The University of Oregon's marshal will lead the way, with official mace in hand, and a total of four student musical groups will perform. The list of notables in attendance will include UO officials, the State Board of Higher Education president, Oregon University System chancellor, Oregon Education Investment Board chair and a U.S. Senator.
With pomp and circumstance, the authority of the UO presidency will be conferred upon Michael Gottfredson at his investiture on Thursday, May 30. It will begin with a 2 p.m. procession into Matthew Knight Arena – with faculty and others dressed in full academic regalia – and will wrap up later in the afternoon with a reception in the adjacent Ford Alumni Center.
The event is free and the entire community is invited.
The president's investiture – a Latin term that means "in dress" or "in robe" – is the formal ceremony that marks his installation as the UO's 17th president. Most universities and many other long-standing institutions use the events to commemorate a transfer of authority associated with a high office from one person to another.
Melody Rose, interim chancellor of the OUS, will confer the ceremonial authority of the presidency upon Gottfredson, who was hired by the state board a year ago and started work at the UO last August. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Springfield Mayor Christine Lundberg are expected to attend, along with state board President Matthew Donegan; Nancy Golden, the chair designee of the OEIB; UO Alumni Association board chair Anne Marie Levis; UO Foundation board chair Jon Anderson; and ASUO president Laura Hinman.
Gottfredson will address the crowd regarding the momentous opportunities and challenges facing the university and the state of Oregon, and UO Senior Vice President and Provost Jim Bean will open and close the ceremony.
The UO Brass Ensemble will perform during both the processional and the recessional, and the university's Chamber Choir will perform during the ceremony's closing. Divisi, the UO's all-female a cappella singing group, will perform at the reception in the alumni center's Giustina Ballroom, along with the School of Music and Dance Jazz Trio.
Gottfredson succeeded Bob Berdahl as president of the UO. Berdahl served for about eight months and was the university's eighth interim president.
Of the UO's previous 16 permanent presidents, Prince Lucien Campbell served the longest – 23 years, from 1902 to 1925. The others served between 2 ½ and 17 years.
In honor of the president's investiture, a group of students planted an Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) on the west side of Johnson Hall as part of University Day earlier this month.
- from the UO Office of Strategic Communications