Marietta College celebrates its birthday, which was February 14, 1835, in February every year with a tribute called Founders Day. In 2018, the College changed up the format to include a campus celebration that includes a birthday cake. It's also a time to present faculty awards and cherish in what it means to be a Marietta Pioneer. The 2020 Founders Day — the College's 185th birthday — is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, February 13th. The dinner begins at 5:15 p.m. The College has been celebrating Founders Day on a consistent basis since 1921.
In the face of long odds, our founders established Marietta College to provide higher education in a frontier that was then known as the Northwest Territory. Henry Smith, one of the original faculty members and Marietta President from 1846-55, described the early times as, “a most emphatic illustration of the foolhardiness of young men and the wisdom of God in accomplishing his own purposes by just such human folly. Men of experience would have shrunk from the work, as (a) desperate and foolhardy enterprise, the work of attempting to build a college in an almost inaccessible western town.”
Founders Day 2022 Winners
Douglas Putnam Faculty Service Award
Mark Miller
Douglas Putnam Collaborative Staff Service Award
Christy Burke
Amanda Mullen
John G. and Jeanne McCoy Teaching Excellence
Michael Morgan
Innovative Teaching Award
Andy Francis
Chyrsten Gessel
Cathy Mowrer
Research Award
Mark Sibicky
Edward G. Harness Outstanding Educator Award
Raven Cromwell
Andy Francis
Linda Lochart
Advising in the First Year Award
Melissa Grande
Advising in the Major Award
Rick Smith
Cathy Mowrer
Staff Award for Mentoring
Melissa Gandor
Community Leadership Award
Sara Rosenstock
Linsley Community Partner Individual Award
Tres Ross
Outstanding Education Volunteer Award
Alice Chapman (Posthumous)
Accepted by: Gary Williams on behalf of the Chapman Family
2021 InSPIRE Award Winners
Linda Rhoads
Tina Hickman
Kristin English
Sarah Long
Annie Kubala
Rhonda Bumgarner
Chantal Centofanti-Fields
Ben Brown
Linda Showalter
Ellen Campbell
Ricci Bailey
Christy Burke
Dr. Jean A. Scott Staff Award for Distinctive Service
Amanda Haney-Cech
Tracey Wynn