Students, faculty and staff will lace up and join Kent Syverud for his first-ever Inauguration Fun Run, commencing the celebration of SU’s 12th chancellor.

The Fun Run will begin at 7 a.m. on Friday. The 1.2 mile-long course starts at the Orange Grove on the Quad, winds around academic buildings and down the Connective Corridor route and ends between the Schine Student Center and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Registration for the event is free and will begin at 6:15 a.m. on Friday. Participants are encouraged to register online via Recreation Services. However, late-comers may join the morning of.

“It shows that he wants to be more involved in the student community. Having this race brings the students and faculty together,” said Daniel Drashinsky, a freshman health and physical education major.

Nicci Brown, vice president of the Office of Marketing and Communications, said the event has been planned since late January.

“It’s been a little compressed, but we’ve pulled it all together. It’s been all hands on deck,” Brown said.

Brown said she worked with a lot of people to help the run come together. She’s been collaborating with student volunteers to create the logo for the event and has reached out to alumni to design the shirts. The Department of Recreation Services, SU Ambulance and Student Affairs were also involved.

Syverud began his chancellorship in the middle of the academic year, Brown said, which shortened planning time. But everyone was able to pull together and make the event happen, she said.

Joseph Lore, director of the Department of Recreation Services and one of the event coordinators, reached out to the Syracuse University community to plan the first-ever Inauguration Fun Run.

“It is a unique invitation for the university community to share in the history of Syracuse University in a fun and healthy way,” Lore said in an email.

Lore said this run demonstrates Syverud’s continuous efforts to engage community members, especially starting this day with the students.

More than 400 participants have already registered, with the first 200 receiving a commemorative T-shirt. Brown said she hopes community members will join the chancellor in kicking off his inauguration day. The race is not just about competition, she said.

“The main goal is participation. He doesn’t want to be the one out the front of the pack. He doesn’t want to be the one in the back of the pack. He really wants people to be there with him when he’s participating,” Brown said.

Drashinsky, also a member of the SU Triathlon Club, said participation provides a key opportunity to meet Syverud.

“Inaugurations are usually formal and people just hear him talk, and this gives him a chance to interact with the students in a fun, healthy way,” Drashinsky said.

In preparation for the run, Drashinsky said he’s been running the loop around campus. Unlike many of his meets, he said he might just run for fun.

Ella Mendonsa, a junior political science and policy studies major, said she has hopes of speaking to the chancellor after the run. Mendonsa’s purpose however, is more political.

Mendonsa is a member of the Divest SU and ESF, a group comprising students who work to encourage SU to divest its funds from the fossil fuel industry. She said she hopes to speak to Syverud regarding the group’s issues.

“We’ve never gotten a response and it just seems like to get some attention we should join an activity that he’s hosting. We’re not trying to be disrespectful, but to engage him,” Mendonsa said.

Brown said Syverud’s inauguration day is important, not only for the chancellor, but for the university, as well.

“The chancellor very much wants this inauguration to be about the university, as much as it is about him and his leadership,” Brown said. “It’s an inflection point in our history and he really recognizes that.”

Published on April 10, 2014 at 2:00 am