A center designed to foster graduate student life and professional development at Yale will officially open with a Dedication Weekend full of activities Friday-Sunday, Oct. 24-26.
The McDougal Graduate Student Center -- located on the first floor of the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. -- was created through a gift by Alfred L. McDougal '53 and his wife, Nancy Lauter.
Directed by Lisa Brandes, the McDougal Center has a lounge and meeting rooms, a large program room with advanced audio-visual equipment, student services and information areas, a computer cluster, Graduate Career Services and Teacher Training offices, and a Resource Library. Events and programs will be sponsored by the center throughout the year, and a student-run coffee bar will be opening later in the fall term. While it is designed to meet the needs of graduate students and their families, the McDougal Center is also open to postdoctoral fellows, faculty, staff and alumni of the Graduate School, as well as other members of the Yale community.
The official Dedication Ceremony, featuring a ribbon-cutting and a reception, will be held at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday. All are welcome to attend.
Also highlighting the Dedication Weekend will be:
* An open house featuring free food and drinks, prizes, tours and entertainment, as well as a chance to talk with center staff, noon-5 p.m. on Friday.
* A "Happy Hour," 4-6 p.m. on Friday.
* Movies on the "Big Screen" in Rm. 119 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday.
* A graduate student party at the Graduate/Professional Student Center at Yale (GPSCY) 9 p.m.-1 a.m. on Saturday.
* A bagel brunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sunday in the common room.
All events are free and open to members of the Yale community.
For more information on the McDougal Center or on Dedication Weekend events, call 432-8273, or visit the center's home page ont he World Wide Web at www.yale.edu/mcdougal.