Celebration of Learning is Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation’s largest fundraiser of the year and one of the most anticipated evenings on the city’s cultural calendar.

Book-ended by cocktails and seated dinner in the Nationwide Foundation Grand Atrium, this year’s program features award-winning author Candice Millard, writer of three New York Times bestsellers including The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey and Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President. The program also features the presentation of the Julian Sinclair Smith Award for Lifelong Learning

Join us on Friday, November 1 at Main Library for an evening celebrating literature, libraries and the people who love them! For details on levels and benefits, click here for sponsors or here for individuals.

Register

Event Schedule:

6:00 p.m.   Cocktail Reception
7:15 p.m.   Program
8:30 p.m.   Dinner
9:00 p.m.   Book Signing
11:00 p.m.   Event Concludes

 

2019 Celebration of Learning Committee

Co-Chairs:  
  • John Behal 
  • DeeDee Glimcher
   
Committee Members:  
  • Lauren Bonfield
  • Barbara Brandt
  • Darci Congrove
  • Sue Cooper
  • Melanie DeAscentis
  • Barbara Derrow
  • Sandy Doyle-Ahern
  • Marjorie Duffy
  • Diane Garland
  • Mary Jo Green
  • Charlotte Kessler
  • Gale V. King
  • Patrick King
  • Wayne Lawson
  • Trip Lazarus
  • Vicki Linville
  • Victoria Losinski
  • Jennifer McNally
  • Antoinette Mongillo
  • Shannon Morgan
  • Cindy Rasmussen
  • Lynne Redgrave
  • Corde Westwater Robinson
  • Renée Shumate
  • Barbara Siemer
  • Sheila Smith
  • Benita Smoot
  • Catherine Strauss
  • Hope Wolman
  • Ed Yen
  • Ellen Yen

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Corporate Sponsor or a member of the Celebration of Learning Society! Please contact us at col@columbuslibrary.org or 614.849.1051 with any additional questions.

General admission registration will open on Monday, Oct. 14, space permitting.

2019 Honorary Chairs

Jeni Britton Bauer and Charly Bauer

Jeni Britton Bauer and Charly Bauer share a deep and decades-long connection with libraries. One of Jeni’s first jobs was youth programming at the Upper Arlington Public Library. This is also where she spent all of her free time writing a business plan for what would become Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, founded in 2002. With a Master’s in Library and Information Science, Charly spent 9 years working for OhioLINK and OCLC before joining Jeni on her quest to change the ice cream world.

Jeni remains the beating heart of the company and is in charge of all creative output—from the ice cream itself to the supporting details that enhance the experience of eating it. Her first cookbook, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller and won a coveted James Beard Award in 2012. Jeni is a trustee of the Wexner Center Foundation and the Columbus College of Art & Design, a 2017 Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute, and has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business today.

Charly Bauer is Director of Stewardship at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. He oversees the company’s environmental, community, and employee engagement initiatives. He also manages the philanthropic giving program that focuses on the arts and human rights. Charly has served on numerous business and community non-profit boards and is currently on the Board of Trustees of Leadership Columbus, as well as the Executive Advisory Board of BuddyUp Tennis, a nonprofit that empowers young athletes with Down Syndrome through tennis and fitness programs. Charly was a Peace Corp Volunteer in Malawi from 1992-1994.

 

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