Host of Game Weekend Activities Scheduled as WSU Readies to Battle Oregon

PULLMAN, Wash. — A slate of activities for students, alumni and fans of all ages is planned this weekend as the Washington State University Cougars ready to take on the University of Oregon Ducks in a Pac-10 football match-up starting at 2 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 9) at Martin Stadium.

WSU Foundation weekend, which this year celebrates the non-profit scholastic foundation’s 25th anniversary, will get underway Friday (Oct. 8) and feature art exhibits and exhibit tours, on-campus open houses, children’s activities and free classes taught by WSU’s award-winning faculty.

Friday’s events include a display of sculpture by internationally recognized artist Jim Dine at the WSU Museum of Art. An open house at the new 24,000-square-foot addition to the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication also is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

On Saturday, a free tour of a campus-wide display of bronze sculptures forged at the Walla Walla Foundry is slated for 10 a.m. The tour begins at the Museum of Art gallery on Wilson Road, across the street from the entrance to Martin Stadium.

Featuring works by Dine and other well-known artists, the exhibit includes sculptures as tall as 14 feet and weighing as much as two tons. Tours of the exhibits are scheduled to be repeated prior to each home football game through Oct. 16.

Also on Saturday, Cougar Family Fun – family-oriented entertainment featuring food, the Northwest Dodge Kid’s Carnival, inflatables and Cougar memorabilia – will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Mooberry Track. Beginning at noon, the track also will become the site for a concert by the 240-member WSU Cougar Marching Band during a pregame Cougar pep rally.

Cougar Conversations, free one-hour classes taught by WSU’s world-class faculty, will be yet another highlight of Saturday’s pregame events. 

The classes will begin at 10 a.m. with two class offerings.  “Making Great Ideas Profitable” by Jerman Rose, director of the College of Business and Economics and Chuck Munson, director of the Graduate Programs Office, offered in the Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education, Room 119. Also at that time, “Children’s Books CAN Help Your Child With Mathematics,” by Cynthia Thomas, Teaching and Learning Department faculty member, will be offered in Smith Center 319.

At 11 a.m., “Restaurant Economics 101” by Dennis Reynolds, faculty member in the School of Hospitality and Business Management, will be offered in Smith Center 219, while “Music of the Beatles,” by David Jarvis, faculty member in the School of Music and Theatre Arts, will be featured in Kimbrough Hall 245

Although not slated for this weekend, the Feast of the Arts, a new series of fine dining and entertainment, is scheduled to kick off next weekend.

The Friday dinner series will be begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 15, Oct. 29 and Nov. 19 in Todd Hall Dining Room 268. Renowned WSU School of Hospitality Business Management chef Gene Fritz and his students will prepare and serve four-course gourmet meals with entrées such as lemon roasted duck breast and huckleberry pear poached salmon. The dinner series will feature wines from some of Washington’s finest wineries. Diners will meet alumni vintners from across the state, listen to WSU musicians and vocalists, and see art exhibits from the WSU Museum of Art.

For a complete listing of events scheduled during WSU home game weekends, call (509) 335-4224 or visit www.football-weekends.wsu.edu. Online reservations for Feast of the Arts are also available through the Web site.