Inauguration Ceremony Installs Stephen L. Weber As Seventh President For San Diego State University
New President Proposes Shared Vision For SDSU’s Next Century
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Bill Harris, (619) 236-1332
SAN DIEGO, Thursday, August 28, 1997-- San Diego State University’s seventh President, Dr. Stephen L. Weber, was installed Thursday afternoon during a ceremony inaugurating the University’s second century of service to San Diego.
Weber, addressing the more than 6,000 people attending the event in the new Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl, likened the challenges facing SDSU at the outset of its next century to the adventures chronicled in Homer’s "Odyssey." The new President called upon his "shipmates" to help "chart a new course" for the University which will give new responsibilities to faculty, staff, students and the broader community served by the institution.
"San Diego, southern California, Mexico and the Pacific Basin offer educators the rare privilege of wrestling with the questions of tomorrow," said Weber. "San Diego, with its wonderful diversity, its exciting new technologies, its internationalism, is the crucible of the future," he said.
"For over 100 years we have worked hard to earn the title San Diego’s State University," said Weber. "We are proud of that title and of the responsibilities it brings," he said.
Weber offered his thanks and acknowledgment to those who led the University from its beginnings as the San Diego Normal School to its current status as one of the nation’s leading universities. He praised his new colleagues, the faculty, staff and students of the University, for their "courage and sense of adventure" in joining his "Shared Vision" conversations to chart SDSU’s future.
Weber said that "our conversations have revealed a shared determination to give our students the educational experiences and human skills necessary to interact effectively in a diverse society, to use technology wisely, and to understand and be a part of the global community."
"Our aspiration is not to follow in the footsteps of others, but to forge a new and relevant University grounded in a fundamental commitment of service to our students and community," he said.
Weber also offered a pledge to engage all of San Diego in shaping the University’s future. "We will work side by side with our colleagues in San Diego’s rapidly-growing, knowledge-based industries to design the new curricula they need to support their fast changing enterprises," he said. "We must redesign our work to be more flexible and more creative and seek ways to acknowledge and reward that creativity," he said.
"The citizens of California and residents of San Diego expect us to make real, material contributions to the quality of life, to the talent pool of our workforce, to unlocking the potential of our extraordinary diversity, to the arts, to public health, and to the general well-being of our society. We expect no less of ourselves," said Weber.
Weber was joined on the dais by Shimon Peres, the Nobel prize-winning statesman and leader of the Israel Labour Party. Peres received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University and formalized a new agreement between the University’s Fred J. Hansen Institute for World Peace and his own Peres Center during his visit.
In addition to Mr. Peres’ participation, the University also welcomed Dr. Bruce Johnstone, former Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Johnstone worked closely with Dr. Weber while SDSU’s new President served as the interim provost of the SUNY system and during Dr. Weber’s tenure as president of the SUNY Oswego campus. Johnstone was awarded an honorary Degree of Humane Letters during the installation ceremonies.
"I am very honored that Mr. Peres and Dr. Johnstone accepted my invitations to attend my installation and to join our University’s Centennial Celebration," said Dr. Weber. "Their work, and their impact on the course of education and world peace, has been extraordinary," he said. "The inauguration of our second century of service is the perfect time to share this University’s dedication to important partnerships like these," he said.
Dr. Weber, who completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, pointed to the achievements and success of his guests and asked everyone to help instill that same sense of possibility in the minds of SDSU students.
"The challenge of education lies in encouraging students to move beyond us, to achieve new visions, to think new thoughts, to ask new questions, in a word, to voyage where we have not," he said.