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