Rutgers 250 Launch Events—and a New Website
October 22, 2015
Members of the Rutgers Community:
As excitement builds for the yearlong celebration of Rutgers’ 250th Anniversary, I am pleased to announce a redesigned website focused on the milestone, with features celebrating our history and information on the events being planned over the next year.
I invite students, faculty, staff, and alumni to join us on our 249th birthday, Tuesday, November 10, at 4:00 p.m., as we kick off our Rutgers 250 celebration on the lawn of Old Queens, the historic heart of our university. The Charter Day festivities will include refreshments, blazing kettle fires, a fife and drum corps, displays of Rutgers artifacts, actors portraying historical figures, premiere screenings of the anniversary film Our Revolutionary Spirit, the unveiling of the university’s first 250th birthday gift, and the sounding of bells by everyone in attendance to ring in the anniversary year. Bring a bell and join us!
Several other events tied to Rutgers 250 are coming up in the next few weeks. Let me list a few:
- October 20–November 11: Mason Gross School of the Arts is sponsoring its annual Undergraduate Art Open, under the Rutgers 250 theme “Revolution,” at the Mason Gross Galleries at Civic Square in New Brunswick.
- November 1: A choral concert will be given at Kirkpatrick Chapel on the College Avenue Campus. The concert title, Sol Musicae et Occidentem Illustra or “Light of music, shine upon the West also,” is a play on our university motto.
- November 6–7: A two-day conference titled “Black on the Banks” will focus on the African-American experience at Rutgers in the 1960s. Friday’s talks will take place at Neilson Dining Hall on the G.H. Cook Campus, while Saturday’s events will be at Voorhees Hall on the College Avenue Campus. To register for this free conference, visit 250.rutgers.edu/bobtalk.
- November 12: A “Rutgers through the Centuries” University Archives Exhibition will be launched with a lecture by former Rutgers president and historian Richard L. McCormick at Alexander Library on the College Avenue Campus.
- November 17: Two important ceremonies will launch Rutgers 250 activities at Rutgers University–Newark and Rutgers University–Camden: the dedication of the beautifully renovated and repurposed 15 Washington Street in Newark, and the dedication of the new Writers House in Camden, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
More details about each of these events can be found at 250.rutgers.edu.
I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to explore and celebrate our history and to herald the exciting future we are building at Rutgers. I hope to see you on November 10!
Sincerely,
Bob Barchi