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Dedication ceremony set for Centennial Time Capsule

April 8, 2004

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University will hold a dedication ceremony for its Centennial Time Capsule at 5 p.m. Monday, April 19, at the Centennial Sculpture in front of the Seibert Administration Building.

WMU dignitaries speaking during the event will include WMU President Judith I. Bailey; Shavonne Petts, vice president of the Western Student Association and capsule project coordinator; and Ruth Heinig, co-chairperson of the Centennial Steering Committee.

The time capsule is scheduled to be opened on the University's Founders Day, May 27, 2053. Until then, it will reside in the base of the Centennial Sculpture, an outdoor work that was commissioned in honor of WMU's 100th anniversary and dedicated Oct. 23, 2003.

Heinig says the items to be placed in the small capsule will be announced during the dedication ceremony. A committee is currently working with the director of University Archives and Regional History Collections, Dr. Sharon Carlson, to pare down the list of available material.

"We want to select items that are reflective of 2003, our centennial year, and of life at WMU today," Heinig says. "But we also want to make sure that everything we put in the container can and will be preserved for half a century.

"Getting to this point has been a lengthy, yet exciting process," Heinig adds "We really appreciate all the wonderful suggestions and material that people contributed."

For more information, contact Shavonne Petts at (269) 387-2194 or <s1petts@wmich.edu> or Heinig at (269) 387-8449 or <ruth.heinig@wmich.edu>.

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, 269 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

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