{"id":16994,"date":"2021-10-11T16:01:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T16:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=16994"},"modified":"2026-02-27T21:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:51:28","slug":"macalester-college-inaugurates-dr-suzanne-m-rivera-as-its-17th-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/macalester-college-inaugurates-dr-suzanne-m-rivera-as-its-17th-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Macalester College inaugurates Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera as its 17th president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saint Paul, Minn.<\/strong> \u2013 On October 9, 2021, Macalester formally inaugurated Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera as the college\u2019s 17th president. Trustees, faculty, students, staff, alumni, family, friends and community leaders gathered online and at the Leonard Center Field House to celebrate the occasion. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her inaugural address entitled \u201cOnward Together,\u201d President Rivera thanked the presidents who came before her and emphasized the enduring importance of a liberal arts education to equip future leaders with the knowledge, empathy and skills to make our world a better and more just place for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, more than ever, we affirm the transformative power of a Macalester education, equipping our students with the ability to engage in critical analysis, effective communication and persuasion, problem-solving, and teamwork with people who bring to each encounter very different lived experiences,\u201d she told the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pres. Rivera, who is the first woman and Latinx president in the college\u2019s history, also articulated her expansive and inclusive vision for Macalester. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike other sectors in our economy and other institutions in our society, higher education was created by people with a very narrow idea about who was entitled to an education and who wasn’t. In this chapter of Macalester\u2019s history, I want every person in our community to know and feel in their bones that they deserve to be here and they belong here,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pres. Rivera called on all members of the Macalester community to join her in shaping this vision for the college\u2019s future. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese efforts to build an even more vibrant and distinctive Macalester begin now,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we engage in this work as a full community \u2014 when we create more equitable pathways in our institution, challenge ourselves to consider other perspectives, and put classroom lessons into action \u2014 it makes a difference in small ways and large. The impact of our efforts together will ripple across generations of future Macalester students. It will plant seeds of change on campus, in our neighborhood, across Minnesota, and in communities around the world, in ways we can’t even yet imagine.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony opened as most do at Macalester with a processional from the Macalester College Pipe Band led by Michael Briedenbach \u201896. Attendees were welcomed by Shreya Nagdev \u201822, Macalester College Student Government President. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Kelly J. Stone, College Chaplain and Associate Dean, offered the invocation: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe carry with us many threads that will be woven together this day \u2026 Bless this beautiful and holy tapestry! Today we ritually hand this gift to Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera. Mindful that being the caretaker of a tapestry this beautiful and bold is not enviable nor simple,\u201d said Rev. Stone. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elder Elona Street-Stewart P\u201999 of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) reminded the audience that the celebration was taking place on the traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Wa\u021fp\u00e9khute band of Dakh\u00f3ta Oy\u00e1te, the Dakota nation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Fayneese Miller, president of Hamline University and Pres. Rivera\u2019s mentor, friend, and former professor from when she was an undergraduate student at Brown University. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMacalester, you have, in President Rivera, someone who understands firsthand the various experiences that students bring with them to campus and their idealistic desire to change the world, even when others might not understand, nor appreciate, the ways in which they choose to do so,\u201d Pres. Miller told the audience. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tasked with formally installing her as Macalester\u2019s 17th president, Carrie Norbin Killoran \u201894, chair of the Board of Trustees, affirmed that Dr. Rivera is the right person at the right moment to lead Macalester into the future.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong President Rivera\u2019s many strengths is her deep belief in the transformational power of a liberal arts education, and the importance of ensuring that Macalester is a community where all are welcome,\u201d said Killoran. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artistic performances from the Macalester community rounded out the program. English Professor and award-winning poet Michael Prior delivered an original poem to mark the special moment in the college\u2019s history. Prof. Michael McGaghie directed the Macalester Community Choir\u2019s rendition of \u201cDear Old Macalester.\u201d The Macalester College African Music Ensemble led by director Sowah Mensah performed a traditional number from the Akan women\u2019s musical genre from Ghana. The group also accompanied the Brown Spirits Dance Ensemble, directed by Patricia Brown, in their performance of a welcome dance based on a traditional Liberian invocation for the sky and earth.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Inauguration website contains videos and photo galleries of the ceremony and other Inauguration week events.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 9, 2021, Macalester formally inaugurated Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera as the college\u2019s 17th president.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-newswire","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16994"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30601,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16994\/revisions\/30601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}