Presidential installation ceremony set for Oct. 8
BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — Paul G. Gaffney II will be formally installed as the seventh president of Monmouth University on Oct. 8.
The event will take place during the university’s annual Founders’ Day celebration, a campus-wide event which — this year — will mark the 70th anniversary of Monmouth’s founding.
He succeeds Rebecca Stafford, who retired June 30 after 10 years as president.
"It is an honor to be installed as Monmouth University’s seventh president on the same day we celebrate the university’s founding," Gaffney said in a prepared statement. "Seventy years ago, in response to the dire economic circumstances of the Great Depression, the foundations were created that have led to the Monmouth University of today.
"As we remember and celebrate our founding," he said, "let us rededicate ourselves to the mission of Monmouth University in a new and ever-changing world."
Gaffney, a retired vice admiral, arrived at Monmouth University in early July, after serving as president of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., since 2000. Prior to assuming those duties, he was the chief of naval research, with responsibility for science and technology investment. A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an oceanographer by education, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Ocean Policy Commission in July 2001.
During the inauguration ceremony, Gaffney will receive his charge from Paul S. Doherty Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees of Monmouth University, and will be given the Chain of Office. The president wears the Chain of Office at formal academic occasions, and it will be passed on to future presidents of the university, symbolizing the unbroken chain of leadership.
After his inauguration, Gaffney will preside over the Founders’ Day convocation, at which the keynote address will be delivered by Benjamin R. Barber, the Gershon and Carol Kekst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland and a noted author.
Barber’s 17 books include "Strong Democracy" (1984), the novel "Marriage Voices (1981) and the recent international best-seller "Jihad vs. McWorld."
The university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award will be presented to Herbert Butler, while Dr. Eugene F. Cheslock will accept the Maurice Pollak Award for Distinguished Community Service.
Butler was responsible for the technical direction of research and development of the first weather satellite, TIROS 1. In the 40 years since then, TIROS and its successors have made advances in the science of weather forecasting that have been credited with saving millions of lives.
Cheslock, a retired oncologist, is executive vice president of the Riverview Foundation at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, which is a nonprofit organization that exists to benefit the programs and services of the hospital, and the patients and families they serve. He also is president and founder of the Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank, which was established to serve the working poor and uninsured.