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Capitol Hill, February 6, 2026 | The University of Liberia has launched a year-long celebration commemorating 75 years since achieving university status in 1951, a globally recognized milestone known as the Diamond Anniversary. Founded in 1862 as Liberia College, UL is Liberia’s flagship university.
To launch the Diamond Anniversary celebration, a press conference was held on Thursday, February 5, 2026, in the Nathaniel Casselle Building on the UL Capitol Hill campus. The event announced a series of activities planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary.
At a press conference, UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan announced the theme for the university’s 75th anniversary: “From Our Foundation to Our Future: UL @ 75.” She also revealed the official anniversary logo. Celebrations will officially kick off on February 15, coinciding with UL’s Founders Day.
The theme reflects continuity and transformation, honors UL’s deep foundations, and emphasizes relevance, reform, and growth.
Further, the framework is based on a vision known as the Five Es, introduced during President Maparyan’s inauguration last year. These principles—Education, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Excellence, and Ethics—guide all actions and decisions of President Maparyan’s administration.
“This anniversary, by design, sets the tone for the future direction of this institution, and, building on the legacy of UL’s prior greatness, for our expansion into UL’s next highest and best version of itself,” Dr. Maparyan said.
Kickoff events:
* Feb 15 — Service of Thanksgiving
• Feb 16 – Anniversary Parade & Art & Craft Exhibition
• Feb 17 – Student Day
• Feb 18 – Community & Partners Day
• Feb 19 – Faculty & Staff Day
• Feb 20 – Alumni Homecoming
• Feb 23 – UL Alumni Chorus Benefit Concert
• Feb 28 – President’s Ball
The UL @ 75 celebrations will continue throughout the year.
In a special statement at the press conference, Dr. Maparyan emphasized that UL’s history is intertwined with Liberia’s national journey. She noted that the institution’s significance lies in the fact that many of its alumni hold positions in various sectors, including government, education, health, law, media, business, and civil society.
“Today, on the verge of this Diamond Anniversary, we are positioning UL for another chapter of transformation,” said Dr. Maparyan.
Explaining the significance of UL’s 75th anniversary celebration, President Maparyan indicated that 75 is a universally acknowledged milestone anniversary.
“You know whether you’re having a birthday, a wedding anniversary, or any such thing, you know 75 is an important anniversary. It’s a big deal. It’s the diamond anniversary by many accounts,” she said.
Dr. Maparyan stated that it is an important time for UL to celebrate significantly, reminding the world of the institution’s legacy and setting a clear course for the future.
In her administration’s first year, Dr. Maparyan highlighted a key achievement: the UL Faculty Senate’s approval of a regularized academic calendar. This new calendar includes two standard semesters and a vacation period.
The regularized academic calendar ensures that classes are consistently available for students pursuing their academic goals, allowing them to progress at an efficient pace.
She expressed enthusiasm about the university’s progress on improving bathroom facilities over the past year, with support from Interim Vice President for Administration Selmah Jallah and partners including the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation.
She recalled that UL gained its university status in 1951 and the UL Charter expanded the institution’s academic and national mandate.
According to Dr. Maparyan, this led to growth in the curriculum, expansion of the faculty, new professional training opportunities, an uptick in research, and vaster contributions to national leadership.
“We are now celebrating seventy-five years of this growth and development, from an institution that once had only a few hundred students to an institution now boasting nearly 30,000,” the UL President stated.
In response to journalists’ inquiries about UL’s strategic goals, Dr. Maparyan announced that the official UL strategic plan for 2026 to 2030 will be released soon, coinciding with the university’s 75th anniversary.
In the strategic plan, President Maparyan outlined several goals aimed at improving infrastructure and revitalizing UL’s flagship status. These goals include faculty and staff development, administrative enhancements, and initiatives focused on student success, as well as cross-cutting objectives related to women’s empowerment, gender equality, disability inclusion, and multi-faith representation.
“We’re at a point in time when we need to do some rapid transformation of the university. So we have a very strong fundraising plan in the strategic goals. One way that we are doing that is by creating a division of institutional advancement, which is actually built upon our current UL Relations Division,” President Maparyan explained.
According to her, the new division adds responsibilities for fundraising and development as well as external relations to help expand UL’s reach and to have a very robust fundraising operation, which is required of modern universities that will be extensive fund from extramural sources.
Regarding infrastructure, she detailed that a good amount of that fundraising will be dedicated to infrastructural revitalization because of the state of UL’s buildings.
“Many are quite old. Many are still sustaining damage and some need to be completely replaced. And so within the plan, there is room to engage in all of those things. The plan talks about renovation of those buildings that are still good, beautification of our campus grounds everywhere, and also some new construction,” she continued.
As for academic quality, Dr. Maparyan stated that her administration recognizes that in any university, the academic disciplines need to be refreshed periodically to make sure that the institution is reviewing the curriculum for its alignment with the most advanced cutting-edge knowledge from around the world and best practices pedagogically.
“And so we’llbe looking across all of UL’s academic departments, finding out when their last update was. And for those who need new updates, we’ll be engaging in a new curriculum review.”
