University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

MEDIA RELEASE

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Inaugurate CSUN’s Freshman Convocation

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Aug. 29, 2007) — All the pomp and circumstance associated with a familiar ritual of higher education—commencement—soon will attach to an altogether new Cal State Northridge tradition: the Freshman Convocation.

The CSUN banners will unfurl and ceremonial horns will punctuate the festivities as President Jolene Koester leads the welcome to first-year students at the university’s inaugural Freshman Convocation, set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6 on the Oviatt Library lawn at the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

"We want our new freshmen to feel welcome, to know that they are important to us and that we are glad they are joining our academic community," said CSUN Vice President for Student Affairs Terry Piper. "This convocation lets us ‘roll out the red carpet,’ putting the spotlight on them and the reason they have come to the university."

Freshmen will hear a keynote address on "Our Environmental Destiny" by internationally recognized environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who will discuss the important role the environment plays in our work, health and American identity.

They also will hear a peer-to-peer talk by biology graduate student Jessica Beach, recipient of CSUN’s highest honor for a graduating senior: the 2007 Wolfson Scholar award. The high-achieving Beach will share her thoughts on what it takes to succeed in college.

Convocation organizers said the new event will give Koester—who already welcomes freshmen in orientation sessions—the opportunity to formally welcome the new students to CSUN life. It also will help introduce themes freshmen will discuss in and out of class, such as those that emerge in Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried," a collection of stories about a Vietnam War platoon that is required reading for freshmen this year.

Incoming freshmen have been invited to assemble in Matador Square, Northridge’s traditional Free Speech area, on the east side of the campus. From the square, they will march in a procession down Matador Walk to the Oviatt Lawn. Koester, accompanied by University Library Dean Susan Curzon bearing the symbolic mace, will lead the procession in full academic regalia, along with formally robed university vice presidents, deans and associate deans of each college, and all department chairs.

"With this convocation, we want to create for our freshmen students a symbolic journey," said Tom Piernik, director of Student Development and International Programs. "By design, they will begin that journey in the campus’ free speech area, initiating what we hope will be their continuing campus dialogue about issues.

"The presence of the complete academic regalia—from robes to mace—is more typical of the end of the student’s academic journey," said Piernik. "This will give them a chance to experience the academic ritual in a new way." He said many institutions are reporting that freshman convocations create a powerful bonding effect among incoming freshmen, an effect campus convocation organizers hope to achieve at CSUN as well.

A reception on the Oviatt Library patio will follow the convocation, after which the Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" will be screened on the Oviatt Lawn for all members of the CSUN community.

California State University, Northridge has 34,500 full- and part-time students and offers 62 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.