NEWS RELEASE

10/1/01

James Robinson, News Service (650) 723-5675; e-mail: jamesrob@stanford.edu

Stanford invites its neighbors to Community Day

Stanford is inviting residents of the communities surrounding the university to visit on Sunday, April 7, 2002, during the campus' first Community Day, an all-day open house featuring music, arts, athletic events, faculty lectures and a children's community carnival and health fair.

Community Day, which university officials hope will become an annual event, is designed to promote partnerships and increase understanding among Stanford and its neighbors, especially the residents of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Woodside and Portola Valley. All Community Day events are free and open to the public.

Stanford President John Hennessy, in announcing Community Day, underlined the university's commitment to working closely with its neighbors to meet many of the challenges of living on the mid-Peninsula.

"Stanford, like the surrounding communities, must meet the challenges of living in this area, including congested traffic, inadequate housing and a high cost of living," he said. "But, there are equally wonderful things about living in the Bay Area that we all share. We hope, through Community Day, to share some of the programs Stanford offers with our neighbors."

Community Day will be held in conjunction with the university's annual Founders' Day, which commemorates the lives of founders Leland and Jane Stanford and their son, Leland Jr. As part of those celebrations, the Stanford Mausoleum will be opened to the public, and a recently discovered time capsule planted by Jane Stanford more than a century ago will be opened. A contest to guess the contents of the still-secret time capsule will be unveiled by the university in November. Participants will have the opportunity to view the capsule and submit guesses online and at the Cantor Arts Center.

Community Day events will begin on Sunday morning with special campus tours. At 10 a.m. a nondenominational service will be held at the university's Memorial Church. Other events throughout the day will include:

• A children's health fair and safety checkup for child automobile seats, sponsored by the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, which is celebrating its 10 anniversary;

• Children's athletic events, including the annual Youth Olympics, sponsored by the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation;

• Family-oriented art activities at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, which will be featuring the travels and collections of Leland Stanford Jr., in addition to the center's exhibitions and collections;

• A community carnival for young children, sponsored by students associated with the Haas Center for Public Service;

• Faculty lectures by such well-known Stanford professors as Medical School Dean Philip Pizzo;

• An exhibit of research currently under way at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve;

• Tours of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which is celebrating its 40 anniversary;

• A special seminar on applying to college, sponsored by Stanford Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid;

• Health information outreach, offered by the Health Library at Stanford; and

• Student performances, coordinated by the Student Organizing Committee for the Arts.

The day's activities will wrap up at 3:30 p.m. with the annual Founders' Day campus procession and celebrations at the Stanford Family Mausoleum.

For more information on Community Day, call Stanford University Communications at (650) 724-2933, send e-mail to community-day@lists.stanford.edu or visit the Community Day web pages at www.stanford.edu/news/neighbors/communityday/.

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