Set for at 10 a.m. in the Baker University Center Ballroom, the event gives the entire university community an opportunity to honor some 200 students and faculty members for their academic achievements and contributions. It also shines a spotlight on the university's history and integral role in Athens and southeast Ohio.

Later in the day, the university's newest Distinguished Professor, Mark Phillips of the School of Music, will present a public lecture, "Behind the Music: How and Why I Compose," in Walter Hall 135.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to honor our history, celebrate our university as a place of promise and visit with friends and colleagues from across the university," said Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl, who will convene the morning convocation. "It is a busy time of year, but Founders Day offers us a unique chance to come together as a community and celebrate the successes of our students, faculty and staff."

The university recognizes Feb. 18, 1804 -- the day the state's General Assembly chartered the university -- as Founders Day. The legislature's act, coming less than a year after Ohio became a state, makes Ohio University the oldest university in Ohio and the first public institution of higher education in the former Northwest Territory, which included Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.

"As the settlers moved west, one of their goals was to establish educational institutions, and OU was one of those first institutions," said Trustee Professor of English Samuel Crowl, who has long taken an interest in university history. "Compared to some of the institutions that were just born yesterday, OU goes back to the founding documents that projected the country into higher education."

Crowl and Richard Greenlee, interim dean of Ohio University-Eastern and the university's associate provost for Appalachian access and enrichment programs, are among several individuals who will share reflections on how the university is infused with a distinctive atmosphere intimately connected to southeast Ohio.

"We are unique in that we have the opportunity to engage a community and a region with a remarkable history and dynamic future," Greenlee said. "We live in a time when we should honor and learn from the traditions of the community and collaborate with the region … to build a stronger future together and develop a reciprocal relationship where we learn from one another."

Krendl will single out faculty award recipients at Friday's convocation. In addition to Phillips, these will include Outstanding Professors from regional campuses, Presidential Teacher Award recipients and University Professors. Also being recognized are recipients of Vision OHIO Excellence Awards, which honor strong contributors to the Vision OHIO academic plan.

President Roderick J. McDavis will deliver the Founders Day address.

Ann Fidler, dean of the Honors Tutorial College, will recognize students who have received the university's most competitive scholarships as well as the winners of top national and international awards. It is an ever-growing list.

"Ohio University students are competing at the very highest level with these scholarships, and they are winning," said Ann Brown, director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. "The important thing to me is that our students' successes reflect what an excellent education they have had at Ohio University and reflect the kind of support and encouragement and knowledge they have received along the way."

A reception will follow in Baker Center's fourth-floor atrium near the ballroom.

Coming Wednesday: An interview with Distinguished Professor Mark Phillips