Santa Clara University

Reunions at Santa Clara University have always been grand events, but this fall they’ll be grand with a capital “G” as the school hosts the Grand Reunion for all alumni, particularly those celebrating the 45th, 40th, 35th, 30th, 25th, 20th, 15th, 10th, or 5th anniversary of their graduation, October 15–18.

"One of the special things about SCU is our sense of community, our sense of family," said Jim Purcell, vice president of University Relations. "This Grand Reunion is really a great big family reunion, bringing alumni from past graduating classes on campus to intermingle with present faculty, staff, and students to celebrate and strengthen the lifelong bond of the Santa Clara family for the future," he added.

Reminiscent of the combined reunions the University hosted in 2001 for its 150th anniversary, the campuswide extravaganza will feature a range of activities for alumni from the class of 1925 to the class of 2009, including individual class reunion dinners, join-class receptions, affinity group receptions, a family picnic, campus tours, career coaching, "Back-to-the-Classroom" programs, a golf tournament, sporting events, networking opportunities and more.

"The theme is 'Remember, Reconnect, Renew,"said Maureen Muscat '91, MBA '99, associate director of events for the Alumni Association. "We hope that even before people get here, they think about the good times they had at Santa Clara. We want them to reconnect with old friends, classmates, faculty, staff, and the campus itself.

We want them to renew those relationships while they're here so that when they leave they not only remember the past but want to stay involved with the University and other alumni in the future."

Muscat and the alumni office staff have spent more than a year planning for the event so that everything will run smoothly, as an addition 1,500 or more people are expected on campus for the weekend. Part of that planning effort has been anticipating parking and traffic patterns with campus safety officers. With shuttles scheduled to transport attendees from the Fairmont and the DoubleTree hotels, on-campus parking should be sufficient to handle the additional visitors who will be driving to the events. Extra signage and additional security will ease traffic flow as well. "With so many activities throughout the four-day celebration, not everyone will be coming at once, which should cut down on backups on campus," Muscat said.

For more information, visit www.scu.edu/alumni/events/reunions/.