As Miami University's Bicentennial committee plans its celebration of the university's 200th birthday in Oxford, Miami's department of alumni relations is working to expand the celebration across the country and around the world.

On Feb. 21, 2009, Millett Hall's Charter Day Ball will be just one of nearly 30 venues around the globe holding celebrations for Miami's bicentennial. From Los Angeles and New York to London and Luxembourg, thousands of Miami alumni will join together to celebrate the university's history.

"This is such a unique moment in time," said assistant vice president of alumni relations Raymond Mock. "It is the celebration of 200 years in history. Very few public universities have reached this landmark, and we want to give alumni everywhere the opportunity to celebrate together."

With a few Charter Day celebrations scheduled for cities like Houston, Boston, Tampa, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., and Chicago, the department of alumni relations hopes to attract Miami alumni from all across the country, assistant director of alumni relations Steve Warden said.

"This is a historic event and we want to get as many alumni together as possible," said Warden. "We didn't want to limit celebrations to just Oxford. The charter day ball is a fantastic opportunity for the students, but we have over 140,000 alumni across the country and we want to give them an opportunity to celebrate this special night as well."

Warden explained that the Charter Day events are organized and run by volunteers from Miami's alumni chapters around the country. The funds needed to run these events are provided by the ticket sales to the events.

According to Mock, Charter Day events across the country will differ from city to city. While some celebrations will be more formal with a banquet hall, a sit-down dinner and a live band, other chapters will be hosting casual dinners at local restaurants to celebrate.

Even though the venues and festivities may differ from place to place, Warden said each group will have the opportunity to show a video presentation celebrating Miami's history. He said the video has not yet been completed, but will include pictures of the university through its history with a special focus on structural changes made to the campus.

"The video slideshow is a great thing for alumni who have not been to Miami's campus recently or who don't know much about the campus architecture before their time at Miami," Mock said. "It gives them a sense of how the campus has changed over the years and how the university has grown."

Along with the video presentation, Mock said the department of alumni relations has special plans for the four cities they expect to have the largest turnouts on Charter Day: Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.

A live Webcast will give these cities a window into the celebrations at Millett Hall. Simultaneously, those at the Charter Day Ball in Oxford will be able to see the celebrations going on in these four cities via a large screen projection of the Webcast, Mock said.

"Essentially it will be like Dick Clark's New Years celebration where they show how people are celebrating in different parts of the country," Mock said.

This is not the first Charter Day the Miami community has tried to communicate with alumni across the country using technology, Mock said.

According to "Chronicle of Achievement," a short history of the Miami Alumni Association by former director and vice president Doug Wilson, the alumni council organized the first "All-Miami Day" on Feb. 17, 1925. On this day, meetings were held in more than 40 cities across the country with thousands of alumni gathering around the radio to listen to a special broadcast on WLW radio Cincinnati.

During this broadcast, then current Miami President Raymond Hughes and Coach George Rider spoke to alumni via the airwaves. A musical program was also organized for the event over the radio.

Mock said it is very important for the Miami community to keep strong ties with its alumni, particularly during tough economic times when alumni financial aid is more important than ever.

"By staying connected, alumni are more likely to help us recruit students, come back to teach, or give graduates jobs," Mock said. "There are a variety of ways that alumni are important to the university and events like this help them stay connected."

Along with the Charter Day celebrations, Miami alumni are also encouraged to attend the Alumni Weekend in June and fall homecoming to continue the bicentennial celebration, Mock said.

There are additional plans for President David and Valerie Hodge to attend more than 20 alumni chapter events across the country during the bicentennial year, Mock added.