ATLANTA - Oglethorpe University will inaugurate its sixteenth president, Lawrence M. Schall, J.D. Ed.D., on April 22, 2006. Dr. Schall brings to Oglethorpe a commitment to public service and a belief that institutions of higher education must actively serve the public good. Schall believes that Oglethorpe’s place in Atlanta, one of the country’s few selective liberal arts colleges located in a thriving urban setting, provides it both the opportunity and the obligation to make a difference to the city. The theme of the three-day celebration is “Hands On,” and the unique inauguration festivities include a day of service at an Atlanta public elementary school with the entire Oglethorpe community taking the day off from their regular classes to participate.

The inaugural celebration will kick off on Thursday, April 20, with the Honors and Awards Ceremony and Liberal Arts Symposium, both Oglethorpe campus traditions. That evening, Oglethorpe Women’s Network will present An Evening with the Mayors. Discussing their roles in and commitment to public service will be very special guests Ambassador Andrew Young and the Honorable Mayor Shirley Franklin. This landmark event will be held in the Richard H. Rich Theatre inside the Woodruff Arts Center at 6:00 p.m. A reception will follow in the Nita and J. Mack Robinson Atrium of the High Museum from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

On Friday, April 21, the Oglethorpe community will come together to make a difference in the city of Atlanta. Oglethorpe will work on a revitalization project at Garden Hills Elementary School, part of the Atlanta Public School System. Members of the Oglethorpe community will work at the school from 10:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

The day will conclude with a barbeque picnic on the newly renovated quad at 6:00 p.m., a concert by University Singers in the Conant Performing Arts Center at 8:00 p.m. and a movie on the quad at 10:00 p.m.

The formal inauguration ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 22, inside the Conant Performing Arts Center at 10:00 a.m. Alfred Bloom, Swarthmore College’s president, and Ellen Schall, Dean of NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, will open with brief remarks about the public role of colleges and universities. The Oglethorpe University community will be joined by other university presidents, community leaders and the general public. A reception will follow on the Conant veranda.

Schall began his first year at Oglethorpe by leading dozens of faculty, staff and students in relief efforts in the Gulf Coast and just accompanied twenty six students back to New Orleans over spring break. He continues connecting with the community through weekly letters detailing his activities and impressions of the week, through late night “fireside chats” in the residence halls of the students, and in even less formal activities such as intramural basketball. Oglethorpe continues its public service initiative this summer, working with Project Grad Atlanta, a group dedicated to ensuring a public school education for at risk children in Atlanta’s disadvantaged communities.

A parent of one student recently wrote, “I want to tell you how impressed my daughter is with your leadership as well as your accessibility to the students. Every email I get from her enthuses about something wonderful going on at OU, as well as the great things she is learning. Thank you for your leadership in this. I am grateful.”

Schall holds his undergraduate degree from Swarthmore and his Juris Doctor and Ed. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former civil rights lawyer who returned to his alma mater fourteen years ago. He was the vice president for administration at Swarthmore College and co-Director of the Executive Doctorate Program in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania, before becoming president of Oglethorpe University on June 23, 2005 and taking over for the retiring Dr. Larry Denton Large. Schall was chosen through a comprehensive, national search led by Board of Trustees Chair Belle Turner Lynch '61.

Schall and his wife, Betty Londergan, a writer, have four children.