On March 7, President John Bardo was in an ambulance to his family’s home, following a visit to the Wesley Medical Center emergency room. The ambulance driver asked if there was anything he could do for him. Dr. Bardo said yes, he hadn’t been to campus in three months, so please drive around WSU. The driver said Dr. Bardo wouldn’t be able to see anything from the back of the vehicle. Undeterred, Dr. Bardo said it would be satisfaction enough for him to know he’d been to campus.

In that spirit, the president’s procession will drive through campus early Monday afternoon March 18, on the way from his private funeral services to his burial. The procession, expected between 12:30-1:30 p.m., will include University Police vehicles and a vehicle carrying First Lady Deborah Bardo and members of the family. The motorcade will pause at least five times while passing through campus. The stops are noted on this interactive map.

Provost and Acting President Rick Muma said it is at the discretion of faculty if they want to dismiss classes to view the funeral procession.

The motorcade will enter and exit campus from 17th Street as a salute to Dr. Bardo’s interest in the Fairmount neighborhood south of 17th, and his joy in the realization of the Experiential Engineering Building, which opened in January 2017, launching a wave of construction.

The procession will move north through Innovation Campus and then circle around and through the traditional campus, pausing briefly near Marcus Welcome Center, Wiedemann Hall, the 1970 Memorial, NIAR and the Rhatigan Student Center. The stop along Yale Walkway will be between the RSC and Neff Hall. The Bardos met in Neff Hall in 1974 and married in 1975.

A celebration of President Bardo’s life will be announced later this spring.