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April 18, 2005
Emory weekend combo back this year

BY katherine baust

The experiment of combining Commencement with Emory Weekend turned out to be a huge success in 2004, so this year it will be repeated from Thursday, May 12, through Monday, May 16.

The decision to move (and rename) Alumni Weekend to the spring for the first time last year netted big results. “We had the largest attendance last year than ever before, three times the amount than in previous years,” said Gerry Lowrey, senior director of campus relations.

Breaking with a 20-year tradition, Oxford also is going to integrate the two for the first time. Oxford Weekend will be on the same weekend as Oxford commencement and Emory Weekend.“Combining Oxford Weekend to begin with Commencement will give alumni and friends a greater opportunity to participate in events on both campuses in one weekend,” said Marvlyn Kirk, assistant director of college relations at Oxford.

Programs and departments across campus have developed discipline-specific activities for alumni from their areas, and many of these events will be hosted on the Emory campus during the four-day Emory Weekend, starting on the Atlanta campus, Thursday, May 12, and running through Commencement the following Monday. At Oxford, activities will begin on Saturday, May 14, following that campus’ commencement.

The weekend will get under way with a golf scramble at Stone Mountain Park on May 12, benefiting the Emory Sports Hall of Fame. On Friday evening will feature Crossover Pre-Reception, a ceremonial tradition in which seniors cross over the bridge from the Emory Conference Center to the Miller-Ward Alumni House, symbolizing their transition from students to alumni. Later that night, a semiformal ball honoring graduates, alumni and their families will be held at the Emory Conference Center. Saturday will feature the dedication of the newly renovated P.E. Center and a block party on McDonough Field, followed by concerts by Tinsley Ellis and Shawn Mullins. In the evening, there will be school-specific reunions. On Sunday, alumni are encouraged to attend the annual Commencement Concert in Glenn Auditorium.

The involvement of all members of the 50th reunion class, as well as those who graduated earlier than 1954, in an alumni group called Corpus Cordis Aureum (Latin for “The Golden Corps of the Heart”) a recent addition to the Commencement tradition, will be invited to brunch on Sunday at Miller-Ward and will march along with the graduates onto the Quadrangle.

The Oxford College Baccalaureate Service will be held on Friday evening, May 13, and Oxford’s Commencement will take place the next morning at 10 a.m. on its Quadrangle. Georgia’s poet laureate David Bottoms, will deliver the keynote address.

A full schedule of Emory Weekend events can be found at www.alumni.emory.edu/emory-weekend.htm. For more information or to register for programs, call the Association of Emory Alumni at 404-727-6400.

 

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