All Day Inaugural Celebration

HANCOCK, MI – A full day celebration marking the inauguration of Finlandia University President Philip Johnson will take place Thursday, September 20, 2007. The event will showcase the people, programs, heritage, and vitality of Finlandia University as the school begins its 111th academic year. All are welcome.

A formal inaugural and installation ceremony for President Johnson begins at 3:00 p.m. at the university’s Paavo Nurmi Center, followed at 4:15 p.m. by a reception at Finlandia Hall.

The inaugural program includes music by pianist Clay Hilman, a choral performance of music composed by former Suomi College music director Martti Nisonen, the Kivajat youth dancers directed by Kay Seppala, and the Four Thunders Drum from KBIC/LVD. A variety of community, church, governmental, and other special guests will be on hand to greet President Johnson and wish Finlandia well. Northern Great Lakes Synod-ELCA Bishop Dr. Thomas Skrenes will lead the Rite of Installation.

Rev. Dr. Said Ailabouni, senior pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, LaGrange, Ill., will deliver the inaugural address. Pastor Ailabouni was born and raised in Galilee in the city of Nazareth. He studied for pastoral ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul Minn., and the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago. Ailabouni was President Johnson’s supervisor at the Mekane Yesus Theological Seminary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

For visual and acoustic effect, very special Jacquard fabric will hang in the Paavo Nurmi Center for the inaugural festivities. The spectacular fabric panels were designed by Finlandia University fiber students for a Jacquard Design course taught by Liz Folk in the spring 2007 semester. Five yards of each of the six students’ two designs will be draped from the ceiling.

Events throughout the day include informational symposia, open classroom visits, student-led campus tours, and other opportunities to learn more about Finlandia, its degrees and programs.

Visitors are invited to begin their Sept. 20 campus visit at the Hoover Center where they can collect a schedule of the day’s events and a campus map, and chat with university students and staff.

From 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., visitors are invited to visit regularly schedule classes on both campuses. A list of these classes will be available the day of the event.

Four informal informational symposia will take place. At 9:00 a.m. at North Wind Books, visitors will learn about the Suomi College of Arts and Sciences Finnish Studies Program with Finnish instructor Anna Leppanen, Finnish Studies students and others. All day, the bookstore’s Finnish collection will be highlighted, and discounts offered on Finnish collection books and Finnish functional design items.

At 10:00 a.m. at Finlandia’s Portage Campus, students, faculty, and staff will be on hand to tell visitors about the International School of Art and Design and the Jutila Center for Global Design and Business.

Finlandia’s Servant Leadership program, and especially its annual service learning trip to Tanzania, West Africa, is the subject of a symposium at the Chapel of St. Matthew at 11:00 a.m.. Interim Campus Pastor René Johnson, along with many of the students who traveled to Tanzania this spring and in 2006, will be on hand to share photographs and engage in informal discussion.

At 1:00 p.m. in Wareglin Hall, Room 303, Finlandia Nursing program students will present a report of their May 2007 study abroad trip to Finland.
Campus visitors are welcome to purchase lunch at the Mannerheim Cafeteria from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

The celebration concludes with two evening events. At 5:30 p.m. the Finnish film “Mother of Mine” will be shown at the Finnish American Heritage Center. The poignant film tells the story of one of the more than 70,000 Finnish children who were evacuated to neutral Sweden during WWII.
The fun reaches its zenith at 7:30 p.m. at the Paavo Nurmi Center when traditional Finnish dance music by the PasiCats, and the unique Copper Country rock by Erik Koskinen. Admission is $5.00. Finlandia students are admitted free.

With the exception of the dance, all of the inaugural celebration activities are free. Finlandia University is in downtown Hancock, Mich., at 601 Quincy St. (U.S. Hwy. 41). For additional information please call the President’s Office at 906-487-7201.