Wichita ? The public is invited to next month’s inauguration of Wichita State University’s new president.

John Bardo succeeds Donald Beggs, who stepped down over the summer after 12 years in the job.

Gov. Sam Brownback is scheduled to speak at the ceremony the afternoon of Oct. 12 in the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, about a mile north of the Wichita State campus.

Bardo began his academic career at Wichita State. He chaired the sociology and social work department from 1978 to 1983.

He later worked at the University of North Florida and Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.

More recently, Bardo served as chancellor of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., from 1995 to 2011. He returned to the classroom last year as a professor of education.