LR college to inaugurate 14th leader

Philander Smith College in Little Rock has events starting Thursday leading up to the inauguration of the college's 14th president.

College President Roderick Smothers will be honored in an investiture at noon Saturday in the M.L. Harris Auditorium at the college, 900 W. Daisy Bates Drive. A reception at the Harry R. Kendall Center on campus will follow.

The Louisiana native has served at the helm of the historically black college since January, after serving as the vice president for institutional advancement at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas.

Events leading up to the investiture are:

• Campus cookout and celebration with Philander Smith faculty, staff, students and alumni at the Philander Smith College Campus Center from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday.

• An exhibit of works by black artists, which is open to the public, at the D.W. Reynolds Library on campus at 2 p.m. Thursday.

• Inaugural Community Symposium, which is open to the public, at the Harry R. Kendall Center on campus at 6 p.m. Thursday.

• A morning of student engagement in the Little Rock community from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.

• The president's inaugural scholarship gala, a ticketed event at the Little Rock Marriott, 3 Statehouse Plaza in Little Rock. Tickets for the 7 p.m. Friday event are $250 a person, and scholarship sponsorships are available.

The events wrap up Sunday with a 3 p.m. ecumenical interfaith prayer service at the Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 1601 S. Louisiana St. in Little Rock.

Metro on 08/25/2015

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