The Inauguration of Hunter R. Rawlings III as President of Cornell University

FOR RELEASE: Oct. 2, 1995
Contact: Linda Grace-Kobas
Office: (607) 255-4206
Internet: lg16@cornell.edu

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Hunter R. Rawlings III will be inaugurated as Cornell University's tenth president on Thursday, Oct. 12, in a campus-wide celebration that will include an academic symposium on American values on Oct. 11.

Cornell's last presidential inauguration was held 18 years ago, when Frank H.T. Rhodes assumed leadership of the Ivy League institution, whose average presidential tenure during its 130-year history has been 14 years. Four emeritus Cornell presidents will attend the inauguration of Rhodes' successor.

Rawlings, 50, assumed the Cornell presidency on July 1.

He previously served as president of the University of Iowa from August 1988 through June 1995. In his appointment at Cornell, he also holds the faculty rank of professor of classics.

Oct. 12 Inauguration

The inaugural ceremony will take place on Thursday, Oct. 12 in Barton Hall at 3 p.m., with Stephen H. Weiss, chairman of the Board of Trustees, presiding. Among guests will be state and local elected officials, representatives of other higher education institutions and learned societies, trustees and Cornell students, faculty, staff and administrators.

The ceremony will be preceded by a reception on the Quadrangle of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1 to 2 p.m., at which President and Mrs. Rawlings will greet members of the Cornell community, and an inaugural procession that will begin at approximately 2:15 p.m., moving from the Arts Quad to Barton Hall. Members of the campus community will line the processional route.

Tours and exhibits will be offered throughout the campus from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. A complete schedule is available through Cornell's Information and Referral Center at 254-INFO.

The day will end with Cirque de Cornell, a performance festival of musical and theatrical productions, from 7 to 9 p.m. in Barton Hall. Performers will be students, faculty and staff of the university.

Oct. 11 Symposium

An academic symposium titled "History and Humane Values in American Life" will be presented on Wednesday, Oct. 11 in Alice Statler Auditorium of Statler Hall at 8 p.m.

Moderated by distinguished historian Michael Kammen, the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture at Cornell, the symposium will feature four panelists:

• W. Robert Connor, president and director of the National Humanities Center and professor of classics at Duke University, discussing "Between Wonder and Horror: Ancient Polarities, Modern Implications";
• Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, on "Go East, Young Man (and Woman): Asian and American Values";
• Erich S. Gruen, the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, discussing "Reinventing the Past: Tradition and National Character"; and
• Linda K. Kerber, president-elect of the Organization of American Historians and the May Brodbeck Professor in the Liberal Arts and professor of history at the University of Iowa, on "Citizenship and Humane Values in American Life."

Ticket Information

Because of space limitations, tickets will be required to attend the symposium, inaugural ceremony and Cirque de Cornell. Tickets, distributed one-per-person while supplies last, will be distributed for the symposium beginning Oct. 2 and for the inaugural ceremony beginning Oct. 3. Tickets for Cirque de Cornell will be distributed Oct. 11 and 12.

Tickets are available at the Information and Referral Center in Day Hall, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the Willard Straight Hall Desk, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Robert Purcell Community Center,

8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Noyes Community Center, 10 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Hours may vary during fall break Oct. 7 to 10.

Broadcast Information

The inaugural ceremony and symposium will be broadcast live on Time-Warner cable channel 55. On campus, the ceremony may be viewed live in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall and the Statler Auditorium. The symposium will be broadcast live in Call Alumni Auditorium.

Rawlings Biography

Rawlings, who was born in Norfolk, Va., received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1970, and is a 1966 graduate of Haverford College with honors in classics.

Before going to the University of Iowa in 1988 as president and professor of classics, Rawlings served for four years as vice president for academic affairs and research and dean of the system graduate school of the University of Colorado. He joined UC-Boulder in 1970, as assistant professor of classics. He became department chair in 1978 and was named full professor in 1980. He served as associate vice chancellor for instruction from 1980 to 1984.

Rawlings' scholarly publications include a book, The Structure of Thucydides' History (Princeton University Press, 1981). He also is the author of scholarly monographs and articles and has served as editor of The Classical Journal.

At Princeton, Rawlings was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and National Defense Education Act Fellow.

Rawlings was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995. He is a member of the board of directors of the American Council on Education, and has served on the executive committee of the Association of American Universities and as a member of the National Committee for the Selection of Mellon Fellows in the Humanities.

He chaired the Governor's Commission on Foreign Language Studies and International Education for the state of Iowa from 1988 to 1991 and was a member of Iowa's Economic Development Board.

Rawlings also chaired the Council of Ten, presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten Conference, and was a member of the Presidents' Commission of the NCAA from 1993 to 1995. The University of Colorado Teaching Excellence Award was presented to him in 1979.

Rawlings is married to Elizabeth Trapnell Rawlings. The couple has four children, ranging in age from 19 to 28.

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