The annually recognizes members of the campus community who have made invaluable contributions to the foundational commitments of Syracuse University through research excellence, outstanding student experiences, impactful change and innovation and commitment to veterans and military-connected families. This year’s nomination deadline is Dec. 4.

“This award provides the opportunity to recognize and celebrate excellence in nearly any member of our teams,” says , vice provost/faculty affairs. “Our campus community is full of people who go above and beyond every day in their scholarship, their work with students and their commitment to making our university and our world a better place. The Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence is a great way to recognize those efforts.”

Faculty, staff and students may be nominated in one of four categories:

• Award for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction (faculty)
• Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Student Experience and University Initiatives (faculty, staff or team)
• Award for Excellence in Student Research (doctoral, master’s and undergraduate students)
• Lifetime Achievement Award (faculty)

is available online. Questions may be directed to Amanda Latreille at 315.443.5413 or arlatrei@syr.edu.

Good afternoon. It’s great to see everybody. I’m glad to be here. I look forward to working with all of you in this body.

This is, as you are aware, my first Senate meeting in this new role, and I do want to start with some gratitude.

I want to thank everyone who was part of last week’s celebration, and more than the celebration, very specifically, all of those who took part in the Academic Summit the day before. At that summit, I think the full breadth of this university’s academic achievement, research, scholarship—all of it—was on display in the Schine Center and in our schools and colleges.

The feedback was tremendous. It was an inspiring day. It really reaffirmed for me, and, I think, for our students, our staff, our faculty, alumni, all the great pride that we share in this institution and in this community.

Tomorrow marks one month since the start of the new academic year. I’m happy to share that we have welcomed to our Orange family nearly 3,600 new undergraduate first-year and transfer students. They came to us from 45 states, 55 countries and 19 indigenous nations. We also welcomed just over 1,750 new graduate students, law students, and doctoral students.

I visited five classrooms the first week of school, including courses in two of our newest academic programs, the iSchool’s new major in Integrative Artificial Intelligence, and also, of course, in our new Creator Economy minor. And not surprisingly, I was very impressed by the caliber of the faculty teaching those courses, and very proud to see students engaged the way they were on that first day of class.

We’ve also welcomed 55 new full-time faculty and 64 part-time faculty to our campus. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet many of them already. And I’m certain with the right mentorship and the right support, this cohort is going to do great things here at Syracuse University.

Over the past few days, I did give considerable thought in terms of how to use my time today in my first meeting with this group. What I concluded was, rather than proceed based on the past template of numbers and administrative updates, instead what’s probably most relevant, again, given my first Senate meeting in this new role, is for me to spend a little time sharing candidly how I hope to work with the Senate and also my hope for what that work will do moving forward.

First, right out of the gate, I want to make clear without any qualification that I believe that authentic and honest shared governance is how universities make their best decisions. And even more than that, an authentic and an honest commitment to shared governance is how administrators earn the right to execute on those decisions.

For that reason, while I am the chancellor, I will insist that my team engage with faculty and staff and students early and seriously on academic priorities, on standards, on policy and on the trade-offs that we might have to make over time related to all of those things.

Second, you should expect from me, and hopefully you’ve experienced from me to date, for me to be forthright and for me to be honest with you, even when being honest is hard. I think all of you deserve that. And more than just deserving it, based on my 20-plus years here on this campus, I have experienced firsthand what this community can build when we’re all pulling in the same direction.

I am someone who doesn’t believe that we can build together if we can’t share openly and honestly and in a way that builds trust. I think that’s critically important.

Third, and here’s where some edge will come into my remarks a little bit. I’ve been clear from the outset that from where I sit, the best and possibly the only strategy for Syracuse University to thrive in the face of these unprecedented challenges that all of higher education is experiencing is for us to commit to advance and to elevate the rigor and the competitiveness and the uniqueness of our academic enterprise very specifically.

A necessary condition for us to execute on that strategy is to position the experience of learning here and of living here for all of us, but particularly for our students, to be an experience that candidly is more meaningful than it is today and more rigorous than it is today and more worthy of the trust that families confer to all of us when they send us their children.

I share that because I think that lens, my lens, is important to understand because it should offer all of you some insight into my aspirations and my expectations associated with this body and shared governance more broadly.

Let me explain and expand a little bit of what I mean. At Friday’s ceremony, I asked faculty to reach across disciplinary and ideological boundaries with grace and civility and generosity. I’m going to ask that here again today, respectfully, in the context of this body and ask us all to recommit to modeling that here.

We ask our students, row three there all lined up, we ask them to engage across differences every single day. I am asking that we model the civil discourse that we demand of them, right here in this room. Because it is troubling to me the statistic that Heather shared, that more than half, around 50% of the senators that represent this body, don’t feel like they can share in this room. That should be troubling to all of us. And it should be more troubling at a time where regents and trustees at some of our peer institutions are taking active steps to dismantle shared governance.

I would respectfully submit to all of you that for this body to have real authority and real credibility and real influence and an authentic voice in all of the change that is ahead, and there is change ahead, we must all commit to collaborative and collegial and respectful discourse. Importantly, that discourse can’t be limited to the loudest voices or just a few voices, as Heather mentioned.

In addition, I think to earn that real authority, that real credibility, that authentic voice, I believe it’s also the case that we must prioritize first the issues and the themes and the dialogue most closely align with our core mission and our shared obligation, which is teaching and learning and discovery in support of an exceptional academic experience for all of us, but again, particularly for our students.

I share that because I spent considerable time over the summer and then again last week reading an entire year’s worth of meeting minutes from this body and from several of the standing committees. After that review, I found, being honest, that review was somewhat concerning to me. The concern was what was absent from those minutes was evidence of a specific and purposeful focus on advancing academic excellence and the competitiveness of our academic enterprise.

In fact, like a prior presenter, I went a step further and decided to ask Claude for help. I stripped out the provost presentation from all of those minutes and put them all into Claude. And I asked Claude to summarize, based on those minutes, the major issues and themes that dominated the work of the Senate last year. And Claude told me, based on those minutes, that the issues and themes that dominated the work of the Senate last year were employee rights, pay and benefits, employee workload, governance, and procedural policies, and speech rights. Notably missing from what Claude shared with me was a focus on our students.

To be very clear, I am not sharing this to suggest that any of those other things are not important or that there’s not a place for those things in the context of our discourse. But instead, I’m sharing that finding to make clear that my aspiration for the year ahead is for the focus and substance of the work of this body first to be about advancing discovery, academic excellence and serving the learning and wellness needs of our students.

I say that because, given the existential threats to this place and so much that we value here, those themes will be my focus every single day. If we can’t be focused on those things together, on all of those things that we need to do to navigate this moment, battles over parking and bylaws and workload will too soon be irrelevant conversations.

You already know the headline: we missed our enrollment goal this year. When almost 70% of the annual operating revenue that pays for everything we do at this university—every salary in this room—comes from one single source, student tuition and fees, missing an enrollment goal has real consequences.

Here’s the hard part about transparency. We missed our enrollment goal because too many families had higher expectations for the academic experience that their child would receive here than they felt we could deliver.

That’s why I’m going to focus my time and my energy and my attention on the competitiveness and the quality and the uniqueness of our academic enterprise. I’m going to focus on improving our four- and six-year graduation rates, which today are meaningfully below our peers. I’m going to focus on improving our first- and second-year retention rates, which today are meaningfully below our peers. I’m going to focus on addressing why close to 30% of our students on this campus right now report to the university that they don’t feel like they belong or they don’t feel connected. And I want to ensure that we just don’t fix that problem, but that we’re not the cause of that problem.

I want to ensure that changes in federal policy related to financial aid don’t make it impossible for a student to come here and enroll here and study here.

I truly, authentically, want to do this work together. I want to do this work not as adversaries, but as partners in what should be the most important work of this university.

So, again, I’m happy to answer questions after [Provost] Lois [Agnew] goes about any of the administrative stuff that you’re used to hearing in this first update, but I think that the best use of my time today was to share that perspective.

I look forward to working with you and thank you very much.

Standing at the podium in the JMA Wireless Dome on Sept. 18, made a promise: the University will not retreat from the turbulence of the moment in which artificial intelligence, climate change and fraying democratic institutions are outpacing society’s ability to adapt.

Syracuse University will meet it directly.

“We must commit to being a place that reflects the full breadth of human experience, because the problems facing this world will not be solved by any one kind of mind,” Haynie said.

Students, he said, are not people waiting to become leaders—“you already are those people”—and the University’s obligation is not to shield them from difficulty but to forge in them the capacity to engage it.

To faculty, he asked them to model intellectual humility, to reach across disciplinary lines “with generosity, grace and civility,” and to hold students to standards that honor their potential.

Haynie referenced a 1966 speech Robert Kennedy delivered in Cape Town, South Africa, in which Kennedy described acts of moral courage as “ripples of hope” that build into unstoppable currents.

“We know that each time one of our graduates goes out into the world—and acts with courage and knowledge and care and clarity—they send forth a ripple,” he said. “And at our best, Syracuse University is where those ripples begin.”

Ceremony and Spirit

Haynie’s remarks capped an inauguration filled with enthusiasm, optimism, sentimental moments and Orange spirit.

Chancellor Emeritus Kent Syverud and Dr. Ruth Chen were in attendance, drawing a standing ovation. It was Chancellor Syverud’s first return to campus since beginning treatment for his cancer diagnosis. More than 30 college and university delegates from around the country were also present.

Music throughout the ceremony was provided by the Syracuse University Marching Band, University Singers and Hendricks Chapel Choir. OlaRose Ndubuisi ’29, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the 2024-25 New York State Youth Poet Laureate, delivered an original poem that highlighted Haynie’s connection with students.

‘Mike Is Just Mike’

Vice Chancellor and Provost Lois Agnew said Haynie’s influence reaches well beyond Syracuse’s campus, particularly his advocacy for veterans’ education. Asked often what it’s like working alongside him, she said he doesn’t just talk about the work, he does it; and he doesn’t just say students are the University’s North Star—he lives it.

Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Pete Sala said Haynie’s promise of partnership isn’t new. Sala said, “Mike is just Mike.” Sala recalled building the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building alongside him and watching him lead the University’s pandemic response in 2020 with clarity and decisiveness.

But what Sala’s own staff remembers the most is that Haynie fishes, works in his yard on Saturdays and opens every conversation by actually wanting to know how you’re doing.

Greetings for the chancellor were also offered by Emily Castillo-Melean ’28, president of the Student Government Association; Jennifer Karas Montez, University Professor and director of graduate studies in sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; Trustee Alonna Berry ’11, president of the University’s Alumni Association; and trustees Shelly Fisher ’80 and Lisa Fontenelli ’86, co-chairs of the Chancellor’s Search Committee.

‘One of the Best Decisions This University Has Made’

Keynote speaker Melvin Stith G’73, G’78, dean emeritus of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, opened his remarks with two words that got the biggest laugh of the day: “You’re welcome.”

Stith, a Vietnam Army veteran, spoke of how 20 years ago, Haynie, a young Air Force veteran, walked into his office to interview for a job teaching entrepreneurship.

“There was something about him,” Stith said. “He captured me from the first conversation.”

Haynie already had a competing offer from Ohio State’s business school, so Stith moved fast to put a Syracuse offer in Haynie’s hands. “That, my friends, is how Whitman hired Mike Haynie,” Stith said, “and it’s one of the best decisions this university has ever made.”

Stith recalled how two months into the job, Haynie came back with an idea to build a bootcamp teaching entrepreneurship to veterans with disabilities and to make it free.

Seventeen veterans showed up for that first Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans in 2007. Four years later, Haynie founded what became the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, which eventually anchored the National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building.

Today, those programs have reached more than 235,000 veterans, service members and military families. “One idea, one conversation in my office,” Stith said, “launched a Universitywide commitment that has changed thousands of lives.”

Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey Scruggs said that Haynie is the right person to lead Syracuse University into the future. “Chancellor Haynie brings the record of a proven scholar, a celebrated educator, a collaborative builder, a tenacious innovator and a widely respected leader in higher education,” Scruggs said. “Syracuse is fortunate to have a leader of this caliber guiding the University as it continues to build its standing among the world’s great private universities.”

During the Charge of Office and Medallion Presentation, Scruggs placed the Chancellor’s Medallion around his neck and delivered the charge that comes with it: to govern with integrity, to guard the University’s freedom to teach, learn and question without fear, and to build on what his predecessors built.

Moving Ahead With a Promise

Haynie said he stood in front of the University community with a promise.

“We will ask the right questions, together, with honesty and without fear. We will not mistake comfort for excellence. We will not mistake tradition for wisdom,” he said. “Instead, we will engage the world as it is, in all its speed and strangeness and moral complexity. And we will do that because it’s the only honest starting point. And because we understand that engaging what unsettles us is not capitulation, but instead it’s the precondition of transformation.”

Chancellor J. Michael Haynie was formally inaugurated on Friday, becoming the 13th chancellor and president of Syracuse University. 

His investiture in the JMA Wireless Dome followed a day of ideas, discovery and dialogue on campus with and marked the University community gathering to celebrate a defining moment in campus history. 

In his remarks, Haynie said he stood before the community, not with “all the answers,” but with a promise for the future and his leadership. 

“We will ask the right questions, together, with honesty and without fear,” Haynie said. 

Members of the Chancellor’s Special Committee will host a series of listening sessions this fall, inviting students, faculty and staff to share their perspectives on what Syracuse University is and what it should become.

Chancellor J. Michael Haynie charged the committee in June with two foundational questions:

• What is, and what can be, the purpose and distinctive contribution of Syracuse University for the students who enroll here and in American higher education more broadly?
• What must change, and what must be preserved, for the institution to fully deliver on its promise to students and their families, and to faculty, staff, alumni and the community?

Those questions belong to this entire community, the chancellor said at the time.

The committee is hosting multiple listening sessions. Many sessions will occur as part of standing meetings, such as monthly faculty and staff meetings, held by colleges and schools on campus. Other sessions are organized by the committee itself. These are listed below.

Two committee members will host each session, and the goal is for you to tell the committee what is on your mind. The conversations will inform the committee’s analysis and written report it delivers to the chancellor by Nov. 15.

The committee-organized sessions are the following:

• Staff: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 12:30–1:30 p.m. (Zoom)
• Graduate and professional students (e.g., J.D., MBA, M.P.A., M.Arch.): Wednesday, Sept. 23, 7–8 p.m. (Zoom)
• Undergraduate students: Monday, Sept. 28, 2–3 p.m. (in person: The Underground, Schine Student Center)
• Undergraduate students: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7–8 p.m. (Zoom)
• Faculty: Thursday, Oct. 1, 1–2 p.m. (Zoom)
• Open campus, any constituency: Monday, Oct. 5, 6–7 p.m. (Zoom)

RSVP

. Zoom details will be sent to registrants ahead of the session. You are welcome to attend the session for your constituency or the open campus session on Oct. 5.

A community survey is also in development, and the committee will share that link in a follow-up message. Participants may take part in both the survey and the sessions.

The first known Chancellor Investiture Ceremony in higher education in medieval Europe occurred more than 800 years ago on the campus of the University of Oxford in England. The role of a university chancellor looked vastly different from what it does for , who will be sworn in as at 2 p.m. Friday in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Investiture comes from the Latin word “investire,” which means “to clothe,” according to , associate history professor in the .

During those early Investiture Ceremonies, which Kyle says were often held in unheated stone buildings, the church ran universities, and the professors were monks. Investiture Ceremonies carried with them a religious significance, with monks wearing modest robes with hoods to provide warmth as they presided over these ceremonies.

When the pilgrims came to America, Kyle says they brought with them the rites and rituals of those first Investiture Ceremonies, including wearing the “cappa clausa,” an oversized gown. Eventually, universities adopted mortarboards, scarves and stoles to their academic ceremonies.

When Chancellor Haynie is officially installed, he will also be wearing a medallion on a chain, containing the University’s motto in Latin, “suos cultores scientia coronat,” which translates to “knowledge crowns those who seek her.”

Investiture Ceremonies have evolved over the years, Kyle says, taking on objects that signify the authority of the office. Among them is the mace, carried at Syracuse University by macebearer Sam Clemence, the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor Emeritus.

“While these ceremonies are clearly symbolic, some symbolism is really important because an Investiture Ceremony reflects on who we are as a University, what we value and what’s really important to Syracuse University,” adds , associate professor and faculty director of graduate studies in the .

Chancellor Haynie will become the first internally selected chancellor in more than 50 years. Ahead of his installation, Kyle and Engstrom sat down with Syracuse University Today to discuss the significance of Investiture Ceremonies.

will be formally installed this week as the 13th chancellor and president of Syracuse University during an Investiture Ceremony at 2 p.m. on Friday in the JMA Wireless Dome. The event is part of a , marking the historic University milestone.

Below, explore pictures and materials from inaugurations, all from the Syracuse University Archives, , Syracuse University Libraries. The Special Collections Research Center is also hosting a display, on the first floor of Bird Library from Thursday, Sept. 17, to Sunday, Sept. 20, as part of the celebrations around Chancellor Haynie’s inauguration.

sits down with Thomas O’Brien ’26 of the for a wide-ranging ‘CUSE Q&A. Haynie traces the winding path that brought him to Syracuse nearly 20 years ago and reflects on what it means to be the first internally selected chancellor in more than 50 years.

In the conversation, Haynie also makes the case that doubling down on academic excellence is what will allow Syracuse to thrive and argues the University must build opportunities that are “uniquely Syracuse.” He also talks about the obligation he feels to the 24,000 students and families who trust the University every day, and the stories across campus that SU has yet to tell.

Find out his answers to rapid-fire questions on bagel orders, fly fishing and his dog’s growing campus fame.

Mark your calendar: The Summit kicks off festivities on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Reflecting Chancellor Haynie’s belief that the University’s greatest strength is its people, The Summit invites the University community to explore the ideas, people and collaboration defining Syracuse University’s future.

The schedule is designed so community members can drop in for a single session or take part in the entire day.

The Passport Challenge

Pick up a limited-edition Syracuse keychain and event passport in Panasci Lounge during the Summit Showcase, then collect three different commemorative charms as you move through the day. Complete at least five passport activities and turn it in at Orange Fest on Sept. 18 for a chance to win tickets to the University Suite at a men’s basketball game. Also stop by for inauguration keepsakes, including blankets and drinkware, showing your Syracuse University spirit.

Start the Day With Big Ideas

Head to Schine Student Center at 9 a.m. for the Syracuse Summit Showcase, where schools and colleges from across campus will have tables organized around five themes: artificial intelligence, experiential inquiry, creating (innovation, invention and design), engagement and access. Presentations include the following:

• Check out hands-on demos, including an immersive crime scene experience from Forensic and National Security Sciences; live hearing tests from the Gebbie Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic team; and inventions built by students from Invent@SU.
• The College of Engineering and Computer Science and School of Information Studies are teaming up on an AI and robotics showcase.
• The Newhouse School of Public Communications will spotlight student-led national reporting alongside an interactive opportunity with the Center for the Creator Economy.
• The College of Arts and Sciences will showcase community-engaged humanistic scholarship and its impact on the Syracuse community.
• The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will showcase art, design and performances across all disciplines.
• Other participants also include the School of Architecture, Falk College, the College of Law, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the National Veterans Resource Center.

Keynote: Future in Focus

At noon, Goldstein Auditorium is the place for Future in Focus, where members of our community will share personal stories of change, resilience and reinvention through a series of short talks.

Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. for a complimentary lunch buffet, and the program will begin at noon.

An Afternoon of Discovery

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., there will be a full slate of collaborative sessions across campus.

• Discover study abroad and away. Find out about the variety of opportunities available from representatives on the Quad (11 a.m.-3 p.m.).
• Committing to Academic Access and Inclusion for All Learners at SU and Beyond (1-1:45 p.m., Huntington Hall Commons), a panel with the School of Education, College of Law and College of Professional Studies.
• VPA in the Making: Ideas, Experiments, Performances and Possibilities (1-5 p.m., first floor, Shaffer Art Building), featuring a college-wide exhibition of student, faculty and alumni work, with pop-up performances in Shemin Auditorium.
• Game Changers: A Conversation with Mike Levine of CAA Sports (2-3 p.m., Flaum Grand Hall, Whitman School of Management). Levine, the co-founder of CAA’s Sports Division, talks career and the business of sports media with Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan.
• Veteran and Military-Connected Syracuse: Education, Research and Impact (3-4:30 p.m., National Veterans Resource Center Lobby). Meet student veterans and ROTC cadets, tour the Hall of Honor and NVRC Gallery, and grab complimentary coffee from the Canteen Café.
• Solving Grand Challenges Together (3-3:45 p.m., Schine Student Center). College of Arts and Sciences faculty and researchers dig into interdisciplinary work spanning the University.
• The 38th Annual Herbert Lourie Memorial Lecture on Health Policy (3:30-5 p.m., Strasser Legacy Room, Eggers Hall). Journalist and author Gary Taubes will speak on diet, disease and the limits of scientific consensus.
• AI Across Syracuse: Ideas, Innovation and Impact (4-4:45 p.m., Schine Student Center). Faculty from across the University will share how their program, unit or initiative is working with AI and why it matters.

Elsewhere, don’t miss two exhibitions at Bird Library: “” (all day) tracing the impact of the University’s 13 chancellors across more than 150 years, and “” (2 to 5 p.m.), a University Archives pop-up on how students have driven change on campus.

On the Einhorn Walk, stop by “Charting Our Future Together.” At this interactive station, you can add your own ideas about where Syracuse should be headed, from what campus looks like in 20 years to what every student should experience by 2045.

Chancellor J. Michael Haynie today announced the appointment of Kira Reed, associate professor of management in the Whitman School of Management and research associate with the Lender Center for Social Justice, as special assistant to the chancellor for community impact.

In this role, Reed will chair a cross-campus committee charged with conducting a comprehensive, One University assessment of the impact of Syracuse University’s faculty, staff and students on the City of Syracuse and the broader Central New York communities. This marks the first Universitywide effort of its kind since fiscal year 2016, when Syracuse last documented the full scope of its community investment. The assessment will be coordinated in close collaboration with the University’s Office of Community Engagement.

As chair, Reed will lead a committee composed of faculty, staff and students drawn from across the University’s schools and colleges. Reed will bring a scholarly lens to the effort, emphasizing the distinctive contributions of the University’s schools, colleges and students. Her research as a management scholar examines the intersection of the external political environment, gender and corporate social responsibility, and she serves as a senior research associate with the University’s Lender Center for Social Justice.

“Our students, faculty, and staff are doing extraordinary work in and with this community every day, but much of it happens in individual classrooms, departments and programs,” says Reed. “My goal is to partner with leaders across campus to measure it honestly, tell the story accurately, and help the University see itself as a whole. When we understand the full picture, we can be more intentional, more effective and more accountable practitioners and partners to Syracuse and Central New York.”

The committee will deliver preliminary findings by the end of the fall 2026 semester. A full report and recommendations that will inform how Syracuse University continues to invest in and partner with the City and the Central New York region in the years ahead, will be shared with Chancellor Haynie, the University community and its Central New York partners in March 2027.

When Dean Terence Lau L’98 envisioned the Judicial Wall of Honor, he had a simple but powerful goal: to make visible what has always been true about Syracuse Law. That its graduates don’t just enter the legal profession, they rise to lead it, including from the bench.

The wall celebrates more than 400 College of Law alumni who have served as judges at every level of the American judiciary, federal and state, trial and appellate, from small claims courts to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Their reach spans the full arc of the law school’s history, beginning with Judge Blake of the Class of 1897 and extending to judges serving on the bench today.

For Dean Lau, the wall is both a tribute and a teaching tool. “We want current students to look up at those names and see what’s possible,” he says. “The legal profession demands more than mastery of doctrine. It demands character, integrity and a commitment to justice that outlasts any single case or career. The judges honored on this wall embody that standard.”

The wall also tells a story about path. Not every judge arrived at the bench by a straight line. Some came through decades of trial practice. Some through public service. Some through roads they never anticipated. What they share is a foundation built at Syracuse Law, and a willingness to keep building on it.

For students with judicial ambitions, offer a concrete first step to the bench. These prestigious roles offer invaluable insight into the inner workings of a courtroom and legal decision-making and allow budding attorneys the opportunity to develop their research and writing skills while working closely with judges.

Judge Rodney Thompson G’93, L’93, presiding judge, Family Division, New Jersey Superior Court, who has recruited or placed 11 Syracuse Law clerks and four externs over his career, believes the experiences and relationships forged in a judge’s chambers prove invaluable throughout a legal career. He strongly encourages students to pursue clerkships and externships, particularly with Syracuse Law alumni on the bench.

The Judicial Wall of Honor is not merely a display of achievement. It is an invitation for our current and future students to aspire, to serve and to understand that a legal education, at its best, shapes not just what you do but who you become.

The wall was formally unveiled on Wednesday, Aug. 26, following Justice for All: Opening Pathways to the Bench, a fireside conversation held in Dineen Hall with three distinguished members of the judiciary: Hon. Lillian Wan, Associate Justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department; Hon. Meredith Vacca, United States District Judge for the Western District of New York; and Hon. Staci Dennis-Taylor L’14, Judge of Syracuse City Court. The panelists spoke about the challenges of pursuing a seat on the bench and what it means to serve once you get there.

Following the conversation, the panelists joined for the wall’s unveiling, welcomed by remarks from Dean Lau and Judge Thompson, before a reception brought together students, faculty and staff to celebrate the new tribute to Syracuse Law’s judicial legacy.

A new era for Syracuse University begins this month.

The University will formally install as its 13th chancellor and president during an Investiture Ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18 in the JMA Wireless Dome. The moment is part of a , Sept. 17-18, to mark this historic University milestone.

The events are a chance for the University community to come together, honor Chancellor Haynie’s leadership, affirm its values and look ahead to Syracuse University’s shared future.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the Orange are encouraged to .

What to Expect at the Investiture

The ceremony will feature performances from the Syracuse University Marching Band, University Singers, Hendricks Chapel Choir and Otto Tunes; remarks from trustees, faculty, students, staff and alumni representatives; and a keynote address from Melvin T. Stith G’73, G’78, dean emeritus of the .

Investiture Chairman and Board of Trustees Chair Jeff Scruggs will formally install Chancellor Haynie by bestowing the chancellor’s medallion before Haynie outlines his vision for the University’s path forward during his inaugural address.

Attendees will end the ceremony by singing the alma mater. The Investiture Ceremony will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person.

Keep the Celebration Going at Orange Fest

Immediately following the Investiture Ceremony, the celebration continues with Orange Fest, a free, family-friendly event from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the Dome. Orange Fest will include food, student performances, carnival games, service dogs, hoops and a dunk tank starring University leaders and hands-on activities at the Maker’s Market craft stations.

Before the Ceremony: The Summit and a Prime-Time Game Watch

The Investiture Ceremony caps the on-campus festivities, which begin Thursday, Sept. 17, with “The Summit: Syracuse University Into the Future,” a campuswide showcase from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Among the highlights of the summit are the following:

• The Syracuse Summit Showcase, an exhibition featuring poster sessions, talks and hands-on demonstrations from every school and college, organized around five themes: artificial intelligence, experiential inquiry, creation and innovation, global engagement and access, from 9-11:30 a.m.;
• “Charting Our Future Together,” an interactive art installation where attendees share their vision for the University’s path forward;
• “,” an exhibition at Bird Library honoring all 13 Syracuse chancellors, and “,” a pop-up exhibition that spotlights the students who have driven transformation throughout the University’s history;
• “The Keynote: Future in Focus” is an afternoon of storytelling that showcases members of the Orange community reflecting on what it means to navigate change thoughtfully and intentionally; and
• Cross-campus workshops that highlight the breadth and impact of the University’s academic excellence through interdisciplinary experiences and collaborative partnerships between schools and colleges.

That evening, fans can cheer on the Orange as the football team plays Atlantic Coast Conference foe Pittsburgh during a free Chancellor’s Inauguration Game Watch Party at Miron Victory Court inside the JMA Wireless Dome. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

Attendees can enjoy snacks and appetizers, test their knowledge at trivia, receive fun giveaways and witness a halftime performance from the Marching Band and the Dance Team.

Both the Game Watch Party and Orange Fest are free and open to the public.

Dear Orange Community:

This fall semester marks a new beginning for many of us—returning students, faculty and staff starting another academic year; new members of our community joining us for the first time; and me, starting my first year as chancellor.

I wanted to share a short video message as we kick off the 2026-27 academic year.

Welcome back, and here’s to a great year ahead.

Go Orange!
J. Michael Haynie
Chancellor and President

Get involved. Find your community. Be flexible with your career path.

Seated inside the JMA Wireless Dome for their first official gathering as Syracuse University students, more than 3,600 first-year and transfer students heard that core message Thursday morning from New Student Convocation student speaker Elyas A. Layachi ’27.

Layachi, a double major in mathematics in the  and inclusive adolescent education in the , told the new students that he thought his Orange path would be “linear”—a degree in aerospace engineering, an internship at NASA and a space exploration job before graduation.

But early in his first semester, a professor’s question about his interests and passions sent him toward a new academic course, one that led to research teams, clubs, religious organizations and community service.

“Changing majors, because one professor was willing to ask me an honest question, changed the trajectory of my time here and ultimately of my life,” Layachi told the crowd. “Every student in the Dome today has something powerful before them: the opportunity to learn and grow at this amazing institution.”

Those incoming students arrive from every corner of the map: 45 states, including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 19 Indigenous nations and 55 countries.

Resist the Urge to Seek Comfort in This New Beginning

, a member of the Syracuse University community for more than two decades, began his remarks by noting a shared trait: the students were new to Syracuse, and Chancellor Haynie was new to his current leadership role.

While it can be easy for students to seek comfort in the familiar during times of change, Chancellor Haynie recommended employing the opposite approach, telling students to resist being “pulled toward wanting some assurance that the unfamiliar will quickly become familiar, and that the road ahead will smooth itself out.”

“At Syracuse, our obligation is to arm our students with the tools to think clearly under pressure, to lead with conviction while remaining open to the fact that they may be wrong, and to act with purpose even when the path is anything but clear,” Chancellor Haynie said.

Haynie pointed to Ethan, an orientation leader and a dual major in business and communications, as an example. Over the summer, Ethan told Chancellor Haynie that he was enrolling in a course where he’d learn to sing and play guitar, not to advance his major, but to “force himself out of his comfort zone,” Haynie said.

“New students, be like Ethan,” Haynie said. “Discomfort is where character is built. Discomfort is where leaders are made.”

‘This Window Will Only Be Open for a Brief Time’

As he stepped to the podium, brought with him a stuffed Otto the Orange, “the best mascot in all of higher education,” which elicited applause from the audience.

Referring to their time on campus as a “metaphorical window” that “will only be open for a very brief time,” Groves urged new students to take intriguing new classes, meet extraordinary people and always extend respect to everyone on campus.

“I want you to think about the kind of community you want to be part of and then act in a way that helps achieve that goal,” Groves said.

‘Determined to Make Their Mark on the World’

, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer, reminded the incoming class that there is no such thing as a typical Syracuse University student.

While each student possesses differing academic and co-curricular interests and personal and professional goals, Syracuse University students “love their University in ways that are rare among college students” and are “bold, ambitious and determined to make their mark on the world.”

“You are bringing a personality, background, abilities, perspectives, interests and dreams that we’ve never encountered before,” Agnew said. “You’ll forge a path here that is your own, and you will leave a unique and extraordinary mark on the University through the life you create here.”

To conclude the convocation, the new students recited the charge, which dates back to 1871, and sang the alma mater, following the Orange tradition by swaying as the lyrics were sung.