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¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ will inaugurate Dr. Andrew Westmoreland as its 18th president Thursday, Nov. 2, during 10 a.m. ceremonies in Wright Center Concert Hall on the campus.

An academic procession of more than 450 people will wind its way across campus for the start of program. The procession will include ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ faculty, representatives of 67 universities and learned societies and bearers of 117 flags of states and nations represented in the ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ alumni and student bodies.

The ceremony will feature remarks from Dr. Westmoreland and will include greetings from representatives of ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ constituencies and performances by the ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ Choral Union and University Brass.

Following the investiture ceremony, all guests are invited to an informal reception honoring President and Mrs. Westmoreland on the University quadrangle from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Dr. Westmoreland was elected ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ president last January and succeeded retiring president Thomas E. Corts June 1. He served previously as president of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Inauguration Day concludes a fortnight of inaugural activities that began with Evensong in ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ's Hodges Chapel Oct. 20. Various academic programs sponsored by ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ's eight component colleges, and service programs involving students, faculty and administration members were part of the schedule.

A Batesville, Ark., native and son of a Baptist minister, Westmoreland is a graduate of Ouachita with a master's degree from the University of Arkansas and doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He joined the Ouachita staff after graduation in 1979, and eventually served as vice president and executive vice president of the school before being elected president in 1998.

He and his wife, Dr. Jeanna Westmoreland, are parents of one daughter, Riley, 16. Jeanna Westmoreland was dean of the Ouachita School of Education and chair of the Arkansas State Board of Education until the move to ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ last spring.

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ, with 4,478 students enrolled from 49 states and 27 foreign countries, has been Alabama's largest private university or college for more than 40 years.

Inauguration Details