Nicholas Dirks will be formally inaugurated as UC Berkeley’s tenth chancellor on Friday in a celebratory event on campus that will include a colorful procession, performances and discussions about higher education in the 21st century.
Dirks, who was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University, took up his new post five months ago, on June 1. He has already had a busy schedule, including handling an explosion which triggered a campus-wide evacuation in September, and appearing last month at Berkeleyside’s inaugural ideas festival Uncharted to talk about the fate of the humanities (as well as chopped liver and Bladerunner).
The inauguration on Friday is the formal welcome for the 61-year-old anthropology and history specialist who succeeded Robert J. Birgeneau as Cal chancellor.
Friday’s ceremony will begin at 3 p.m with processions by some 500 members of the campus community, including alumni, faculty, administrators and staff. Faculty members will be dressed in colorful academic regalia. Dirks will wear his maroon hood from the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in history in 1981.
During the inaugural ceremony, UC President Janet Napolitano will present Dirks with the UC Chancellor’s Medal.
In his inaugural address, Dirks is expected to unveil his vision for UC Berkeley’s future.
For more information about the inauguration celebration, visit the inauguration website.
Watch the live stream here if you’re not planning to attend:
Related:
Chancellor Dirks, more new speakers join Uncharted line-up (08.28.13)
Interview: UC Berkeley’s new chancellor, Nicholas Dirks (08.22.13)
UC Berkeley names Columbia dean as new chancellor (11.08.12)
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