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Symbols of the University

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Cornell’s Twelve Presidents

Inaugurating the Presidents

Andrew Dickson White, 1868
Charles Kendall Adams, 1885
Jacob Gould Schurman, 1892
Livingston Farrand, 1921
Edmund E. Day, 1937
Deane W. Malott, 1951
James A. Perkins, 1963
Dale R. Corson, 1969
Frank H. T. Rhodes, 1977
Hunter Ripley Rawlings III, 1995
Jeffrey Sean Lehman, 2003

Inaugurating the Presidents

James A. Perkins, 1963

The inauguration of James Alfred Perkins as Cornell’s seventh president took place on Friday, October 4, 1963 at 11:15 a.m. in Bailey Hall. University Organist Rudolf J. Kremer played prelude music. Dr. John W. Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation, provided remarks on “The Future of the University,” and the Glee Club sang, under the direction of Professor Thomas A. Sokol. Arthur H. Dean, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, formally presented the University Mace to the President. The Mace had been designed by Eric Clements of the Goldsmiths’ Guild of London in 1962 to symbolize the authority of the University as exercised by its principal officers. It now accompanies the President of the University at formal academic functions such as Commencements. President Perkins then presented his Inaugural Address.

There was an Inaugural Luncheon in Barton Hall at 12:45 and a reception in the White Art Museum at 5:30. On October 5, a panel discussion in the Statler Auditorium - “Cornell: A View to the Future” - featured Provost Dale R. Corson, Vice President Franklin Long, Vice President William R. Keast, and Dean Charles E. Palm. Bard Hall was dedicated, and Professors Thomas Gold and William E. Gordon gave a lecture on the Arecibo Ionospheric Laboratory.

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Inauguration of James A. Perkins
James A. Perkins receives the University Mace from Arthur H. Dean, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Professor George H. Healey is in the background.

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