MainStreet Stride Kicks Off Alumni Weekend at UC

“It is important to come together in this special way to celebrate those things that we love about the university.” – Mitchel D. Livingston, UC Vice President for Student Affairs & Services

A red-and-black foot parade will wind through the University of Cincinnati’s MainStreet corridor with the kickoff of the

MainStreet Stride at noon, Friday, May 18, on McMicken Commons

. This second-annual foot parade – with new head football coach Brian Kelly serving as grand marshal – will feature some creative red-and-black representation from the UC community ranging from the Office of the President to student organizations and UC Athletics. The parade, expected to last about 30 minutes, will travel through MainStreet and end with the kickoff of UC Alumni Weekend and a cookout on Sigma Sigma Commons.

UC’s MainStreet is a corridor of buildings and green spaces where people can learn, work and play. Completed in 2006, the $247.4 million MainStreet project is the largest and most ambitious capital project in the university’s 188-year history.

College Planning and Management’s 2007 Construction Report reveals campus construction is booming across the nation, rising to a spending level of $15.1 billion in 2006 – a 260-percent increase from nine years ago and the highest one-year total in the nation’s history, according to the magazine. The report predicts annual construction on college campuses nationally will remain at or close to $15 billion through the end of the decade, addressing student demand for better dining, living and recreational facilities on campus.

UC’s MainStreet was completed in 2006 with the opening of the Campus Recreation Center, which is generating both national and international attention for its form and function. In that location on MainStreet, the Campus Recreation Center’s award-winning CenterCourt residential restaurant addresses student expectations for better campus dining. In addition, the living facility of the Campus Recreation Center holds suite-style student housing. The state-of-the-art recreational facility offers memberships for the UC and the Cincinnati USA community, in addition to electronic classrooms and a convenience store.

Thomas Canepa, UC assistant vice president of Admissions, says the transformation of campus is swelling the numbers of prospective students visiting UC, with campus tour visits up as much as 50 percent over the previous academic year. “The word is getting out about the transformed, welcoming campus and the crowds are coming,” Canepa says. “They want to see what this ‘UC thing’ is all about.”

“MainStreet has served as an asset in recruiting students as well as a tremendous resource in increasing student satisfaction and engagement at UC,” says Caroline Miller, UC associate vice president of Enrollment Management. “Each year since the opening of the first phase of MainStreet in 2004, we’ve seen improvements in retention and graduation rates as well as an increase in student-reported satisfaction with their experience at UC,” Miller says.

UC’s MainStreet Stride foot parade leads into UC’s kickoff of Alumni Weekend, which begins at 12:30 p.m., Friday, May 18, on Sigma Sigma Commons and features a picnic, music, cornhole tournament and a dunking booth sponsored by RallyCats, UC’s school spirit organization. For the full schedule of Alumni Weekend, visit: http://www.alumni.uc.edu/events/alumni_weekend.html