EMMITSBURG, Md. – Mount Saint Mary’s University continues to finalize plans for its proposed $2 million celebration of the university’s 200-year history.

Elizabeth C. Monahan, the Mount’s bicentennial director, told The Dispatch that the celebration would begin with an Aug. 22, campus-wide, kick-off celebration, and conclude on Oct. 18, 2008.

In addition to numerous events planned for the two-year long celebration, the university is also proposing a number of keepsake projects ranging from a coffee table book to a specially designed class ring.

Making the plans and raising the funds

The university’s bicentennial celebration plans are being managed by the university’s bicentennial commission, headed-up by Monahan as director, with Richard C. Ridgway, a Class of 1958 graduate, as chairman.

The 40-member commission “drawn from the (university) community, including alumni, faculty and students,” Monahan said, will meet several times each year to plan for the grand celebration.

She said the bicentennial celebration will cost around $2 million and that about $1 million has already been raised.

Leading the fundraising effort has been the Bicentennial Pioneers, who have developed a fund-raising process seeking to find as many donors as possible willing to contribute $2,008 (equating the bicentennial year) each. Monahan noted that ‘pioneers’ would have four years to pay off their contributions.

Anyone can contribute, and she added that the Mount would also consider corporate sponsorships.

Academic, sports and religious events included

Mount Saint Mary’s University traces its origins to 1808 when Father John DuBois purchased 64 acres at the foot of St. Mary’s Mountain for the purpose of establishing a college. DuBois was appointed as the college’s first president.

The Mount’s bicentennial plans will include academic, sports and religious events, with just a tentative schedule at this point, according to Monahan.

In the spring of 2007, there will be an academic symposium with Dr. Francisco Ayata as the speaker. Ayata was the 2001 National Medal of Science Laureate.

The unveiling and dedication of the Founder’s Plaza is slated for Aug. 22, which will serve as the centerpiece for the bicentennial celebration.

Other events planned for 2007 include a family weekend, an academic symposium, a bishops’ mass, which could include all current, standing bishops, a sports symposium, a bicentennial gala at the New York Athletes Club, and a bicentennial men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

There will be a football game between Mount alumni and Gettysburg College alumni, scheduled for Sept. 29. Following a pre-game contest, both teams will take the field wearing period uniforms worn by their respective teams in 1806.

In 2008, events will include an academic symposium, St. Joseph’s dinner (with St. Joseph’s alumnae), an outdoor track championship, a congressional luncheon, bicentennial dance, Class of 2008 bicentennial dinner, a reunion weekend, and a stamp card dedication (approved by the U.S. Postal Service).

Events will conclude in 2008 with a priest’s reunion, a seminary lecture and a closing gala. An additional event will be held after the official closing, a bicentennial men’s and women’s basketball challenge.

An array of memorabilia and keepsakes

The Mount is working on other projects to complement the bicentennial events.

Included will be a coffee table book featuring the photography of Dan Beigel, who has taken photographs for National Geographic. Monahan said Beigel has spent the last two years shooting on campus to capture shots reflecting the changes of the seasons. The book should be available by June 2007. In addition, a bicentennial print by artist Carol Dyer will be offered.

A one-hour documentary film on the history of the university, by Ginger Wolf Productions and MVI Post, will also be released and may air on public television.

A series of bicentennial medals is also being proposed which would be presented to individuals deemed outstanding in community, college or church-related services, and a special bicentennial class ring has also been designed.

Monahan said the bicentennial is important not just as a celebration of the 200-year history of the second oldest Catholic university in the country (Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. is the oldest), but it will also serve “to steer us forward in our third century of service.”