BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — It will be a weekend of music, memories, fireworks, football and tributes as alumni and friends gather for Illinois Wesleyan University’s Homecoming Oct. 8-10, with a theme of Homecoming and All That Jazz.
Highlights of Homecoming weekend activities include two 40th anniversary celebrations. The IWU Jazz Program will celebrate four decades with the Jazz Band Reunion concert on Friday, Oct. 8, comprised of four bands of alumni spanning the four decades. The concert will take place at 9 p.m. in Hansen Student Center (300 E. Beecher St., Bloomington), and will be led by Professor Tom Streeter, who founded the Jazz Program at IWU in 1970, and plans to retire at the end of the academic year. Dancing is encouraged.
The Mark Evans Observatory will also celebrate 40 years on campus with tours of the observatory from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, with a reception from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Commons of the Center for Natural Science Learning and Research (CNS) (201 E. Beecher St., Bloomington), honoring University Professors Ray Wilson and Lew Detweiler.
Also celebrating an anniversary will be the Hispanic Studies Program, founded in the 1999-2000 school year. There will be a reception for alumni, current and former faculty, and friends from 4:30-6 p.m. Saturday at the Joslin Atrium in the Memorial Center (104 E. University St., Bloomington).