The Inauguration of
Michael E. Geisler, Ph.D.
13th President of Manhattanville College
Alumni, students, staff, faculty, and friends of Manhattanville College came together on Sunday, October 23 for the inauguration ceremony of Michael E. Geisler, Ph.D., as the 13th president of the College.
Prior to the investiture of the president, which Marcia Pearce DeWitt ’69, chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, presided over, Driss Ouaouicha, Ph.D., president of Al Akhawayn University and friend of Geisler’s, provided the introduction of Geisler to the College community.
Offering salutations during the ceremony were Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY 17th District), Rosemary Feal, Ph.D., executive director of the Modern Language Association; Marsha Gordon, D.P.S., president/CEO of the Business Council of Westchester; Judith Johnson, New York State Board of Regents; Lisa Dolling ’84, Ph.D., Manhattanville College provost; Ann Jablonski, R.S.C.J., Ph.D., Manhattanville Board of Trustees; Heidi Fuhrman ’80, president of the Manhattanville Alumni Association; Charles Rusch ’17, student government association president; Jeanine Pardey-Levine ’83, director of graduate enrollment management for the School of Education and the chair of Staff Assembly; and Carmelo Comberiati Ph.D, interim chair of Manhattanville Faculty.
The ceremony also featured the musical interlude Carmina Burana Cantiones Profane, conducted by John Cuk ’77 and sung by the Manhattanville College Chorus with accompaniment by Jeongeun Yom, piano, Diane Guernsey, piano, and Scott Mesh ’16 and Douglass Chew, percussion; the musical stylings of the Quintessentials, Manhattanville’s elite pop vocal group; and a reading of W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” by Laurel Peterson M.A.W. ’95, M.F.A. ’14, poet laureate of Norwalk, Conn.
Rev. Wil Tyrrell, S.A., D.Min., Catholic chaplain at Manhattanville, provided the final benediction. Sunday’s ceremony culminated an entire weekend of events showcasing student and faculty collaboration, athletic games, music, dance, and theatre performances, art gallery exhibits, sculpt conference, alumni activities, and more.
Rev. Wil Tyrrell, S.A., D.Min., Catholic chaplain at Manhattanville, provided the final benediction. Sunday’s ceremony culminated an entire weekend of events showcasing student and faculty collaboration, athletic games, music, dance, and theatre performances, art gallery exhibits, sculpt conference, alumni activities, and more.