Kelley becomes 11th UND leader

Last Friday, at 2 p.m., the University of North Dakota welcomed into office its 11th President, Dr. Robert Otis Kelley. There were many esteemed guests at the event, including the Governor of North Dakota, John Hoeven and dozens of UND faculty, who processed into the Chester Fritz Auditorium in full academic robe.

Kelley's family, including his wife and first lady Marcia Kelley, daughter, grandchildren, Marsha's parents, brother and sister-in-law were also in attendance at the proceedings.

UND's Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble under the direction of Joshua Bronfman and James Popejoy, provided music during the event, with the Pride of the North Marching Band performing outside the auditorium as people entered.

Also, the River's Edge Drum Group performed a Native American honor song to acknowledge the new president while the representatives of the various elements of the UND community shook the hands of Kelley and family in accordance with the tradition associated with the song.

UND's Vice President of Student Outreach, Robert Boyd introduced many of the persons of significance at the inauguration and recounted some of the history of the campus before extending his own personal welcome to the new president. "We get all dressed up in our finery to both honor and celebrate the richness of our past and the promise of our future or as the theme of this event expresses it, 'From Tradition to Tomorrow.'"

Governor John Hoeven took the podium amid cheers from the audience. The governor asked Dr. Kelley and Marcia Kelley to stand and be recognized again, and the couple blew each other kisses from across the hall.

Hoeven enumerated the accomplishments of the Kelley's. "They bring tremendous credentials to this job: both academic credentials and a work experience that is truly outstanding. Bob brings a background as Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Wyoming, most recently, vice chancellor of Research at the University of Illinois Chicago Campus, professor of Biological Sciences in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, chairman of anatomy and executive dean at the University of New Mexico and he taught at the University of California, Berkeley … And Marsha brings also tremendous credentials and a distinguished career in her own right in speech pathology. So they are, to say the least, an impressive team." Hoeven described them further as "open, warm, and friendly."

Tyrone Grandstrand and Mike Crenshaw, Student Government's president and vice president pointed out some of students' deepest concerns such as rising tuition, book prices, and the issues surrounding the UND Pride Card in their joint speech both welcoming and setting the expectations for Dr. Kelley.

"Some would say that students are apathetic, but when over 600 students organize to formally express our opinion and our voice is squelched, it's seems we have no hope, and without hope, there's no reason to be anything but apathetic," said Grandstrand.

Crenshaw continued, "We believe that Dr. Kelley helps bring hope back to UND students." The two told several stories of times that Dr. Kelley had stood up for even just a single student in need. Grandstrand finished by saying, "Now Dr. Kelley, we're going to hold you accountable. There's no doubt about that. But we know that you have the ability, the resources and the desire to make UND more than just a flagship university; you'll do more than cap tuition at 5%; you'll do more than transition us to Division I; you'll do more than put this university on the top 100 list of public universities; you can still make UND a family...we have high expectations, Dr. Kelley, but we know that you won't disappoint. Welcome to UND!"

Attention was called to several artifacts during the ceremony itself: a copy of the original charter of the University of North Dakota, which was "the first document to use the official term 'North Dakota,'" the official mace of the university, made from the wood of the school's first building, Old Main, symbolizing the authority of the president, and the Chain of Office bearing the names of the past UND presidents, which was then placed around President Kelley's neck.

President Kelley in his inaugural speech expressed gratitude that so many members of his family were there and great regret that his parents couldn't be.

Kelley went on to discuss the nature of the ceremony in itself. "It should be noted that although it looks a bit like a commencement, an inauguration is somewhat different. Commencement is a rite of passage for an individual but an inauguration is a rite of passage for the entire university." The new president also quoted the president of Harvard University Drew Faust, joking that "inaugural speeches are a picky genre; they are by definition pronouncements by individuals who don't yet know what they're talking about."

He recounted the lessons he learned from studying the past presidents of the University of North Dakota starting with the very first, William Maxwell Blackburn. Going over the many areas of excellence for the university and setting the standard UND will be held up to in the future, he said, "UND has become a major factor in the economic development of our city, our state, and our region. The dreams of our founders have come true … UND will be challenged with our stewardship of resources which we must earn … These resources will be earned through our creativity, our innovation and our entrepreneurial spirit."

He ended his speech saying, "In this divided world, it is of the utmost importance that we prepare to meet our national and international responsibilities by calmly studying present facts and by inaugurating the lessons of the past, we can then meet with great confidence, more wisdom and great courage the increasingly intricate problems of the future. It's to this challenge that I will apply my abilities at leading this great university. I invite all of you to engage with me in the exciting experiment that is the University of North Dakota. We will engage the future together; join with me in leading UND from being a great university to an exceptional one."