Deputy vice-chancellor for external engagement Prof Helen Nicholson presented a schedule of key dates to the university council meeting on Tuesday.
She told the council the anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate with the city of Dunedin, as well the university's staff, students and alumni.
"We are planning a whole series of events," she told the council.
"It's 150 events for 150 years."
A yellow, scented rose has been commissioned by the university to mark the occasion, as well as a special anthem, which is being written by composer and Otago music professor Anthony Ritchie.
The main celebrations would start on January 25 with a Burns Night supper in the town hall, followed by a picnic in February, Prof Nicholson said.
"We are inviting the folk of Dunedin to come and join us for a picnic [on the registry lawn]."
Speaking yesterday, Prof Nicholson said the bulk of the events would be open to the public as the university wanted to recognise the importance of its relationship with the city.
Celebrations in the first semester would include a street parade for international students, which would also include food stalls and other activities.
"Each [group of students] wears their national dress and has their flags to wave," Prof Nicholson said.
More formal celebrations would held over Queen's Birthday weekend, including an official ceremony and banquet for alumni, an exhibition at the Otago Museum and a church service.
In the latter half of the year symposiums would be held in Invercargill, Dunedin, Queenstown, Wellington and Auckland, and an international regatta with events at Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel.
In late June, a play marking the 150th anniversary would be staged at the Fortune Theatre, based on the stories of New Zealand's first female law graduate, Ethel Benjamin, and the country's first female medical graduate, Emily Siedeberg, who both graduated from Otago.
A book on the university had also been written for the occasion by historian Ali Clarke, Prof Nicholson said.
