Dr. Kenneth R. Evans will be inaugurated in April as the nineteenth president of Oklahoma City University. The inauguration, initially scheduled for Jan. 20, will now take place on Thursday, April 7. The date was postponed due to higher rates of Covid-19 in January, in an effort to mitigate the virus’s spread on campus. Now that case counts have dropped enough to reach a low alert level and protocols can be reduced, the inaugural events may occur.
The festivities for Dr. Evans’ inauguration will be themed “Weaving together the OCU family.” Manager of Special Events at OCU Sarah Kelly shared information about the inaugural activities. “[Inaugural activities] will include an Investiture ceremony, an All-Campus Celebration, and a Presidential Gala,” Kelly said. All of these events will now take place on April 7.
An email was sent inviting the campus community to attend inaugural events. The Investiture Ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. and lasts until 11:30 a.m. on April 7. Registration for the Investiture Ceremony is now closed. A live stream of the ceremony will be shared on the university website.
The University is inviting all OCU students to line up along the sidewalks leading to the Centennial Plaza Arch with provided pom-poms and noisemakers at 11:30 a.m. This event will start off with the Investiture Ceremony Recessional which ends at noon. Attendees may RSVP for the recessional but are not required to. Attendance at the Investiture Ceremony and the All-Campus Celebration is not required for recessional participation.
Following the recessional an All-Campus Celebration will take place in the Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center from 12:00-1:30 p.m. This event will be a come-and-go event. the university encourages attendees to RSVP, but this is not a requirement. All students, staff, and faculty are invited to this celebration.
In the evening of April 7, following campus celebrations, Kelly shared that a Presidential Gala will be held at the First Americans Museum. Kelly said for this event, “Attendance is by invitation only and will include trustees, alumni, donors, and community leaders.”
President Evans, having served as OCU president for nearly a full year, is working on a homeless initiative and online program initiative.
President Evans previously received a welcome from the campus community when a flash mob surprised him at the Lip Sync competition last fall. This formal inauguration follows nearly a year of this informal welcome to campus.
Currently, masks remain optional for all activities. However, the university will continue to monitor Covid-19 alert levels and make changes to mask policies and mitigation procedures as necessary.
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