With pictures snapping, campus safety patrolling and students and professors promenading en masse, this afternoon’s convocation began with all the fanfare of a red carpet affair.  After brief introductions given by Dean Kevin Shollenberger and Dehui Kong, CC ’11 and NSOP Coordinator in Chief,  faculty celebs took the podium to address students and parents of the incoming freshman class. 

Despite the glare of the jumbotrons and the buzz of loudspeakers, Michele Moody-Adams and Feniosky Pena-Mora, rookie deans of the college, did not deliver the blockbuster performances their flashy crimson and gold robes promised.  Pena-Mora filled the audience in on the history of SEAS (did you know Michael I. Pupin, CC 1883, is not only the namesake of Pupin Hall but also the inventor of the Pupin Coil?) and Moody-Adams encouraged students to take risks, but not too many and not too foolishly. 

But it was President Bollinger, that inveterate crowd-pleaser, who stole the show. With well-timed witticisms and an equally eloquent exhortation, he reminded the audience that if there’s one thing that never depreciates in a recession, it’s the inestimable currency of a Columbia education.  So tell your mom and dad not to worry about the interest rates on your student loans, dear frosh; PrezBo’s got your back. Photos from the sunny afternoon after the jump.


A Proud Columbia Family Eagerly Awaits Convocation



 

Pena-Mora (left) and Moody-Adams Make their Entrance

 

 New Dean of the College, and Birthday Girl, Addresses her ’13 Fans

 

President Bollinger with a Winning Smile




OLs Sing for CU

 

The Scene outside Carman post Convocation 


’13s Move into Carman


 Out with the Old and In with the New

: 13s Settle In and and Bid Adieu 

 

                                                                                                                                   – MEQ