Chosen for his upbeat personality and experience, UR graduate Daan Braveman was inaugurated as the ninth president of Nazareth College on Saturday.
“Inauguration is a nice time to celebrate the college,” he said. “It is more about school than person [being inaugurated].”
Braveman chose the theme “Making a Difference” for his inauguration. He describes “Making a Difference” as “something as small as helping a friend carry his or her books, or something as big as opening our doors to students displaced by a natural disaster or tutoring inner city children just learning to read,” according to the Making A Difference Web site.
During his speech, Braveman outlined his goals as president and noted that he wants to have a strong impact on the community.
“There are a number of goals and challenges with the college,” Braveman said. “The first is to develop a community-wide strategic plan for the college. Nazareth has grown significantly and now we need to step back and manage that growth to see where we want to head.”
In 2003, a $45 million plan was put into action and the college was expanded by 73 acres. In addition, a new residence hall and a stadium complex were built.
“There are four areas that I feel strongly about, that I spoke about at inauguration,” he said. “We have a commitment to learning, discovery, inclusion, civic engagement – tying service into learning – and finally, we have to be committed to celebrating the achievements of people on campus.”
Being available to students on campus is also one of his major goals. He spends Monday and Thursday afternoons going for runs with students and enjoys sharing meals with students to find out what their concerns are.
He has held town meetings with all the dormitories, during which he listened to the opinions of 400 students.
“It’s important to be out there and visible,” he said. “A lot of students stop me and say ‘thank you.’0 It is an advantage that I am at a small school like this.” Nazareth has 1,800 undergraduate students.
Braveman spent eight years as the dean of the Syracuse University College of Law.
“When I was dean of the law school, we expanded the diversity of the student body, expanded the interdisciplinary programming, developed clinics and built a new building,” Braveman said. “We had a lot going on in those eight years.”
Braveman graduated from UR in 1969. “I thought I got a great education at UR,” he said.
His son, Adam, graduated last May. “I am extremely proud and excited for my dad,” Adam Braveman said. “This is something that he has always wanted, and now he’s got the chance and he’s going to do a great job. His style is very hands-on, very visible and I know students will appreciate that.”
Paret can be reached at eparet@campustimes.org.
