Year-long celebration marks 150 years of Rider history and success

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of Rider University, which has planned a year-long slate of events to celebrate the historic occasion.

The sesquicentennial celebration commemorates Rider’s history as a leader in higher education, salutes its recent history of unprecedented growth and looks forward to future milestones, such as the opening of the Marion Buckelew Cullen Center on the Westminster campus.

“We can look back on our last 150 years with pride and to our future with confidence,” says President Mordechai Rozanski.

The 150th Celebration begins on Sept. 16 with Cranberry Fest, an annual tradition since 1979 that honors the University’s namesake, Andrew J. Rider, who was also known as “The Cranberry King of New Jersey” because of his efforts to promote cranberries at home and abroad.

Following Cranberry Fest, a formal 150th Celebration Kick Off Event, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, will take place. The author of six critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling books, Goodwin will give a talk, which is open to the public, on the leadership lessons of Abraham Lincoln.

Celebrating and learning the history of an institution is important, Goodwin says, because it “makes you feel connected to all those generations that came before you. You know that you’re standing on a foundation that other generations built. It means you’re not living your life alone but are part of who your forebearers were and part of who your successors will be.”

There will also be a Guinness World Record record-setting attempt, a formal benefit event at Jasna Polana Country Club on Oct. 24 in honor of the College of Business Administration’s 150th anniversary, ceremonial ribbon-cuttings for new campus facilities, student performances and much more.

The sesquicentennial celebration will also hit the road this year. Several cities will host events for alumni around the country, including those in Texas, California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. The concluding Sesquicentennial Gala, planned for April 18, 2015, will honor the inaugural recipients of the “Sesquicentennial Medal of Excellence.” A Westminster Choir tribute will also recognize the legacy of President Mordechai Rozanski, who will retire on Aug. 1, 2015.

Rozanski is the University's sixth president since Rider began in 1865 as the Trenton Business College, one of several private business schools begun by H.B. Bryant and Henry D. Stratton after the Civil War. The school gradually grew in size and scope, eventually re-locating from Trenton to Lawrenceville and merging with Westminster Choir College in Princeton.

Please visit www.rider.edu/150 for updates on event details, as well as additional stories, videos and photo galleries related to the sesquicentennial.