Members of the Peterborough community and beyond are invited to join faculty, staff, students, visiting dignitaries and special guests at a ceremony for the installation of Dr. Leo Groarke as Trent University's 8th president and vice-chancellor on Monday, September 22, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. on the University Court outside of the Bata Library.

Dr. Don Tapscott, Trent chancellor, will welcome guests from the community and representatives of other universities to the ceremony. The Trent Madrigal Choir will sing the anthem and indigenous group Unity will perform the Honour Song. Following the oath of office, administered by Trent Board of Governors chair Bryan Davies, and the investiture of the new president with the robes of office, Dr. Groarke will address the community and share his vision for the future of the University.

The installation ceremony holds significant meaning for Trent University, as it is the moment when the new president is formally endowed with the powers and responsibilities of his or her office. The ceremony will include several symbolic acts and gestures, many of which are derived from traditions at universities the world over that date back almost a thousand years, such as: the wearing of academic regalia; a procession of academic dignitaries; official greetings from special representatives; and bestowing the ceremonial robe of office.

The ceremony will begin with the procession of Trent University faculty, Board of Governors, members of Senate, dignitaries of other universities and community representatives. The members of the procession wear academic regalia, derived from the long robes and cowls worn by monks and students in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The various colours of the gowns worn today represent the degree held by the wearer and the institution awarding it.

Trent’s presidential installation ceremony will also include the Condolence Cane, a gift to the University from the Trent Aboriginal Education Council carved by the late Chief Jake Thomas of the Cayuga Nation, who was also a Trent professor. The cane is a symbolic representation of the governance structure of the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse). For Trent, the Cane represents the academic governing power of the Senate, the interdependent nature of the University community, and the search for knowledge in the interests of justice, equality and peace.

Before joining Trent University, Dr. Groarke was the vice president, academic and provost at the University of Windsor. He pursued graduate work at the University of Calgary where he completed his Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Western Ontario. He has held academic appointments at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Windsor. Throughout his academic career, he has assumed progressively responsible leadership roles including professor, department chair, assistant dean of program development, dean of Brantford campus, principal and vice president of Brantford campus and provost and vice president academic.

For more information please visit: www.trentu.ca/installation.

Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2014.