The Oregon State University Alumni Association will host a parade as part of the university's Homecoming celebration this week, which culminates in Saturday's football game between the Beavers and the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m., and the homecoming parade is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

A homecoming parade has been held periodically in the past, but not for several years. This year's event will begin downtown at Southwest First Street and Jefferson Avenue. It will proceed west on Jefferson to 26th Street, then turn south and end a block later in front of Dixon Recreation Center at OSU.

Grand marshals for the parade will be the OSU baseball team, which won the 2006 College World Series.

Also scheduled for Homecoming are reunions for the OSU classes of 1966 and 1961. Several of the university's colleges and programs also have reunions or other special activities planned, including a 5-kilometer walk and run hosted by the College of Health and Human Sciences.

Other major events include:

• OSU versus the University of Washington in volleyball, beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday in Gill Coliseum, and Washington State University on Friday, also at 7 p.m.;

• The women's soccer team hosts USC on Friday at 5 p.m.; the men's soccer team hosts Washington on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The soccer field is on Western Boulevard just east of the Hilton Garden Inn and the softball complex.

• The Homecoming Bonfire, sponsored by the OSU Student Alumni Association and the O Stater Club, will begin at 8 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot south of Reser Stadium. A free homecoming concert, sponsored by the Memorial Union Program Council, will follow at 9 p.m.

• Classes Without Quizzes, an opportunity to learn more about OSU programs, runs all day Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. For more information, see http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/learning/cwq.html.

The entire Homecoming schedule is online at http://alumni.oregonstate.eu/homecoming/index.html.