SCHENECTADY — Union College students, faculty and alumni welcomed their new president Saturday in an inauguration during which Stephen C. Ainlay promised to uphold a long tradition of scholarship as well as intellectual and human diversity.
“I am thrilled to have been selected as the 18th president of Union College and I understand the weighty responsibility of leading an institution of such academic distinction,” said Ainlay, 55.
He comes to Union from College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., where he was vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology. Ainlay succeeds Roger Hull, who stepped down in June 2005 after 15 years. James Underwood, a professor emeritus of political science, was interim president.
Speaking in the school's Memorial Chapel, Ainlay reflected on Union College's storied history and the illustrious list of alumni. His list included William Seward, who has been the topic of renewed interest thanks to Doris Kearns Goodwin's “A Team of Rivals,” which explores the administration of Abraham Lincoln.
Seward lost the Republican nomination for president to Lincoln in 1860 but rather than bitterly walking away, he joined the administration, served as secretary of state and became a paragon of teamwork and self sacrifice.
That spirit, said Ainlay, epitomizes the approximately 2,100-student Union College, forming part of its “institutional ethos.”
Ainlay also gave a nod to others from the school, including Eliphalet Nott, for whom the distinctive 16-sided Nott Memorial building is named.
“For the record and to scale down expectations, I want to make clear that I have no illusions of matching or exceeding Eliphalet Nott's 61 years as president,” Ainlay said with a chuckle.
Regardless of tenure, William R. Brody, president of The Johns Hopkins University, and one of the speakers introducing the new president, said he expects Ainlay to have a demanding but fulfilling time.
“Being a college president,” Brody said. “Is the best job in the world.”
Flanked on either side by the distinguished portraits of Union College's former presidents, Stephen Ainlay pulled on a garnet robe and gold medallion Saturday amid thunderous applause to become the next in line to guide the school.
Ainlay was ceremoniously ushered in as Union College's 18 th president, nearly a year after a 12-member search committee picked him to replace outgoing president Roger Hull, who retired from the post in January after 15 years of service.
In his inaugural address, Ainlay spoke broadly about the profound impact Union College graduates have had on the collective history of the United States and the need for the college to continue fostering an academic environment that breeds innovators.
“We will need to draw on this ethos of innovation and instill it in our students as we try to meet the demand for individuals who are capable of imagining solutions well outside prescribed ways of thinking,'' he told a crowd of more than 900 people gathered at the college's Memorial Chapel. “But be assured of one thing: Union is indeed wellhewn to make a difference in our time.”
Ainlay also harkened back to Union College alumnus William Seward, who was defeated in his bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 1860 by Abraham Lincoln, but overcame his disappointment to later become one of the nation's most effective secretaries of state and a top Lincoln adviser. He said this spirit of selfless dedication should be instilled in all of the college's students throughout their education at Union College.
“We must find ways of getting in students' way, creating space for them to think about the very meaning of the common good, what it means to submit to a cause that transcends personal ambition,” Ainlay said. “If not possible in a place in the shadow of William Seward, then where? ”
Known for his background in the field of sociology, Ainlay began his tenure as president in July, after serving nearly a quarter-century as both a professor and administrator at The College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Most recently, he served as the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college.
Among those speaking at the inauguration was Union College senior and class President Brian Gulack, who recalled how Ainlay approached the student forum shortly after being appointed and asked the members about their individual vision for the college.
“It was at that second that I knew Dr. Ainlay cared about the students,” he said. “If there is anyone that is fit to be patriarch of our college family, it is Dr. Ainlay.”
In his remarks, Wheaton College President Ronald Crutcher advised Ainlay that being the president of a college requires a difficult balance of being an educator, scholar and finance administrator, among a long list of other duties.
“There will be days that you will ask yourself, ‘Why did I ever aspire to this position?' . .. but many more days that you will know why you're at this position,” Crutcher said. “I have no doubt that you are a fantastic fit for this college and that the college will prosper under your leadership.”
Also speaking at the ceremony was William Brody, the president of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, who urged Ainlay to get to know the student population over which he now presides.
“They are the reason the college exists,” Brody said. “And perhaps after your first year in the job, you will decide to teach a seminar or class. There you will find that the best reward of your job is to experience firsthand the incredible talent that Union College is nurturing to become the leaders of the 21 st century.”
With the growing light of midday streaming through its windows, Memorial Chapel swelled with applause Saturday when Stephen C. Ainlay shed his academic gown and donned Union's garnet robe to officially become the 18th president of the College.
This tradition “signified my dedication to this institution and my acceptance of the responsibility that comes with the office of president,” he told an overflow crowd of more than 900 members of the Union community and distinguished guests.
Asserting that Union College is “well-hewn to make a difference in our time,” Ainlay reflected on the many educational innovations that were born at Union, one of the nation's oldest colleges, and the long line of notable graduates, including U.S. President Chester Arthur; Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser; George Westinghouse; and Kathy Magliato, one of a handful of women heart transplant surgeons in the nation today.
“Because of its history, Union must be more self-conscious and self-critical about what it does,” Ainlay said in his inaugural address.
crowd shot – stage – Memorial Chapel
“Because of its history, Union must set the bar of accountability high. Because of its history, Union has an obligation to lead as it confronts today's educational challenges. And similarly, Union students and graduates, too, have a responsibility to be more self-conscious and self-critical, to hold themselves to a high standard and to make a difference in the world they inhabit.”
Ainlay, 55, said the College was well-positioned to confront today's challenges, including fragmentation “in a world marked by conflict and misunderstanding.
“Education at its best has the potential to play a key strategic role in counteracting polarization by emphasizing the value of dialogue, helping students understand difference without reducing it to ‘a matter of perspective' and celebrating mutual respect,” he said.
“This ethos – a commitment to a common educational cause despite difference – must animate our educational endeavor today. If not higher education, where? If not a school called ‘Union,' what college or university?”
It's also critical to prepare students for the challenges engendered by globalism, Ainlay said, by building upon Union's 212-year history of providing a solid liberal arts education.
“We will need to draw on this ethos of innovation and instill it in our students as we try to meet the demand for individuals who are capable of imagining solutions well outside prescribed ways of thinking,” he said.
“Bound to high ethical standards”
Citing Union alumnus William Seward, Class of 1820, Ainlay emphasized the need to educate men and women who will be engaged citizens, bound to high ethical standards and willing to place personal interests second to the common good. Seward expected to get the Republican nomination for President in 1860, but was crushed when he was passed over in favor of Abraham Lincoln, in part because some feared his opposition to slavery made him unelectable.
Yet Seward overcame his disappointment and campaigned tirelessly for his former political foe, and eventually he accepted Lincoln's offer to be Secretary of State. He became one of Lincoln's most trusted advisers, and is credited with helping shape Lincoln's position on slavery, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation.
“We must find ways of getting in students' way, creating space for them to think about the very meaning of the common good, what it means to submit to a cause that transcends personal ambition,” Ainlay said. “If not possible in a place in the shadow of William Seward, then where?”
Ainlay cited the achievements of other noted alumni, including leaders from the sciences and engineering, like Baruch Blumberg, winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of the hepatitis B virus, and Solomon Deyo, chief engineer for the first New York City subway. He also called to mind many composers, authors, directors, producers, screenwriters who have made their mark on the world.
Ainlay was officially installed by President by Stephen J. Ciesinski, chairman of the College's Board of Trustees, who presented him with the school medallion and the seal of Union University. Ainlay also is the chancellor of Union University.
“President Ainlay could not wait to join Union, and we could not wait to have him here,” Ciesinski said. “To those of us on the Board of Trustees, the selection of President Ainlay was one of the most satisfying decisions we have made. President Ainlay represents the best in a college president: that rare combination of incredible scholarly credentials, superb administrative skills, a spirited and engaging fundraising style and the ability to connect with nearly everyone he meets.”
The Inaugural celebration was planned by William Finlay, an associate professor and director of the Yulman Theatre. As the College Marshal, he carried the gold-headed walking stick of the Rev. Dirck Romeyn (1744-1804), a leader in Union's founding and a College Trustee.
Praise for the new president
Guests at Saturday's installation ceremony of Stephen C. Ainlay included delegates from 60 colleges and universities and from 20 learned and professional institutions. Members of Ainlay's family, including his wife, Judith Gardner Ainlay; their sons, Jesse and Jonathan; and Ainlay's mother and mother-in-law also were on hand.
William R. Brody, the president of Johns Hopkins University, told Ainlay the best advice he could give him was to take time to interact with the students.
“They are the reason the college exists,” Brody said. “And perhaps after your first year in the job, you will decide to teach a seminar or class. There you will find that the best ‘great reward' of your job is to experience first hand the incredible talent that Union College is nurturing to become the leaders of the 21st century.”
James Davison Hunter, the LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory, University of Virginia, introduced Ainlay as someone who is “intellectually committed and academically dedicated” and “a man of extraordinary decency.”
Hunter emphasized his longtime friend's “integrity, fairness, kindness and deep, humane sensibility.” He was quick to add that Ainlay, with whom he has traded pranks over the years, “was no stick-in the-mud,” but a fun-loving individual, as well.
Throughout the morning, numerous speakers representing a wide spectrum of the Union and academic communities gave praise and support to Ainlay in moving and often humorous tributes to the man they know as teacher, scholar, friend and colleague.
Their praise was also a celebration of Union's spectacular history and its role in higher education as an innovator and breeding ground for a distinct line of achievers that includes top political, legal and educational figures of the past two centuries, from President Arthur to 13 governors, 16 generals, seven U.S. Cabinet members, more than 200 judges and no less than 90 college presidents.
Calling education “the lifeblood of this country,” Richard E. Roberts, Class of 1950, noted, “Union alumni are so proud of their College and their fellow alumni, who have helped this wonderful country become what it is today.”
After meeting Ainlay only 10 months ago, Roberts said, “I have never been influenced more by anyone. What Stephen has brought to Union is a kindness and a thoughtfulness and a courage to make decisions. That combination is very hard to beat.”
Brian C. Gulack, Class of 2007 and president of the Student Forum, welcomed Ainlay as “the patriarch of our wonderful Union family.” He spoke of his auspicious beginnings with Ainlay, when he asked a group of students how they felt about their college.
“From that second I knew that Dr. Ainlay cared about students, and that's what Union needs,” Gulack said.
Linda N. Stanhope, associate professor of Psychology and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, said she was “excited about today's new beginnings and ready to work side-by-side with our new president.”
John Brademas, president emeritus of New York University and a Regent for New York State, described Ainlay's combination of “humane sympathy and intellectual rigor.”
A native of Indiana, Ainlay earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Goshen College, and both his master's and Ph.D. from Rutgers University.
The former vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., Ainlay assumed the presidency at Union July 1. He succeeds Roger Hull, who served 15 years before stepping down in June 2005. James Underwood, professor emeritus of political science, served as interim president last academic year.
A formal outdoor gala for hundreds of invited guests, was scheduled for Saturday evening, culminating with a fireworks display.
The two-day inaugural event began Friday evening with a symposium in the Nott Memorial on “Bridging the Academic – Social Gap.”
Three years after the debut of the Minerva Houses, hundreds of invited guests from other colleges and universities filled the Nott Memorial Friday night for a symposium on “Bridging the Academic – Social Gap.”
The symposium kicked off a weekend of events held to mark the inauguration of Stephen C. Ainlay as the College's 18th president.
Panelists included Tim Spears, dean and professor of American Studies, Middlebury College; Victoria Swigert, professor of sociology and assistant dean, College of the Holy Cross; Kent Trachte, dean of Franklin and Marshall College; and Suzanne Benack, professor of psychology and Minerva faculty representative from Sorum House at Union College. The moderator was Byron Nichols, professor of political science at Union.
The keynote address was given by Richard Light, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and director of the Harvard Seminar on Assessment at Harvard University. Light's recent book, “Making the Most of College,” won the Stone Award for best book on education and society.
Light told the audience about a conversation he had years ago with longtime Harvard University President Derek Bok, who asked him to examine the quality of student life on campus.
The mission, Light said, was to figure out “how do we strengthen the quality of life on campus for our undergraduates who spend fewer than 20 hours a week in class?”
In interviewing more than 2,000 students over a period of years, Light found the overarching theme was “they longed for, wished for, hoped for the opportunity to make a connection between their personal lives and the topics discussed in the classroom.”
Each of the symposium's panelists talked about what their schools have done to improve the intellectual life of their students outside the classroom.
Swigert said there is an “insuperable barrier between living and learning,” and that students “come to our campus with one foot in adolescence and one foot in adulthood.''
Faculty, she said, “has a special responsibility to offer a hand across the divide. We need to anchor students more firmly in the academic world. We need to bridge the disconnect between their intellectual and social worlds.”
Suzanne Benack, Inaugural Symposium
After years of planning, the Minervas are now in their third year at Union. Benack was a member of the committee that proposed the Minerva system. Every incoming student is randomly assigned to one of the seven Minerva Houses and joins upperclass students, faculty and staff in a house affiliation. Each Minerva has its own governing council, which is led by a faculty and student representative.
Benack told the audience that while everything hasn't been smooth with the Minervas, the system is thriving and attracts leaders from other schools interested in making changes on their campus.
The Minervas, Benack said, offer opportunities to “let go of our roles as students, faculty and administrators and to know each other on equal footing.”
Achieving this sense of intimacy, she said, can be “invigorating and offer a lot of fun and a lot of joy.”
Asserting that Union College is “well-hewn to make a difference in our time,” Stephen C. Ainlay was formally installed as the College's 18th president in a ceremony today.
Ainlay reflected on the many educational innovations that were born at Union, one of the nation's oldest colleges, and the long line of notable graduates, including U.S. President Chester Arthur, Gordon Gould (inventor of the laser) and George Westinghouse.
“Because of its history, Union must be more self-conscious and self-critical about what it does,'' Ainlay said in his inaugural address to an overflow crowd of more than 900 attendees in Memorial Chapel. “Because of its history, Union must set the bar of accountability high. Because of its history, Union has an obligation to lead as it confronts today's educational challenges. And similarly, Union students and graduates, too, have a responsibility to be more self-conscious and self-critical, to hold themselves to a high standard and to make a difference in the world they inhabit.”
Ainlay, 55, said the College was well-positioned to confront today's challenges, including fragmentation “in a world marked by conflict and misunderstanding.”
“Education at its best has the potential to play a key strategic role in counteracting polarization by emphasizing the value of dialogue, helping students understand difference without reducing it to “a matter of perspective” and celebrating mutual respect,” he said. “This ethos – a commitment to a common educational cause despite difference – must animate our educational endeavor today. If not higher education, where? If not a school called ‘Union,' what college or university?”
It's also critical to prepare students for the challenges engendered by globalism, Ainlay said, by building upon Union's 212-year history of providing a solid liberal arts education.
“We will need to draw on this ethos of innovation and instill it in our students as we try to meet the demand for individuals who are capable of imagining solutions well outside prescribed ways of thinking,'' he said. “But be assured of one thing: Union is indeed well-hewn to make a difference in our time.''
Citing Union alumnus William Seward (Class of 1820), Ainlay emphasized the need to educate men and women who will be engaged citizens, bound to high ethical standards and willing to place personal interests second to the common good. Seward expected to get the Republican nomination for President in 1860, but was crushed when he was passed over in favor of Abraham Lincoln, in part because some feared his opposition to slavery made him unelectable.
Yet Seward overcame his disappointment and campaigned tirelessly for his former political foe, and eventually accepted Lincoln's offer to be Secretary of State. He became one of Lincoln's most trusted advisers, and is credited with helping shape Lincoln's position on slavery, which led to the Emancipation Proclamation.
“We must find ways of getting in students' way, creating space for them to think about the very meaning of the common good, what it means to submit to a cause that transcends personal ambition,” Ainlay said. “If not possible in a place in the shadow of William Seward, then where?”
The former vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., Ainlay assumed the presidency at Union July 1. He succeeds Roger Hull, who served 15 years before stepping down in June 2005. James Underwood, professor emeritus of political science, served as interim president last academic year.
During Saturday's ceremony, William R. Brody, the president of Johns Hopkins University, told Ainlay the best advice he could give him was to take time to interact with the students.
“They are the reason the college exists,” Brody said. “And perhaps after your first year in the job, you will decide to teach a seminar or class. There you will find that the best ‘great reward' of your job is to experience first hand the incredible talent that Union College is nurturing to become the leaders of the 21st century.”
James Davison Hunter, the LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory, University of Virginia, introduced Ainlay, who was then installed as President by Stephen J. Ciesinski, chairman of the College's Board of Trustees.
A formal outdoor gala for hundreds of invited guests was to be held on the campus grounds at 7 p.m., followed by a fireworks display at 10 p.m. The celebration was planned by William Finlay, an associate professor and director of the Yulman Theatre.
The two-day inaugural event began Friday with a symposium in the Nott Memorial on “Bridging the Academic – Social Gap.” The keynote address was given by Richard Light, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and director of the Harvard Seminar on Assessment at Harvard University. Light's recent book, “Making the Most of College,” won the Stone Award for best book on education and society.
Panelists included Tim Spears, dean and professor of American Studies, Middlebury College; Victoria Swigert, professor of sociology and assistant dean, College of the Holy Cross; Kent Trachte, dean of Franklin and Marshall College; and Suzanne Benack, professor of psychology and Minerva faculty representative from Sorum House at Union College. The moderator was Byron Nichols, professor of political science at Union.
Union College, founded in 1795 as the first college chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, offers programs in the liberal arts and engineering to 2,100 undergraduates.
