June 16, 2014

Ceremony to Install Bachand as SVSU President Scheduled for Sunday, June 22

Saginaw Valley State University will hold an investiture ceremony for new president Donald Bachand Sunday, June 22 at 2:30 p.m. in the Malcolm Field Theatre for Performing Arts.
                
The ceremony will include Bachand’s formal installation by Jeff Martin, chair of the SVSU Board of Control, and the conferring of the presidential medallion. Bachand, who has served as SVSU’s president since February 17, will then offer his official presidential address.  

The event will feature a number of invited speakers who will deliver brief remarks of congratulations and welcome. U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee, Delta College president Jean Goodnow, representatives from Ming Chuan University in Taiwan and the SVSU Board of Fellows, a community advisory board, are among those scheduled to speak. SVSU faculty, staff, student and alumni representatives also will offer remarks.

An investiture is defined as the “formal ceremony of conferring the authority and symbols of high office.” For colleges and universities, such academic traditions date back to the Middle Ages. SVSU’s last such ceremony was in 1989 when Eric Gilbertson was formally installed as president.

Due to the large number of international guests scheduled to attend – including delegations from several of SVSU’s sister universities – and to accommodate the large processional party that will include campus officials, regional leaders and dignitaries, seating in the Malcolm Field Theatre is by invitation only. The public is welcome to watch a live broadcast in the adjacent Rhea Miller Recital Hall or elsewhere in Curtiss Hall, should the 300-seat recital hall be filled.

Following the formal ceremony, all guests are invited to attend a reception in the main campus courtyard.  Food and beverages will be provided, and the setting will provide opportunity for guests to interact personally with members of the university, including the new president and first lady.

Live video of the ceremony will be available online.  To watch or for more information, visit www.svsu.edu/investiture.