| RELATED INFO |
| * Purdue Homecoming |
October 3, 2007
Homecoming fun to focus on Purdue's past, present
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
The week's events run Monday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 28, and include the noon kickoff Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 27, in which Purdue takes on Northwestern.
"Homecoming offers alumni the chance to come back to Purdue at a very exciting time while giving community members the chance to take part in the pageantry that is Homecoming on a Big Ten campus," said Kirk Cerny, executive director of the Purdue Alumni Association. "We offer something to delight all ages, from the very young to those who are young at heart. We invite students, alumni, faculty, staff and local citizens to check out Purdue."
The week before activities start, student organizations will help get campus in the mood for Homecoming by painting the windows of businesses in the campus area and hanging banners over the Grant, Wood, Northwestern and University parking garages. The groups are encouraged to include this year's theme of "Through the Decades ... Milestones in Purdue History" in their decorations.
"The Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering is being dedicated during Homecoming Week," said Carly Salczynski, director of homecoming for the Purdue Student Union Board. "With something so monumental happening, we wanted a theme that would help highlight some of Purdue's many accomplishments over the years."
At least 15 astronauts who graduated from Purdue, including Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, will be on campus on Saturday, Oct. 27, to dedicate the new $53.2 million Neil Armstrong Hall. The public is invited to the event, which starts at 10 a.m. in the building at Northwestern and Stadium avenues. A link to a live Webcast of the dedication will be available on the Purdue home page at https://www.purdue.edu
Representatives from Engineering Projects in Community Service, or EPICS, will be on hand during the dedication to talk about the student engineering program and answer questions. On Friday morning, Oct. 26, the public is invited to the unveiling of a statue of Armstrong in front of the building.
The homecoming festivities get under way with the Homecoming Kick-Off Cook Out at noon on Monday, Oct. 22. Purdue Student Union Board will pass out hot dogs, chips and soft drinks free of charge to Purdue West Lafayette students on Memorial Mall.
The Division of Recreational Sports will commemorate 50 years on campus with an anniversary celebration Oct. 21-27. Events get underway on Sunday, Oct. 21, with a "Dive-in Movie" from 8-10 p.m. in the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The pool will be open while a movie plays on the facility's big screen. All events planned for the week are free and open to the public. A full schedule is available at https://www.purdue.edu/RecSports/
A blood drive will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24, in the Purdue Memorial Union's East and West Faculty Lounges. The drive is part of the Purdue vs. Indiana University Blood Donor Challenge, and all donations collected on that day will go toward Purdue's total.
Purdue will celebrate 50 years of the Krannert School of Management on Oct. 25-26 with alumni panels, musical activities and speakers. Speakers will include Nobel Prize laureate Vernon Smith at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Krannert Auditorium and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms. All events except the Mitchell speech are free and open to the public. Tickets for dinner and the speech are still available by contacting Tim Newton, Krannert director of external relations and communications, at (765) 496-7271, tnewton@purdue.edu.
A full schedule is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/x/2007b/
070925CosierAnniversary.html.
The two-day celebration culminates with a free concert in a tent behind Rawls Hall by The Buckinghams, a rock band whose top-10 hits in the 1960s included "Kind of a Drag," "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" and "Susan." The concert will begin immediately after remarks at 12:30 p.m. by Purdue athletic director and Krannert alumnus Morgan Burke.
Homecoming Student Appreciation Night, a new event this year, is scheduled from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, Oct. 25. The Union Rack and Roll will offer half-price billiards, $1 bowling games and free shoe rental for all Purdue students with a Purdue ID. Other games, prizes and music from the decades will round out the evening at the bowling alley and billiard center located in the Purdue Memorial Union.
On Friday, Oct. 26, as part of October's Experience Liberal Arts, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, will deliver a public talk at 2 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music. Patrons are asked to arrive by 1 p.m. to pass through security. Specifics on special security measures are available on Purdue Convocations' Web site at https://www.convocations.org. Tickets are sold out.
Also beginning that Friday, NASA will celebrate the dedication of Neil Armstrong Hall by sending its traveling exhibit - "Vision for Space Exploration Experience" - for a five-day tour. The exhibit will allow visitors to "walk" on the moon and Mars and learn about space exploration. It will be parked next to the new building, located at Stadium and Northwestern avenues, and will be open to the general public on the following days and times:
* 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday;
* 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday;
* 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, with priority given to youth groups that preregister;
* 3-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
For details visit https://www.purdue.edu/uns/x/2007b/
070918CelArmstrongExhibit.html
Purdue Theatre will present "Six Degrees of Separation" throughout the weekend, beginning with a 7:30 p.m. performance in the Carole and Gordon Mallett Theatre in Yeu-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts at the corner of Wood and Sheetz streets. The production continues at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27, and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28. Tickets are $10.50 for the general public and seniors, and $8.50 for students. To buy tickets, call (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW.
A free concert by the Purdue Jazz Band is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse.
The 7th Annual Boilermaker Night Train parade also will begin at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at the corner of Third and Russell streets. Alumni are invited to march in the parade. Those marching should meet at 7 p.m. at the south end of the Purdue Armory.
The parade route will begin at the corner of Third and Russell streets, head south on Russell Street, turn west on First Street, head north on Martin Jischke Drive, turn west on Stadium Avenue and end at Slayter Hill. The parade will feature floats by student and community groups and will include both walking and motorized entries.
A pep rally will follow on Slayter Hill around 9:30 p.m. Actor Dennis Haskins, known for his role as Mr. Belding on "Saved by the Bell," will emcee the rally. The Purdue "All-American" Marching Band, Spirit Team and Dance Team will perform. Fireworks are scheduled to begin immediately following the pep rally.
The Homecoming king and queen will be announced and crowned during the pep rally and will be introduced during halftime of the Purdue-Northwestern game on Saturday, Oct. 27. Online student voting for the king and queen will take place from Oct. 12-19 at https://www.purdue.edu/ssinfo.
Members of this year's Homecoming queen's court are: Amanda Fox, Indianapolis; Rebecca Hurst, Lawrenceburg, Ind./Troy, Ohio; Sara Jacobs, Metamora, Ill.; Liz Lehmann, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Ariel Miller, Rossville, Ind.; Neena Phadke, Valparaiso, Ind.; and Lydia Ryan, Tinley Park, Ill.
Members of this year's Homecoming king's court are: Evan J. Hickey, Dyer, Ind.; Ian Pike MacDonald, Willow Springs, Ill.; Christopher McNamara, Goshen, Ind.; Levi Riggs, Danville, Ind.; Tom Seto, Evansville, Ind.; Preston Spratt, Evansville, Ind.; and Joe Zerbo, Apple Valley, Minn.
From 9-11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, the celebration on the Purdue Mall will feature more than 40 tents housing displays by colleges, schools, departments and divisions.
Among the displays will be a children's activity area featuring a "big bounce house" with inflatables and an obstacle course and trivia games.
The Discovery Park tent will boast an 8-foot model of a strand of DNA. Visitors to the Discovery Park tent also can pick up free glow-in-the-dark footballs and take part in interactive games and activities. Videos highlighting the park's accomplishments will play continuously.
The College of Science will demonstrate the cooling power of liquid nitrogen by combining it with whole milk, sugar and flavor to make batches of ice cream at its tent.
Other highlights include free blood pressure readings by the Purdue Student Health Center to help promote awareness of health and active living. The Purdue Crew will set up a 40-foot long rowing shell. Many tents will offer trivia games and other challenges.
Also, performances by musical groups and other artists will be featured on the stage by Schleman Hall on Stadium Mall Drive. Scheduled performances include the Groove Theory, a student jazz group, the Black Voices of Inspiration and the Purdue Varsity Glee Club.
Five area restaurants - Pizza Hut, Subway, Dairy Queen, Sgt. Preston's and Moe's Southwest Grill - will operate the Boiler Food Court near the stage.
For the third year in a row, parents can enter their children in the Most Spirited Kid Contest. Children ranging in age from newborn to teen-agers will be judged on who looks the most like a Boilermaker fan. Prizes will be given to winners in multiple age categories, from newborn to high school. All contestants should arrive and sign in at 9:30 a.m. at the children's activity area, and judging will begin at 9:45 a.m. Cerny will announce the winners at 10:30 a.m. just before Purdue President France A. Córdova takes the stage.
The Purdue Mall festivities will end with the president and first gentleman, Chris Foster, leading Purdue's "All-American" Marching Band and Purdue alumni and friends to Ross-Ade Stadium for the noon game kickoff.
The Purdue Varsity Glee Club will perform at the Homecoming Worship Service at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28, at University Church, 320 N. Street.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, the co-hosts of the Discovery Channel's popular television show "MythBusters" will present clips that never aired and answer questions from the audience as part of their presentation in Purdue's Elliott Hall of Music.
The event, sponsored by the College of Science, is part of the yearlong centennial anniversary celebration, called 100 Years of Innovation and Imagination. Tickets for the event, featuring Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, will cost $10 for students and $18 for non-students. Tickets are on sale through the university box office.
Writer: Tanya Brown, (765) 494-2079, tanyabrown@purdue.edu
Sources: Catharine Adair, Homecoming committee co-chair, (765) 496-2160, cadair@purdue.edu
Nicole Reas, Homecoming committee co-chair, (765) 496-6193, nreas@purdue.edu
Margie Stoltz, Purdue Student Union Board program adviser, (765) 494-8907, mcstoltz@purdue.edu
Carly Salczynski, csalczyn@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
FILE PHOTO CAPTION:
Beth Serale and Ken Hall, along with their 2-year-old son Nathan Hall, watch jugglers Chad Lau, from left, a graduate student in electrical engineering, and Reuben Schuff, a graduate student in aeronautical engineering, during Purdue Homecoming festivities in 2006. (Purdue News Service file photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality file photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2007/homecoming06-adv.jpg
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