August 18 is UWG Centennial Day
In celebration of the Centennial observance, August 18 has officially been declared “University of West Georgia Centennial Day” by both Carrollton Mayor Wayne Garner and County Commissioner Chairman Robert Barr.
The university kicks off a yearlong celebration on Friday with activities throughout the day, culminating with the largest event ever, the Centennial Gala.
UWG’s 100th birthday celebration begins at 9 a.m. with the Annual Rivers Alive cleanup at the Little Tallapoosa River. The service project is hosted by the Department of Geosciences and the Upper Tallapoosa Watershed Group and is open to all local residents, faculty, staff and student volunteers. Participants should bring gloves and boots and meet at Public Safety North Parking Lot shortly before 9 a.m. After the cleanup, volunteers are invited to a UWG Centennial Cookout at the Callaway Building at noon.
The celebration continues with a 100th birthday party and a renewed tradition that began in 1919. Almost a century ago, the Fourth District Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) School principal John Holland Melson asked governors from the original 13 colonial states for a gift of an oak tree in a variety indigenous to their state. Several are still growing along Front Campus Drive.
University, city and county officials, and UWG faculty, staff and students will remember those gifts by participating in a tree planting ceremony at 2 p.m. in front of the Martha Munro Building. Carrollton Mayor Wayne Garner, Carroll County Commission Chair Robert Barr and UWG President and Senior Vice Chancellor Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna will speak at the event.
After the ceremony, participants are invited to enjoy a slice of a UWG centennial birthday cake. Community residents are invited to the event.
Other Centennial events are scheduled throughout the day on campus and include:
* A UWG Centennial poster exhibit, hosted by the Department of Sociology and Criminology, opens at 8 a.m. in Pafford Hall.
* The showing of the premiere of "Birth of a College," a PowerPoint presentation celebrating 100 years at UWG, begins at 10 a.m. in the Education Center.
* Three movies will be shown beginning at 9 a.m. in the Geography Building in Room 2. "A Day Without a Mexican" will be shown 9 -10:30 a.m.; "Kandahar" will be shown 10:30 Ðnoon; and "City of God" will be presented from 1-3:30 p.m.
* A Centennial Celebration Cookout will be hosted by the Richards College of Business at 11:30 a.m. on the patio at Adamson Hall. Faculty, staff and students are invited.
* The Department of Geosciences will host tours of the Calloway and Geography Buildings and the Water Research Station. Tours begin at 1 p.m. A slide show of the geosciences laboratories will be shown in the Geography Building, Room 12, at 1 p.m.
The Centennial celebration continues when the university makes history hosting its largest event in 100 years with a Centennial Gala at the new Campus Center ballroom. The black-tie event will host approximately 400 guests and will include a culinary feast, live music and the awarding of the university’s highest honor, the Founders Award. A video history with highlights of West Georgia’s first ten decades and recollections from UWG’s alumni, former presidents’ family members and retired staff will be shown.
West Georgia will continue its centennial celebration throughout the year with dynamic campus events open to the community and faculty, staff and students. For more information, visit the centennial website at 100years.westga.edu or call 678-839-6464.
