On Saturday, Jan. 1, Frederick Lawrence began serving as the University's eighth president ahead of his inauguration, which will take place Thursday, March 31 in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.When asked to describe his first week as University president, Lawrence wrote, "Hectic, inspiring, gratifying and humbling all come to mind." He sent an e-mail to the Brandeis community just after becoming president at midnight on Jan. 1, writing, "Together, we will write the next chapter in the great story of Brandeis." Over the next week, in addition to attending an event and meetings on campus, Lawrence traveled to Chicago, New York City and Palm Beach, Fla. to meet with trustees and other University supporters.

The inauguration will be just one part of a week of events for the Brandeis community. In a Jan. 13 e-mail to the Justice, Lawrence wrote, "The inauguration, of course, officially installs a new president. But what I want this to be is a celebration of Brandeis and all that has been accomplished, and all that lies ahead."

The Inauguration Planning Committee is co-chaired by Senior Vice President of Administration Mark Collins and Assistant to the President and Director for Special University Events Suzanne Yates. Fourteen other university officials were members of the committee, and Lawrence and his wife, Kathy Lawrence, also participated in the planning, according to Collins.

Collins wrote in a Jan. 17 e-mail to the Justice, "We want to be very inclusive and engage students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, donors and friends of the university. Also, as the president said in his blog, we are 'the Global Liberal Arts University' and that will also be reflected in the program."

According to the inauguration schedule posted on the University's website, two academic symposia will take place Monday, March 28: "The Business of the University and the University as a Business: Issues of Work, Money, and Power and the Liberal Arts University" and "Sciences, the Creative Instinct, and the Liberal Arts" will both include faculty panelists and will both be moderated by Judith Shapiro '63, the former president of Barnard College.

The following day will include two more symposia, "Human Values and Global Challenges and the Liberal Arts" and "Diverse Communities and the Liberal Arts," which also include faculty panelists and which will both be moderated by Michael Sandel '75, a Harvard University political philosophy professor.

The University's trustees will hold meetings Wednesday, March 30, and an invitation-only trustee inauguration dinner will take place that evening.

Lawrence's inauguration ceremony on March 31 will be open to the entire Brandeis community, as will the reception following it that evening. Two days later, there will be a student dance to celebrate Lawrence's inauguration in the Shapiro Gym in Gosman.

According to Collins, the committee is working to ensure that the week is planned in such a way that it will include many different facets of the University community. He wrote in his e-mail to the Justice, "Scheduling is always a challenge at Brandeis and even more so for an inauguration. We continue to work on it but we're confident that we will be able to have events that include and appeal to a wide range of community members."

Collins also wrote that the costs for the inauguration events have not yet been determined. He noted though, that "this is a special occasion for Brandeis and we are treating it that way, but as always, wewill be prudent in how the dollars will be spent.