Inauguration of Drew Faust

October 16, 2007

Drew Gilpin Faust forcefully took possession of her Harvard presidency during inaugural celebrations and a formal installation ceremony on October 11 and 12.

Read Drew Faust’s inaugural address (full text as delivered, with audio) as well as in-depth coverage and review in Twenty-eighth, and First (pre-published from November-December 2007). View a slideshow or listen to audio of the inauguration celebrations below.

Inauguration Celebrations Slideshow

View the slideshow Photograph by Jim Harrison

Review of Events and Selected Audio

Installation, Friday, October 12, 2:30 p.m.
The afternoon ceremony began with a procession led by a bagpiper and the Harvard College Pan-African Dance and Music Ensemble (pictured above). After the ringing of the Memorial Church bell, University Marshal Jacqueline O’Neill gave the Call to Order. The assembly sang “America the Beautiful.” There followed: Introductory Remarks, by Jacqueline A. O’Neill, University Marshal; Greetings, by Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania; Greetings, by Sidney Verba, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor; Greetings, by John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University.

Violinist Sandra M. Cameron ‘09, then performed the Preludio from J.S. Bach’s Partita no. 3. There followed: Greetings, by Ryan A. Petersen ’08, President of the Undergraduate Council; Greetings, by Beverly Blake Sullivan, Associate Director of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors; Greetings, by Deval L. Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

A second musical interlude, Vaishnav Jan To, the devotional hymn composed by Narsinh Mehta that was a favorite of Mahatma Gandhi, was performed by the Harvard College Sangeet. Then, in a traditional ceremony, the University’s three Presidents Emeriti presented Faust with symbolic Harvard relics and the president of the Board of Overseers and the Senior Fellow of the Corporation formally invested her in office.

Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University, then presented her Inaugural Address. Faust’s address was followed by “Amazing Grace,” sung by Simon Estes, Professor of Voice and Opera at Boston University, Iowa State University, and Wartburg College. Marshal Jacqueline A. O’Neill then offered closing remarks, followed by a benediction by Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals.

Service of Thanksgiving, Friday, October 12, 8:30 a.m.
Listen to the service (63MB), which includes readings selected by President Drew Faust and read by members of her family.

Additional Links

Office of The President Inauguration page
New York Times: “First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard”
Harvard News Office : narrated slideshow; video interviews of President Faust about the ceremonies, our university, and crossing boundaries.

Inauguration Participants

Alison Brown, Banjoist. See “Banjos and Balance Sheets,” May-June 2001.
Paul Farmer, Presley professor of medical anthropology. Panelist. See “Bedside Manner,” November-December 2003.
Niall Ferguson, Tisch professor of history. Panelist. See “The Global Empire of Niall Ferguson,” May-June 2007.
Sue Goldie, professor of health decision science. See Medicine by Model (July-August 2002).
Jerome Groopman, Recanati professor of medicine. See The Examined Life (May-June 2000).
Amy Gutmann, the eighth President of the University of Pennsylvania. See "A Tutorial" (July-August 2007).
Christopher Jencks, Wiener professor of social policy. See Understanding Welfare Reform (November- December 2004).
David Laibson, professor of economics. See The Marketplace of Perceptions (March-April 2006).
Douglas Melton, Cabot professor of the natural sciences. See Science and Politics and Stem Cells (July-August 2001).
Samantha Power, Lindh professor of the practice of global leadership and public policy. See Fixing Foreign Policy (July-August 2006).
Lisa Randall, professor of physics. See A Cluster of (Scholarly) Stars (November-December 2002).
Elizabeth Warren, Gottlieb professor of law. See The Middle Class on the Precipice (January-February 2006).

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