This upcoming weekend, the University of Rhode Island will host its second annual Alumni and Family Weekend, allowing community members, family and alumni to reunite.
To start the weekend off, URI President David Dooley will be in Edward’s Auditorium from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the President’s Welcome and Reception. Seating is limited, and registration is free but required.
Dooley will start by welcoming students, parents, alumni and members of the community to campus. Guests are then invited to follow him to URI’s new Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center, where Deans of various colleges will be present.
On Saturday, the URI football team will take on the Maine Black Bears at Meade Stadium.
Before the game, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Rhodyville is an event for visitors to show their Rhody spirit. Located near the Ryan Center, the event will include a spirit station to pick up Rhody footballs, pom-poms, beads, URI tattoos and more. Local food trucks, a kid-friendly inflatable area, yard games and more will also be available. Registration is free and requested.
New this year, Rhodyville will have an alumni recognition program called 10 under 10. Sarah Bordeleau, the assistant director of the Alumni Association said, “this program is to recognize 10 alumni who are up to 10 years out who have been doing great things in their industries and businesses, and have represented the values of URI and have taken it into their community and work.”
To keep the excitement going, various URI committees have worked to organize An Evening with Joel McHale on Saturday night. McHale is an American comedian, actor, writer, television producer and television host. The show starts at 8 p.m. in the Ryan Center.
Jennifer Roth, the president of the Special Events Committee for the Student Entertainment Committee, has shared that Mchale “has appeared in several popular shows such as ‘The Soup’ and ‘Community,’” and the SEC “thought that he would offer a lot of great perspective on acting, writing and comedy.”
Roth also shared that tickets are still available for purchase for Joel McHale, and “the SEC is planning several promotion booths, flyering dates,” along with selling tickets in the Union box office until Friday.
The Student Alumni Association decided not to elect a Homecoming Court this year. This was due to a “changing cultural climate and new trends in universities throughout the country,” Bordeleau said. The University is planning to “revamp homecoming court and wanted to do it right, so they are sunsetting the program for a year… and would like to introduce it in a new, exciting way.”