Bowling Green , Ky. - Western Kentucky University will wrap up its yearlong “A Century of Spirit” Centennial celebration with several Founder’s Day events Nov. 16 -18.

The events include the dedication of the Centennial Mosaic on Nov. 16, the dedication of the Charles A. Keown Plaza and a Founder’s Day concert on Nov. 17 and the dedication of the Centennial Mall and a “Centennial” sculpture on Nov. 18.

“I’m really pleased with the way the campus community has embraced the Centennial,” said Dr. David Lee, dean of the Potter College of Arts & Letters and the chair of WKU’s Centennial Committee.

Academic departments, campus organizations and other groups have taken advantage of the Centennial celebration to reflect on their history and to think about the future, he said.

The Centennial Mosaic “is a one of a kind statement to the future,” Dr. Lee said. The mosaic, located between Helm Library and the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center, will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Nov. 16.

The mosaic was designed by Kim Chalmers, head of WKU’s Art Department, with contributions from other university departments. The mosaic design includes a compass rose inlaid with a sundial and a constellation star map of the night sky at midnight on Nov. 16, 2106.

“Our message to folks 100 years down the road is that we were thinking about WKU’s Bicentennial,” Dr. Lee said.

At 3:30 p.m. Nov. 17, WKU will dedicate the Charles A. Keown Plaza between Northeast and Southwest halls. Keown, the first dean of students at WKU, was instrumental in the creation of the Student Government Association, the fraternity and sorority system on campus, the Residence Hall Association and other campus organizations during his tenure from 1956-85.

The Founder’s Day concert will begin at 7:30 pm. Nov. 17 at Van Meter Auditorium and will feature the premiere of “Divine Days,” a Centennial commissioned work by Paul Basler for the WKU Band and Choir.

The work by Basler, a professor at the University of Florida, is one of five pieces commissioned for the celebration. Composers of the other Centennial works are Michael Kallstrom, David “Doc” Livingston, Bennie Beach and Charles Smith. The concert also is part of a reunion weekend for the WKU Music Department.

The dedication of the Centennial Mall at 1 p.m. Nov. 18 will include the unveiling of “Centennial,” an outdoor sculpture by Gino Miles of Santa Fe, N.M. The Centennial Mall is the major pedestrian corridor between Downing University Center and Grise Hall.

Miles became interested in painting and sculpture in the early 1970s while attending the University of Northern Colorado. He traveled to Florence, Italy, where he founded Italart, a school for American and German students in the Chianti region outside Florence. He studied in Universita per I Stranieri in Perugia and the Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence and received a master of art in sculpture from the University of Northern Colorado in 1979.
For more on WKU’s Centennial, visit www.wku.edu/centennial.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Jayne Pelaski at (270) 745-5016.

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