Austin College will formally install Rebecca Cantor as its 17th president on Friday, Nov. 13, capping a week of events on the Sherman campus that the college has opened to the wider Texoma community.
The investiture ceremony runs from 11 a.m. to about 12:15 p.m. in the Grum Sanctuary of Wynne Chapel. A picnic-style lunch on the Austin College Commons follows until 1:30 p.m. The college's inauguration page asks guests to register for the ceremony, the lunch and the evening dessert event through forms posted there.
Cantor has led the college since July 1. Before coming to Sherman she was provost and chief academic officer at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and she earlier chaired the liberal arts department at the Savannah College of Art and Design and served as an assistant provost at Azusa Pacific University, according to her college biography.
She holds a doctorate in English from Claremont Graduate University, has published two books of poetry and will also teach as a professor of English. The biography notes she played NCAA Division I volleyball at Fairfield University.
How the day will run
Following a long academic custom, colleges and universities are sending delegates in their own academic robes to walk in the opening procession.
To free up students, faculty and staff, the college has canceled all classes from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday and will close campus offices for the same window. The dining hall keeps its normal schedule, and the bookstore will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Visitors who stay can join campus tours at 1:30 or 3 p.m. from the Wortham Welcome Center. An afternoon reception and the inauguration dinner are by invitation only. The day closes with dessert and dancing from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Page Atrium of the IDEA Center, along with stargazing at the Adams Observatory from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
