Stanford will welcome more than 10,000 visitors this week with the opening of the four-day Reunion Homecoming on Thursday and the inauguration of Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Stanford’s 11th president, on Friday.
The Stanford community is invited to attend the Inauguration Ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, in Frost Amphitheater. Faculty, students, alumni and staff also are invited to attend the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. reception for Tessier-Lavigne and his wife, Mary Hynes, in the Inner Courtyard of the Main Quad.
Tickets for the inauguration are required for members of the Stanford community – faculty, students, alumni and staff – who would like to attend the private event.
Marc Tessier-Lavigne will be inaugurated as Stanford’s 11th president on Oct. 21. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)
Faculty and staff tickets are available for free on a first-come, first-served basis at the Stanford Ticket Office, located on the second floor of Tresidder Memorial Union. Tickets will be available through Thursday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or until all tickets are gone. Tickets are limited to one per current Stanford faculty member and one per current staff member. Valid current faculty and staff IDs are required.
During the inauguration and reception, traffic access to Lasuen Street, Roth Way and Museum Way will be restricted. No parking will be allowed on Roth Way between Palm Drive and Lasuen Street. Also, parking will not be allowed on Lasuen Street between Roth Way and Campus Drive.
Inauguration ceremony
The presidential inauguration will be webcast for those who are unable to attend the event or do not have a ticket. A limited number of tickets will be available to view the webcast in Bing Concert Hall. Tickets will be available at the concert hall beginning at 9 a.m. until the venue is full.
Stanford also will present a live broadcast of the ceremony from 9:30–11 a.m. on its radio station, KZSU 90.1 FM.
Tessier-Lavigne, who assumed the role of president on Sept. 1, is a pioneering neuroscientist, a former Stanford faculty member (2001-2005) and an outspoken advocate for higher education. For the past five years, he served as president of The Rockefeller University in New York City.
The reception following the inauguration ceremony will feature live stage performances by a variety of Stanford student groups reflecting the diversity of the campus. Light box lunches and beverages will be available.
Reunion Homecoming
Stanford expects to host more than 10,000 alumni and guests during Reunion Homecoming this year, including Merritt E. Cutten, a 99-year-old member of the Class of 1939, said Leslie Winick, director of alumni and student class outreach for the Stanford Alumni Association.
The association cancelled its regular reunion programming for Friday morning so alumni can attend the presidential inauguration. Later that same day, they are invited to attend a ceremony inducting new members into the Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame.
The Oct. 20-23 event features more than 165 individual programs, including tours, open houses, class panels and Dinner on the Quad. Alumni will participate in more than 325 mini-reunions during the four-day event, which also includes games and activities for children who register for Cardinal Kids Camp.
During “Classes Without Quizzes,” Stanford faculty members will explore some of today’s most pressing issues and unveil cutting-edge research. Alumni will have dozens of classes to choose from this year, including:
- The Price of a Ticket: Theater, Art and Social Justice
- Steinbeck and Drought in the West
- Racing the Presidential Election: Black Republicans, Green Latinos and Multiracial Voters
- How Online Impulsivity is Turning Us into an Impulse-Driven Society
- The Fog of Concussion
Among the many available tours during Reunion Homecoming, participants are invited to tour the new David Rumsey Map Center, which opened in April in Green Library.
Reunion Homecoming also includes a public symposium that is part of the ongoing celebration of the university’s 125th anniversary. During “Before Stanford: New Research on Historic Campus Connections,” scholars will explore inward and outward from the Stanford center as they integrate history, archaeology and community-driven research. Their work reveals deep, ongoing ties between campus lands and many interconnected communities throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
In addition to soccer (Stanford Women’s Soccer vs. Colorado and Stanford Women’s Soccer vs. Utah) and football (Stanford vs. Colorado), Reunion Homecoming includes three performances of “Democratically Speaking,” a two-hour staged reading that explores the ideas and realities of democracy, from ancient Greece to the Occupy Movement.
The four-day event ends Sunday evening with Compline, a reflective, contemplative 30-minute service of hymns, anthems and chants sung by Stanford and local choral ensembles in the tranquil candlelit ambiance of Stanford Memorial Church.