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Columns::August 6, 2001
Alternate routes
UGA reaccredited; SACS also praises undergrad initiative
Full house: Residence halls fill up, students placed in overflow space
New associate VP will direct Georgia Center
Nesbit named associate VP and budget director
Campus News
Opening Convocation will feature student initiatives
By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
New UGA students attending the annual Opening Convocation Aug. 12 will hear the premiere of a student-composed musical
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| Daniel Reed |
piece and see the inaugural presentation of a statement of values for the university community.
The convocation will be held in Stegeman Coliseum four days before the start of fall semester classes on Aug. 16. The 6 p.m. assembly will be followed by a picnic in the Myers Hall quadrangle.
The convocation, which opens with a procession of hundreds of faculty in colorful academic regalia, was started in 1999 as a way to formally begin the new academic year and welcome new students, faculty and staff to the university. Several thousand people, including most freshmen and their family members, have attended each of the first two gatherings.
While the convocation has proven to be popular, some format changes will be made this year based on suggestions from students who attended the first events, says Tricia Kalivoda, co-chair of the convocation planning committee.
“Students have told us the convocation makes them feel a part of the university and helps ease their anxiety about coming to a large and unfamiliar place,” says Kalivoda. “They also said the program should be more compact and have fewer speakers, and should focus more on students.”
The program will begin with a video featuring greetings from students, representatives of the faculty and staff, and Athens-Clarke County Mayor Doc Eldridge.
Two student initiatives will be highlighted in the program. The prelude to the processional music will be a fanfare composed by Daniel Reed, a sophomore from Athens. Reed composed the piece, titled “Fanfare for Convocation,” in honor of the class of 2005.
A music composition major, Reed attends UGA on a Foundation Fellowship and has won several national composition competitions. His works have been performed by the California State Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra.
The convocation will conclude with the presentation of the Pillars of the Arch, a values creed written last spring by a group of student leaders and staff members in the Division of Student Affairs. The University Council adopted the statement and called on all members of the university community to follow its precepts.
The creed is based on the three pillars of the UGA Arch, which represent wisdom, justice and moderation.
Three students will read the Pillars of the Arch statement, and four other students will carry banners that were created to symbolize the creed itself and the principles of wisdom, justice and moderation.
At the conclusion of the statement, Tundé Ezekiel, president of the Student Government Association, will ask new students in the audience to put on an Arch-shaped pin they will have received when they entered the coliseum.
Karen Holbrook, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, will speak briefly to the group, along with one of UGA’s most popular teachers, William Barstow, a biological sciences professor and member of UGA’s Teaching Academy. President Michael F. Adams will preside over the ceremony.
Following the convocation, the Derby Band, a pep band of members of UGA’s Redcoat Marching Band, will lead a procession to the Myers quad for the picnic.
The convocation is the first event in Welcome Week, a series of activities that will continue throughout the first week of school.
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