Founding Madres: College Celebrates 99th Birthday

Yesterday Connecticut College celebrated Founders Day, the anniversary of the day Conn was chartered back in 1911. The afternoon featured a series of events recognizing alumni, years of academic and athletic excellence, as well as the long-anticipated unveiling of Conn’s redesigned camel mascot.
The series of events commenced with the “Past as Prologue: Alumni Remember” student performance, directed by associate professor of theater, Leah Lowe, which was based on interviews with three alumni of different generations – 1920s, 1950s and 1970s. The alumni experiences were brought to life, helping to “envision life at Connecticut College through the years.”
The Founders Day tea, following the Past as Prologue student performance, commemorated the success of the college over the past 100 years while featuring emeriti faculty as special guests. The event featured a display of historical photos of faculty, entertainment by a student jazz duo and offered students the chance to make suggestions about how the college should celebrate its Centennial.
In learning more about the history of Founders Day, The College Voice spoke with Patricia Carey, Secretary of the College and Vice President of College Relations, who let us in on some of the details.

VOICE: What is the basic history of Founders Day at Connecticut College?
CAREY: Founders Day is the official birthday of Connecticut College. On April 5, 1911, Matthew Rogers, Secretary of the State of Connecticut signed and sealed the College’s first charter, which had been granted by the Connecticut General Assembly the previous day.
In the original charter, the name of the college was Thames College. The name was changed in July 1911 to Connecticut College for Women. After the college began admitting men in 1969, the name was changed for the second time, to Connecticut College.
VOICE: Are there any special traditions for the day?
CAREY: There are very few existing traditions associated with April 5. We are really starting new traditions and raising awareness of the upcoming Centennial. The Centennial will be celebrated from April 5, 2011 and end on Founders Day 2012. So Monday’s celebration begins the one-year countdown to the Centennial. And then the next two Founders Days will be the bookends — start and finish — of the year-long Centennial celebration.
VOICE: How were the events for Founders Day decided upon?
With a lot of help from students, the three planned events touched on many important aspects of the college, including the alumni experience, the central role of faculty, the contributions of emeriti faculty to the college today, and the NESCAC scholar-athlete ideal. There’s been a lot of student interest and involvement.
Each of the three events featured students. Anders Nielsen ‘12, Kristen Caruana ‘13 and Molly Clifford ‘13 performed in a theater piece. The student jazz duo at the Founders Day Tea included Erik Caldarone ‘12 and Liz de Lise ‘13. The student band You’re So Hip! performed at the Celebration of Athletics, featuring members Zura Grdzelishvili ‘12, Max Kelly ‘12, Pete Konowski ‘12, Mihir Sharma ‘12 and Mark Warburg ‘13. Devon Butler ‘10 served as master of ceremonies for the Celebration of Athletics.
We’ve also worked to engage alumni who couldn’t attend, but were very interested in the anniversary. We’ve been running a trivia contest on the College’s Facebook page — and all of us in College Relations have learned a few things ourselves from alumni’s answers! We also gathered more than 1,300 signatures on an electronic greeting card that was printed out and displayed at the Founders Day Tea. It ended up being more than 75 feet long!
VOICE: How is the college preparing for the Centennial?
President Higdon appointed a Centennial Planning Committee that began meeting in February. I am co-chairing the committee together with Leah Lowe, associate professor of theater. The committee will coordinate and implement special projects and events throughout the Centennial year. We will also work with the committees that already plan major institutional events — including Convocation, Fall Weekend, Commencement and Reunion — so that each of these has some connection to the Centennial.
We are looking for ideas, and featured a Centennial suggestion box in the 1962 Room on Founders Day. Students can also pass on ideas through the student members of the Centennial Committee: Nate Cornell ‘11 and Katie Mullaley ‘12. We want to involve all the constituencies of the college: faculty, staff, student, trustees, alumni, parents and the surrounding community. We hope to use this special anniversary to celebrate the history and future of liberal arts education at Connecticut College.
The Founders Day celebration this year has been one step in the process. Another step that we’ve been working on for more than a year is updating the college’s visual identity. The new institutional logo is being implemented now — you can see it on the Cro Boulevard banners and on some of the college vehicles.
VOICE: Do you have any hopes for the next hundred years for Conn?
I hope — and strongly believe — that Connecticut College will just keep getting better and better. When Connecticut College was founded, it was to provide an education for women who were being excluded from other schools simply because they were women. That’s a founding story we can all be proud of — and it is only the beginning of a proud history. For nearly 100 years, Connecticut College has provided an extraordinary liberal arts education. Just in the last five years, under President Higdon’s leadership, we’ve seen significant momentum with campus improvements and new investments in the student experience. The Centennial is a chance to celebrate the college’s achievements and advance our aspirations for the second century. The college’s past provides a strong foundation for a brilliant future.
Celebrations of the College’s founding will also include the event “Moving Worlds: 100 Years of Women’s Education at Connecticut College” on April 23 and 24. Aili Tripp, professor of political science and gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will deliver the keynote address April 23 at 5 PM. in Harkness Chapel. Student and alumni presentations will follow on April 24 from 9:30 AM-5:30 PM in Silfen Auditorium, Bill Hall.