Parent & Family Weekend

November 8 & 9, 2019

Parent & Family Weekend is a time to visit campus, enjoy talks, attend performances, and other family-friendly activities. It is also the perfect occasion to experience the rich array of student opportunities and resources Reed has to offer, while also spending quality time with your student.

If you have additional questions about Parent & Family Weekend, please visit our FAQs. If you require additional assistance, contact us directly at pfw@reed.edu.

RSVP for Parent Family Weekend

We appreciate your RSVP no later than Wednesday, October 30th.

Friday, November 8

Schedule is tentative and subject to change

Registration and check-in (Gray Lounge, Kaul)
8:00 a.m.–3 p.m.

Opening Lecture: Changing Curriculum and Gradudation Requirements at Reed (Eliot Chapel)
9:30–10:15 a.m.
Nigel Nicholson, Walter Mintz Professor of Classics & Dean of the Faculty, will discuss recent curricular changes, including the new HUM 110 syllabus, new distribution requirements, new majors, the introduction of minors, and how these changes come to be.

Tours!
10:30–11:20 a.m.
Choose from several tours and explore Reed's campus: 
  • Tour Reed's nuclear reactor, the only undergraduate-operated reactor in the nation.
  • Visit our new Outdoor Center in the Watzek Sports Center.
  • Explore the mysterious labyrinth of steam tunnels that live beneath the depths of Reed.
  • Enjoy a guided ramble through our beloved Canyon: the 28-acre watershed located in the heart of campus.

*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Study Abroad Information Session
1–1:50 p.m.
Exchange programs can broaden a student’s perspective, provide academic enrichment and personal growth, and, in the case of studying abroad, encourage global engagement. Learn about Reed’s study abroad and off-campus study programs and how to incorporate these opportunities into your student’s undergraduate experience.

Financial Aid Office Hours
1–5 p.m.
Meet one-on-one with a dedicated financial aid staff member to get answers to any questions you may have related to financial aid or work-study at Reed.

More Tours!
1–1:50 p.m.
  • Tour Reed's nuclear reactor, the only undergraduate-operated reactor in the nation.
  • Visit our new Outdoor Center in the Watzek Sports Center.
  • Explore the mysterious labyrinth of steam tunnels that live beneath the depths of Reed.
  • Enjoy a guided ramble through our beloved Canyon: the 28-acre watershed located in the heart of campus.
  • Check out Reed's Special Collections & Archives in the Hauser Library.

*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Open Calligraphy Hours
2–4 p.m.
Join the scriptorium and learn about the history and revival of calligraphy at Reed. 

Thriving at Reed Panel
2–2:50 p.m.
Join us for a panel discussion focusing on meaningful involvement and the various ways that your student can build networks and participate in the Reed community. This panel will include staff from the Office for Student Engagement, Athletics, Fitness & Outdoor Programs, Residence Life, and Multicultural Resource Center.

Reed Architecture & History Tour
2:30-4 p.m.
This 90-minute tour is provided by Reed alumnus Paul Edison Lahm ’83, and is an exciting exploration of Reed and Portland history through campus architecture.
*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Residency at Reed Panel
3–3:50 p.m.
How can your student make the most of their residential experience at Reed? Learn about the exciting changes to our residency program from this panel of Residence Life staff, area coordinators and house advisors.

More Tours!
3–4 p.m. 

  • Tour Reed's nuclear reactor, the only undergraduate-operated reactor in the nation.
  • Explore the mysterious labyrinth of steam tunnels that live beneath the depths of Reed.

*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Friday @ 4 Music Series (Eliot Chapel)
We invite you to join us for our regular Friday @ 4 Music Series. The program features 45-minute recitals featuring Reed student musicians, film screenings, and other concerts.  Features Collegium Musicum singers and student instrumental soloists.

President's Reception
5–6 p.m.

Climbing Wall open
5–7:30 p.m.

Shabbat Service & Dinner
7-9:30 p.m
Visit the Chabad at Reed Jewish Student Center to meet members of the Reed Jewish community from all backgrounds and affiliations. Enjoy a wholesome, warm, happy, loving, delicious evening. Located across from the north parking lot at 3355 SE Steele St, please enter using the front (orange) door.

Reed Theater Production
7:30–9:30 p.m.
The fall mainstage will be a translation and adaptation of Euripides’ Medea, Directed by Jaclyn Pryor, assistant professor of theatre. Ticket info.

Saturday, November 9

Registration and breakfast bites (Vollum, main entrance)
8:30 a.m.
Registration materials will be available for pickup in the atrium of Vollum Hall on Saturday morning.

Remarks with President Audrey Bilger (Vollum Lecture Hall)
9–9:30 a.m.

Parent Exploration Sessions
10 a.m.–noon
Attend breakout sessions led by staff and faculty teams on topics of special interest to parents.

Session One (choose from below).  Note: students are welcome to join these sessions!

10–10:50 a.m.

 - How to Help Your Reedie: Beginning an Academic Journey (Recommended for parents of first-year students)

Focus on how to help your student get the most out of their freshman year. Topics include how your student can best explore and define an academic direction, take advantage of resources, and work with an adviser, as well as how parents can best support their students.

 - Choosing a Major (Recommended for parents of sophomores)

Understand how your student will be supported as they choose a major, how to work with an adviser, and the appropriate steps needed to complete the process of declaring a major.

 - Center for Life Beyond Reed: Career Cohorts and Senior Stewardship (Recommended for parents of juniors and seniors)

As students embark on their final years at Reed, the Center for Life Beyond Reed strives to prepare them for finding their place in the world. Learn about strategic programming that the center provides to instill lifelong skills and connections to the world beyond Reed. 

Session Two (choose from below). Note: students are welcome to join these sessions!

11–11:50 a.m.

 - The Junior Qual and Thesis–Science/Math/Psychology Majors (Recommended for parents of juniors and seniors.)

Familiarize yourself with what your student should expect from the junior Qual experience in the Sciences and get advice if your student needs to retake the qual. There is a lot of variation in the Reed senior theses, but successful ones are nearly always based on a central question that the author attempts to answer: the thesis of the thesis. Learn more about the thesis journey for Science majors.

 - The Junior Qual and Thesis–Humanities/Arts/Social Science Majors (Recommended for parents of juniors and seniors.)

Familiarize yourself with what your student should expect from the junior Qual experience in the Humanities and get advice if your student needs to retake the qual. There is a lot of variation in the Reed senior theses, but successful ones are nearly always based on a central question that the author attempts to answer: the thesis of the thesis. Learn more about the thesis journey for Humanities majors.  

 - Center for Life Beyond Reed: Communities of Purpose (Recommended for parents of first-year and sophomore students.) 

As Reedies come to know themselves, their passions, and their place in the community, the Center for Life Beyond Reed frames that conversation with peer-to-peer support and helps first and second year students answer the “why” (their purpose) before attempting to answer the “what” (what am I going to do?). 

Final Nuclear Reactor Tour
1–2 p.m.
*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Reed Architecture & History Tour
1–2 p.m.
This 60-minute tour is provided by Reed alumnus Paul Edison Lahm ’83, and is an exciting exploration of Reed and Portland history through campus architecture.
*New! Sign up for tours online here!

Climbing Wall open, Watzek Sports Center
3–5 p.m.