EVENT: The UC Irvine Alumni Association will host the annual homecoming celebration, with reunion events on Friday and the street festival and basketball game on Saturday.

WHEN/WHERE: Reunion events on Friday, Jan. 24, and public events on Saturday, Jan. 25, will take place in the Newkirk Alumni Center (grid B7, bldg. 450 on campus map), on Mesa Road outside the Bren Events Center (grid D7) and inside the Bren Events Center (grid D6, bldg. 901).

INFORMATION: Media planning to attend should contact Elizabeth Beach at 949-824-9431 or ebeach@uci.edu. For a detailed schedule, visit www.alumni.uci.edu/homecoming.

While Friday’s class reunion activities are closed to the public, anyone may attend Saturday’s events, which include a campus tour, “Classes Without Quizzes,” a street festival and the UC Irvine men’s basketball game. Preregistration is required for most activities and can be completed at https://secure.www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/CAI/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=163672.

HIGHLIGHTS:     

Friday, Jan. 24

5 p.m.: “Sapphire Anniversary – Celebrating the Class of 1969”
7 p.m.: Joint reunion celebrations

Saturday, Jan. 25

1 p.m.: Guided campus tour
1:30 p.m.: “Adventures in Physics: Momentum & the Large Hadron Collider”
2 p.m.: “Classes Without Quizzes: Regulating Gun Control in the U.S.”
2:30 p.m.: African American alumni homecoming event
3 p.m.: “Classes Without Quizzes: Do You Know Your Emotional Future?”
4 p.m.: Homecoming Street Festival
7 p.m.: Homecoming men’s basketball game

BACKGROUND:  Homecoming at UC Irvine has grown into homecoming weekend. More than 4,000 Anteaters near and far return to campus every year to be part of this tradition. The weekend’s activities range from class reunions and academic lectures to a street festival and a campus tour. This year’s street festival features live music and dance performances, popular food trucks, carnival games, interactive school booths, a Ferris wheel and more. The weekend concludes with ’Eater Nation cheering on the men’s basketball team in Big West Conference play against the University of Hawaii.

The UC Irvine men’s basketball squad entered the 2013-14 season favored in the preseason coaches poll to win the Big West Conference. It’s the tallest team in all of collegiate basketball this year, with three 7-foot players and four others standing 6-foot-8 or more. Because of these factors, the homecoming game against the University of Hawaii is expected to be a full house.