President Julie Kornfeld holds the ceremonial mace during her inauguration on April 13.
Amidst the hallmarks of history and hundreds of attendees, Julie Kornfeld was officially installed Saturday as Kenyon’s 20th president.
During her inaugural address in the Lowry Center — taking place 200 years after the College’s founding — Kornfield celebrated the transformational work being done at Kenyon and challenged those listening to stay true to its mission even while facing headwinds from outside academia.
“We need to show up for the liberal arts now more than ever, because if we don’t, this vital model of education will fall by the wayside. We need to show up and prove our significance to society,” she said from a stage on Toan Track.
Kornfeld, who took office in October, called the College’s model essential — now more than ever — for training the leaders needed to solve society’s complex problems, and her advice to the crowd was a simple but powerful refrain: “Keep showing up.”
The Kenyon community needs to continue showing up, she said, to embrace the discomfort of constant learning and the possibility of being changed, to be open to more partnerships, more constructive conversation, and more transformation — both personally and globally.
“We need to push for more — for Kenyon and from Kenyon — because when you love an institution, you want it to be the best it can possibly be,” Kornfeld said. “And when that institution has the answer for what is most needed now, it becomes even more imperative.”
“This moment demands that we show up for one another. It demands that Kenyon show up for the world.”
Following a colorful procession of students, trustees, faculty, staff and 70 delegates representing other institutions of higher education, the inauguration ceremony began at 11 a.m. with an invocation from the Right Reverend Anne B. Jolly, the Episcopal bishop of Ohio and the first woman to hold that post, and drumming from Ibrahim “Baba” Saani.
Global health expert and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr delivered the keynote address, exploring the qualities in her friend and former colleague at Columbia University that she said are destined to lead her to success. El-Sadr compared the way Kornfeld approaches relationships with the artistry of a dancer.
“You can see it when she deals with an individual — the rapport she cultivates, the give and take, the empathy and the subtle cues to help foster mutual understanding,” El-Sadr said. “You can see it when she’s working with a group. She orchestrates cooperation, choreographs collaboration, turns discord into harmony.”
El-Sadr said she could come to only one conclusion.
“You couldn’t have made a better choice,” she told the campus community. “Julie Kornfeld is going to take Kenyon to new heights and guide you to places that you didn’t even know you wanted to go. Of that I am certain.”
Aileen Hefferren ’88 H’12, chair of the board of trustees who also led the presidential search committee, said that Kornfeld is the right person for this moment in the College’s history.
“You have proven yourself a passionate and generous teacher and a leader who is not afraid to set a bold course,” she said. “You are a bridge builder who appreciates the importance of forging community and deepening relationships. With your background in public health, you also understand the importance of real-world impact — and how a liberal arts education is uniquely capable of equipping students to address complex societal issues.”
Then Hefferren recited in Latin a proclamation officially installing Kornfield, who received the presidential medallion and ceremonial College mace.
Over the course of the 90-minute ceremony, numerous members of Kenyon’s circle of family and friends offered messages of welcome to the new president. The group included students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, parents and the mayor of Mount Vernon.
Music was provided by the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Chamber Singers, who introduced the anthem, “We Were Made for Water,” a collaborative composition from two faculty members, Assistant Professor of English Orchid Tierney and the James D. and Cornelia W. Ireland Associate Professor of Music Ross Feller.
The ceremony ended with Marc Bragin, Kenyon’s Jewish chaplain, Hillel director, and co-director of spiritual and religious life, delivering words of benediction and offering ancient blessings from the Torah to Kornfeld, the first Jewish president of the College.
The installation ceremony followed a week of festive activities, including the lighting of Old Kenyon and the ringing of the Old Kenyon bell, which can only be heard at the inauguration of a Kenyon president.
Bicentennial- and inauguration-related events included a Day of Service that mobilized purple-clad volunteers all around Gambier. There also were a variety of recitals, performances, communal meals, open houses, discussions and — culminating the celebration — a campus-wide dance party at Peirce Hall.
Watch a recording of the ceremony. Browse the gallery below, and view more photos from the celebration and related events.
