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Jenkins was unanimously elected president by the Bates College Board of Trustees in February 2023. Initially scheduled for last fall, the inauguration was postponed in the wake of the Oct. 25, 2023, tragedy in Lewiston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few questions and answers about the installation ceremony, college inaugurations in general, and Bates President Jenkins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can I watch the ceremony?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The ceremony can be viewed on the Bates website<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a> starting at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the event, Margaret Hopkins Merrill Gymnasium has been elegantly transformed for the event with evocative lighting, video screens, and a sleek, multilevel stage, above which will hang the official college seal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Approximately 90-minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jenkins is a nationally respected authority on nonprofit organizations, corporate governance, lawyers and leadership development, and higher education, and came to Bates from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He received a bachelor\u2019s degree with honors from Haverford College, a master\u2019s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a juris doctorate, cum laude, <\/em>from Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few Bates News stories featuring President Jenkins, starting with his appointment in February through to his welcome to the Class of 2027 at Opening Convocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been eight inaugurations since Bates was founded in 1855 as the Maine State Seminary. In terms of total eclipses visible in the U.S., there have been around a dozen (various sources offer different numbers) since the mid-1800s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The college\u2019s first president, Oren Cheney, did not have an inauguration<\/a> \u2014 but he did almost everything else. Cheney created Bates from scratch, first as a seminary (like a high school) that opened its doors in 1857, and then working to transform the school into a college by 1864. He then served as its president for another 30 years, until 1894.<\/p>\n\n\n As Cheney turned the presidency over to George Colby Chase on Sept. 22, 1894, he said, \u201cThere is not a tree, or building, or spot on this campus but seems a part of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The inauguration offers the college a formal and ceremonial opportunity to welcome the new president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Merriam-Webster, the word “inauguration” comes from one meaning of the Latin word inaugurare<\/em>, which means an important action or undertaking (such as a new president) that would be consecrated by augury \u2014 checking of signs and omens, and by taking auspices, which means to interpret the flights of birds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By the 1500s, the word “inauguration” had the meaning “to induct into office with suitable ceremonies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a tradition of installation ceremonies, greetings offer a chance for representatives within the college community, the Lewiston-Auburn community, and higher education to welcome, raise their voice in support of a new leader, and display connection, solidarity, and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are the people who will offer greetings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInauguration\u201d usually refers to the entire suite of ceremonial events celebrating the new president\u2019s investiture. The \u201cinstallation\u201d (or \u201cinvestiture\u201d) usually refers to the specific ceremony, in this case the one beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For that, we welcome you to join the livestream \u2014 or watch it afterward \u2014 to hear the message in his own words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bates faculty, trustees, and college leaders march in the procession, all wearing academic regalia \u2014 caps and gowns, with hoods<\/a> whose colors reflect academic institutional affiliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having assembled at Commons, the academic procession will be led to Merrill by a musical ensemble, Raging Brass, playing a traditional New Orleans brass band march.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The procession is similar to the one at a Bates Commencement: time-honored, upbeat, and colorful, except bigger, thanks to the many delegates who will travel to Bates to support the new president, and in a slightly different order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Commencement, the inauguration procession is led by the faculty mace bearer and senior member of the Bates faculty, Professor of French and Francophone Studies Mary Rice-DeFosse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But unlike Commencement, where the president is at the front of the procession with the mace bearer, he will be at the end of the inaugural procession and the final person to enter Merrill Gym. Before President Jenkins arrives, these members of the procession will enter the gymnasium in this order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two performances highlight the contributions to American music by William Grant Still (1895\u20131978), known as the dean of African American composers and the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Bates in 1954.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bates College Orchestra will perform Still\u2019s Festive Overture<\/em> (1944). The Maine Music Society Chorale will perform “I Dream a World” with music by Andr\u00e9 J. Thomas and words drawn from the poem \u201cI Dream a World\u201d by Langston Hughes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hughes originally wrote \u201cI Dream a World\u201d as the libretto for William Grant Still\u2019s opera Troubled Island<\/em>. In later years, Hughes often incorporated a reading of \u201cI Dream a World\u201d into his public appearances, reflecting his vision and activism for social justice.<\/p>\n\n\n Jenkins will be formally introduced by Joan T.A. Gabel, chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. She worked with Jenkins when she was president of the University of Minnesota and he was dean of the Minnesota Law School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presiding over the installation will be Gregory Ehret \u201991, chair of the Bates College Board of Trustees, who will guide the presentation of three symbols of office to Jenkins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presidential Medallion<\/em>: Representing the authority vested in the president by the Bates College Board of Trustees, presented by Associate Professor of Mathematics Katy Ott and Sabeeh Khan \u201924, an economics major from Islamabad, Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Record Book<\/em>: Containing the minutes of the corporation\u2019s first meeting, on April 5, 1855<\/a>, symbolizing the longevity and historical legacy of Bates College, presented by Andrea Conklin Bueschel ’90, a Bates trustee. (As a Bates senior in 1990, she offered student greetings to President Donald Harward, the college’s sixth president, at his installation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keys of the Office<\/em>: Representing the passing-down of authority through the college\u2019s presidential lineage, presented by Susan Nattress, who manages the Bates electronic access system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delegates officially represent colleges, universities, or other learned organizations at a college inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes they are the presidents of the institutions, but can have other affiliations such as being a graduate or a professor. And they can have connections to Bates as well. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are called \u201cdelegates” because they represent and personify the institutions they represent, having been appointed and delegated certain authority and responsibility vested in them by their institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From invitations extended by Bates, 61 institutions have appointed delegates for the Jenkins inauguration. They represent institutions as far away as the California Institute of Technology (2,620 miles) and as close by as Bowdoin, about 18 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bates has had nine presidents<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hathorn Hall, Gomes Chapel, and Alumni Gym have all been sites of past presidential installation ceremonies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow long is the event?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Where can I learn more about President Jenkins?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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How is a Bates inauguration rarer than an eclipse?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Bates has had nine presidents and eight inaugurations. What\u2019s with that?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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What is the purpose of an inauguration?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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What is the purpose of various people offering greetings to President Jenkins during the ceremony?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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What is the difference between an inauguration and an installation?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
What will President Jenkins\u2019 inaugural address focus on?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
What is the academic procession during the installation ceremony?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
What is the order of the inauguration procession?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Is there significance to the musical selections by the Bates Orchestra and Maine Music Society Chorale?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Who will introduce President Jenkins?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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What symbols of the office are presented to President Jenkins during his installation?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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What are \u201cdelegates\u201d?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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How many delegates will be at President Jenkins\u2019 installation ceremony?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
How many presidents has Bates had?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Where did Bates hold installation ceremonies before Merrill Gymnasium was built?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
How does the ceremony conclude?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n