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What to expect at Homecoming 2017

A one-stop guide to Concordia’s yearly fall reunion celebrations
August 31, 2017
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By Lucas Napier-Macdonald


For 27 years, Concordia’s Homecoming has welcomed members of the university community to campus for networking, education, reminiscing — and lots of fun.

As Leisha LeCouvie, senior director of Alumni Relations, reports, Homecoming can be a very moving and emotional experience for Concordians. “I especially love the reaction of our graduates when they come back to campus, many for the first time in a long time,” LeCouvie says. “They are amazed at the size of the university, the beauty of our campuses, the quality of our buildings and the work we are doing here.”

Guests at JMSB cocktail Guests enjoy the John Molson School of Business networking cocktail at Homecoming 2016. | Photo credit: Joe Dresner

The festivities include a special reunion for graduates of Loyola College, one of Concordia’s founding institutions. “This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Loyola Campus in N.D.G. [Notre-Dame-de-Grâce],” LeCouvie says. “We formed an organizing committee of Loyola grads and they have helped us plan some great events.”

Homecoming 2017 offers other special events. “This year we are holding our first-ever LGBTQ event. I am really looking forward to that experience as well,” she says.

“But more than these actual events, I am looking forward to witnessing the reunions of these people and hearing their stories,” LeCouvie adds. “It is the stories that resonate. I am always deeply moved at how connected people feel to their alma maters — how education and the university experience shaped their lives.”

What’s in store at Homecoming 2017, from September 12 to 17

Tuesday, September 12

Look forward… and back
Get the scoop on what’s cooking for the upcoming year at the Concordia University Alumni Association annual general meeting. Hear about the accomplishments of the association representing the university’s 200,000 alumni worldwide. A reception will follow.

Wednesday, September 13

Celebrate diversity!
Concordia is proud to present its first Queer Homecoming. Emceed by Richard Burnett, BA 88, author of “Three Dollar Bill” — which was Canada’s first and only nationally syndicated LGBTQ column — the soirée will include readings by Mambo Italiano’s Steve Galluccio, BA 82, the very entertaining Tranna Wintour, BA 10, and Anne Whitelaw, BFA 87, GrDip 92, PhD 96, Concordia’s vice-provost of Planning and Positioning, as well as greetings by Concordia President Alan Shepard and Kimberley Manning, principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute. Come and celebrate diversity of all stripes.

Thursday, September 14

Be inspired
Concordia Day at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts gives alumni, students, faculty and staff complimentary access to the museum, including to its special exhibits featuring Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Love is Love” and “Revolution.”

Milton Glaser (né en 1929), The Sound Is WOR-FM 98.7 (detail), 1966, offset lithograph, 75.7 x 90.8 cm. MMFA, Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest Free access to all connections on Concordia Day at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts — all day long for all Concordia students, staff, faculty and alumni!

Faculty of Fine Arts alumni are invited to a private complimentary “lunch & learn” at Fine Arts Alumni: CU@MBAM, with Joanna Berzowska, BFA 95, the faculty’s associate dean of Research, and Janis Timm-Bottos, associate professor in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies and founder of the Art Hives Initiative.

Eyes on the prize winner
Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist Barbara Davidson, BFA 90, will give the inspiring Homecoming Keynote Lecture, “Leap of faith: a photojournalist’s journey.” Davidson will share her award-winning work and recount how she moved from The Link student newspaper to the L.A. Times and earned two Pulitzer prizes and an Emmy Award.

Friday, September 15

Prepare for the future
Early risers can enjoy an 8 a.m. networking breakfast followed by discussions with some of the university’s most accomplished graduates at Talk Shop With Top Alumni: Alumni Roundtables at Homecoming.

Walk for students

Shuffle 2016 warmup The Shuffle 2016 crowd warm up for the 6.5-kilometre walk to Loyola campus. | Photo credit: Joe Dresner

The Shuffle — Concordia’s annual walkathon from Sir George Williams Campus to Loyola Campus — is in its 28th year. Walk the 6.5 kilometers between campuses and raise funds for scholarships and bursaries. Let’s do our best and beat last year’s $84,000 in funds raised. Register and start fundraising today!

Celebrate selflessness
Community, Empowerment, Education, Development (CEED Concordia) commemorates its most recent accomplishments and projects in international social justice and youth empowerment at CEED 2017 Showcase: celebrating our achievement.

Get your groove on
Enjoy a dynamic presentation with live and recorded musical illustrations by Craig Morrison, PhD 00, ethnomusicologist, musician and Concordia professor, at The Beatles and the Montreal connection. The $10 event will be held at Loyola Campus’s Oscar Peterson Concert Hall.

Saturday, September 16

Campus centennial
Loyola Campus: 100 Years in N.D.G. — Chapel service, brunch and tour will wrap up the centennial anniversary of Loyola Campus. The event will include a Heritage Montreal-run tour and a celebratory morning mass at Loyola Chapel followed by brunch at the Loyola Jesuit Hall and Conference Centre.

Show your school spirit in maroon and gold
The Concordia Stingers will face off against crosstown rivals the McGill Redmen on the Loyola Campus’s south field in the Homecoming football game. For $20 guests have access to the Alumni Zone to watch the game and get a meal voucher and a beer ticket. Those showing their Stinger pride will have a chance to win a round-trip ticket from Via Rail, so wear maroon and gold for an afternoon of fun with family and friends. #GoStingers! #STINGERSUNITED

Homecoming football game Alumni and friends at the 2016 Homecoming Football Game | Photo credit: Joe Dresner

At Innovating Change: 15 Years of Sustainability at Concordia, we celebrate the green contributions of Sustainable Concordia, a student-run group that champions environmental best practices at the university. Alumni are invited to learn about their latest accomplishments and trends in the field.

Find familiar faces
Engineering and Computer Science alumni will gather for Engineering and Computer Science alumni: artificial intelligence. The reunion will start with a talk on the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence, hosted by successful alumni and faculty members. Dean Amir Asif will welcome alumni to celebrate this year’s milestone grad classes, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997. The complimentary talk and cocktail reception will be held in the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex.

Expand your network
The John Molson School of Business Alumni: Elite Networking Cocktail opens with a speed-networking event, hosted by the JMSB alumni chapter. Guests will have a chance to meet the school’s new dean, Anne-Marie Croteau, and hear co-founders of Montreal Networking Group Billy Markoglou, BComm 05, and Ali Mohammadi, BComm 01, talk about the Art of Networking.

Party with the president
The culmination of Homecoming festivities is the President’s Homecoming Dinner. Concordia President Alan Shepard will honour the university community, with an emphasis on the classes celebrating special anniversaries: 1957, 1967 and Loyola Campus’s 100th anniversary in N.D.G. Jamie Orchard, BA 91, senior anchor for Global Montreal’s Evening News, will emcee the night of food and merriment. Tickets are $75.

Sunday, September 17

Kids in the hall
The Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honours athletes and teams that made outstanding contributions to athletics at Concordia and its founding institutions, Sir George Williams University and Loyola College. The glitzy event at the Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile on Sherbrooke St. W. is $75 and requires business attire, so come dressed in your Buzz-worthiest fashion.

#CUhomecoming  #CUalumni



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