WILLIAMSBURG — The head of the world’s largest museum, education and research complex will be the key speaker at William & Mary’s annual Charter Day ceremony next month.

The Feb. 9 ceremony will also highlight the college’s yearlong effort celebrating the arts.

Lonnie G. Bunch III, who serves as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and served as founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will deliver remarks and receive an honorary degree at the event.

As secretary of the Smithsonian, Bunch leads more than 40 museums and libraries, plus the National Zoo and a variety of research and educational centers.

“Lonnie Bunch has changed the way countless people understand American history and identity,” W&M President Katherine A. Rowe said in a news release. “His work sets museums at the heart of our democracy — as sources of shared learning, community engagement and civic power. William & Mary is proud to honor him during our Year of the Arts.”

The annual Charter Day ceremony marks William & Mary’s founding in 1693 by British royal charter. This year’s event, which is free to attend, is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Kaplan Arena.

Also during the ceremony, former W&M rector Jeffrey B. Trammell, who graduated in 1973 and is considered a leader in strategic counseling, politics and education and is an advocate for LGBTQ rights, will receive an honorary degree.

Rowe said Trammell’s “dedication to W&M over decades impacted generations of students, faculty, staff and alumni.”

More recently, in 2022, Trammell helped establish an archive collection at Swem Library that focuses on American LGBTQ political and legal history.

The ceremony continues the university’s observance of the Year of the Arts, which kicked off when William & Mary opened its new Fine and Performing Arts Complex last year. The expansion and renovation of the Muscarelle Museum of Art, which will be part of the new Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, is expected to be completed later this year.