Celebrate the University’s Birthday and the New Bridge!

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new bridge will take place (weather permitting) on Feb. 21 at 12:15 p.m.

This will be the second year that the University celebrates Founders Day with a float contest. Last year's float contest was won by the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (pictured above).

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to celebrate the University of Hartford’s 56th birthday on Thursday, Feb. 21, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new bridge, a float contest, and more!

Feb. 21 is Founders Day, the anniversary of the date when the University was formed. The charter establishing the University of Hartford was signed on Feb. 21, 1957.

The Founders Day festivities actually will begin the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the men’s basketball game against New Hampshire. The game begins at 7 p.m.

Students who attend the Feb. 20 game will receive FREE Founders Day T-shirts. All students who wear the T-shirts to the next day’s Founders Day festivities will receive a prize, and will be entered into a drawing for a larger prize!

The Feb. 20 basketball game also will feature a paper airplane contest at halftime, at which participants will make paper airplanes and send them flying toward a target on the basketball court!

On Thursday, Feb. 21, there will be a number of Founders Day festivities (weather permitting), and all members of the University community are encouraged to attend:

– At 12:15 p.m., there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the new bridge that crosses the Park River between The Hartt School and Lincoln Theater. President Walter Harrison will offer brief remarks.

– Immediately after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there will be a float contest on the new bridge. The theme of the float contest is “Building Bridges,” and all students and campus organizations are invited to enter. To enter the float contest, contact Barbara Steinberger in the Office of Marketing and Communication, at bsteinber@hartford.edu, by 5 p.m. on Feb. 14. See complete details about the float contest.

– Following the float contest, participants will parade to Gengras Student Union, where the celebration will continue with birthday cake and music from the Pep Band!

So come to the basketball game on Feb. 20 and the Founders Day festivities on Feb. 21, and celebrate the University’s birthday – and the new bridge – in style!