Dear Colgate Faculty,
Founders’ Day Convocation is one of the most meaningful gatherings of Colgate’s academic year. A symbolically significant ceremony, convocation marks the start of a new academic year by convening many members of our community to reflect on our origins and imagine our future. I invite you to join your faculty colleagues in receiving the Colgate Class of 2030 on Wednesday evening, August 26.
This year’s Convocation speaker is Jason Meyers, who joined Colgate in 2007 following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. A scholar of developmental and neurobiology, Jason’s research focuses on the development and regeneration of sensory systems and the role of stem cells in neural development. A dedicated teacher and mentor, he has taught extensively across biology and neuroscience and contributed to programs including the OUS Summer Institute, the National University of Singapore exchange program, and Colgate’s College-in-Prison Program. He has also made significant contributions to university service and currently serves as University Marshal, Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA, and chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee. As the father of three children, one of whom recently began their first year of college, this a particularly timely season of transition for the Meyers family.
Convocation will be held in the Colgate Memorial Chapel. Faculty members are asked to convene in regalia outside Alumni Hall at 6:45 p.m. At 7:15 p.m., the chapel bells will peal 13 times, marking the beginning of the procession around the quad. Given that the ceremony will take place indoors, where seating is limited, we would like to get a good sense of how many faculty plan to attend. Please complete this RSVP form.
I extend my sincere thanks to all of you who are already engaged with the Class of 2030 — whether as FSEM instructors, commons directors, or in other roles — and look forward to seeing many of you at Founders’ Day Convocation 2026. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of interacting with these new students, I hope you will join us in welcoming this class.
With my best wishes for this new academic year,
Lesleigh
Lesleigh Cushing
Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Mark S. Siegel University Professor in Religion and Jewish Studies