chancellor@ku.edu
Chancellor Robert Hemenway The University of Kansas The Chancellors of the University of Kansas Academic dress The Mace, Collar and Seal Order of Exercises The Academic Procession Platform Party Delegates from Learned and Professional Societies Delegates from Colleges and Universities Advisory Search Committee Inauguration Marshals Inauguration Committee Inauguration Speech Acknowledgments
Robert Hemenway became chancellor of the University of Kansas June 1, 1995. Before coming to KU, he served as chancellor of the University of Kentucky's Lexington campus for six years. He also has been a teacher or administrator at the universities of Oklahoma and Wyoming.
A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Hemenway graduated from Hastings High School in Nebraska in 1959. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and his doctorate in English from Kent State University, Ohio, at age 24.
Hemenway is nationally recognized for his biography of Zora Neale Hurston, a black novelist, anthropologist and folklorist. With an introduction by novelist Alice Walker, the biography won a number of awards and was listed by the New York Times among its Best Books of 1978. In 1991, a reprinting was included as a Quality Paperback Book Club selection.
The University of Kansas is a national education and research leader with more than 27,000 students and more than 2,000 faculty members. The university includes the main campus in Lawrence; the Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas; a clinical campus of the medical school in Wichita; the Regents Center on the Edwards Campus in Overland Park; and educational and research facilities throughout the state.
The university has 14 academic divisions: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School and the schools of Allied Health, Architecture and Urban Design, Business, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Journalism and Mass Communications, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Welfare.
One of only 31 public universities belonging to the Association of American Universities, the University of Kansas is committed to providing undergraduate and graduate students with a high-quality education. In 1993-94, the university awarded 622 doctoral and first professional degrees, 1,339 master's and specialist degrees, and 3,715 bachelor's degrees. Graduates of the university have excelled in their fields and are found across the nation and throughout the world.
The university considers research an integral part of the educational process. Students benefit from faculty who engage in research and are involved in making discoveries. In the past fiscal year, the university received $97.9 million in research funds. KU is the only Kansas university to earn the coveted Research I category from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning.
The libraries, with more than 3 million volumes, are the largest in the Big Eight Conference and are nationally renowned.
Scholars from all over the world visit the Kenneth Spencer Research Library to use its collections of rare and historic material. The Archie R. Dykes Library for Health Sciences at the KU Medical Center is a valuable resource for health professionals throughout Kansas and the Midwest.
The university extends its resources throughout the state through the Division of Continuing Education, Area Health Education Centers, the Audio-Reader Network service for the visually impaired, KANU-FM radio and a variety of other research and training programs. These include the Kansas Geological Survey, the Kansas Biological Survey, and the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies.
The University of Kansas offers a wide range of cultural and extracurricular activities. Throughout the year, distinguished lecturers, scholars and artists visit the campuses. There are also many recitals and concerts and theatre and ballet performances at the Lied Center of Kansas, the university's 2,000-seat performance hall.
Special exhibits at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, the Museum of Anthropology and the Natural History Museum offer a variety of activities for Kansans and on-campus learning tools for students.
In sports, the university offers some of the finest NCAA Division I programs in the country. The university also has a vigorous intramural program and extensive on-campus recreation activities.
In addition to support from the Kansas Legislature, the governor, the Board of Regents and the people of Kansas, the university and its students benefit from loyal alumni and friends who contribute time and money to the support of the school. Support by alumni and friends is a distinguishing hallmark of the University of Kansas and helps KU maintain its position as one of the premier public universities in the United States.
The tradition of academic costume dates from the Middle Ages, when academic gowns were common attire in early European universities. Since the universities were founded by the church, students were required to wear the gowns at all times. The gowns represent an adaptation of the cape or mantle worn by church dignitaries in religious processions.
The usual color of academic gowns is black, but through the years variations have developed in color and style. In 1896, U.S. colleges and universities adopted a uniform code governing academic dress.
The style of the gown varies depending on the academic degree. The bachelor's gown is worn closed and has long, pointed sleeves. The master's and the doctoral gowns are worn open. The sleeves of the master's gown are square at one end with a slit at the elbow. The doctoral gown has flowing sleeves with three bars of velvet and a facing of velvet down the front.
The hoods were originally cowls attached to the gowns that could be slipped over the head for warmth. The colors used to line the hoods indicate the college or university from which the wearer received the degree. Those who earned master's or doctoral degrees from the University of Kansas wear hoods lined with crimson and blue. The hood's border or collar is trimmed in a color indicating the field of study.
The oxford cap or mortar board is usually black and has a long tassel fastened by a button on the top.
Two symbolic objects are being used in today's inauguration. The ceremonial mace is traditionally carried by the marshal of the university. The ceremonial collar is presented to the chancellor.
These symbolic badges of authority are traditional in universities throughout the world. KU's mace and collar were designed and executed by Carlyle H. Smith, professor emeritus of design. They were the gift of former Chancellor and Mrs. W. Clarke Wescoe in honor of their parents.
The wooden shaft of the 8-pound mace is of ash taken from the stairway in old Fraser Hall. At the upper end of the mace, which is carried cradled on the left shoulder, are 10 pieces, or "fingers," forged from solid silver, representing the 10 schools of the university in existence when the mace was made. The fingers have rubies and sapphires at their tips, portraying the university colors, crimson and blue. The head of the mace is a gold sphere that symbolizes the university itself.
The silver ceremonial collar is light and features simple wide-link construction. The university seal, redesigned by Elden Tefft, professor emeritus of art, for the university's centennial, is in the center of the medallion. Mounted around the seal are 10 stones, representing the 10 schools that existed at the time of the centennial, in alternating sapphires and rubies.
KU's first chancellor, the Rev. R.W. Oliver, chose the seal in 1866. It pictures Moses kneeling in awe before a bush engulfed in flames. The translation of the Latin inscription on the seal is "I will see this great vision in which the bush does not burn."
The story of Moses' vision is from the third chapter of Exodus, in the Bible. Fire symbolizes knowledge in many stories and myths. Moses is thought to represent the humble attitude of the scholar who recognizes the unquenchable nature of the pursuit of truth and knowledge.
The audience is invited to join the musicians in singing verses one and three. The second verse will be sung a cappella by the choirs.
1776
1879
1883
1884
1888
1889
1899
1899
1903
1904
1917
1918
1919
1925
1951
1956
1969
1974
1701
1740
1754
1766
1794
1798
1819
1820
1827
1836
1838
1839
1845
1848
1850
1850
1851
1851
1857
1858
1858
1858
1860
1862
1862
1863
1863
1865
1865
1865
1866
1868
1869
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1876
1876
1880
1881
1881
1883
1883
1884
1884
1885
1886
1886
1887
1887
1887
1888
1890
1890
1891
1891
1892
1895
1898
1902
1903
1908
1910
1910
1916
1923
1923
1925
1927
1933
1946
1948
1958
1961
1963
1966
1990
