Students and their parents celebrating Family Weekend are invited to attend this year’s University Reception.

The reception will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center’s Regency Room.

The hour-long reception will offer parents and students the opportunity to talk to NIU President John La Tourette and other administrators.

“The reception offers a good opportunity for me to meet with parents and talk with them,” La Tourette said.

Mark Shafer, activities adviser for all NIU events, said representatives from Student Affairs and the Student Association also will attend the event.

This is the third year this type of a reception has been sponsored at NIU. However, this is the first year the reception has been called the University Reception. Formerly, the event was called the President’s Reception.

“We changed the name because people got the wrong idea,” Shafer said. He said people thought it was a formal reception when actually it was informal and relaxed.

A dinner costing $12 will follow the reception. “Anyone is invited to the reception. But in order to attend the dinner, tickets had to be ordered in advance,” he said.

About 100 to 150 people usually attend the reception. However, Shafer said he believes more people will attend the event this year because of the name change.