Quentin Wheeler was inaugurated as the fourth president of SUNY-ESF Friday in Hendricks Chapel.

The inauguration ceremony highlighted Wheeler’s accomplishments and celebrated the future of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry under his leadership.

Notable persons in the audience included Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and former SUNY-ESF President Cornelius Murphy. Much of the ceremony included speeches from students and faculty alike, expressing praise for the new president.

“I am honored by the trust you have placed in me,” Wheeler said, “humbled to follow in the footsteps of those who have built this special institution and eager to accept the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

In his speech, Wheeler captured his passion for environmental science and discussed many of the environmental issues plaguing the world and vowing to equip ESF students with the knowledge to tackle those problems.

In addition to the Friday ceremony, a campus picnic, a Presidential Roast, an academic symposium and a bioblitz were all held as part of inauguration weekend.

The academic symposium was held on Thursday, Sept. 11 at the SUNY-ESF Gateway Center, with Thomas Lovejoy, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation, providing the keynote address. The bioblitz was held from 3 p.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Saturday at Onondaga Lake. Scientists were to catalog every species they discovered in the 24 hours on the lake. There were 861 total observations and 428 species found, according to SUNY-ESF’s results.

Before coming to SUNY-ESF, Wheeler was a professor at Cornell University for nearly 25 years and he served as the vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. He was also director of the Division of Environmental Biology at the U.S. National Science Foundation and Keeper of Entomology at the National History Museum in London. Wheeler has discovered hundreds of species of bugs, and is well known for his study of beetle morphology, Sykes added.

Alumnus Eugene Law spoke during the ceremony, and said Wheeler’s successful career has prepared him to be president of ESF.

“While today is the day we commemorate your inauguration, the past nine months has made it obvious to ESF students that your vast experience has prepared you well for the challenges that face this institution in the years to come,” Law said.

Some SUNY-ESF students, like Jane Yeh, have few critiques of the new president, though they do have some hopes for the future. Yeh, a senior natural resources management major at ESF, said she would like to see Wheeler promote interaction between the college and the Syracuse community.

Published on September 15, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Hanna: hrhorvat@syr.edu