Investitures and Convocations

Today, we associate "convocation" as the formal event to welcome first-year students to the University community. But in years past, a convocation with lectures and music might be held for the investiture of a new Provost or Dean, to celebrate the achievement of an alumnus with an honorary degree (like alumnus astronaut Edward Gibson '59), or to herald the establishment of a new professorial chair.

In 1975, a convocation was held to honor of Philip S. Bernstein and the creation of the Bernstein Chair in Jewish Studies in the Department of Religion and Classics. Bernstein served as rabbi of Temple B'rith Kodesh from 1927-1973, and advised the US Army in finding new homes for over 200,000 displaced Jews after World War II. Bernstein was once described as someone who, while not himself widely or well-known, worked with and knew everyone who was. The keynote speaker at his convocation was Golda Meir, who received an honorary degree.

1975 Convocation Honoring Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein

2008: Investiture of Susan Gibbons as Neilly Dean of the River Campus Libraries

Susan Gibbons was named Dean of the River Campus Libraries in 2008, and her investiture ceremony was recorded, as was that of her predecessor, Ron Dow. In 2011, Gibbons would become Dean of the Yale University Libraries.