ATLANTA - On February 8, Oglethorpe University will celebrate Oglethorpe Day, in honor of James Edward Oglethorpe, the college’s namesake and founder of Georgia.

The celebration will begin at 11:45 a.m. with a bagpipe summons on the Academic Quadrangle, followed by the Petrels of Fire Race at noon. After the race, the bagpiper will lead the crowd into the Conant Performing Arts Center for a convocation with keynote speaker Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael L. Thurmond. A Georgia-themed lunch will be served in Emerson Student Center at 1:00 p.m.

Thurmond, a noted historian and Clarke County native, became Georgia’s first African-American Labor Commissioner in 1998. He oversees 4,000 employees and serves 90,000 families in this capacity. Thurmond, 53, practiced law in Athens before being elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1986. A graduate of Paine College and the University of South Carolina Law School, Thurmond has published two books, A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History and Freedom: An African American History of Georgia, chairs the Martin Luther King, Jr., Georgia State Holiday Commission and serves on the board of curators of the Georgia Historical Society.

For more information on Oglethorpe Day events, call the Office of Student Affairs at 404-364-8335.