MOUNT OLIVE – Mount Olive College will celebrate 61 years of Christian higher education at its annual Founders Day event on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m. in Southern Bank Auditorium. The Founders Leadership Award be presented during the Founders Day service. Employees celebrating continued years of service to the College will also be recognized during the celebration. Wesley E. Beddard will deliver the keynote address.

Beddard graduated from Mount Olive College in 1978 with an associate’s degree in business administration. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Atlantic Christian College, now Barton, in 1980 and earned his master’s degree in the same field from Campbell University in 1986. Beddard is the dean of instruction at Beaufort Community College and serves as the chair of the North Carolina Community College System Curriculum Review Committee.

Mount Olive College was chartered in 1951 and opened the following year with six students at Cragmont Assembly. The institution was originally named Mount Allen Junior College. In 1953, the college moved to Mount Olive and the name was changed to Mount Olive Junior College. Twenty-two students were enrolled during the first collegiate year after the relocation. Today, the college is one of the fastest growing private colleges in the state, educating more than 5,000 students annually.

Mount Olive College is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The college, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.