Austin College has set Friday, Nov. 13, for the formal inauguration of Rebecca Cantor, its 17th president, and is inviting the wider Texoma community to join a week of events on the Sherman campus.
The investiture ceremony begins at 11 a.m. in the Grum Sanctuary of Wynne Chapel. Guests then head outdoors to the Austin College Commons for a picnic lunch. The college's inauguration page links to a registration form for the ceremony, the lunch and an evening of dessert and dancing.
Cantor took office July 1. Before Austin College she was provost and chief academic officer at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. 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, according to her college biography. The school, founded in 1849, enrolls about 1,300 students.
The week's schedule
The college's calendar lists these events:
- Sunday, Nov. 8: Puzzles with the President, 2 to 4 p.m., Living Room of the Wright Campus Center.
- Tuesday, Nov. 10: a career panel called PATH to the Presidency at 11 a.m. in Sherman Hall; a poetry reading and student art exhibition reception at 4:30 p.m. in the Johnson Gallery; and a Greater Texoma Jazz Orchestra concert at 7:30 p.m. in Wynne Chapel.
- Thursday, Nov. 12: an America 250 presidential trivia night at 7:30 p.m. in the Pouch Club.
- Friday, Nov. 13: the investiture and lunch, campus tours starting at 1:30 and 3 p.m. from the Wortham Welcome Center, then dessert and dancing from 7 to 9 p.m. in the IDEA Center's Page Atrium while the Adams Observatory opens for stargazing from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Three gatherings on the schedule, a welcome dinner on Nov. 12 and a reception and dinner on Nov. 13, are marked invitation only.
