UGA to have investiture for new president

The University of Georgia will celebrate the investiture of Jere W. Morehead, the institution’s 22nd president, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 10 a.m. in the Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall on UGA’s East Campus. The public is invited to attend.

The ceremony will include remarks from Governor Nathan Deal; Henry M. “Hank” Huckaby, chancellor of the University System of Georgia; William “Dink” NeSmith, chair of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia; and Nancy B. Denson, mayor of the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Julie E. Carnes will preside over the ceremony, and U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones will bring the welcome. The president also will be greeted by representatives from the faculty, staff, students and alumni before providing the investiture address.

The investiture, a ceremony in which the leader of an institution is vested with the garments, insignia or ornaments signifying the authority of the office, will be broadcast live on Channel 15 of the University of Georgia and Charter cable systems and streamed live at http://www.ctl.uga.edu/. Additional viewing areas include the Ramsey Concert Hall in Hodgson Hall, the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium in the Georgia Museum of Art and the Tate Student Center Theater. The investiture also will be televised live for North Georgia on WUGA-TV. Find your local listings at wugatv.org.

After a national search that culminated in February, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia chose Morehead as the university’s president, a position he started on July 1.

Morehead served as UGA’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost from 2010 until June 30 of this year. His previous positions at UGA include vice president for instruction, vice provost for academic affairs, associate provost and director of the Honors Program and acting executive director of legal affairs. He is the Meigs Professor of Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business, where he has held a faculty appointment since 1986.

After receiving his Juris Doctor from the UGA School of Law, Morehead was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Department of Justice from 1980 to 1986. He is the first UGA alumnus to be named president since Fred Davison in 1967.

A reception will be held immediately following the investiture on the Performing Arts Quadrangle.