GRAMBLING, LA – Grambling State University will commemorate the 114th anniversary of its founding with a celebration of events beginning Sept. 28. The theme for the 2015 Founder’s Week celebration is “ONE GRAMBLING: Honoring History, Keeping Promises and Fulfilling Dreams.”

“Please join us as we celebrate Founder’s Week at Grambling State University from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2,” President Willie Larkin said. “We have set aside this time to reflect on the humble beginnings of this great university over 114 years ago, which stands today as an internationally known HBCU. I encourage each of you – students, faculty, staff and alumni – to continue to build on the solid foundation of our past and strive to make Grambling State University the life-giving, preeminent university its founder, Charles P. Adams, envisioned.”

The official opening of Founder’s Week will begin with a short ceremony at 7:30 a.m., Monday, Sept. 28 at the bust of Grambling’s founder, Charles P. Adams, which is located on the east side of Lee Hall. The opening ceremony will be followed by the annual Founder’s Week Community Fellowship Breakfast from 8-10 a.m. in the Black & Gold Room in Favrot Student Union. The breakfast will begin with a prayer led by Campus Minister, Rev. C. DeWayne Hollins, at 7:55 a.m. President Larkin will also give remarks during the breakfast.

Tickets for the breakfast can be purchased for $10 each at the Grambling State University Advancement Office. Contact Rose Wright at 318-274-2217 or wrightr@gram.edu to purchase tickets.

The Founder’s Day Convocation will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 29 in T.H. Harris Auditorium. Eddie Martin, senior vice president at Bank of America and a 1985 Honor Graduate of GSU, has been named the keynote speaker for the convocation celebration.

“The founding fathers laid a foundation for all students that lasts to this very day,” Martin said. “Without the founding fathers having that vision in their beliefs to set up an institution, regardless of the obstacles that were in front of them, they believed that it would make a significant difference to future students.”

Other events will include special Founder’s Week tours of Grambling State University and departmental and organizational exhibits throughout the week. For more information about Founder’s Week, please call 318-274-6124.

###

Media Contact:
Office of Communications
318-274-2866
mediarelations@gram.edu