University of Cincinnati Announces Bicentennial Activities

Boldly Bearcat captures 200 years and a new era of impact

CINCINNATI – April 13, 2018 – The University of Cincinnati (UC) announced its Bicentennial Celebration at a kickoff event today. UC is the 18th oldest public institution in the United States and traces its origins to the founding of the Medical College of Ohio and Cincinnati College in 1819.  

UC marked this historic milestone with the unveiling of its Bicentennial theme, Boldly Bearcat, and a commemorative logo. Boldly Bearcat captures the tenacity, drive, determination and grit that characterize UC and its faculty, staff, students and alumni.

UC President Neville Pinto, UC Student Body President Sinna Habteselassie and UC Student Alumni Council President Mackenzie Mayernik announced a series of events and projects that will occur during the Bicentennial year and involve the community. 

The Bicentennial kickoff coincides with the recent launch of UC’s new strategic direction —Next Lives Here — that outlines its vision to lead urban public universities into a new era of innovation and impact. 

“This Bicentennial Celebration will honor our university’s rich past, elevate its dynamic present and look forward with great anticipation to its innovative impact over the next 200 years,” Pinto said. “It’s time to show the world that Next Lives Here at the University of Cincinnati.”

Two Bicentennial projects will support urban impact:

  • Bus Shelter Project: UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) students and faculty are collaborating with Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) to create bus shelters for CPS students in underserved areas.
  • Mini Grants: The Bicentennial Community Engagement Mini Grants program will invest in projects that celebrate and extend UC’s commitment to the Cincinnati community. Local nonprofit organizations will be invited to apply for grants that range from $1,000 to $10,000 for projects that support a healthy community. More than 1,000 first-year UC students will work with Mini Grant recipients on their projects.  

The university’s 200th anniversary will be celebrated at the following events; updates and details will be available at 200.uc.edu:

  • UC Homecoming: Oct. 6, 2018
  • UC Bicentennial Charter Week Celebration: Jan. 15-19, 2019
  • UC Bicentennial Community Day: April 6, 2019 
  • UC Homecoming: October 2019 (Final date TBD)
  • UC Bicentennial Signature Celebration: Nov. 9, 2019

The UC Virtual Experience will be introduced during Charter Week. Using the technology of virtual reality, UC’s Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research will allow visitors to walk through UC’s history and into the future. This includes a visit to famed UC researcher Dr. Albert Sabin as he develops the oral polio vaccine; the classrooms of UC’s past; the Darwin T. Turner story of diversity and inclusion; how UC’s campus has changed through the years; and energizing the crowds of Nippert Stadium as the Bearcat. 

Three books and a historical web timeline will be released in conjunction with UC’s Bicentennial year. 

Learn more at 200.uc.edu

About the UC Bicentennial
The University of Cincinnati is the eighteenth oldest public institution in the United States and traces its origins to the founding of the Medical College of Ohio and Cincinnati College in 1819. Reaching this historic milestone puts UC in prestigious company of other pioneering and enduring institutions. Home of the first cooperative education program, the nation’s first teaching hospital, the oral polio vaccine, and the first antihistamine, it is rooted in innovation, grit, and tenacity to learn more, to be more, and to do more. Join UC as we mark this historic milestone of our first 200 years that have paved the way for our future, as we show the world that UC will lead urban public universities into a new era of innovation and impact.

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