Thursday, September 29, 2011

SMU to celebrate centennial

By Andrea Allis
Editor in Chief

Saint Mary’s University is quickly approaching its centennial: 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of SMU, and much is being done in anticipation of the milestone.

There will be several events to take part in, starting with a Cornerstone Commemoration Event on June 23, 2012, “to honor the initial cornerstone being laid in 1912,” according to the SMU centennial website. Other centennial events in 2012 will include Young Alumni and Cardinal “M” Club Weekend Sept. 7-9, a Chicago Centennial Event Sept. 22, and Family Weekend and Arts Commission Debut Oct. 5-7.

The main event will be the Centennial Celebration Weekend in June 2013. “This event will invite all former alumni, faculty, staff, Christian Brothers, seminar graduates [and others] back to campus and, for some of the graduate students, to campus for the first time,” said Bridget McCoy, centennial and special events director at SMU. She added that the event will mark the end of the centennial year and “ring in the next century of SMU, which is very exciting!”

More events will be posted on the centennial website as the time draws nearer and dates are set, including a specific celebration that will be designed by the students for the students.

Centennial Celebration planning began about two years ago when a Visioning Committee was formed. The committee included faculty, staff, alumni and students from “the major constituency areas [of] Winona, the Twin Cities and Chicago” to “create a vision around the Centennial Celebration,” said McCoy.

After that, the 15-person Centennial Celebration Committee was formed, also comprised of faculty, staff and both undergraduate and graduate students. The Centennial Celebration Committee has been meeting for the past year “to formulate the concrete plans” for the celebration’s events, McCoy said.

Currently, McCoy said, there are 12 working groups that will complete the planning and execution of the Centennial events.

For more information on SMU’s Centennial Celebration, visit the centennial website, www.saintmary’s100.com.

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