Southeastern to open academic year with Convocation, Presidential Investiture
Contact: Rene Abadie
8/06/09
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University will launch its new academic year with a fall convocation for faculty and staff that includes the formal investiture of university President John L. Crain.
Scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 14, the event is scheduled in the university’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond. Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Tammy Bourg will preside over the ceremonies. The event is open to the public.
Convocation will include presentation of the President’s Awards for Excellence, the university’s highest faculty and staff honors, as well as presentation of service awards to faculty and staff who have been with the university for 25, 30 and 35 years. Also to be recognized will be new faculty and staff, faculty tenure and promotions, and donors responsible for several newly endowed professorships.
The investiture of Crain, who was appointed Southeastern’s 14th president in February after serving in an interim capacity for seven months, will include comments from Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen, representing the Louisiana Board of Regents; Elsie Burkhalter, chair of the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors; and Ra ndy Moffett, president of the University of Louisiana System.. The formal investiture includes presentation to Crain of the President’s Chain by all five living former Southeastern presidents: Clea Parker, J. Larry Crain, G. Warren Smith, Clausen, and Moffett.
Presidents and other representatives of area universities and colleges, elected officials, and representatives of the Louisiana Board of Regents and the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors are also expected to attend the ceremony.
The university will provide a shuttle service for faculty and staff to and from the parking facility adjacent to Strawberry Stadium for the event. The annual Alumni Association picnic for faculty and staff will immediately follow the morning’s ceremonies at Twelve Oaks.
The investiture or installation of a new university president is a ceremony that dates to the middle ages and is considered a landmark in a university’s history. The ceremony represents the start of a new era for the institution, as the new university leader is “invested” with the dignity and authority associated with the position.
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