Homecoming Celebrated from September 20 to 22

Football game and tailgating event to be held on Saturday, September 20

--Wide variety of activities scheduled from September 20 to 22

A “Pioneer Strong” celebration, football game, and tailgating event are among the festivities as the William Paterson University Alumni Association celebrates Homecoming 2014 by welcoming alumni back to the campus from Saturday, September 20 through Monday, September 22.

The festivities begin on Saturday, September 20 with a “Pioneer Strong” celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Lot 5 on campus. Alumni and their families are invited to visit the Pioneer Midway for bumper cars, game booths, photo booth, cheesesteaks, funnel cakes, and more. Admission is free.

Alumni are invited to bring friends, fire up the grills, and join fellow alumni for a tailgating event in conjunction with the football game. Tailgating will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Lot 5, Row C.    

The Pioneer Football Team squares off against Salve Regina at 1 p.m. in Wightman Stadium. Admission is $8; $5 for alumni with a membership card, seniors, children under 12, visiting school’s students with I.D., and William Paterson faculty and staff; and free for William Paterson students with I.D.

Other Saturday activities include a meet and greet with Dr. Siamack Shojai, new dean of the University’s Cotsakos College of Business from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; a campus walking tour at 11:30 a.m., and a reunion dinner at 4 p.m. for alumni who graduated in the 1960s and 1970s. A women’s soccer match will be held at 6 p.m. in Pioneer Soccer Park against Rutgers-Camden. The evening will conclude with a comedy show at 8 p.m. in Shea Center.

To cap the day, the University’s Department of Physics will host a free lecture and stargazing event, “Pluto: Battle for a Planet,” at 7:30 p.m. in Science East 2064.  Jason Kendall, an adjunct professor of astronomy, will talk about this distant world and the spacecraft due to reach it next year. Weather permitting, the lecture will be followed by the opportunity to join the University’s Astronomy Club to view the heavens through the University’s telescopes on Wightman Field.

Homecoming 2014 continues on Sunday, September 21 with an “Ice Cream Hike” on the Appalachian Trail and a Softball Alumnae Game and Barbecue at 11:30 a.m. on Pioneer Softball Field.  The University will also showcase its new Cheng library Digital Archive with a special reception from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Cheng Library on campus.  Alumni are also invited to a reception for the exhibition 35 in 350: The Story of New Jersey from 2 to 4 p.m. in the University Galleries in the Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts.  This exhibition is part of a statewide celebration of New Jersey’s 350^th anniversary.

On Monday, September 22, alumni are invited to participate in the William Paterson University Foundation’s Sixth Annual Golf Outing at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne.  Registration begins at 11 a.m.; the day includes lunch, a shotgun start at 1 p.m., and a cocktail reception and dinner at 6 p.m.  Proceeds support the University’s programs of academic excellence and student success.

Homecoming 2014 is underwritten, in part, by Liberty Mutual. For additional information about Homecoming events, call the University’s Alumni Association at 973-720-2175 or visit the website at wpunj.edu/homecoming.

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