Stanford to welcome alums at Reunion Homecoming Thursday

The annual Stanford Reunion Homecoming, which is expected to attract nearly 9,000 alumni and guests, takes place Oct. 24-27.

Stanford’s Reunion Homecoming is not just a time for alumni to trade their favorite memories from the Farm, it’s also an opportunity to make new ones.

Class of ’06 members AnJuanna Napue, Chioke Borgelt-Mose, Nia De Younge, met up with Stanford staffer Kaara Baptiste, ’05 at the Ford Center during Homecoming weekend. The four-day celebration includes class parties, panels, mini-reunions and more all across the Stanford campus. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

Some 9,000 alumni and guests will return to campus Thursday through Sunday to meet and mingle during a four-day celebration that includes class parties, panels and mini-reunions, plus the signature Evening on the Quad and the always-popular Classes Without Quizzes.

Alumni from every state and 20 countries will gather at some of the 165 events organized by the Stanford Alumni Association, which has partnered with more than 40 campus organizations to create programs that will provide something for everyone, said Leslie Winick, SAA’s director of alumni and student class outreach.

“The reason we host such an extensive Reunion Homecoming for Stanford alumni is to be found within the very name of the event – so alumni from every generation feel they have come home to a place they love,” Winick said.

Welcoming alumni “back home” to the Farm will be President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who will deliver the opening address at Memorial Auditorium on Friday morning.

Democracy to spacecraft

Following Tessier-Lavigne’s remarks will be a series of short talks, or “micro lectures,” from four faculty members who will ruminate on topics ranging from design, democracy, spacecraft and cancer. The program will be hosted by Dan M. Klein, ’90, who is a lecturer in theater and performance studies and in management at the Graduate School of Business, as well as an instructor at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school).

During Reunion Homecoming, alumni are also invited to attend open houses at several new campus facilities, including the new Stanford Hospital, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Biology Building and the recently renovated Frost Amphitheater. There will also be tours of such campus gems as the Cantor Arts Center, the Arizona Cactus Garden, the Anderson Collection and Bing Concert Hall.

Drawing some of the largest crowds will be class reunion tailgate parties before Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. Stanford vs. Arizona football game.

All four days of Reunion Homecoming will feature the popular Classes Without Quizzes, where Stanford faculty members examine some of today’s pressing issues. Alumni will have dozens of classes to choose from, including:

  • How Culture Shapes Our Feelings: Implications for Happiness and Other Important Things
  • The Opioid Epidemic: From Freud to Fentanyl
  • Ethical Dilemmas in Artificial Intelligence and Privacy
  • The Astronomical Sublime: Art, Science, and the Cosmos
  • What Should We Read Into the Children’s Literacy Debate?
  • Climate Change: Accelerating the Search for Solutions

Another special part of Reunion Homecoming are Class Panels, where each class features a panel of classmates sharing their life lessons since leaving campus and the classroom. Panel themes include “Disruptive Moments” for the Class of 2004, where panelists will share how life’s unexpected moments were the most defining. The Class of 1994 will deliberate life as “Works in Progress.”

Authentic connections

“These panels are particularly meaningful, as panelists share stories about their real-life experiences – the good stuff and the challenging times – which creates room for authentic connection between classmates,” Winick said.

This year’s gathering also comprises a wide range of multicultural events, including the 25th Annual Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame reception and ceremony, which will honor accomplished alumni of color. The LatinX alumni reunion is also expected to be its largest gathering yet as alums will celebrate more than 50 years of Latinos at Stanford, the 40th anniversary of El Centro Chicano y Latino and the 20th Anniversary of El Centro’s Graduate Scholars Program.

There will also be more than 15 events for communities at Stanford that celebrate diversity and inclusion, including a Stanford Pride reception and a Muwekma-Tah-Ruk student and indigenous alumni dinner at the Native American theme house.

For the religious and spiritual, Reunion Homecoming will offer a Shabbat evening service and dinner on Friday at the Ziff Center for Jewish Life and Taube Hillel House. Friday evening will include a reception for Muslim alumni at the Markaz Resource Center.

There will also be tours on Friday and Saturday at Windhover, the spiritual and meditative space that provides refuge from the hustle and bustle of campus life.

On Sunday, Stanford’s Dean for Religious Life, the Rev. Dr. T.L. Steinwert, will deliver an interfaith service of remembrance at Memorial Church that is open to everyone. Candles will be lit in memory of alumni and faculty members who have passed away.

Stanford Law School also hold its Alumni Weekend at the same time and is expecting more than 1,200 attendees.