President Hendrickson officially inaugurated as the tenth president of USF

Dr. Ryan Hendrickson, chosen as the tenth president of the University of St. Francis (USF) on Feb. 18, was officially inaugurated into his position during a ceremony on Oct. 3 at the Pat Sullivan Center. While more of a symbolic gesture, as Dr. Hendrickson has been in his role as President of the University since July, the event was a great success in bringing many members of the University together. 

The inauguration had a great turnout of staff, students, alumni and many other members of the Joliet community. Multiple USF sports teams were present in their gear, including the softball team, women’s basketball team, and the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Helping run the event were the Saints Ambassadors, led by Krzysztof Noga who was the American Flag Bearer in the opening procession.

During that opening procession, students of different nationalities followed Noga in with flags representing their nationality. In total, the university represents 23 different countries with students on campus, including Italy, Japan, Germany, Vietnam and many others present at the ceremony. Following them was the platform party which included Dr. Hendrickson’s brothers, Daniel Hendrickson president of Creighton University, and Scott Hendrickson president at Regis University. After the platform party, the chairs and head of the four colleges at USF followed and filed into their seats.

Many speakers were featured throughout the hour-long ceremony, including USF Provost Beth Roth, Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy, Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate President Jeanne Bessette and many others. The student representative during the ceremony was Student Government Association (SGA) president KayJ Hood, while professor Sudipta Roy represented the staff. 

The final speech of the day was given by Dr. Hendrickson himself. In his speech, he highlighted the tense times that many higher education institutions are facing today. Dr. Hendrickson is optimistic in the university and the Catholic-Fransiscan message that is shown by USF, he emphasized this is a main reason he applied for the position here. He also emphasized the core values of the university, those being Respect, Integrity, Service and Compassion, and called on both students and staff to represent these in their daily lives. 

After his speech, the prayer of St. Francis was recited by the attendees followed by the song of St. Francis. As the stage party exited, Aretha Franklin’s song “Respect” played over the speakers, a nod to it being the year of Respect at USF. As Dr. Hendrickson exited, he shook hands and hugged different attendees in the crowd with a huge smile on his face, ready and determined to fulfill his roles and responsibilities here as the newly inaugurated president of USF.  

Photo Credit: Julie Zuniga