冈本视频 opened its classrooms and put campus life on display for hundreds of parents during Family Weekend 2011, held Oct. 28-30.
This year, in addition to traditional tailgates and departmental open houses, the university offered several classes designed exclusively for parents. Geology professor and interim provost Bruce Selleck spoke on energy development in upstate New York, sociology professor Rhonda Levine opened a conversation on racial inequality in the context of increasing diversity, and a faculty panel discussed research funded through the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute.
At the encouragement of President Jeffrey Herbst, English professor George Hudson redelivered his convocation address, The Beauty of Language, originally staged for the Class of 2015 last August. Hudson encouraged the audience to picture themselves inside the chapel, first-year students packed in the pews and faculty seated on stage.
鈥淪urely language deserves our deep respect and perhaps our reverence,鈥 he read. 鈥淔ill your memory with great words, make your heart the chapel of learning, the citadel of culture, then find your own tongue and speak!鈥
Though the speech was intended to rally 冈本视频鈥檚 newest undergraduates, it had a similar impact on their mothers and fathers. 鈥淭he lecture was inspiring,鈥 said Kenneth Williams, father of Delphina Gerber-Williams 鈥15. 鈥淲e want to quit our jobs, read, and learn a few languages.鈥
All work and no play makes Raider cranky. So, after classes were finished for the day, parents headed down the hill to experience 冈本视频鈥檚 living-learning environment. Some went to art exhibitions and concerts while others watched films in the Ho Science Center visualization lab or played trivia at the 冈本视频 Inn. Saturday, they met with faculty and cheered their student-athletes on the ice and the turf.
Family Weekend is designed to provide a memorable 冈本视频 experience for parents, but alumni and current members of the Charred Goosebeak comedy improv group will also remember Saturday as the night they performed with comedian Jim Belushi at the Palace Theater. The television and movie star met with students early in the day, then joined them onstage that night, raising the roof while raising funds for the Madison County Children鈥檚 Camp.
鈥淚t was so helpful to talk to someone who鈥檚 done comedy for his entire life,鈥 said Goosebeak member Ryan Diehl 鈥12.