As Bryant University’s 166th entering class of 1,064 students, the largest in university history, prepared to enter the Chace Athletic Center for Convocation on a bright August day, they were greeted by the Bryant Athletic Band, Cheerleaders, and Dance Team — spreading their Bulldog spirit.
As the students, who came to Bryant from 28 states and 26 different countries, processed, they couldn’t help but be caught up in the atmosphere. Many of them talked and laughed with new friends about the first day of classes they had just completed. Others took their own videos of the crowd, eager to record the moment and keep it as a memory.
When they entered the university’s athletic center, they experienced a different welcome altogether — a passage lined with faculty, staff, and university leaders in full ceremonial regalia — with Bryant University president Ross Gittell, Ph.D., at its head.
Though the line of first year students, joined by others who had transferred to Bryant this fall, extended from the athletic center all the way to the university’s Unistructure, the Bryant mentors never stopped clapping and cheering the crowd on — not even for a moment.
It was a fitting introduction to a ceremony of inspiration and encouragement.
After Corinne Gbalekuma-Hubbard ’26 gave a rousing rendition of the national ambition, which elicited an extended round of applause from the crowd, and Muslim Chaplain Aisha Manzoor offered an opening invocation, Bryant Provost and Chief Academic Officer Rupendra Paliwal, Ph.D., commenced the proceedings with a warm greeting, the first of many that day.
Convocation is one of the oldest and most important of all academic traditions at Bryant University, Paliwal told the crowd. It is, he noted, “a time to reaffirm our commitment to the shared values and the purpose that set us apart as a community, dedicated to our education foundation, which is to educate and inspire students to discover their passion and become innovative leaders with character around the world.”
But that focus on tradition, he noted, is balanced with a look at everything there is to come. “It is an exciting time in the history of Bryant, and everywhere we look we see Bryant is preparing for an even brighter future,” said Paliwal. With the university’s rising reputation, embrace of new technologies and innovations, and rapid growth, it is a momentous time to be a Bulldog.
In this moment of new beginnings, Bryant President Ross Gittell, Ph.D., told the class, they should set their sights high. “It’s a moment of possibility and an opportunity to shape your future and become the person you want to be,” said Gittell. “We are so happy you are here, and I am proud to share this special time with you.”
That sentiment, he said, was shared by all Bulldogs, both on campus and around the world. “I want you to know that our entire community is behind you,” said Gittell. “We are here to support and encourage you towards achieving your goals.”
In her introduction of the class, Vice President For Enrollment Management Michelle Cloutier ’05MBA, noted the assembled students’ many accolades, accomplishments, and laurels. The members of the class were selected from more than 9,500 applicants, earning their admission through their impressive academic performance, commitment to co-curricular activities, leadership, and strength of character.
Though young, they had already distinguished themselves in so many different ways, she noted: as athletes, as artists, as community activists and citizens, as entrepreneurs, and as scholars.
“Each of you brings something unique to Bryant. You will enrich our campus community and the world around us,” said Cloutier. “We know that your desire to make the world a better place will only continue to grow during your time at Bryant.”
But changing the world is hard work, and the next four years are going to be some of the most rigorous of the class’s lives, Amber Day, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of History, Literature, and the Arts, told them as she greeted the students on behalf of the Bryant faculty.
But that struggle, she told them, will be worth it. “You’ve got to do the climb, because if you take the shortcuts, you’ll find that you didn’t get anywhere at all,” Day advised. “You are never in your lives going to have the chance to encounter so many different new ideas and people and opportunities then you do at Bryant University.”
Day implored the students to be intellectually curious and to seek out answers, wherever the journey might take them. “The world desperately needs more people asking questions, especially the difficult ones, the world wants us to ignore,” she stated.
Inge-Lise Ameer, Ed.D., vice president for student affairs and dean of students, was joined by Grace McKenzie ’27, president of Bryant’s Student Government, and Dana Oscar ’26, president of the Student Alumni Association, for the recitation of the Bryant Pledge. The pledge, Ameer, noted, was more than a promise or a contract; it was about creating a vision of a bright future.
“It's about our taking care of each other inside and outside of the classroom and throughout the entire community,” she suggested. “It's about what kind of student you are going to be here at Bryant. What kind of friend are you going to be? What kind of roommate? What kind of club member or club president? What kind of athlete on the field and the court? And, most of all, what kind of Bryant citizen are you going to be?”
Lily Kimball ’27, the ranking member of Bryant’s Student Government Association, closed the ceremony with a charge for the assembled students — to take this opportunity to grow and change. Looking back to her own first year as a student, she admitted to having felt the same hints of trepidation the current class might be feeling. But there was also so much more.
“There is so much to be excited about, so much to be grateful for and to be inspired by,” said Kimball.
The key, she noted, was to use that energy and inspiration as a catalyst. “You will be doing a disservice to yourself if you leave Bryant the same person you came in as,” she stated firmly. “Bryant holds many paths that you can take. Your path may not look like the path of the others around you, but that doesn't make it the wrong path, and it doesn't make it a bad path, it just makes it your path.”
Yet even as she encouraged the students to follow their hearts, Kimball could not let the moment pass without a final piece of advice. “Amongst all of the things that you can do and can be, let one of those things include being kind,” she said.
With that final bit of counsel, Convocation concluded, and the class emerged from the athletic center ready to begin the adventure of their lives.