Homecoming Weekend is here!

Homecoming Weekend is here! Well, almost.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing our alums come back, and to the amazing events—academic, scientific, musical, athletic and social—which will take place.

A centerpiece of the weekend is the Oberlin Alumni Association of African Ancestry, or OA4, reunion. The turnout for the reunion looks great with more than 130 alums returning for a packed slate of meetings, events and activities. It will be my honor to greet them at dinner Saturday night in the Carnegie Building’s Root Room.

Another highlight of the OA4 gathering will be the “Celebrating YB and the Oberlin College Dialogue Center,” at 4:45 p.m. at the Lewis House. Yeworkwha Belachew, or YB as we all know her, has been our longtime ombudsperson, and founded the Oberlin College Dialogue Center. She has played such a crucial role here for years. Her work as ombudsperson has touched —directly or indirectly—the lives of almost every person on this campus.

I’m also excited about “The Wedding Band,” in Hall Auditorium directed by Justin Emeka ’95. The play by Alice Childress explores an interracial relationship in the South Carolina in 1918.

As always, Homecoming is a huge weekend for Oberlin College Athletics. I always enjoy seeing our student-athletes compete, and I urge you to get out and support our teams. On Friday night, I’ll be at the annual Heisman Hall of Fame Dinner, visiting with alums who made Oberlin athletics history.

This coming weekend also features “Breaking News: Reimagining Journalism for a Digital Age,” a three-day symposium organized by the Oberlin Review. The symposium will explore what it means to be a young journalist, and will feature a keynote from Dodai Steward, Director of Culture Coverage at “Fusion,” as well as a panel with recent alumni working in journalism, and screening of the documentary “Below the Fold: The Pulitzer That Defined Latino Journalism.”

Yet another highlight is the “Celebration of Undergraduate Research,” beginning tomorrow at noon in the Oberlin College Science Center. This annual event gives students the opportunity to discuss research they conducted this past summer on campus and at various sites around the country. This year’s celebration features 90 students representing 35 programs and departments in the College and Conservatory.

Tomorrow evening, the Contemporary Music Ensemble, conducted by Professor Timothy Weiss, will perform a program that includes “Meanwhile: Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays,” the 2007 composition by Stephen Hartke, professor of composition and chair of the Department of Composition, that earned him a Grammy Award in 2013.

And that’s just a sampling of Oberlin’s homecoming offerings. Click here for the full schedule of Homecoming Weekend events.