the platform party (those who will be seated on the stage) form the end of the procession: The University marshals, the Board of Trustees, the Trustees' Council, student representatives, officers of the University administration, honorary degree candidates, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, presidents of other Rochester-area colleges and universities, and last, the president of the University of Rochester.
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