Bing Concert Hall to be featured during Parents’ Weekend, Feb. 22-23
The Bing Concert Hall, Stanford’s new performance venue, will be featured during upcoming Parents’ Weekend activities, Feb. 22-23.
Parents will be offered a special tour of the Bing Concert Hall and a 40-minute concert featuring faculty and student performers. The new concert hall, which was officially opened to the public in January, is considered among the most acoustically advanced anywhere. The open house and tour is limited to the first 500 parents on a first-come/first-served basis.
The special tour and performance are just a sampling of dozens of activities planned for the more than 3,000 family members Stanford expects to welcome to the popular, annual event. Online registration for Parents’ Weekend is now closed. Parents may register onsite at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center when they arrive.
Among the weekend’s other popular events is the Entertainment Extravaganza!, which is sponsored by the Parents’ Club. This year, the event features performances by five Stanford student groups: Chocolate Heads, Fleet Street, The Late Quartet, Stanford Bhangra Team and Storm Coming. The Entertainment Extravaganza again will wrap up the weekend on Saturday afternoon. Tickets can be purchased when parents arrive.
Other featured events include a welcome from Provost John Etchemendy on Friday morning and the always-popular question-and-answer session with President John Hennessy on Friday afternoon.
Especially popular from year to year are Back to School Classes, which will be offered by Stanford faculty members in three sessions on Saturday. The classes are designed to give parents a glimpse into the educational experiences of their sons and daughters, according to Elaine Enos, executive director in Stanford’s Office of Special Events and Protocol.
Classes this year will focus on such pertinent subjects as the ethical and legal challenges of bioscience innovations, foreign policy challenges for the second Obama administration and the future of online teaching and learning. Also offering classes will be Stanford administrators specializing in such student-related issues as alcohol consumption, emotional wellness and study abroad.
Parents also can meet with university representatives Friday morning to discuss particular challenges and experiences of each student class: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Among administrators meeting with parents will be Rob Urstein, associate vice provost for undergraduate education: Greg Boardman, vice provost for student affairs; Sally Dickson, associate vice provost for student affairs; and Chris Griffith, associate vice provost and dean of student life.
Parents also will be treated to other special campus tours on both Friday and Saturday. Tours will focus on everything from campus architecture to the effects of the 1906 earthquake to dorm dining today.
At a Saturday morning Resource Fair, parents can learn first-hand about services and programs at Stanford from representatives of campus departments, including Residential Education, the Student Services Center, Undergraduate Advising and Research and Public Safety.
