Some 4,000 Cornellians and friends returned to campus, Sept. 26-28, for Homecoming Weekend. And although it "Ithacated" on and off all weekend, spirits weren't dampened, especially when the Big Red beat the Yale Bulldogs, 17-14. A crowd of more than 11,000 packed into a rain-soaked Schoellkopf Field to witness Cornell's first win over Yale since 2004. The victory gave the Big Red, 2-0, its best start since 1999.

Other Homecoming highlights included the All-Alumni Tailgate in the Crescent parking lot, where alumni were serenaded by Johnny Russo's East Hill Classic Jazz Group and the Cornell Big Red Band.

Weekend treats also included concerts by the Cornell Glee Club, where Scott Tucker conducted the premiere of Bernard Rands' "Trinity" and songs of the Civil War era; and A Cappella United, sponsored by the Cornell United Way Student Campaign in the Statler Auditorium. More than 10 groups from across campus joined together to raise money for the United Way of Tompkins County.

For the artistically minded, Frank Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, gave a guided tour of the museum's permanent collection and current exhibitions: "Mary Ellen Mark: The Prom Series," "Hurry on Sundown: The Multimedia Work of Marc Swanson," "An-My Lê: Small Wars" photography series and "Spectacular Saturn: Images from the Cassini-Huygens Mission."