The ties that connect Rosalynn Carter to Emory University stretch back decades.
The private university in Atlanta is preparing to host a private memorial service Tuesday at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church to honor the former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at age 96. President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are scheduled to attend the service.
To accommodate the service and visitors, Emory classes and student activities on the Atlanta campus will shift to online and remote, or rescheduled, between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday. Many university employees also will work remotely.
Roads around the church will be closed to traffic, and the Fishburne Parking Structure will be closed. Shuttle service to the surrounding area will be halted.
The Carters have long been linked to Emory, which enrolls roughly 16,000 students, more than any private university in Georgia.
After Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 presidential election, the Carters discussed partnering with a university to develop a center where they could work on efforts that advance peace and human rights.
According to Emory, they received offers from multiple schools before deciding in 1982 to establish the center in coordination with Emory.
“President and Mrs. Carter saw in Emory a collaborator whose principles and ethics reflected the values they believed in,” said Paige Alexander, the Carter Center’s CEO, according to a 2022 online Emory history that details the couple’s relationship with the school. “The partnership remains vital to our global mission, with Emory graduates, researchers, thinkers and leaders helping us build a healthier, more peaceful world.”
The association with the well-regarded university provided Rosalynn Carter with opportunities to bring more attention to issues about which she cared deeply.
Emory’s psychiatry department assisted her with starting a symposium on mental health policy, which she hosted through 2016, according to the school. And 20 years ago, Emory established the Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health.
From 1989-2018, Rosalynn Carter served as a distinguished fellow of what began as the university’s Institute for Women’s Studies and is now the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, according to Emory. In that role, she met in small groups with students.
She also introduced speakers at the Rosalynn Carter Distinguished Lecture in Public Policy, an annual speaking series that brought in prominent women policymakers, according to Emory.
In a story posted on the university’s website, Emory President Gregory Fenves praised Rosalynn Carter’s “wisdom, determination and kindness.”
“We are deeply grateful for her many contributions and proud to have partnered with her on historic work in mental health,” Fenves said.
Credit: Curtis Compton
Credit: Curtis Compton
The Carters’ special relationship with Emory was on display annually during the Carter Town Hall. For 38 straight years, Jimmy Carter served as a keynote speaker at an event in which first-year students peppered him with questions, with no topic off-limits. Emory estimates roughly 50,000 students attended the town halls over the years.
The annual town hall was initially held at Glenn Memorial before moving to a larger venue. Emory alumni fondly recall catching glimpses of the couple around campus and how they would often stop to chat and say hello.
Rosalynn Carter also forged significant relationships with other Georgia schools. In 1945, she enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College, now known as Georgia Southwestern State University. She served as her class vice president and was a founding member of the Young Democrats Club, according to the university.
She founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving in 1987 at the university in Americus, not far from her hometown of Plains.
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