Inauguration Weekend - Moravian College

Moravian inaugurated its 9th and 13th
president on the same day?
It was April 25,1987, and the presidential medallion
was passed from Herman E. Collier, who’d
held it since 1969, to Roger H. Martin. According
to the ’87 Benigna, highlights of the event
included the fi rst performance of “The Seeker,” a
musical piece created by composer-in-residence
Larry Lipkis. At the time, President Martin was
referred to as Moravian’s 9th president. But that
count leaves out the leaders of Moravian College
and Seminary for Women, which merged with its
men’s-college counterpart in 1954 to form the
Lehigh Valley’s fi rst co-ed institution of higher
education. With the arrival of President Martin’s
successor Ervin J. Rokke in 1997, the College
decided that both pre-merger schools should be
represented in the offi cial presidential tally. By
that reckoning, Presidents Martin, Rokke, and
Thomforde are counted as the 13th, 14th and
15th holders of the offi ce.
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