“When I speak of the transformative power of education, I’m not just saying the words, I’m living them,” Hurley said. “Today is a day I will never forget and will long cherish.”
He praised UMW’s talented faculty and successful graduates, quoted Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, and reiterated his ambitious goal for the University.
“Mary Washington has the opportunity to achieve pre-eminent national stature as the best public liberal arts and sciences university in the nation,” Hurley said. “Our challenge for the future is not so much to build something new as it is to preserve and enhance what we already have.”
Then, theater and dance students in tie-dyed T-shirts and jeans surprised their president with a song and dance down the aisles to Katy Perry’s Firework. Barbara Craig Perry ’91 and Erin Taylor ’14 led the crowd in the singing of the Alma Mater. The KanKouran West African Dance Company and their booming drums led a rhythmic recessional that gave way to a bustling outdoor reception on the Lee Hall terrace. There, under a clear September sky, guests ate hors d’oeuvres and enjoyed live music by a faculty and alumni band.
The pomp and circumstance of the inaugural ceremony preceded the glitz and glamour of a nighttime ball, which was funded in full by donations and ticket sales. The Anderson Center’s arena looked as though a fairy had waved its wand and transformed it into a ballroom that glittered and glowed as several hundred guests danced the night away.
As Hurley mentioned in his acceptance speech, it had been almost exactly a century since Mary Washington opened its doors in 1911. A decade had passed since he’d come to work at UMW as executive vice president and chief financial officer in 2001. And now with a president at the helm who embodies optimism and hard work, nearly everyone hoped the occasion would mark yet another Mary Washington milestone – the last inaugural celebration the University would throw for the foreseeable future.
Theater and dance students surprise Hurley with a performance during the afternoon inauguration ceremony at Dodd Auditorium.