Calvin College to hold Inauguration ceremony for President Michael K. Le Roy

On Saturday, October
20, 2012, Michael K. Le Roy will be officially sworn in as Calvin College's
10th president. The Inauguration Ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. in Calvin's
Van Noord Arena.

The ceremony is the
culmination of Inauguration Week, nine days' worth of festivities with the
theme, "Together, we offer our hearts to you, Lord." Calvin's provost Claudia
Beversluis, the co-chair of the Inaugural committee, says the committee and Le
Roy chose this theme to cast their shared vision for Calvin College:

"Michael has already
shown himself to be a person who places a high value on listening and learning
from students, faculty and staff," said Beversluis. "He truly lives out his
belief that vision is created and shared by the entire community in response to
God's call on our lives."

Le Roy began his
tenure at Calvin on July 2, 2012, following a 12-month presidential search
process that culminated with ratification from the Christian Reformed Church of
North America.

He brings
to Calvin a depth of experience--administrative, academic and scholarly--in
Christian higher education.

Before coming to
Calvin, Le Roy served as provost and executive vice president at Whitworth
University in Spokane, Washington. He is credited with helping to
build Whitworth's academic excellence and with leading the collaborative effort
to open that institution's first international education center in Costa Rica. His
former colleagues describe him as a sincere man of faith--a leader who values
consensus and handles difficult situations with grace and integrity.

Le Roy is a 1989
Whitworth graduate with majors in international studies and peace studies. He
earned his PhD in political science at Vanderbilt University in 1994 and taught
at Wheaton College before returning to his alma mater in 2002. He and his wife,
Andrea Nelson Le Roy, have three children: son Dana and daughters Hannah and Astrid.

Scott Spoelhof, the chairman of Calvin's board
of trustees has been impressed with Le Roy from the earliest days of his
candidacy. He's confident that the new president, the search committee's
unanimous choice, will keep Calvin committed to its heritage, while leading the
college in a purposeful direction in the years to come.

"Thus
far, I've been impressed with Michael's willingness to listen, question, and
learn, and his sincere commitment to the mission of Calvin and who we are," said Spoelhof. "He has already met one-on-one with most of the board members,
and I know that he plans to spend significant time this year meeting with faculty,
staff and students as well. He definitely has hit the ground running."

Inauguration Week kicks off on Saturday, October 13 with a musical event,
the Student Showcase, and concludes with a worship service on Sunday, October 21. The
week's-worth of events also includes academic symposia, an academic poster
fair, a music festival, an art exhibition, worship services and more.

For a complete
schedule of Inauguration Week festivities, visit www.calvin.edu/president/inauguration,contact the communications and marketing office at 616-526-6896 or contact
Matt Kucinski at 616-526-8935.
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Received on Tue Oct 2 07:42:28 2012