On Oct. 15 the board of trustees of Hampshire College inaugurated Ralph J. Hexter as the institution's fifth president. The inauguration took place in the Robert Crown Center, where all members of the Hampshire community and friends of the college were invited to join the trustees, students, faculty and staff in celebration of Hexter's installation. The event was followed by a picnic lunch.

Hexter delivered his first major address to the college at the ceremony. "The inauguration of a president focuses attention on the new arrival, but it is really a celebration of the institution itself and a reflection of the dreams and commitment of all," he said, according to Hampshire's Web site.

He discussed the term "Non satis scire," which means "to know is not enough," as the core of learning at the College. Hexter went on to focus on the meaning of this phrase as it applies to Hamsphire. "The most widely accepted interpretation of the phrase at Hampshire-certainly, it is the one I've most often heard people cite-is simply that learning, whether in general or focused on a specific topic, is in itself insufficient," he said, according to the site. "Learning is a means to an end. One must take knowledge into the real world and act. This is indeed a basic feature of Hampshire's identity and its program, which requires all our students to perform, in one way or another, community service."

Hexter cited the community service component of the college as the main characteristic distinguishing Hampshire from other institutions where learning often alienates students from their society. "Giving back to the community during college can build a solid foundation for a lifetime of servitude. Students need to search inside themselves to define their vision of a better world. "We are the instruments and learning is the tool with which we, each in our own way, seek to make the world a better place, obviously according to our own vision of good," he said, according to the site.

To conclude his speech, Hexter harkened back to the importance of embracing the unknown. "Awareness of the insufficiency of our knowledge is what sets in motion our search for answers," he said, according to the site. "What we know rests, in the end, on the foundation of our most basic uncertainties and questions."

Hexter holds much experience in working with institutions of higher education. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Oxford and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale.