Monday, April 8, is shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime moment on the Southwestern University campus. Van Morrison sings about an evening moon; however, our community will have the rare opportunity to dance under the moon in the middle of the day as a total solar eclipse blankets Central Texas in darkness.
The last total solar eclipse to take place in Texas occurred in 1878, the same year Southwestern’s current campus celebrated its five-year anniversary in Georgetown. Nearly 147 years later, Texans have the rare opportunity to witness a solar eclipse right here in our own backyard.
In that spirit, I want to encourage everyone in our campus community to join us at our Total Eclipse at Southwestern event from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on the Academic Mall.
April 8 is such a special opportunity for our community to collectively witness this celestial event that we have declared the Total Eclipse as a Priority Event, meaning all students, faculty, and staff may attend.
We’ll have 10 telescopes set up for attendees to view the eclipse up close. We'll also have exclusive t-shirts for sale, refreshments, a spot for amateur astronomers to set up their own telescopes, and, of course, plenty of wide open space to set up blankets and chairs to comfortably take in the solar eclipse. The partial eclipse is slated to begin around 12:18 p.m., with totality occurring at about 1:37 p.m. and lasting for over three minutes.
Our very own Associate Professor of Physics Mark Bottorff was recently featured on FOX 7 Austin, where he described why the upcoming eclipse is so incredible and how we’re so fortunate to experience the event from right here on campus. Watch the full story.
Further, as Matthew Cappucci describes in The Washington Post, “day will abruptly turn to night, with twinkling stars and several planets emerging from their slumber. You’ll also be stunned by how quickly darkness falls — in a matter of seconds, compared with more than an hour each evening.” Read more from his fantastic article, “Why traveling to witness a total solar eclipse is so worth it.”
Central Texas is one of the best locations on Earth to view this spectacular eclipse. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of visitors are expected to flock to Georgetown and the surrounding areas. Try your best to limit travel during this time.
With the expected increase in visitors, plus the closure of the Finch Plaza parking lot for a wedding, we are planning ahead to ensure student, faculty, and staff parking is not disrupted on April 8. The City of Georgetown has authorized a special one-time use of the Maple Street field parking area for paid guest parking. With the addition of paid parking available at the Outreach Center, we have created approximately 300 spaces for visitors. The parking fee for visitors will be $60.
As they do every day, SUPD will continue to enforce on-campus parking rules so that reserved spaces remain available for our students, faculty, and staff.
I can’t wait to share this experience with all of you on Monday, April 8.
Finally, I am excited to announce a new commencement location for our graduates! This year, the ceremony will take place on the practice football field under a beautiful and spacious tent. This change allows us to continue to host commencement on our campus and allows our graduates to invite all their family members without any need to limit guests. Additionally, the tent will provide protection in case of rain, ensuring a comfortable and memorable experience for everyone involved. Graduates will process in a grand parade from Robertson to the new location.
