{"id":40634,"date":"2026-01-09T11:26:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=40634"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T17:12:21","slug":"year-200-furman-university-celebrates-its-bicentennial-throughout-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/year-200-furman-university-celebrates-its-bicentennial-throughout-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 200: Furman University celebrates its bicentennial throughout 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As Furman University\u2019s Paladins return to campus in 2026 and get their Spring semesters started, they return to a campus celebrating two centuries of achievement.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Furman\u2019s Bicentennial kicks off this year during the Opening Bicentennial Convocation on Feb. 12. As one of the nation\u2019s oldest universities, Furman is entering its third century as pioneers in engaged learning and high-impact approaches to a liberal arts education.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-39991 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-768x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-512x512.jpg 512w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color-1280x1280.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/10\/Furman-Bicentennial-Logo-Primary-Color.jpg 1800w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/300;\" \/><\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Throughout the year, Furman invites Paladins, friends of the university and the entire community to participate through special events intended to connect people and create new memories while marking this milestone.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The flagship of the celebration is the first comprehensive history of Furman&#8217;s first two centuries authored by Courtney Tollison, distinguished university public historian and scholar. The book was commissioned by the president of the university, Elizabeth Davis, and was compiled with the assistance of three Furman students. It will be sold at bookstores and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bkstr.com\/furmanstore\/product\/furman-university--1826-2026--an-illustrated-history-879880-1\">online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Exclusive Furman <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bkstr.com\/furmanstore\/search\/keyword\/bicentennial?cm_sp=FurmanBicentennialFY26-_-Hero-_-2355\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">vintage merch<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> inspired by the university\u2019s heritage is also available as Paladins everywhere step into our next century together.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cAs we look toward our bicentennial year, my wish for us collectively, as the Furman University Community, is to be grateful for each other,\u201d said President Elizabeth Davis in her holiday message to campus.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cAnd to remember it\u2019s the support we show each other and this wonderful institution that makes us one of the best liberal arts and sciences universities in the country.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To stay connected and follow the latest bicentennial news, visit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/bicentennial\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">furman.edu\/bicentennial<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Furman invites alumni, families, friends and the community to gather and reflect on our 200-year journey and the possibilities ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":40664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3404,3492],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bicentennial","category-campus-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40674,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions\/40674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}