Inaugural Traditions

Academic Procession

When a president or chancellor of a college or university is inaugurated, the celebration features a colorful inaugural procession resembling a commencement procession. Procession participants include representatives from the host university and from other colleges and universities.

For Dr. Bradfield’s inauguration, those processing in the Inaugural Ceremony will meet in the the Art Gallery, in the lower level of the Jeschke Fine Arts Center, and process into the Meredith Auditorium at the start of the Inaugural Ceremony.

Regalia

Academic inauguration participants wear full academic regalia during the procession and the installation ceremony. Host-university faculty wear the colors of the institutions where they earned doctorates. Guests from other institutions wear their own academic regalia, uniforms or traditional costumes.

Dr. Bradfield’s inauguration promises a multicolored display among procession participants.

Medallion

In the Middle Ages, chains of office or collars were worn as badges of office. For special occasions, a university president or chancellor may wear a metal chain anchored by a large medallion depicting the school seal.

The original University of Sioux Falls presidential medallion was the idea of Jay Olson and was created by Russ Brabec, both professors of art at the University of Sioux Falls. The medallion has been redesigned twice – once in 1983 by faculty member Darrell Nelson in honor of the centennial of the university, and again in 1997 by Nancy Olive, professor of art, to incorporate the University’s cross symbol and the name “University of Sioux Falls.”