This weekend the University will host royalty for the first time in more than 40 years.
Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, the eldest grandchild of His Royal Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, will make appearance on campus Friday,
Saturday and Sunday on behalf of Thailand’s Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The main purpose of the princess’ visit is to open an exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol’s accession to the throne, and to officially dedicate Thailand’s gift of more than 1,700 books to the University and to the local public libraries.
The princess will also launch an initiative to add math and science to the list of courses already included in the distance learning program between the University and Thai public schools.
On Friday, the princess will attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition commemorating the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol’s coronation. The ceremony will be held at 5
p.m. at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the exhibition will be open from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. Saturday morning will see the princess visiting the Eugene and Springfield public libraries to dedicate book gifts from the Thai royal family.
The princess will be at the Eugene library at 11 a.m., and at the Springfield library at noon.
On Sunday, the princess will be on campus at 2:55 p.m. to present a dedication of Thai books to the Knight Library.