Oglethorpe University Launches 175th Anniversary Commemoration 
Ted Turner to Speak at Oglethorpe University on February 10
President Jimmy Carter to Speak at Oglethorpe University on February 16

ATLANTA (February 9, 2010) – Founded in 1835, Oglethorpe University will formally launch its 175th anniversary commemoration by welcoming two distinguished Georgians to its campus. Ted Turner will be the guest speaker at the annual OU Day campus-wide celebration on Wednesday, February 10. The following week, President Jimmy Carter will speak on Tuesday, February 16, as part of the university’s Mack A. Rikard Lecture Series.

Ted Turner: February 10, 12:15 p.m., Conant Performing Arts Center
The OU Day program will feature a conversation between Mr. Turner and Oglethorpe University President Lawrence Schall, at 12:15 p.m. in the Conant Performing Arts Center on the Oglethorpe campus. The event is free and open to the public, with limited, unreserved seating. Other OU Day festivities will include: a 20-year annual tradition, the “Petrels of Fire”, a student footrace which starts when the campus’s historic 42-bell carillon begins to toll 12 noon and students attempt to circle the quad before the last strike of 12; an impersonator of the University’s namesake, James Edward Oglethorpe, who will speak about his life and works and answer questions in character; and, the opening of a time capsule sealed in 2000, that will be restocked and resealed until 2020.

President Jimmy Carter: February 16, 1:30 p.m., Conant Performing Arts Center
On February 16, President Jimmy Carter will speak at 1:30 p.m., in the Conant Performing Arts Center at Oglethorpe University. President Carter will deliver a Rikard Lecture about the work of the Carter Center. Established in 1991, the Mack A. Rikard Lecture Series introduces students to current issues as presented by business and civic leaders who are recognized leaders in their professions. The series is named after the late Mack A. Rikard ’37, an Oglethorpe alumnus and former president of Allied Products Company in Alabama. The event is free and open to the public, with limited, unreserved seating.

Throughout 2010, Oglethorpe University will continue to announce events to commemorate the 175th anniversary and its rich history.

Named after James Edward Oglethorpe, Oglethorpe University was originally chartered by the state of Georgia in 1835, and commenced operations in 1838 at Midway, a small community near Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia. In 1870, the institution was briefly relocated to Atlanta at the site of the present City Hall. The University was eventually moved to its present location on Peachtree Road in Atlanta in 1913. 
In the late 1800s Oglethorpe produced several educational innovations, expanding its curriculum to business and law courses and offering the first evening college classes in Georgia, and in the early 1900s, offered distance learning via radio.

Distinguished alumni include: poet, critic and musician Sidney Lanier, who graduated in 1860; the late Charles Longstreet Weltner '48, a U.S. congressman, Georgia Supreme Court Justice, and recipient of the Profiles in Courage Award; Bob Amick ’72, owner of Atlanta’s Concentrics Hospitality
Dr. Thornwell Jacobs, the president for nearly three decades, launched several projects that brought national and international repute to Oglethorpe including finding the tomb of James and Elizabeth Oglethorpe in England; conferring honorary doctorates to recognize superior civic and scientific achievement to such notables as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart; and developing the Crypt of Civilization, the first modern time capsule which is located on the campus and is not to be opened until the year 8113.
Oglethorpe University has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1994.

Currently, Oglethorpe University enrolls over 1,000 students representing 34 states and 36 countries. The university plays in the NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Princeton Review’s The Best 361 Colleges 2007 edition ranks Oglethorpe in its prestigious list, and puts Oglethorpe at #20 for its Professors, #17 for Theatre and #10 for class/race interaction and also names it a Best Southeastern College. Oglethorpe University is Georgia’s only coeducational member of the Annapolis Group, an organization of America’s most selective liberal arts institutions. Since 2006, Oglethorpe has been named annually to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for commitment to and achievement in community service. Website: www.oglethorpe.edu 
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