More than 1,500 parents, family members and Georgia Tech students met the president, the coach and even a murderer during Family Weekend Sept. 15-17.

In addition to meeting President Wayne Clough and basketball coach Paul Hewitt, families had to rely on detective skills to solve a murder in DramaTech's sold-out dinner theater performance of "Till Death Do Us Part."

"Family Weekend at Georgia Tech is one of the marquee events of the fall," said Joe Irwin, president of the Alumni Association. "It's a wonderful way to showcase the campus, the programs and the vitality of Tech to parents of current and potential students."

President Wayne Clough hosted a reception for parents to begin the weekend events. On Friday, students and families attended seminars at the Global Learning Center at Technology Square that covered topics ranging from on-campus activities, study abroad programs and career services to the history of women at Tech.

"The seminars were some of the best I have ever attended," said Joel Wilkerson, of Clarkston, Ga., father of freshman electrical engineering major Joshua Wilkerson. "We attended the study abroad, graduate school and co-op seminars and I left feeling that I truly know what my son will be doing for the next four years."

Wilkerson was impressed that the department receptions gave parents a chance to meet the faculty and staff.

"Dr. May, the professors and upperclassmen were at the electrical engineering reception, took us on tours and gave real world answers to our questions," he said. "You know, college students begin moving away from their parents and this was a chance to meet the people that will lead them into adulthood."