Dr. Rhonda Phillips is set to be formally installed as the President of Chatham University at 3 p.m. on Oct. 13 in Campbell Memorial Chapel and is open to anyone who registers on My.Chatham. Faculty, staff, students and alumni are all encouraged to attend. The ceremony will also be livestreamed for anyone who is unable to attend in person. Following the ceremony, there will be an honorary dinner for dignitaries and anyone who reserved a seat hosted at the Esther Barazzone Center at the Eden Hall campus.
“It just sends a strong message that this is a way to celebrate this university, a way to celebrate Chatham and just recognize that this is a new era,” Dr. Phillips said. “We’ve got some things we still got to parse through. But we are making progress, and it’s just a good transition to have a ceremony to recognize that.”
The event is set to take place during Alumni Reunion Weekend and a Board of Trustees meeting. In this way, the administration hopes to utilize the increased number of people at Chatham to increase attendance to the ceremony, connect alumni to present students and cut costs overall. Especially with the University’s financial challenges, Dr. Phillips felt that holding her installment during Reunion Weekend would prove more economically feasible than a multi-day standalone ceremony.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with a huge outlay of money when it can be done very lovely in a ceremonious way,” President Phillips said. “We can do [the Investiture] as a celebration of Chatham and our community, but not spend a lot of funds on it. So we’ve managed to do that. We’ve pared down the budget significantly. … It will cost us a fraction of the last one.”
