Bright new banners have gone up around the LaGrange College campus, just in time for what planners hope will be a banner week for the 179-year-old institution.

Beginning Monday, a wide-ranging series of events will mark the inauguration of Dan McAlexander, the college’s 25th president. The investiture is at 10:30 a.m. Friday but both the formal ceremony and the varied events surrounding it have been months in the making.

“It’s been like planning eight weddings on steroids,” said inauguration committee co-chairman Joe Cafaro, a professor of history and former faculty president.

Cafaro and Tammy Rogers, director of stewardship and leadership development, were asked by McAlexander to lead the planning team, which includes staff, faculty, alumni, trustees and LC first lady Celeste Myall.

Rogers, who also helped plan the 1997 inauguration of McAlexander’s predecessor, Stuart Gulley, described her role as “list maker in chief.” She has a bulging notebook to prove it.

“There are lists and lists and more lists. There are thousands of details and thousands of questions. We are continuously asking, ‘Have we forgotten something?’” Rogers said.

The planning committee has been working since November to hash out both major decisions and minor details. They made arrangements for world-renowned Bible scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crosson to give Monday’s Waights G. Henry Lecture and lined up Auburn professor Drew Clark for Thursday’s Epps lecture on “The Bible as Literature.”

But they also debated how the Bananas Foster should be served at the inaugural gala (in a glass or on a plate?) and figured out where the choir should stand to maximize acoustics at the investiture on the Lewis Library plaza.

The newly hoisted banners bear the words “Transforming lives,” a reflection of the inauguration theme: “To challenge, to inspire…to transform.”

The theme itself plays off the college’s motto - “Challenging the mind, inspiring the soul” - and adds a word introduced into the college’s mindset by McAlexander.

“Any president has key words, and Dr. McAlexander frequently emphasizes that attending LaGrange College should be a transformational experience for students,” Rogers said.

The chosen theme draws on tradition, but adds McAlexander’s touch, she said.

The theme and broad spectrum of events are intended to reflect the college’s links to church and community, as well as its commitment to academic excellence, servant leadership and the arts. On Tuesday, the LaGrange Symphony, orchestra in residence at the college, will recognize McAlexander and the school in its “Voices of Spring” concert. Saturday will be a day of service, with students and staff joining in the West Point Lake cleanup. The LC chorus wraps up the inaugural weekend with its spring concert at 3 p.m. April 18, a couple of hours after the baseball team plays Piedmont at Cleaveland Field.

Though McAlexander’s installation will be the centerpiece of the week-long celebration, organizers emphasize that all the fuss is “not about one man.”

“It’s not so much about Dan as about an institution founded in 1831,” Cafaro said. ”It’s a chance to celebrate our past and our future. … It’s about our desire as an institution to raise our visibility. The inauguration is a wonderful opportunity to do that.”

But “doing that” involves plenty of pomp and circumstance, lots of etiquette and a major effort to spruce up the campus.

National Management Services, the campus facilities partner, has been pressure-washing “everything that isn’t moving,” and placing plants and flowers everywhere, Rogers said.

“I can’t imagine doing this without their excellent service, attention to detail and dedication to making this campus look its best,” she said.

Caffeine consumption has been high as the inauguration week nears. A wall of color-coded post-it sheets tells each staff member what their responsibilities will be next week, and a detailed chart spells out the timetable and order of march for the inaugural.

Simulations have been held to fine-tune plans for the academic processional, itself a major exercise in protocol and centuries-old tradition. More than 30 colleges and universities have accepted invitations to participate in the inaugural, and their representatives, according to custom, will march in order of their institution’s founding. Alumni in the processional will represent each class year back to 1938, also marching in reverse chronological order. Student ushers have been selected, trained and supplied with matching ties and scarves. There will be a staging area, lists for those who will be robed or not robed and an opening fanfare composed for the occasion by music professor Lee Johnson.

The processional, featuring faculty and guests in full academic regalia, will be led by William Yin, professor of math and president of the faculty. Yin will carry a black walnut mace hand-carved by alumnus Randy Allen for the inauguration of President Gulley. The mace, which symbolizes the authority of the office of the president, has become part of the college’s ceremonial traditions, and planners expect to create a new tradition when McAlexander takes his oath using the personal Bible of Rufus Smith, LaGrange College president from 1885 to 1915. The well-used Bible, donated to the college last year by Smith’s great-granddaughter, will be held by former presidents Walter Murphy and Stuart Gulley and former interim president Charles D. Hudson, connecting the college’s presidents past and present.

Cafaro, an award-winning professor, has even found ways to incorporate some teaching into the inaugural planning. His students researched previous presidential speeches, dating to the 1800s, and some of their findings may be used by McAlexander in his inaugural address. Other students boned up on campus history and will lead candlelight tours of campus landmarks following Wednesday’s prayer service and organ concert at First United Methodist Church. Appropriately for 21st century students, a text message straight out of history- “Send for my Russian cigarettes - will be used to signal the end of the prayer service and alert students to deploy to their tour posts.

“This was a prearranged signal to be sent from Sergei Witte while he was negotiating for Russia with Japan to end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905,” Cafaro said. “In the event that negotiations had broken down, the signal was to be sent indicating that Russia should resume military operations against Japan. The negotiations were mediated by President Teddy Roosevelt in Portsmouth, Maine. As a result of his successful mediation Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Most of the inaugural events are open to the public, and Rogers encouraged community members to take advantage of the quality speakers, musical events and programs.

With most of the planning done, her main concern now is the one thing she can’t put on a list.

“We need blue skies for the investiture on the plaza and picnic to follow on the residential quad,” she said.

Callaway Auditorium will be used in case of rain.

The workload has been challenging, but Rogers says the inauguration planning has been among the most rewarding experiences of her 19 years on the Hill.

“As much work as it has been, it further bonds you to the college and gives a deeper appreciation of all it stands for. We have had a great team to work with. I feel privileged to be part of it,” she said.

Cafaro suggests a simple way to measure the success or failure of their behind-the-scenes labors.

“When next week comes, if it all looks easy, we’ve done our jobs,” he said.