Today was the investiture of Harris Pastides as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina. Or, in other words, another excuse for me to don my academic regalia. The ceremony had all the pomp and circumstance you might expect. I've had a few opportunities to wear this in the past year. When I officially graduated with the Ph.D. degree from Penn State in August 2007, of course, but also for University of South Carolina graduations as well. (A special thanks to Mom and Dad for the robes. What a graduation gift!)At investitures or inaugurations other colleges are invited to send a representative. These representatives proceed into the room in the order of their founding. So, the representative from Harvard came first (1636), then William & Mary would have been next (1693) but they didn't have a representative, then Yale (1702), et cetera. Some colleges probably ask someone locally to represent them. The faculty, then the deans, the other administrative officers, the trustees, and then the president. There were speeches, including a great keynote from the dean of Yale School of Music (Pastides earned his Ph.D. at Yale), the official "charge" by the chairman of the trustees to the new president, the installation ceremony, a speech by Pastides himself, and so on.
But, to me, the ceremony is more than just the ceremony itself. Like the other times I've donned my regalia, I found that as much the event served me as a reminder of what it is that got me interested in pursuing this career. It renewed my energy for and commitment to what I hoped to accomplish as a professor. There's something wonderful about the collegiality of being amongst a group of people who have a similar passion. For example, I happened to get in line next to Walter Edgar, a prominent historian of the South and had a wonderful conversation as we waited to process into the Koger Center. Also, there's the "name that regalia" that faculty play as they see other professors' regalia.
For me, there's something about wearing the ancient robes, seeing the University Mace, the symbols, the pageantry, that makes you feel connected to the history and purposes of the university.
So, in the end, I still have to wonder if I became a professor just so I could put on the cool robes a few times a year...
