Fall Convocation

About Fall Convocation 

Fall Convocation is the formal celebration that opens each new academic year at Case Western Reserve University. Held in late August during the first week of the fall semester, Fall Convocation features keynote remarks from the Elaine G. Hadden Distinguished Visiting Author, along with recognition of faculty receiving the highest honor—the title of Distinguished University Professor

View the 2022 Fall Convocation here.

Read Peter Ho Davies' Fall Convocation Address here.

University’s Common Reading‌

book cover for Peter Ho Davies The Fortunes

As part of the common reading program, the author of the common reading book appears as the Elaine G. Hadden Distinguished Visiting Author during Fall Convocation—the official opening event of the new academic year. The event is open to the entire campus community and also to the public. For more information, please see the Event Details page. 

Our 2022 speaker will be award-winning author Peter Ho Davies. His fiction book The Fortunes, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, was chosen as Case Western Reserve University's 2022 common reading book. Each year since 2002, the university’s common reading has served as a basis for programs and discussions for first-year students.

Read the complete announcement from The Daily: Peter Ho Davies' The Fortunes chosen for Case Western Reserve University's common reading. 

Learn More about Peter Ho Davies - View the Resource Guide created by the Kelvin Smith Library