Full video of the Inauguration and Convocation ceremony is below. Please note that sound for some musical performances is not included due to copyright considerations.
Preparations are building toward September 20, 2013, when Philip J. Hanlon ’77 will be officially inaugurated as the 18th President in the Wheelock Succession as he receives the Wentworth Bowl, passed from the hands of his predecessor Jim Yong Kim.
That symbolic moment, at the Inauguration and Convocation Ceremony on the Dartmouth Green beginning at 3 p.m., is at the center of two days of celebration and community events.
On Thursday, September 19, President Hanlon will host a public panel discussion on “The Liberal Arts at Dartmouth: What Lies Ahead?” from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Hopkins Center for the Arts’ Spaulding Auditorium. On Friday, a cookout for the Dartmouth community will be held on Tuck Mall from noon to 2 p.m.
“We look forward to welcoming the Dartmouth and wider communities as we celebrate this historic moment,” said Interim Vice Provost Lindsay Whaley. “These events will reflect Dartmouth’s sense of community as well as our deep commitment to the liberal arts.”
Whaley and Ann Root Keith, chief operating officer for Advancement, are co-chairs of the Inaugural Planning Committee.
The Inauguration will feature several speakers, including University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and Dartmouth undergraduate Student Body President Adrian Ferrari ’14. Music performances are by The Harlem Quartet, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, the Dartmouth College Glee Club, and the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir.
Coleman’s presence at the Inauguration provides a parallel continuity for Hanlon, who held a distinguished tenure at Michigan, most recently serving as provost and executive vice president of academic affairs.
Inauguration events formally begin with Thursday’s discussion about the future of liberal arts at Dartmouth, a conversation Hanlon has encouraged since his arrival. Dean of the Faculty Michael Mastanduno will moderate the conversation with five panelists:
- Stephon Alexander, the Ernest Everett Just 1907 Professor and associate professor of physics and astronomy
- Leslie Butler, associate professor of history
- Annette Gordon-Reed ’81, Dartmouth Trustee, professor of law, professor of history, and Radcliffe Professor at Harvard University
- Joseph Helble, dean of Thayer School of Engineering and professor of engineering
- Donald Pease, the Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities and professor of English
Questions for the panelists may be submitted through Wednesday, September 18, to Conferences.and.events.response@dartmouth.edu.
The ceremony and the panel discussion will both be broadcast live on Dartmouth’s YouTube channel.
On Friday, Hanlon will greet the community at the cookout, which includes entertainment by student musical groups, beginning at noon on Tuck Mall. The rain location for the lunch is the Class of 1953 Commons. For Inauguration and Convocation, the rain location is Leverone Field House.
Dartmouth’s last inauguration took place in 2009, when global health leader Jim Yong Kim became the 17th member of the Wheelock Succession. Kim now serves as president of the World Bank.
Hanlon, who took office on June 10, is the 10th Dartmouth alumnus to serve as the College’s president and the first since the 1981-to-1987 tenure of David T. McLaughlin ’54, Tuck ’55.
Formerly the Donald J. Lewis Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan, Hanlon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth in 1977. An accomplished academic and administrative leader, Hanlon served in a succession of administrative roles at Michigan for more than a decade, and had been a member of the faculty there since 1986.
