Woods:
SEMO Homecoming will be here before you know it, and it will look a little different this year. George Gasser is Director of Alumni Services, and he is here with details all about it. He is Mr. Homecoming. Isn’t that right, George?
Gasser:
Mr. Homecoming? I don't know if I like that one, but sure that will work for now.
Woods:
For these few minutes you're Mr. Homecoming.
Gasser:
Alright, alright.
Woods:
Okay, so there's going to be some changes. Kind of walk us through what's going to look different this year.
Gasser:
Sure. So you know, I think a lot of people are used to what Homecoming has looked like for at least the last 15 or 20 years that we've been doing it, where we have Copper Dome Society dinner with our alumni awards awarded to those recipients on Friday night of Homecoming and then the next day, with Homecoming kind of as you would expect to be with the parade, people gathering, merriment, fun, all those kinds of fun things. But this year, we'll do things a little bit different. So, instead of our Copper Dome Society dinner on Thursday night in Academic Hall, we'll be holding the Alumni Award Celebration. So, we'll have our award recipients there, and we'll be able to honor them at that event. We're asking all faculty and staff at the university to join us for that event that runs from 4:30 until 6:30 or 7:30 p.m.
Woods:
And that's Thursday, October 12?
Gasser:
That‘s the 12th. And then the next day, so the 13th of October, we've got a few different things going on. We'll have those alumni award recipients in classes, talking with students. So we'll have them all around campus. I think our Distinguished Young alum will actually be in this building (Rust Center for Media), talking to some classes. So that'll be a lot of fun. We'll have them here that morning talking to some students to impart wisdom that they’ve gotten over their lifetime of knowledge in the world. And then from there, we'll move into our campus tours.
So, if alumni want to come back to campus from 3:00-4:30 p.m., we’ll offer tours of campus. This is another one of those spaces (Rust Center for Media) that we’ll offer tour of...but it's innovative learning spaces across campus, so we’ll have about 14 or 15 spaces the students—or our alumni—can see, to see what's new and changed from the time they were here.
Now, the last thing that day is our Homecoming Kick-off Block Party.
Woods:
This is brand new, right?
Gasser:
It's a whole big thing. So, we'll run that from 4:30 until 6:30 p.m. that evening. We'll have a kid's area. So, you know, if you have young kids and you're thinking, you know, how do I get to an Alumni event with my kids, we have that for them. So, we’ll have inflatables. We'll have all kinds of fun things out there for them. We have a VIP area for our Copper Dome Society, as well. So, they'll be able to come in and enjoy that event, as well. We'll have a beer garden in the middle of campus, which was a first for anyone to get to do, so I feel honored to get to put that on. And then, of course, we'll have a few other things out there that evening, and then a big announcement from the university will be happening that night, as well. You want to ask me what it is?
Woods:
Yeah, you probably can't tell me.
Gasser:
I can’t tell you.
Woods:
That‘s going to be breaking news.
Gasser:
That's at 5:30 that night. Be there. October 13.
Woods:
So, what prompted this change in the way things are done? At least not everything’s different, but some things are.
Gasser:
You know, the big change...the reason for it...I should say, is that this is the 150th year of the University. You know, being able to show people where we've been and where we want to go as an institution is what this year has been all about. You know, from Tonya Wells and Katie Krodinger putting so much work into the 150th birthday party running into this and, of course, running into our...you know...the end in April, whenever we have the eclipse, the end of the birthday, right? It's nice to be able to punctuate it with different, really exciting things, and that's where we're at right now with Homecoming...is being able to show off campus to as many alumni as possible, so they can see that campus isn't the same place that it was and yet, still there the things that they remember that still remain on this campus that made it special to them.
Woods:
Because with all of this, you know... Houck is brand new, so that will be open for the game on Saturday. So that's exciting.
Gasser:
Absolutely. This is...it’s a big year. I keep telling people that every single weekend that we have something happening on campus—which is every weekend—there is, there's something really special. It made it feel like the 150th, we just planned to have all these things, and we didn't really plan for a lot of the different pieces. You know, the birthday, Homecoming...we didn't plan the eclipse. That happens. You know those pieces, they're all special for us, but there's so many other special things happening around campus that are just making this year even better.
Woods:
And the theme of the parade, I guess, is tied in with the 150th. Right?
Gasser:
Yes. So, the student side of Homecoming, you know...you say Mr. Homecoming to me, and I think, well, I think of my friends, you know, Gretchen Grojean and Michelle Irby because they run the student side of Homecoming, along with their students steering committee. But they you know, they have their theme for Homecoming, as well, which of course is looking at the 150 years of history and all those pieces to it.
Woods:
So, changing things like Thursday and Friday...little scary for you? Are you excited about it? What are you thinking about it?
Gasser:
Whenever I first...whenever it was first, you know, brought to me as an idea, I was like, well, this doesn't seem like fun to me. But it's been a lot of fun. You know, a lot of our division and a lot of other people outside of our division, our marketing folks at the university...we've really all come together behind this to make sure that it's executed well, and we want people to see campus in the best way possible, as always.
Woods:
Could this lead to... could this be the way that it happens? Or is this just a one off, do you think? Do you have any sense?
Gasser:
Well, I'm actually…I'm really excited about different pieces of this because there's so much that...will these exact events happen again next year? Maybe. Maybe not. Will pieces of these events be incorporated into things probably for the next 10 or 15 years? More than likely, because I think there are many things we see about this that alumni will really enjoy, that the community really enjoys, and of course that our students really enjoy that we can incorporate into what we see going forward.
Woods:
I see one challenge for you now.
Gasser:
What's my challenge?
Woods:
I know...I know that you're always worried about weather.
Gasser:
Yes.
Woods:
So, now you have a few more days to worry about weather, because of the outside block party. Is that a new set of concerns?
Gasser:
So, now that you've said it on live TV, I'm going to say that if there's weather, it is Danny Woods’ fault.
Woods:
No, I get blamed for enough.
Gasser:
You know, of course, my first Homecoming that I planned was 2019, and it was the first rained out Homecoming since 1973, which was also Jane Stacy's first Homecoming. So, I always sit back and think the big Homecomings always have an issue. So, my first one was a big one for me. This is a big one for the university. I am knocking on wood and just looking at the weather, but I'm not thinking about the weather as much as I possibly can.
Woods:
Before I let you go...so if this has been communicated to alums and friends, what's the response? Are people excited about this change?
Gasser:
We have quite a few people signed up for things, you know. Of course, you'll always hear something like, well, I like it the way that it was. I'm one of those. I would say, well, I liked the things that I knew how to do. That was easy to put together. But it's really nice to be able to change those things. And we're getting a really positive response from alumni, students that we've talked to about these events, the Homecoming Steering Committee students that I've talked to. They're like, okay, well, that sounds like a new thing that's fun. So, we're getting a pretty good response, especially from the community, as well.
Woods:
Cool. We're looking forward to it. So, thanks for being here, George.
Gasser:
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
