Newly-hired Baker president Lynne Murray tries to hold back her emotions as she talks about her life journey in becoming the next Baker president during a news conference announcing her hiring, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 at the Collins House on the Baker campus.

Baldwin City ? Baker University’s Clarice Osborne Memorial Chapel sits on the east side of the Baldwin City campus, nestled between groves of trees to its north and south and behind low wall of the same limestone used in its construction.

With a donation from Robert Osborne, of Olathe, the chapel and walls were brought stone by stone in 1996 to Baldwin City from Sproxton, England. Originally constructed 150 years ago with stones quarried in Leicestershire, the building complements the other limestone buildings on the Baker campus.

Baker campus minister Kevin Hopkins points to a watercolor of the chapel as it existed when former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s father ministered to his Sproxton flock from its pulpit as proof that the chapel so organic to its current environment and important in the day-to-day life of the university was indeed relocated from England.

Its large basement now houses his office and a fellowship room that students use for meetings or informal relaxation between classes, Hopkins said. The ground floor chapel is “crammed” for the weekly Thursday campus worships, he said.

“We’re blessed to have it as the center of spiritual life on campus,” he said. “I’ve only been here a short time, but it seems like it’s been here forever. I’ve seen pictures of where it was at in England, but it’s just a natural fit here.”

At 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Baker will rededicate the chapel to mark the sesquicentennial of its construction. It is one of two significant events scheduled on the campus that day. The second will be the 11 a.m. inauguration of Baker President Lynne Murray. It was announced last December; Murray would be hired to succeed retiring Pat Long as Baker’s 29th president and start in the position July 1.

Murray sees symmetry between the day’s two events. She, too, is a transplant now tasked with establishing her role on campus while she and her husband, Jeff, find a place in the community.

“Because Baker shares so much history with the community, it is easy for Jeff and I to fit in and be welcome,” she said. “So like the chapel, I feel we are fitting in and we hope to be around for a long time.”

Her move to Baldwin City didn’t require a trans-Atlantic relocation, but it did take her from the state of Maryland where she grew up, earned her undergraduate degree at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, completed her master’s at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and worked first in television and later and marketing before starting her academic career. It was her home as she commuted to Washington, D.C., for positions at Gallaudet and Georgetown universities, most recently as Gallaudet’s vice president of development, alumni and international relations.

Murray has used her study of Baker history to find her place on campus and the community, said Joe Watson, Baker associate professor of mass communications.

“It’s impressive how she’s worked through that learning curve and been mindful to reach out to constituencies for that background,” he said. “I definitely have gotten the sense she is inquisitive and made the effort to get in touch with that part so she will have context for the difficult decisions she will make in the future.”

Baker history and tradition are laced through the details the university has released of the inauguration and its associated events.

The week’s activities will start with a jazz concert at 7 p.m. Sunday at Rice Auditorium that will bring back recording artist and 1981 Baker graduate Kevin Mahogany. On Tuesday, the school’s tradition of retiring professors presenting last lectures will continue with an address from biology professor Darcy Russell, who will speak on heroes and role models in a 9 p.m. address at Rice Auditorium.

“I’ve tried to make our history and traditions a big part of the celebration, because we have a great legacy of families and alumni and generations who have made Baker what it is,” Murray said.” My goal is to tie the great history with our great future. I want it to inspire a new direction for this institution.”

Much like the school’s undergraduate commencements, the inauguration will start with a procession through campus. Students, faculty, administrators and visiting dignitaries from other universities will follow pipers and those carrying university regalia from Baldwin First United Methodist Church to Rice Auditorium, where Murray will make her inaugural address. On its way to Rice, the procession will be joined first by three past presidents and current university trustees and finally by Murray and the official party.

There will also be acknowledgements of her past at Gallaudet, a college whose undergraduate admissions are limited to the deaf and hard of hearing. Murray said students from the Deaf Cultural Center and Kansas School of the Deaf in Olathe would sign the national anthem. Her mentor, Dr. I King Stone Jr., president of Gallaudet from 1998 to 2006 and its first deaf president, will be one of the featured speakers.

On campus Tuesday, Baker junior Christin Smith said she would be one of the students walking in the inaugural procession.

“The university is trying to get 10 students from each campus organization to be in the procession,” she said. “I volunteered to be one of those from my sorority (Delta Delta Delta). I’m excited. I’ve never been to an inauguration before.”

Smith said she was impressed with how Murray interacted with students since she arrived on campus.

“She has been very open,” Smith said. “I’ve met her a few times and seen her at games and events. She is always surrounded by students. She’s been very involved, so it makes me very interested in what she has to say.”