McMurry's Centennial Celebration will not be complete without YOU!
Make plans to participate in as many activities as you can. Reminisce with cherished friends, step back through time to our humble beginnings, proudly recall our many accomplishments over the years, and celebrate who we are—past, present, and future—Indians and War Hawks. We are all McMurry!
McMurry University Centennial Gala
Centennial Gala | October 28 at 7 p.m.
Abilene Civic Center—Tickets $125
The McMurry University Centennial Gala is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration that you will not want to miss! Join alumni and friends for an evening of reminiscing and regaling as we tip our hats to our first one hundred years and throw open the door to usher in our second century. Enjoy a delightful evening beginning with a gourmet dinner catered by world-famous Perini Ranch Steakhouse, followed by McMurry’s story emceed by George Levesque, McMurry alumnus and Executive Director of the Historic Paramount Theatre. Guests will bask in the afterglow with music, dancing, and sharing memories with old friends and new. Don’t miss this event which promises to be Abilene’s talk of the town and our Centennial’s crowning jewel!
Online registration for Homecoming and the Centennial Gala will open in June.
McMurry 100 and All Century Teams Announcement Event
On January 26th, 2023, McMurry University debuted the ‘McMurry 100’ and ‘All-Century Teams’ lists, as part of its ongoing Centennial celebration.
The McMurry 100 is a list of 100 individuals and groups of individuals that made an outsized impact in the ten-decade history of McMurry. Our All-Century Teams honor athletes from across McMurry’s history that achieved personal success and brought accolades to the school.
McMurry 100 List
All-Century Teams List
Centennial Iris Garden
The Centennial Garden was established for the McMurry family and the Abilene community to enjoy! Maintenance of the garden requires work and funding. If you would like to support the efforts to ensure this garden is enjoyed by future generations, here are ways you can participate:
Adopt-a-Bed
If you like to garden, we welcome your involvement. You may adopt one of the iris beds, which consists of regular visits to take care of the weeding around the irises and report occasionally on the status of your irises (new growth, lost rhizomes, etc.) A sign naming you as the adopter will be placed in your bed.
Adopt a Bed
Report Status
Centennial Time Capsule
As part of our Centennial celebration, we will seal a time capsule to be opened 25 years from now. Please submit your ideas for items to be enclosed in the time capsule that are indicative of this time in history—either McMurry’s history or our country’s history. For example, no item would be associated more with the 2020s than a face mask!
Centennial Reflections
Help commemorate McMurry’s centennial, by illustrating your McMurry story on canvas to answer the prompt, “What did you discover at McMurry that has had the biggest impact on your life or the lives of others?”
Canvases with 100 words accompanying the pieces of art will be selected and displayed in the hallway between Furr Welcome Center and Radford Auditorium.
Not an artist? Not a problem! Cut out images and make a collage, paint an abstract, play with mixed media, or draw a cartoon. All creations welcome!
Centennial Exhibits
A guide to historic spaces on the McMurry campus
Take a self-guided tour across McMurry’s landscape to visit places that once were and to re-live memories near and dear. Learn about McMurry’s past through photo and story as you leisurely stroll around campus.
Start TourHelp preserve McMurry’s 100-year history in photos. Share your favorite photos from McMurry’s past as part of the Centennial Photo Project. Your photos may appear in the Centennial Museum or the McMurry In Pictures coffee table book available in October 2023.
View GalleryShare your favorite photos from McMurry's past.
Before uploading, please:
- Save photo name as lastname_firstname_imagetitle, so we know the origin of each photo. For Example: doe_john_oldmain.jpg
- Add captions to your files—include names, years, locations, etc.—using a photo editor like Lightroom or iPhoto. If you don’t have a photo editor, you can add captions using Windows Photo Gallery (see instructions below).
Windows Photo Gallery Instructions
- Go to the folder that contains your photos.
- Double click a photo to open it.
- Click the three dots at the top of the screen.
- Click “File info.”
- Click the box by the image icon to change name of photo.
- Click the box by the three lines icon that says “Add a description” and type your caption in the box.
- Click the X twice to close. Your caption is saved.
View artifacts and photos from the past 100 years.
The Centennial Museum in Gypsy Ted Gallery II opened in August 2022 and will stay open through October 2023. Gallery Director and Instructor of Photography & Gallery Studies Jennifer Nichols ’73 spoke about curating the museum for the Centennial celebrations.
“I truly believe that institutional memory is paramount in preserving the history of McMurry,” Nichols said. “We have a rich, multilayered heritage that is important to alumni and students alike. We need to recognize where we came from in order to enrich where we are going.”
Alumni have come forward with important mementos to display, and Nichols has also retrieved items from McMurry’s archives, striving to present McMurry’s history accurately and completely, without leaving out important moments in the university’s life.
Nichols hopes the museum stirs warm memories in alumni and inspires current students to participate in McMurry experiences — building on our rich heritage and creating new traditions.
Commemorate Our Centennial Milestone
Limited edition Centennial items are available for giveaway and purchase to commemorate McMurry’s Centennial year.
Order Now
Event attendees will receive the commemorative Centennial Coin.
Centennial Ornament
This unique ornament depicts on one side the iconic and beloved Radford Auditorium and on the other side, the official Centennial logo. Made of high-quality pewter and packaged in a draw-string gift bag, this heirloom ornament preserves McMurry’s once-in-a-lifetime centennial celebration for future generations.
Order NowVision Keepers
Breathtaking painting commissioned and created especially for McMurry’s centennial by renowned southwest artist, Troy Anderson. Through vivid colors and powerful imagery of both the Indian and the hawk, the artist depicts our celebrated history and the assurance of Dr. J. W. Hunt’s vision carried forth into the next century.
Order NowA coffee table-style book available for purchase fall 2023.
Grounded in History, Soaring to the Future
Contact
For more information about Centennial events and activities, please contact:
