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Founders Day
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About Founders Day
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Indiana University's Birthday

Founders Day is Indiana University’s birthday. It commemorates the date, January 20, 1820, when Indiana’s fledgling legislature approved the establishment of the university.

The first “Foundation Day” (as the celebration was formerly known) was held on January 21, 1889. Over the years, the ceremony has taken many forms and been held on various days, in some years during the week and in others on weekends. Many still recall when the observances included a procession to the grave of IU's first president, Andrew Wylie, where a wreath-laying ceremony took place, a tradition that continued sporadically until 1995.

Founders Day has always included public addresses by the university’s current leaders in remembrance of the pioneering legislators and scholars who conceived and constructed this great institution, one of the oldest and largest universities in the United States. A 1924 article in the Indiana Alumnus newsletter observed, “The day has become an occasion for a family reunion of the children of the University, who listen to a message from the President and pledge again their allegiance to the Mother who gave them intellectual life.”

Today Indiana University marks its founding with two events, the Celebration of Distinguished Teaching, which honors outstanding faculty members from all eight campuses, and campus Honors Convocations, which salute student achievement. For example:

  • At IU Bloomington, the Honors Convocation is held in the IU Auditorium. Speakers include Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie, Indiana University Executive Vice President and Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson, and a distinguished undergraduate student.
  • On the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, the Chancellor’s Academic Honors Convocation is held inmid- to late April at the campus’s University Place Conference Center. Both students and faculty members are honored at the event.
  • The IU Kokomo Honors Convocation, formerly called Honors Day, is held the first Monday of May, the day before IU Kokomo’s Commencement. It takes place in Havens Auditorium on the campus, with from 600 to 800 students and family members in attendance.
  • The annual Academic Honors Convocation at IU Southeast is held the Sunday afternoon before Commencement in Stem Concert Hall, the campus’s Fine Arts Auditorium. Graduating undergraduates who have achieved the ranks of highest distinction, high distinction, and distinction are honored at the ceremony.

Though IU Honors Convocations have evolved during the life of the university, they have always served as a source of inspiration. Consider these remarks made at the 1985 Honors Convocation at IU Bloomington by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, chancellor of the campus for more than 20 years:

“Through the years since the university’s founding, the meaning of scholarship has flowered in new directions, gained broader dimensions. Intangible though the concept of scholarship may be, it thrives with a vital, unseen life of its own.”

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