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Homecoming at Illinois: 'Now and Forever'
Jeff Unger, News Bureau 217-333-1085
9/21/2006
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill.—
The University of Illinois will kick-off its 96th annual homecoming
celebration with a new volunteer project involving hundreds of U. of
I. students assisting dozens of community organizations. “I-Help:
A Homecoming Volunteer Project,” is based on the Chicago Cares
Serve-a-thon model. The project will get under way at 10 a.m. Sept.
30 (Saturday) at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave.,
Urbana.
The following week’s activities will include a “Homecoming
Kickoff and Soccerfest” Oct. 1 (Sunday) at the track and soccer
stadium, between Fourth Street and Maryland Drive on Kirby Avenue, Champaign.
The celebration takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; the U. of I. women’s
soccer team plays Penn State at 1 p.m. During the celebration, the Marching
Illini drum line will perform, as will the Fighting Illini cheerleaders.
Free food and free admission will be offered.
Lunch on the Quad, also on Oct. 1, takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
and will feature a cookout, entertainment, U. of I. athletes and the
Homecoming Court. Cost: $5 per person or swipe of residence-hall card.
For a complete schedule of events, visit the Homecoming Web
site. This year’s theme is “Illinois: Now and Forever.”
Event highlights:
Oct. 4 (Wednesday)
IUB African-American Homecoming Pageant, 7 p.m., Illini Union Courtyard
Café. U. of I. students will showcase their talents and their
contributions to the campus community. Cost: $4.
Oct. 6 (Friday)
ACES campus tours, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., starting at the ACES Library,
Information and Alumni Center, 1101 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana. These free,
public tours celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ACES Alumni Association
and feature tours of ACES buildings.
Writers Come Home, 4 to 6 p.m., Alice Campbell Alumni Center. Five U.
of I. alumni authors will offer short talks about their work and sign
copies in their free, public event.
Homecoming parade and pep rally, 6 to 8 p.m. The parade runs from 6
to 7 p.m. starting at Sixth Street and Taft Drive in Champaign, traveling
through Campustown and turning south on Mathews Avenue to end at the
Quad. The rally follows on the Quad and features appearances by the
head football coach and football team. Free refreshments will be offered
while supplies last.
Immediately after the pep rally, the IUB Homecoming Variety Show will
take place in Lincoln Hall, 702 S. Wright St., Urbana. Student performers
will vie for prizes in several categories. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Oct. 7 (Saturday)
Illinois vs. Indiana football game, 11 a.m., Memorial Stadium. Tickets
are $42 for the main stands, $24 for corners and horseshoe seating.
For ticket information, call toll-free 866-ILLINI-1 or order online
at www.fightingillini.com.
An all-alumni
gathering will take place for two hours after the game at the Alice
Campbell Alumni Center. The event is free and includes hors d’oeuvres
and a cash bar.
Three distinguished alumni will return to campus as participants in
Homecoming weekend. The alumni will meet with students, discuss their
work experiences and participate in Homecoming activities.
The guests:
• C.O. “Doc” Erickson, College of Agriculture (now
part of the College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental Sciences), 1943
A longtime movie producer, Erickson, began in 1944 in the budget department
at Paramount Pictures. Over the course of his 50 years in Hollywood,
he worked on numerous movies, including “Rear Window,” “The
Misfits,” “Cleopatra,” “Chinatown,” “Blade
Runner,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Popeye,”
“Urban Cowboy” and “Groundhog Day.” He worked
with Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston as well as Grace Kelly and Jack
Nicholson.
• Gregory Paw, College
of Communications,
1985
The director of the Division of Criminal Justice in New Jersey and former
deputy chief counsel of the regime crimes liaison office in Baghdad,
Paw worked from May 2004 through March 2005 with a team of U.S. Justice
Department lawyers sent to Iraq to help prepare the Iraqi Special Tribunal
for the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and other members of the former
Iraqi regime. Paw prosecuted federal narcotics and public corruption
cases for more than 10 years, beginning in the Justice Department in
Washington, D.C., in 1995, and moving to Philadelphia in 1997, where
he eventually became the deputy U.S. attorney for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.
• Betty Lee Sung, College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 1948
Her 1967 landmark book, “Mountain of Gold: The Story of the Chinese
in America,” is among the early published histories of the Chinese
in the United States written by a Chinese-American. Sung’s book
became part of initial efforts that built the field of Asian-American
studies, where it became a standard text for fledgling courses. Disowned
by her Chinese-born father when she opted for the University of Illinois
instead of an arranged marriage, Sung went on to work for Voice of America.
She established the first Asian-American studies program east of California
and led the Asian-American studies program at City College of New York.
The author of six additional books on Chinese-Americans, Sung also co-founded
the Asian American/Asian Research Institute of the City University of
New York.
