Bluffton University will celebrate Homecoming Oct. 10-13, including a day filled with activities for alumni and the community on Saturday, Oct. 12.

Thursday, Oct. 10

The weekend will begin Thursday night, Oct. 10, with a Bluffton Artist Series concert by pianist Hyperion Knight at 7:30 p.m. in Yoder Recital Hall. Reserved seats are $25 for adults, $20 for senior citizens and non-Bluffton students and $10 for children ages 6-13. Children ages 5 and under are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased on the Web, at http://tickets.bluffton.edu, or by calling 419-358-3350 or emailing [email protected]

Friday, Oct. 11

Friday will feature the Alumni Awards banquet, beginning at 6:30 p.m. This year’s location is Founders Hall, where alumni Angong Acuil, Jack Earl and Lenna Mae Gara will be honored along with Dr. Ronald Friesen, professor emeritus of economics. Tickets are $15 and may be reserved at http://tickets.bluffton.edu or by contacting Joyce Schumacher at 419-358-3456 or [email protected] by Oct. 4.

Before the banquet, from 5-6:15 p.m., the communication and theatre department will welcome visitors to an open house in its new multimedia production suite on the ground floor of Founders Hall. Adjacent to science laboratories in the building’s southeast corner, the suite houses the WBWH-FM 96.1 radio studio and faculty offices, as well as a multimedia production lab. Faculty, staff and student leaders will be available, along with information about communication and theatre programs.

Also on Friday, the volleyball team will meet Franklin in a 7:30 p.m. match in the Sommer Center. Cost is $5 for adults and $3 for students; children ages 4 and under are admitted free.

Saturday, Oct. 12

Saturday’s events get underway at 9 a.m. with two breakfasts—one for alumnae, hosted by the Bluffton University Women’s Council in Bob’s Place in Marbeck Center, and the other for athletics alumni, in The Commons in Marbeck. There is no cost for either breakfast.

From 9:30-11 a.m., the Sauder Visual Arts Center will be the site of a reception for Jack Earl, who is exhibiting a portion of his ceramic sculpture from Sept. 30-Oct. 27 in the Grace Albrecht Gallery. The gallery will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Homecoming Saturday.
Earl, a 1956 graduate, has been a widely known ceramic artist for more than 40 years, with numerous solo—and in group—shows nationwide and abroad. He has won two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his work is in museums in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., among other cities.

From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., high school students and their families may tour campus as part of a Discovery Day admissions event. Go to www.bluffton.edu/discovery to register.
At 10 a.m., baseball and softball alumni are scheduled to play games against the current teams at the Emery Sears Athletic Complex.

Leading up to the Homecoming football game, an alumni picnic will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in a tent at Salzman Stadium. Cost at the tent is $8 for adults and $4 for children ages 3-7. The Homecoming king and queen will be crowned at the stadium at 1 p.m., prior to the 1:30 p.m. kickoff between the football Beavers and Rose-Hulman. Admission to the football game is $5 for adults, $3 for students and free for children ages 4 and under.

Capping the afternoon at 4 p.m. will be a game of Ultimate Frisbee, for alumni, friends and current students, on the Musselman Library green.

The weekend will wrap up Sunday, Oct. 13, with a concert by Camerata Singers and the Concert Band at 2:30 p.m. in Yoder Recital Hall.