A Day to Fuel the Imagination

The sounds of trumpets heralded the celebration of President Jonathan GS Koppell’s investiture as Montclair State University’s ninth president. On a bright, lovely fall day the campus welcomed community partners, family and dignitaries to hear the president lay out his vision and plans for the University and to celebrate all that makes it a special place.

Over Montclair’s 114-year history, the investiture of a president has been a rare occasion, and the University marked the event with much flourish, including performances by dance students and the University Singers, a procession of faculty and leaders in academic regalia, initiated with a fanfare courtesy of John J. Cali School of Music students and accompanied by processional music performed by the University’s Wind Symphony.

In the historic Amphitheater, which Koppell referred to as the “beating ancestral heart of Montclair State University,” Koppell told students they are Montclair’s most important constituents, and invited them to make a difference in the University and the world. “We need your effort. We need your industry. We need your intellect. But mostly, what we require is your optimism – and that’s what today means to me. We will do great things together.”

Montclair’s President Emerita Susan A. Cole, who returned to honor her successor, explained the tradition signifies the contribution higher education has made to the progress of humanity throughout history. “Every member of this university community has played a part in that history and heritage,” she said. ”And today, we come together as a community to acknowledge the awesome responsibility that President Koppell assumes as the leader of this university.”

Under a blue, cloudless sky, Cole, who led the University for 23 years, and her predecessor Irvin D. Reid, who served Montclair from 1989 to 1997, when he left to become the first African American president of Wayne State University, addressed an enthusiastic crowd.

Reid said he was certain that like presidents before him, Koppell would leave his mark. “No doubt your vision for the centrality of a university at the heart of the community of which it is a part has brought you to Montclair State University at a propitious moment in time.” He also applauded Koppell for giving students such a prominent role in the investiture. “It already shows you as a leader committed to the sensitivities of those you serve.”

Students indeed played important roles throughout the day’s festivities – from the symphony and choral performances and the singing of the National Anthem by Harrison Smith to brief speeches by Faith Victor ’22, a former student member of the Board of Trustees, and Student Government Association President Richard Steiner-Otoo. Board of Trustees student member Maria Cavero Muñoz carried the presidential medallion in the procession.

As the Wind Symphony played Emperata Overture, the academic procession, which included representatives from other universities, as well as Montclair leadership, joined the president and together they made their way across campus to a red-carpeted Memorial Auditorium. There, Koppell was officially invested by Board of Trustees Secretary Mary A. Comito as Trustee Preston Pinkett III took the medallion from Cavero Muñoz and placed around his neck “a chain of office” bearing a silver medallion engraved with the University’s seal, an action that symbolized the board’s delegation of its authority and responsibility to the president.

New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy, who was unable to attend, sent a video message he recorded while wearing a red-and-white tie: “Montclair has become an important resource for the State of New Jersey and beyond, providing a strong education for its students, the opportunity for social and economic mobility and promoting the ideals of public service. I am confident that President Koppell is the right person to lead Montclair State in this moment and to continue its upward trajectory.”

Board of Trustees Chairman Francis M. Cuss, who chaired the presidential search committee, said the board was “unanimous in our opinion that he would be the kind of transformative president that we needed at this propitious time.” He called the day’s events “an important celebration of renewal and a wonderful opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment to the future of this great university.”

Cuss gave a special welcome to Koppell’s wife, Jennifer Steen, and their children Elsa and William, as well as all the president’s relatives and friends from across the country who joined in person or via the livestream.

Speakers included representatives from the faculty, staff, student government, alumni, elected officials and community leaders partnering with Montclair.

Newark Board of Education Superintendent Roger Leon ’96 MA, said that he and President Koppell share a commitment to providing an inclusive and excellent education and emphasized the partnership between Montclair, the American Federation of Teachers and his district in a model teacher preparation program. “Together, we are… preparing the next generation of inspiring teachers and transformative school leaders.”

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh spoke about his city’s educational and community partnerships with Montclair, noting that when they first met, Koppell told him, “If you’re trying to write a success story in the City of Paterson, sign me up as a co-author.” Sayegh added there are many opportunities for collaboration and that he was proud to call Koppell a partner and a friend who will help write that new narrative.

City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodriguez and Bloomfield College President Marcheta Evans, both personal friends of the president, delivered keynote addresses.

Matos Rodríguez discussed Koppell’s family background and how his grandparents, first-generation graduates from New York City colleges, inspired Koppell to forge a career in public universities.

“Jonathan’s family’s story is the story of the promise of America and the role public higher education plays in that promise,” he said. “That is the journey that we keep seeing in America, thanks to places like the one where we stand right now.”

Evans spoke of her friendship with Koppell and the “model partnership” forming between Montclair and Bloomfield College, noting that Koppell “put his legacy on the line right at the start of his tenure” by throwing a financial lifeline to ensure that New Jersey’s only four-year Predominantly Black Institution, as well as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution, could remain open while the two institutions establish a strategic partnership.

“He knows the life-changing power of social mobility and how minority-serving places are the vessels that hoist students up the social mobility ladder,” Evans said, adding “Social justice runs through [Koppell’s] veins…He is a community person, and one who consistently uplifts underrepresented communities.”

Imagining the future

In his rousing half-hour investiture address, Koppell said his first year in office has been “incredible” and expressed gratitude for the confidence placed in him. “I am a link in a chain of leaders who served as stewards for Montclair State University.”

Koppell called the day “a celebration of a vital institution that has been ambitious and pugnacious, confident and sometimes underestimated, but always focused on its public purpose. Today is a celebration of our power to do great things when we work collectively, remembering that our destinies are intertwined. So, really, all of us are links in the chain, a chain that connects the people who for generations have made this university great.”

But most of all, he said, “I see today as a celebration of imagination, this extraordinary human ability to form mental images of things that do not exist…. We can make real something that has never been.”

Koppell spoke of the importance of public service, partnerships and preserving democracy – noting that “We will not have this democracy if we do not build and sustain a spirit of public service in this country” and that universities must lead the way.

The president announced a number of future initiatives both on- and off-campus that will support his vision of enhancing Montclair’s impact for students and communities.

One of those initiatives, he said, will involve a significant educational role for the University in the revival of Hinchliffe Stadium, one of two remaining historic Negro League ballparks, helping to use the site as a teaching tool for to help K-12 students, residents and visitors learn the history of Paterson.

“This is just the beginning. We have a lot of things that we’re going to do together. I cannot wait, and it’s not limited to Paterson,” he said. “It’s not limited to Montclair, it’s not limited to Clifton, Little Falls or Newark. This is what we will do anywhere and everywhere. We are eager to be a partner.”

Koppell said that the University also plans to launch a college of health professions “focused on community well-being,” and reimagine the focus of the College of Education.

“These will be two new powerhouses. Future educators and health professionals will engage with our talented faculty in an environment of inquiry and innovation,” he said.

Other initiatives to better serve students include Montclair Unbound, the Office of Student Belonging and the Next Generation Service Corps, and doing so while continuing to keep the University accessible and excellent.

Through Montclair Unbound, he said, the University will offer degrees in ways that combine in-person and online modalities, creating more accessibility for more students, meeting them where they are.

“This is the Montclair State University I imagine, the prototype of the public-serving university we need today: One that expands opportunity, invents solutions, empowers problem-solvers, engages our communities and reinvigorates our democracy. We can make it come into being as surely as inventors, artists and scientists have brought their ideas to life for millennia,” he said.

“Our forebears, the architects of the New Jersey State Normal School of Montclair and every successive generation that made this remarkable institution what it is today. They imagined the University for which the moment called – and they built it. Now, it is our turn to answer the bell. Carpe diem.”

A special day for students, too

Classes were canceled for the day to give students the opportunity to see the pageantry of a higher education tradition and enjoy lunch and the festival of programs and public service – and the day did not disappoint.

“I thought it was really special,” said Cesar Nova, a freshman who signed up to work as an usher. “There was a presence on campus that suggested that something significant happened today. It was only the ninth time, and the University has been here more than a hundred years.”

Senior Jason Naccarella said, “It’s great to see that everybody’s out here and really getting to see each other.” The day, he said, showcased Montclair as “a place to be welcomed, a place to enjoy and a place where you are able to grow.”

Gallery

See more photos from the day’s events in the Investiture Photo Gallery.

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez. Editorial Director Laura Griffin and Staff Writer Marilyn Joyce Lehren contributed to this report. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters.