Dr. Jerome A. “Jerry” Gilbert, the 37th president in the 179-year history of Marshall University, will be invested on Thursday, Sept. 22, in an outdoor ceremony slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. in the John Marshall Circle on the university’s Huntington campus. A reception will follow at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall.
The ceremony and reception are free and open to the public. No tickets are needed.
An investiture is the formal installation of a university president and is customarily held during a new president’s first year in office. It is a practice dating back to the Middle Ages and today is an academic ceremony during which the new leader is “vested” with the official duties of the office. Members of Marshall’s board of governors, delegates from other colleges and universities, state and local dignitaries, and Marshall students, alumni and staff will be in attendance.
“The investiture signifies the changing of the guard and recognizes the strength and traditions of the institution,” said Gilbert. “I want it to be more about the office than it is about me personally. I am humbled to be the 37th president of Marshall and approach the investiture with great gratitude and humility.
“Members of my family will be here and that’s important to me because they have provided encouragement, love, support and life lessons that have guided me in my personal and professional life. There also will be friends and colleagues who have meant a great deal to me over the years. It will be a chance to say ‘thank you’ to many people, including members of the Marshall family, and an opportunity to look forward to the future of this amazing institution.”
With a nod to Gilbert’s love of music, the ceremony will feature several student music groups including the John Marshall Fife and Drum Corps, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Symphony and Chamber Choir. The program also will include a commissioned fanfare composed for the occasion by Dr. Mark Zanter, coordinator of music theory/composition, and performed by a brass quintet. A series of colorful banners produced by art and design students will surround the John Marshall Circle.
The ceremony will begin with a faculty marshal bearing the Grand Mace leading a formal procession of academic representatives up John Marshall Drive. Immediate Past Interim President Gary White will welcome the guests and say a few words about his successor before the Marshall University Army ROTC Thundering Herd Battalion Color Guard presents the colors and music education student Christa Navy sings the national anthem.
Following an interfaith invocation by Rev. Jacque Parlato, pastor of Huntington’s Central Christian Church, and introductions by Marshall University Foundation Board Member Bernie Coston, Gilbert will receive congratulatory greetings from a number of officials, including Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts Kay Goodwin, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Paul Hill, Marshall University Board of Governors Chairman Wyatt Scaggs, Student Government Association President Matt Jarvis, Faculty Senate Chair Paige Muellerleile, Classified Staff Council Representative Miriah Young and Alumni Association Vice President Steven Wellman.
During the proceedings, brief reflections will be provided by two of Gilbert’s mentors, Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum and Dr. William Fox, dean emeritus of Mississippi State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Hill will confer the oath of office. After the oath, Gilbert will receive an official symbol of authority, the President’s Medallion, from Scaggs and will give his investiture address. The ceremony will close with the singing of the Marshall University Alma Mater and benedictions from students of three faiths.
The event will be livestreamed at https://livestream.com/marshallu for alumni, parents and friends of the university unable to attend in person. Sons and daughters of Marshall all over the world are encouraged to wear kelly green on Sept. 22 to show their pride and to share photos on social media using #MarshalluFamily.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse. Complimentary parking for the investiture ceremony will be available in the university’s Sixth Avenue Parking Facility.
