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Senior Investiture – Welcome Remarks Dr. J. Michael Bitzer, Provost (May 12, 2016) Dear faculty, staff, families, special guests, and most importantly: the members of Catawba College’s Class of 2016. Welcome to the opening ceremony of Catawba College’s Graduation Exercises. I’m Dr. Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics & history and provost of the college, and it is my pleasure to begin a wonderful next few days of celebrating the college’s 164rd graduation ceremonies with today’s opening service of investiture. Although many universities and colleges have an investiture service, the majority of the schools have this ceremony only for their graduate degree recipients. Catawba College is unique in having this ceremony for our undergraduates, who will receive an academic hood to wear with their gowns for Saturday’s commencement exercises. 2
This ceremony of investiture is among the oldest of traditions in academia. It is modeled after the English ceremony of the knighthood, and the word “investiture” comes from a Latin phrase “dress in robe.” Catawba also harkens back to this English tradition by the very place we are assembled in for this ceremony. You may not have noticed, but there is a stone embedded in the narthex of this chapel that was taken from the 13th century cathedral of Salisbury, England. About the time that stone was hewn, almost 800 years ago, European universities won the right to examine and license their students. The system of degrees that took form by the 1300’s was modeled after the craft guild system of licensure. Like apprentices to a carpenter or a stonemason, students spent a period of time studying under a master to earn a bachelor’s degree. 3
The bachelor’s degree was similar to a journeyman’s license in a craft. The master’s degree, for which one had to submit a thesis (as proof that one had mastered the craft), made one a master and thus entitled to teach. If the teacher continued to study and teach in the fields of law, medicine, or theology, he or she might earn the title of Doctor. By the late 1800’s, universities had begun to offer a variety of other degrees as science, engineering, agriculture, and other professional training gained prominence in the curriculum. From medieval times to the present, scholars have worn gowns, caps (traditionally mortar boards), and hoods of specific design. Initially, the gowns and hoods were practical, providing protection against the cold and drafty monasteries and libraries where the scholars worked. 4
The master’s gowns have square cut sleeves in which writing materials, food, or other items could be carried. You might think of them as early versions of student backpacks or book bags. Some universities around the world still require or allow students to wear gowns. In this country, honors students at the University of the South (sometimes known as Sewanee) wear academic gowns to class. And allow me to dispel one myth that’s out there: Hogwarts did not begin the craze of wearing academic gowns in class. Academic traditions were re‐enforced in 1884 when the standards for academic regalia in the United States were standardized so that the colors symbolize the academic field or discipline the wearer studied, the type of degree earned, and the school that awarded the degree. To begin with, the length of the hood that you and the faculty wear symbolizes the level of degree that the wearer holds. Bachelor’s degrees 5
are three feet in length, with the master’s three and a half and doctoral degree holders having a hood that is four feet in length. Next, the velvet binding indicates the discipline. Tomorrow at baccalaureate and at Saturday’s commencement, you will note a variety of distinctive colors for the different fields of study for Catawba’s faculty, such as music faculty wearing pink, education faculty wearing light blue, business faculty wearing drab, and faculty of other disciplines wearing still other distinctive colors of their fields. Finally, the inside lining of the hood designates the university from which the degree was earned. For example, the dark blue velvet edging of my hood indicates the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, while the red and black of the inside lining indicates that the degree was awarded at the University of Georgia. 6
This evening you, our graduating seniors, will be presented with hoods that have linings of blue and white, the colors of Catawba College. The velvet binding is white for the Bachelor of Arts, gold for the Bachelor of Science, brown for the Bachelor of Fine Arts, drab for the Bachelor of Business Administration, and light blue for the Bachelor of Arts in Education. On Saturday you will wear your academic regalia again as you become graduates of Catawba College. Someone who knows the experience of where you are sitting is our special guest speaker for today’s investiture. A native of Rowan County, Dr. Kurt Corriher studied German and earned his bachelor’s degree from Davidson College with honors, where he was inducted in Phi Beta Kappa. He then earned his master of fine arts in acting and his doctorate in German literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as a former Fulbright Fellow to Vienna, Austria, and joined the faculty at Catawba in 1992, teaching German. 7
Dr. Corriher has served the institution in a variety of capacities, most recently as professor of German and director of the Glenn and Abbie Ketner Center for International Studies. He has also been an active member of our community, especially with Center for Faith in the Arts, located here in Salisbury. An author, actor, and director of the college’s Community Forum, Dr. Corriher truly represents the notion of a modern‐day ‘renaissance man.’ You will hear more about his accomplishments at Saturday’s commencement, when we recognize him for his service to Catawba upon his retirement later this summer from the college. Following his remarks, Dr. Maria Vandergriff‐Avery, Director of the Catawba College Honors Program, will recognize the honors students. 8
(Continued, following speaker) I know that this graduation has great personal significance for each of you seniors. But I hope that you also will come to see it as part of an enduring tradition that has gone on long before you entered Catawba and that will continue long after you have crossed the stage and received your diploma. We are ready now to invest you, the class of 2016, with the symbols of your alma mater. (Continued, following investiture of hoods) Now that all have been hooded, may I ask each of you to be sure and grasp the ribbon in front of you. This ribbon, in the colors of your alma mater, binds you as senior students in this community of learners, as the Catawba College Class of 2016, as friends, and as classmates. 9
It binds together a group that, after Saturday, will never assemble again in its entirety. In this circle, you are like the outer ring of a ripple caused by a rock thrown in a pond. You will be moving outward, farther and farther from Catawba College. But in a moment, when we will cut the ribbon to symbolize, that as you move outward and beyond this campus, you also will take something from Catawba College and this moment with you. The ribbon is a material reminder of the intangible qualities you will carry away. What you take will vary from person to person in kind and in degree; but we hope it will include some sense of the four key words found on the College’s seal that will be on your diploma. We hope that this ribbon will symbolize to you the qualities of Catawba College graduates: to be an informed citizen through scholarship, a good person through character and culture, and possess a sense of responsibility for building a better society through service. 10
Ultimately, only you will know what the ribbon means in your own life and what those four words stand for as Catawba College alumni. On behalf of President Brien Lewis, the faculty, staff and trustees of Catawba College, I want to thank our honored guests for joining us this evening and to our graduating seniors, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning for graduation rehearsals and for our Baccalaureate Service tomorrow evening.