As Colorado State University approaches its sesquicentennial, the Alumni Association invites everyone to join in the celebration of the University’s 150th year. This year’s Homecoming and Family Weekend, Oct. 2-6, is the first chance to commemorate the milestone as a community of alumni, students, families, and friends to honor CSU’s past, present, and future.
The Alumni Association includes over 15,000 members, but holds programs for all members of the Ram Family, including approximately 230,000 living alumni. Three-quarters of the staff of the Alumni Association have graduated from CSU.
“Our faculty and staff are doing such amazing work and are benefiting our students in such a fabulous way,” said Kristi Bohlender, executive director of the Alumni Association and assistant vice president for University Advancement, who earned CSU degrees in 1993 and 1995. “There’s a committed team of professionals who are always evolving to support our students and make our institution even better than it is.”
Check the Homecoming website at homecoming.colostate.edu for the latest updates as well as a complete schedule of events.
For Bohlender, homecoming is a time to reflect on CSU’s history and look forward to the future. In the University’s first graduating class, there were a total of three students — one of them a woman.
“Colorado State University was ahead of its time in having a woman in its first graduating class, and I think that’s incredibly special,” Bohlender said. “To be able to celebrate our land-grant mission and purpose is special, just the opportunity to provide access and education to our Colorado residents, to weave that in is really, really neat.”
Chance to reconnect
The Alumni Association offers the opportunity for alumni to stay involved with CSU – and each other – after graduation. Yearly Homecoming events offer a way to for old classmates and friends to reconnect and for families to continue their CSU legacy, explained Bohlender.
“Homecoming is about bringing together the entire CSU community to celebrate and then ultimately coming home,” said Jerick Flores, manager of alumni operations, who graduated in 2010. “The Alumni Association is the front door for alumni for whatever they need. If they’re coming back to visit campus, then we can help them out. We really are a resource for anything. Welcoming alumni back I think is [the Alumni Association’s] responsibility and we don’t take that lightly.”
During Homecoming and Family Weekend, the Alumni Association prepares a range of events for alumni, students, parents and families. Distinguished Alumni Awards and Alumni Night Out: Homecoming Kickoff are some of the main events planned.
“There’s a 50 Year Club reunion,” Flores said. “That puts us at 1969, so [the people who graduated that year] are inducted into the club. They have a special recognition that’s during Homecoming and then, of course, we have the Festival on the Oval and Friday Night Lights and the football game, and so those are all ways that alumni can get involved and come back to [CSU].”
For more information on Homecoming, go to homecoming.colostate.edu.