Oct 10, 2007 8:00 AM

All Things Bruin at UCLA Parents' Weekend

UCLA Parents' Weekend — a three-day celebration to welcome parents and undergraduate students — is nearly here. From Friday, Oct. 19 through Sunday, Oct. 21 the campus will be alive with students and their families, identifiable by their colorful nametags, Parents' Weekend tote bags and expressions of blue-and-gold pride.

The Parents' Weekend tradition brings together all corners of the campus to showcase the academic, cultural and social opportunities available to the UCLA community, allowing parents to experience Bruin life as their child does.

Parents' Weekend participants will have ample opportunity, according to Chancellor Gene Block, "to discover the many rich offerings that make UCLA such an amazing place." Top faculty will present leading-edge scholarship. Deans from the college and other undergraduate programs will spotlight their schools. And campus libraries, museums, eateries, residence halls and recreation facilities will be enlivened with gatherings and happenings. At the Saturday football game against Cal, for example, a specially reserved section for Parents' Weekenders will be packed with Bruin fans new and old.

UCLA's alumni will also have an expanded presence at this year's event, redefining what it means to be a lifelong member of the Bruin family.

As key contributors to UCLA's excellence, faculty and staff play an integral role in Parents' Weekend, as well, simply by wearing their Bruin pride on their sleeves. Said Rhea Turteltaub, interim vice chancellor of external affairs, "We want guests to have the best experience imaginable, and to go home sharing the spirit of community that comes from one thing: being a Bruin."

So, if people wearing green lanyards and brand new UCLA hoodies are looking dizzily at a campus map, offer some directions, point the way or lead them along the secret shortcut that only insiders could know. After all, nobody knows better than faculty and staff how small this great big campus can be.

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