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Northwestern celebrated the University’s ties to Chicago while welcoming thousands of alumni back to campus during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend last October.
The weekend’s theme, “Willie in the Windy City,” came to life Friday evening during the Homecoming parade along Sheridan Road, as students and alumni rode floats and carried banners depicting everything from Chicago’s towering skyline to deep-dish pizza. Actress and singer Ana Gasteyer, a 1989 graduate of the School of Communication, served as the parade’s grand marshal, riding in an open convertible despite a light drizzle. Gasteyer, who starred on Saturday Night Live, is also known for her roles as Elphaba in the stage musical Wicked and as Sheila Shay in the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. (See photos of the 2014 Homcoming parage and pep rally.)
A total of 13,805 alumni, students and friends joined in the weekend-long celebration, catching up with former classmates at class parties in Evanston and Chicago. (See photos from the class parties.) A sold-out crowd of 47,330 fans filled Ryan Field for Saturday’s prime-time football game between the Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who won 38-17.
A record-breaking 5,200 donors contributed more than $53 million to their reunion class gifts, the second-largest reunions gift in Northwestern history. The class of 1964’s 50th Reunion led the way in participation, with 43 percent of the class supporting their gift. Meanwhile, the classes of 1959, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994 and 2009 all set reunion records for their classes thanks to the outreach work of nearly 400 alumni volunteers.
Reunion gifts support need-based scholarships, faculty recruitment, academic innovations and other University priorities and count toward We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern.
The classes of 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014 and all young alumni classes will celebrate Reunion 2015 Oct. 16–18. For more information about Reunion 2015, visit alumni.northwestern.edu/reunions.
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Ever wonder about those strange designations we use throughout Northwestern to identify alumni of the various schools of the University? See the complete list.