Founder's Day is about to change. Celebrated this year on November 8, Founder's Day will feature an arts festival instead of a lecture and award presentation. The tradition (shown here in 1996) of eating ice cream near Mary Lyon's grave at dawn will continue.
Eating ice cream at Mary Lyon's grave will continue, but almost everything else about Founder's Day will change this year. According to Phil Buchanan, assistant to the president, this year's Founder's Day celebration November 8 will feature an arts festival instead of the traditional lecture and awards ceremony. The idea arose from discussions among faculty and students about how best to celebrate the anniversary of the day in 1837 when the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary first opened. The changes are intended to enhance interest in and attendance at winter convocation and Founder's Day events.
Plans for the arts festival are still taking shape under the leadership of arts department chairs, but it is expected to include international food and music, performances of the play Dancing at Lughnasa, and a choral concert.
Second-semester convocation will also change its content, Buchanan said. Presentation of student leadership prizes will continue, joined by the awarding of student academic prizes that used to be presented at Founder's Day. These include announcement of early Phi Beta Kappa inductees and the Sarah Williston Scholars. "Winter convocation will become a gala celebration of student achievement," Buchanan said. In addition, a small number of midyear bachelor's degrees, once granted on Founder's Day, now will be presented at winter convocation.
Details about both events will be published as they become available.
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