President Julie Kornfeld, who assumed office on October 1, 2023, will be formally installed as Kenyon’s 20th president on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The ceremony will be the heart of a series of events that celebrate the continuity of a community that, for 200 years, has been united in purpose.
Global health expert Wafaa El-Sadr will deliver the keynote address. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008 for her groundbreaking, community-based approach to treating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, first in Harlem, then in communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. “El-Sadr sets ever-improved standards for health care delivery for patients facing devastating disease under severe economic hardship,” the MacArthur Foundation said when it selected her for the prestigious award.
El-Sadr and Kornfeld were colleagues at Columbia University, where El-Sadr is the executive vice president for Columbia Global Centers; the founder and director of ICAP, a leading global health center working in more than 40 countries around the world; and a university professor of epidemiology and medicine.
“A liberal arts education challenges students to think differently about the world and, more importantly, their place in the world, and what their roles and obligations are to the world,” President Kornfeld said. “I can think of no one more fitting to speak to this challenge, at this moment, than Wafaa.”
As an institution that prides itself on tradition, Kenyon has quite a few reserved for the installation of a president. The passing of the ceremonial mace, crafted for Kornfeld’s predecessor, Sean Decatur, and the donning of the presidential medallion are two such rituals. Kenyon faculty will lead an academic procession that will include delegates from colleges and universities across the country. All members of the campus community will be invited to attend the installation ceremony.
Two other traditions will return for the festivities: the lighting of Old Kenyon and the ringing of the Old Kenyon bell, which sounds at the inauguration of a Kenyon president and only on that occasion.
The inauguration will be an opportunity to showcase Kenyon’s diverse and vibrant community, and their contributions to the communities they help to strengthen near and far. A planning committee, chaired by Professor of Political Science Joe Klesner, has been tasked with giving shape to the inauguration. Watch for details from the committee, who will share ways to participate and invite suggestions for symposia and other programs in the spring.
Inauguration Committee
- Joe Klesner (chair), professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy
- Christiane Betfarhad ’26, sophomore class president
- Daisy Desrosiers, David and Francie Horvitz Family Foundation Director of The Gund
- Colleen Garland, vice president for advancement
- Annie Gordon, director of alumni engagement
- Howard Grier, director of campus events
- Marcell Hackbardt, professor of art
- Buffy Hallinan ’76, emeritus trustee
- Kathy Lake, director of board relations and presidential events
- Travis Landry, William P. Rice professor of Spanish and literature
- Celestino Limas, vice president for student affairs
- Janet Marsden, vice president for communications
- Bob Milnikel, professor of mathematics and chair of the faculty
- Susan Morse, chief of staff
- Justin Newell, associate athletics director
- Joey Pepe ’25, junior class president
- Tom Stamp ’73, retired college historian
- Maddie Wade, associate professor of physics