MISSOULA – Students, former staff, and community members gathered to watch University of Montana president Seth Bodnar’s inauguration on Friday at the Oval.
Tony Incashola, a senior member of the Salish and Kootenai cultural committee, performed a blessing ritual with sage and endowed the president with good luck to banish evil.
After delivering a speech on dedication and service to the community, Bodnar was given the presidential medallion and sworn oath to serve the university to his fullest capacity.
“It’s about you. It’s about service. Ultimately, it’s about all of us and I thank you for being here. I thank you for being a part of this great institution,” Bodnar said. “And let’s go get to work everybody.”
The inauguration ceremony kicks off UM’s family weekend where families of students and staff are welcomed to have fun on campus — which of course includes going to see the Griz take on UC Davis on Saturday.
Bodnar is the 19th president in the history of the University of Montana.
–Reported by Donal Lakatua/MTN News
Friday evening was also the deadline for the University of Montana academic departments to finalize their plans to cut $5 million from their budgets.
The departments then presented their plans to the provost.
A few weeks ago, the focus was on the humanities department with the exception of computer science and Native American studies.
The humanities department included the entire global humanities and religion curriculum.
There was also additional attention to journalism, media arts, and pharmacy programs.
