Syracuse UniversityChancellor Inauguration

Good afternoon. On behalf of the faculty of Syracuse University, I am truly honored to offer greetings to Chancellor Kent Syverud as he is inaugurated as our next chancellor.

This is a time of celebration and an historic event in the life of Syracuse University, in our local community and well beyond. I send greetings on behalf of the faculty to the entire Syracuse University community, including our nearly quarter of a million alumni on record who live all over the world, and those students and faculty studying abroad.

My department, Earth Sciences, studies the evolution of our planet, and it also has deep roots in the history of the university. Geologist Alexander Winchell was appointed Syracuse University’s very first Chancellor, and he was a professor of geology, mineralogy, and botany. From the time our university was founded and chartered in 1870 as a private co-ed institution offering programs in the physical sciences and modern language it has evolved into the private research university it is today. The Earth Sciences Department in the College of Arts and Sciences is a microcosm of the entire university. Our faculty and students hail from many different countries. Our research is conducted all over the world and beyond. Our students benefit from being exposed to the research we conduct, for it enables them to learn the most up-to-date skill sets in their chosen fields. We are passionate educators and train our students so they can contribute, compete, and succeed in the world. We challenge our students intellectually and in doing so they develop skills and strategies to become resilient. We demand that they be present, engaged, committed, and focused. Lessons learned prepare them to face challenging careers and life experiences. We have worked really hard to get to where we are today and our collective merit has been earned. In the process, our community has benefited tremendously.

Chancellor Syverud, as only the 12^th Chancellor, you begin a new era in Syracuse University’s history. You have been tasked to steward this great private university to an even greater future, to continue to raise the University’s profile while fulfilling its proud legacy, and to do so in the ever-changing landscape of higher education.

We have been tremendously impressed with how you have chosen to immerse yourself in university life, from moving into a dorm in the middle of December, to running at 7 am, on this, your inauguration day. You have already proven your ability to connect with and engage with all of us, by first reaching out, listening, and studying the entire university community. You have followed through by communicating your thoughts and impressions via campus-wide emails, and in doing so have forged a necessary sense of common purpose and pride in the university community.

We stand before you today confident that you will achieve greatness here, through your patience, hard work, loyalty and cheerful can-do attitude. We stand beside you to help achieve success in our journey together. We understand that all future decisions will not please all of us. But if you make them with the humility, intelligence, and transparency that you have already shown us, sufficient broad communal support will follow, along with enthusiasm to get the job done.

We would also like to welcome to our community, and to the ranks of distinguished women faculty in science and engineering, your wife, and our new colleague, Dr. Ruth Chen.

Finally, we applaud the Board of Trustees for appointing you as our next Chancellor. We are eager to work with you to create opportunities for all so that we can fulfill our maximum potential in this rapidly changing world. Congratulations and welcome, Chancellor Syverud.