Inauguration Week Highlights Research, Community of Drexel University
Though the investiture ceremony of Drexel University’s President Antonio Merlo, PhD, was the main event of Inauguration Week, the community also celebrated the University’s people, community and accomplishments throughout the week.
In addition to the ceremony, Merlo gave a fireside chat on the current state of higher education, and the community packed resource bags to support local STEM education initiatives and address food insecurity during a special DU Civic Engagement Day.
However, there were several other events during which students, faculty and staff celebrated research, milestones and each other.
Tuesday, April 14
The day kicked off with the 10th Annual Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars (DEGS) Research Showcase, where more than 60 graduate students presented posters on topics like climate and sustainability, AI, social determinants of health and other areas. Throughout the day, more research showcases showed research and work by students in the College of Arts and Sciences’ DrexLab, the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and the Pennoni Honors College. Student startups also sold their work at a Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship’s Proving Ground Popup.
Dragons (and Merlo himself) celebrated with an ice cream social featuring the president's favorite flavor, coffee, alongside others. Student leaders also met with Merlo later in the evening at the Student Leader Reception, listening to Merlo’s tale of his leadership journey before a Q&A session.
Wednesday, April 15
The University City Campus buzzed with its usual bustle, along with the Drexel Sports Business Conference, which brought students together with industry professionals.
At 5 p.m., Merlo and Andrew Hamilton, PhD, chemist and immediate past president of New York University, sat down for a Fireside Chat, one of the marquee events of Inauguration Week. After a reception in the lobby of the Mandell Theatre, Merlo and Hamilton discussed the current state of higher education as they see it from their vantage points of leadership. Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence & Academic Culture Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, PhD, led the discussion and asked questions about how to address the cost of college and the direction that higher education is headed, among others.
“It's never been more important to the city, but it's also never been more important to our students ... to leave with a college degree for both a life of prosperity, hopefully, but also a life of happiness ... Can we promise that graduate that they will walk into a job with a six-figure salary? Of course we can't. But what we can do is prepare them for a life in a world that is constantly changing,” Hamilton said.
Merlo emphasized the importance of being clear about what makes Drexel special and focusing on preparing students for the changing world while emphasizing the value of a Drexel education. Alumni are in the top 3% in the country in terms of lifetime earnings, and 96% of students have full-time jobs or are in graduate school one year after graduation.
“Certainly the work that our faculty and our staff have been doing for the last three years on academic transformation will position us in the best possible way to be recognized as unique and distinctive as leaders in experiential education ... Focusing on student success, as Dr. Hamilton said, is the critical part,” Merlo said. “We really need to double down on what makes us the university we are, and be very proud of showing the critics what universities can do.”
Thursday, April 16
The time for Merlo’s Investiture Ceremony finally came, with all the pomp and circumstance called for by the occasion. Hundreds of students, faculty, professional staff, Board of Trustees members and guests of the Philadelphia community descended upon the Daskalakis Athletic Center for the ceremony to hear Merlo and others speak. On the Elkins Park Campus, there was an event for the community to watch a livestream of the ceremony with coffee and snacks.
The program also included remarks from Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and former Interim President and current Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Denis P. O’Brien ’87. The leaders of the Graduate Student Association, Kayode Oluwasegun, PhD candidate in mathematics from the College of Arts and Sciences; and Undergraduate Student Government Association, Sanjna Srinivasan, biomedical engineering ’27, both gave remarks, as did Kevin Owens, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and chair of the Faculty Senate. Daniel Diermeier, PhD, chancellor of Vanderbilt University, a longtime colleague of Merlo, gave a speech before Merlo’s official investiture.
Merlo was presented with the chain of office, hood and cap by O’Brien. He then gave an inauguration address punctuated with applause and laughs, speaking about his own experience with the life-changing power of education.
“Drexel speaks to my heart,” Merlo said.
Afterwards, attendees streamed out to Lancaster Walk for a catered reception, featuring an ice sculpture of Mario the Magnificent that did its best to withstand the day’s unseasonable heat.
Friday, April 17
The energy of Inauguration Week stayed high through Friday, when Dragons from every corner of the University, including the newly invested Merlo, came to the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships for DU Civic Engagement Day. Volunteers packed kits for the Morton McMichael STEAM Festival, which included build-it-yourself roller ramp arcade game kits, bubbles, art supplies and notebooks. Sharing Excess, a food rescue nonprofit founded by Drexel alumnus Evan Ehlers ’19, also sponsored bags of produce that volunteers packed to be distributed to the Mantua community.
As volunteers walked in, they were greeted by a showcase of close partners of University & Community Partnerships, like Drexel Public Safety, the Community Lawyering Clinic and Drexel Athletics. A DJ brought a party-like atmosphere to the event, along with outdoor games, rock painting, a food truck from Farina Pasta Bar (founded by Daniel Lee ’18). Inside the Center’s buildings, there were tours, a food demo, a gallery of Writers Room photos and a showcase of CIVC101 projects.
