The University of Illinois System today formally recognized Marie Lynn Miranda, the 10th chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago, in the centuries-old tradition of investiture.
“The investiture ceremony is an important celebration for the UIC community, the city of Chicago, state leadership and so many more people who benefit from and contribute to the excellence of this world-class university,” system President Tim Killeen said before the event.
“Chancellor Miranda is a dynamic and visionary leader whose energy and spirit are already producing meaningful results,” he said. “Chancellor Miranda’s track record of innovation and inspiration makes the University of Illinois System stronger, and I am so grateful that we have this opportunity to celebrate and reflect, looking toward a horizon of unlimited possibilities.”
A leader in geospatial health informatics, Miranda began duty as UIC chancellor on July 5, 2023. She previously served as provost of the University of Notre Dame through 2021 and was a faculty member in its applied and computational mathematics and statistics department. She also held leadership roles at Rice University, the University of Michigan and Duke University.
“UIC’s mission is to provide the broadest access to the highest levels of educational, research and clinical excellence,” Miranda said in her remarks today. “That equity-focused mission is shared widely and deeply at UIC, and I have argued many times, is our superpower. We are able to do big things at UIC because we share a belief that access and excellence can live side by side and an ability to make it so.”
In addition to Killeen, speakers at the ceremony at UIC’s Isadore and Sadie Dorin Forum included Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton; University of Illinois Board of Trustees Chairman Don Edwards; Phil Hanlon, president emeritus of Dartmouth College; Na'ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation, which funds education research; Barbara Ransby, UIC professor of Black studies, gender and women’s studies and history; Tol Foster, director of the Native American Support Program at UIC; and UIC student representatives Jonathan and Justin Banks, who served as emcees.
Also attending were board trustees, representatives from other higher education institutions, elected officials and the UIC administrators and academic regalia-clad faculty members participating in the processional.
Miranda was presented with the chain of office, which symbolizes her leadership position and includes references to UIC’s history. The names of past chancellors are engraved on the nameplates that make up the chain, ending in the center with Miranda’s name. The nameplates share a custom design with the other two University of Illinois System universities, connecting as a system UIC, the University of Illinois Springfield and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Below the nameplate with Miranda’s name hangs a medallion representing the UIC campus.
UIC will conclude the investiture events tomorrow with a day of community service at sites around Chicago. Members of the UIC community, including alumni and families, will garden, clean parks, paint and do other sprucing-up work at Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church, UCAN, A Safe Haven, Harrison Park, Homan Park and Nourishing Hope Headquarters.
