In a historic first, the prestigious Harvard University on Sunday inaugurated new President Claudine Gay, the first Black person, and second woman to lead the university.

She told the audience huddled under umbrellas and windbreakers, as rain poured down on the inauguration ceremony in Cambridge she said “I stand before you on this stage with the weight and the honor of being a first.”

Gay is the daughter of Claudette Gay and Sony Gay Sr. — both immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, becoming a registered nurse and civil engineer, respectively.

The Political Scientist and Professor, Gay now serves as the 30th President since Harvard University’s founding in 1640.

She received her Ph.D. in government from Harvard in 1998 and joined the Harvard faculty in 2006.

Prior to becoming the university’s President, she served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and African and African-American Studies.