NEWS
CENTENARY COLLEGE OF LOUISIANA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (3/99)
Contact: David Henington, Director of Alumni Relations, 318-869-5151, or
Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120 or 869-5709

Alumni & Family Weekend is March 25-28 at Centenary College

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Centenary College's annual Alumni and Family Weekend celebration will be held Thursday, March 25 through Sunday, March 28.

The weekend will begin with Founders' Day on March 25 to honor the college's 174th year along with the 50th year of Mickle Hall of Sciences, the 25th year of the School of Church Careers and the 1999 graduating seniors. The Founders' Day convocation will be held at 11 a.m. in Brown Chapel with keynote speaker Benjamin R. Oliphint, retired bishop of the Houston area of the United Methodist Church.

An Alumni Awards dinner will be held at 6 p.m. March 25. Dr. Beverly Turner Lynds, Class of 1949, and Robert Goodwin, Class of 1950, will receive the Alumni Association's highest honor when they are inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame. Dr. Lynds, the author of two textbooks, is education programs coordinator at Unidata and project director of "Project Skymath." Goodwin is former chairman, president and chief executive office of Exchange Oil and Gas Corp. and is a current member of the Centenary Board of Trustees.

The dinner will also honor former U.S. Congressman Joe D. Waggonner Jr., also a Centenary trustee, with "Honorary Alumnus" status. It will also recognize the recipients of the Outstanding Teaching Award and the Alumni Faculty Research Grant, whose names will be announced during the Founders' Day Convocation.

On Friday, March 26 at 2 p.m., Centenary's National Alumni Council will meet in the Centenary Room of Bynum Commons. The meeting will be open to all alumni. That evening, the Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet will be held at 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Shreveport Hotel and the School of Church Careers will hold a family dinner in Kilpatrick Auditorium, followed by a reunion at Camelot restaurant at 8 p.m.

On Saturday, March 27, activities include a crawfish boil and moonwalk for the Centenary community and a Quinq Club luncheon honoring the members of the class of 1949, in recognition of their 50th reunion, as well as all alumni who have already celebrated their 50th reunions. Both of these events are at 11:30 a.m. on campus.

Other Saturday events are:

  • 1 p.m., exhibit at the Meadows Museum and children's activities

  • 1 p.m., workshop with Dr. Tex Sample sponsored by the Wilson Lecture Series in honor of the 25th anniversary of School of Church Careers, Kilpatrick Auditorium.

  • 2-3 p.m. Mickle Hall Open House

  • 3-4 p.m. Reception for Drs. Wilfred Guerin, Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman, in honor of the fourth edition of A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Oxford University Press, 1999. Sam Peters Research Building
  • 4-5 p.m. Reception with President and Mrs. Kenneth Schwab and Dr. Tex Sample in honor of the 25th anniversary of Church Careers at the Symphony House.

  • 7 p.m. Workshop with Dr. Tex Sample, "The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World," Kilpatrick Auditorium. Sample is on the faculty of St. Paul School of Theology. He works and teaches in the areas of U. S. culture, social theory and social change, power, social class and theological ethics. He is a specialist in the study of blue collar and poor people. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.

    On Saturday evening special 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, and 50th anniversary reunions will be held throughout Shreveport.

    Alumni and Family Weekend will conclude on Sunday, March 28, with a 10 a.m. reception at the Broadmoor United Methodist Church Parlor. Sunday Services will follow at 10:50 a.m. Additional events and attractions throughout the weekend include the exhibit of African-American art in Meadows Museum, Centenary Gents' baseball games on Friday and Saturday, and Centenary Ladies' softball game on Sunday.

    Dress for the entire weekend is casual and families are encouraged to attend, said Alumni Relations Director David Henington. Deadline for registration is March 12. For more information contact the Centenary Alumni Office at 318-869-5151.

    -30-