Presidential Investiture

An Investiture is the formal installation of a head of state, elected official or nominee for public office, judge, member of the clergy, or university president. The word “Investiture” is derived from the Latin words “vestire” (dress) and “vestis” (robe.) The term is used to describe the installation of individuals in institutions that usually have been extant from feudal times. 

In the feudal system, an Investiture was the ceremonial transfer of a fief by an overlord to a vassal. The lord invested the vassal with a fiefdom by giving a symbol of the land or office conveyed in return for an oath of fealty. From feudal times to the present, the term has been used in ecclesiastical law to refer to a cleric receiving the symbols of spiritual office (such as a ring, mitre or staff) signifying transfer of the office.

At Rogers State University, the symbol of the Office of the President is the Presidential Medallion. The presentation of the medallion is conducted by the university's Board of Regents, or entity of governance, and the charge of the office is delivered by the Chancellor of the state system of higher education. It is traditional for students, faculty, and alumni of the institution to offer salutations, or well-wishes to the Invested President.

Presidential Medallion

The Presidential Medallion is the official symbol of the Office of the President at Rogers State University. Traditionally, the medallion is bestowed upon a new President to represent a transfer of the responsibility of office and an obligation to promote and maintain the values and ideals represented by the institution.

The medallion features the official RSU seal, which was designed in 1999 shortly after the Oklahoma Legislature renamed the institution Rogers State University and provided the institution with a new mission and charge to seek accreditation as a four-year university. The university received accreditation as a baccalaureate degree granting institution in 2000 from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The official RSU seal features the name of the institution at the top and the university's credo and guiding principles, Tradition, Innovation and Excellence, on the lower half of the oval. In the middle is a representational drawing of iconic Preparatory Hall, the first building erected on the Claremore campus in 1911, two years after the institution was founded in 1909.

The seal was designed by Kate Northcutt.