CSB+SJU to celebrate historic joint inauguration

On Sept. 22, President Brian Bruess will be officially inaugurated, placing him in the St. Ben’s and St. John’s history books as the first joint president of both schools.

Bruess, who assumed leadership in July 2022, will be recognized during a week of ceremony and celebration. The week of inauguration is closely approaching, and collaborative work continues to ensure the success of the inauguration ceremony and the events leading up to it. Planning for the event has been underway since last spring.

The planning committee, including Assistant to the President, General Counsel and Common Boards Anna Arens, Associate Provost for Student Success Mary Geller, and Chief Marketing Officer Katie Alvino, has designed events to celebrate the community and commence a new period at CSB+SJU.

“We’ve tailored it so that there’s really something for anybody to participate in,” Arens said. “We want this to be a piece of ‘building community’ and getting to know your classmates, other people on campus, your faculty and the staff that support you.”

Bruess is starting his second year at St. Ben’s and St. John’s.

“I would say that this is a historic moment for St. Ben’s and St. John’s,” Bruess said. “It’s one that I expect to really accelerate our focus around an unapologetic and unrelenting focus on the student experience. Come be a part of that.”

Bruess’ theme of “Together We Flourish” celebrates a new era for CSB+SJU, as this is the first time the colleges are under one president. For Bruess, the theme takes on two distinct and important messages.

“It’s centering our focus on the flourishing of students, not only for their own sake, but for the flourishing of our community and the world,” Bruess said. “The together piece is also symbolic and powerful because two colleges are coming closer together.”

The theme will remain prominent outside of the inauguration celebration as well. The experience of integration and community development will be seen in the inauguration week events and will hopefully continue into the future. One of the first occasions to symbolize a joint community occurred during orientation at the President’s Dinner.

Each first-year student decorated a small wooden hexagon with a personal statement focused on the sentiment of togetherness. Each piece will be placed on a mural, creating a large honeycomb to demonstrate how the CSB+SJU community will flourish as one. Bruess will choose one message from the mural to highlight during his inauguration speech.

A multitude of activities have been planned for each day of the week. The celebration will last from Sept. 18 to Sept. 24. The CSB+SJU Inauguration website lists each event, including where and when students can go to be involved.

Events kick off on Monday with outdoor clean-ups on either campus. On Tuesday, there will be a bean-bag tournament and bonfire where the winning pair of students will take home the CSB+SJU-branded bean-bag boards.

Each day at 4:15 p.m., a clue will be released for the medallion hunt. The medallion will be hidden somewhere on the grounds of either campus. Clues will be released on the CSB+SJU social media pages. The last clue will be announced live at the ceremony.

On the day of inauguration, all students will be released from classes at 12:40 p.m. to attend the inauguration ceremony at 2 p.m. in the Abbey Church. Bruess hopes to fill all the seats in the Abbey. The weekend of events will collide with CSB+SJU’s annual Family Weekend. Parents and family members are welcome to attend the events alongside students, as well as attend the home football game against Bethel University.

The Bruess family, including George, will make an appearance at the tailgate with coffee and donuts. Other weekend events include sunrise yoga with Carol Bruess and therapy dog George on the lawn of Renner house and CSB carnival fun.

A friendly fishing competition will take place on Sept. 24, beginning at 2:30 p.m. A fish fry will follow. Throughout the series of events, students will receive a customized CSB+SJU metal water bottle that comes in white, black, blue or red. Upon attending each event, students can accumulate hexagon-shaped stickers to create a honey-comb shape on the water-bottle’s surface.

“Definitely try to attend something,” SJU senior and assistant to the president Cullen McMahon said. “This is an unprecedented week.”

During the planning process, McMahon had the unique opportunity to observe the ins and outs of the preparation of the events. Along the way, he developed an appreciation for Bruess and his family, as well as all the opportunities that their innovative perspectives bring to the CSB+SJU community.

“I’m very excited to see how our community and campus develops in the next few years under his leadership,” McMahon said.

Bruess and the planning committee encourage students, faculty, administration and members of the greater community to participate in all that the inauguration means for the integrated CSB+SJU community.

“And it is really, again, all about building that community,” Arens said. “Grab a few friends, and just go and check things out.”