If you’ve been picking up the paper this week, chances are good that you’ve seen at least one of the full-page ads the university has used to publicize the installation ceremony of ISU President Steven Leath, who has been in office since Jan. 16.

Like any important official, however, it has taken some time to plan the pomp and circumstance that will surround his installation as the university president. Leath’s installation ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Stephens Auditorium. At that time, he will formally be given the trappings of his office. Additionally, on Thursday will be a student celebration on Central Campus from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and that night at 8 p.m., the man Leath used to work for, Erskine Bowles, will speak at the Memorial Union.

The festivities will serve to introduce Leath to the ISU community and afford him an opportunity to lay out his vision of where the university is and where we should go during his time here.

Such events take place only when new presidents arrive, which is an infrequent occurrence. According to Iowa State’s website, Leath will be the 12th president to have an installation ceremony. (Presidents Seaman Knapp, Leigh Hunt, and William Beardshear apparently did not have them.) President Gregory Geoffroy’s installation was in 2001. Martin Jischke’s was in 1991. Gordon Eaton’s was in 1987. Robert Parks’s was in 1966.

You get the idea. Thursday’s and Friday’s events are for students a one-time-only opportunity.

Central Campus is a nearly boundless space in which students can assemble for such things as the picnic there. The Great Hall in the Memorial Union can seat hundreds of students. Stephens Auditorium can seat more than 2,600.

Clearly, there will be ample opportunity for students to learn something about the institution at which they chose to have their “adventure” in addition to taking advantage of Leath’s hospitality at the picnic Thursday afternoon.

And while the timing of the events may be inconvenient for many students (certainly the mid-morning installation ceremony itself will be), it is important for us to take an interest in the ceremonies. At them, the academic regalia will be trotted out to make a rare appearance, and we will have an even rarer opportunity to assess where Iowa State’s top administrators want to take what will one day be our alma mater.

In short, the installation ceremonies will contribute to the uniqueness of being an Iowa Stater just as much as such traditions as campaniling, Veishea, the Cy-Hawk series of athletic events and the swans at Lake LaVerne.