OBU invites alumni, friends, students, faculty, staff and community members to join in the fun as the University hosts Zip! Bang! OBU! Homecoming 2017, Oct. 27-28.
Tickets for special events may be purchased online. The homecoming website also includes a full schedule of events, including class gatherings, fellowships, golf tournament information and more. Ticket prices increase Oct. 16 and again Oct. 23, so attendees are encouraged to purchase tickets now for the best prices and availability.
OBU’s College of Fine Arts is proud to present the new musical, “The Addams Family Musical,” based on characters created by Charles Addams and the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The first performance of the Homecoming weekend will be staged Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Craig-Dorland Theatre of Shawnee Hall. Additional performances will be held Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m. as well as Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2:30 p.m. Performances will continue through the next week and weekend, beginning Oct. 31, at 10:30 p.m. (a special Halloween performance) through Nov. 5. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets may be ordered online at www.okbu.edu/theatre, and may be ordered by phone at (405) 585-4350. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office in Sarkeys Telecommunication Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday morning Oct. 27, following homecoming ticket pick-up and registration at 9 a.m. in the upper level of the Geiger Center, campus tours will commence at 10 a.m. The tours will include a hard hat tour of the current renovation of Ford Hall. The tours will begin at the south doors of the Geiger Center. Attendees have the choice of participating in a driving or walking tour.
From 2:30-3:30 p.m., another set of campus tours, along with the hard hat tour, will be offered. The tours will be driving only and will meet in front of the Geiger Center at the south doors.
Registration for the homecoming golf tournament will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Shawnee Country Club, located at 2501 Augusta. The driving range will also be open. Range balls and boxed lunches are included in the cost of registration. The tournament will tee-off at noon.
The fourth annual homecoming worship service featuring a hymn and handbell time of worship will take place from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Stubblefield Chapel. Walter Grady, OBU class of ’71, will lead the service while Mary Kay Parrish, OBU class of ’62, will direct the handbells.
A reunion fellowship for the 50-year club reunion classes, including the class of 1967, will be located in the lower level of the Geiger Center from 2:30-4 p.m. Refreshments and “Yahnsehs” (OBU yearbooks) will be provided.
Multiple awards will be given during the Harvest Dinner, located in the upper level of the Geiger Center at 6 p.m. Dr. D. Hance Dilbeck, class of ’87, will receive the Alumni Achievement Award; and Worthy Walker, OBU class of ’10, will receive the Graduate of the Last Decade Award. Six alumni will receive the Profile in Excellence Award, including Tony Capucille, ’02; Dr. Joshua Carey, ’95; Mary (Leach) Chapman, ’62; Walter Grady, ’71; Patricia (Brummett) Lacey, 70; and Lisa (Jackson) Tresch, ’87.
At 8:30 p.m., homecoming attendees will have the opportunity to attend the Fine Arts Showcase in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium. Friday will conclude with an Olde Fashioned Ice Cream Social for all alumni and families. The social will take place at 9:30 p.m., on the lower level of the Geiger Center. The 50-Year Club and the “reunioning” classes of ’67, ’72, ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02, ’07 and ’12 will be honored.
Saturday, Oct. 28, registration and homecoming ticket pick-up will begin at 9 a.m. in the upper level of the Geiger Center.
Taylor Residence Center is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and will be open from 9:30-11:30 a.m. for viewing and celebrating.
From 10-11 a.m., academic college reunions will take place across the campus. From 10:30-11:30 a.m., OBU’s Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Program will hold a reunion at the new MFT clinic located at 2206 N. Kickapoo.
OBU’s Chorale and Bison Glee Club will both host reunions at 10:30 a.m. The Chorale’s reunion will be located in Raley Chapel, room 203, and Bison Glee Club’s reunion will take place in the drawing room of Raley Chapel.
From 10:30-11:30 a.m., children of homecoming attendees will have the opportunity to experience the children’s festival. This year’s festival theme will be “Under the Sea,” and the festival will be located on the second floor on the east end of Shawnee Hall.
At 2 p.m., Bison football will take on Southwestern Oklahoma State University at the Crain Family Stadium. During the game, attendees will have the opportunity to peruse through Yahnsehs from their era in the tent located on the southeast side of the stadium, inside the gates. (Football tickets will be required.)
From 5:30-7:30 p.m., following the football game, alumni, friends and family are invited to the oval for lawn games and music. They will have the option to go through the on-campus Chick-Fil-A and grab an entree, fries and a drink for $6.
Saturday’s homecoming activities will draw to a close with the Art on the Hill event, located in the Art Building from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and a production of The Addams Family, a new musical, located in the Craig Dorland Theatre of Shawnee Hall at 7:30 p.m.