"We shall not
cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T.S.
Eliot
Lawrence
Today magazine, Fall 2006
A college reunion is a time to remember
and reminisce, to spend time with
old friends and to meet new ones, to re-visit familiar places (and meet new
ones).
At Lawrence, the annual Reunion Weekend is more than that, in many ways, as
returning alumni are also exposed to new experiences, new ideas, and new places.
More than 900 Lawrence alumni gathered on campus for Reunion
Weekend 2006, June 16-18. Celebrating their reunions this year were the Classes of 1941,
1951, 1956, 1960-62, 1966, 1981, 1985-87, and 1996. Special guests on the occasion
of the tenth anniversary of Lawrence’s Brombaugh
Opus 33 tracker organ
were alumni of the conservatory who, as the Tracker Backers, campaigned for
its creation.
A college-like experience
Arrayed on the table in front of Mark
Jenike, associate professor of anthropology,
is a series of skulls, illustrating his Alumni College course, Human Evolution
2006. Each skull represents a rung on the evolutionary ladder, and each is
accompanied by the stone tool appropriate to that stage of development and
a bottle of water representing the cranial capacity of that skull in cubic
centimeters. His class of reunion-going alumni is fascinated and focused
Elsewhere on that June Friday, physics professor David
Cook, a scientist and
musician, brings together science and music in a class titled Physics of the
Musical Scale. Karen Hoffmann, ’87, associate professor of English, in
a manner reminiscent of Freshman Studies, leads an examination of a recent
addition to the first-year reading list, Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “The
Fish.” Claudena Skran, associate professor of government, newly returned
from her Fulbright research in Sierra Leone, takes her alumni “students” through
the intricacies and complexities of foreign aid and non-governmental organizations.
Other Alumni College courses explore subjects ranging from stem-cell research
to wine and from fairy tales to sustainable agriculture.
The mighty Brombaugh
A Friday evening organ concert features five alumni organists: Randall Swanson, ’81,
director of music and principal organist at Saint Clement Church in Chicago;
Ryan M. Albashian, ’02, an organ builder with Taylor and Boody Organbuilders
of Staunton, Virginia; David Heller, ’81, professor of music and university
organist at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas; Paul M. Weber, ’00,
assistant professor of music at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio,
and a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Yale University; and
Thomas F. Froehlich, ’74, organist at the First Presbyterian Church of
Dallas.
On Saturday morning, alumni organists Marillyn Warner Freeman, ’57, director
of music ministries at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Neenah; Heller; and Susanna
Fortney Walby, ’58, director of music and organist at First Presbyterian
Church in La Crosse, provide music for the annual Reunion Convocation in Lawrence
Memorial Chapel.
Also on Saturday, Albashian leads a tour of the inner workings of the Brombaugh
organ, and Frank Rippl, ’69, organist and choirmaster of All Saints Episcopal
Church in Appleton, performs a demonstration.
Honored achievers
Each year, the Lawrence University Alumni Association presents awards honoring
distinguished achievement, service to society, and service to Lawrence to alumni
who are members of that year’s reunioning classes. Here are this year’s
recipients:
The Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award
Arthur D. Ullian, ’61, Newton, Massachusetts, graduated from Lawrence
with a B.A. degree with honors in economics and did graduate work at the London
School of Economics. A highly successful real-estate developer and manager,
his Boston Land Development Company specialized in assisted and market-rate
multi-family housing.
After a bicycle accident in 1991 left him paralyzed from the chest down and with
only limited use of his hands and arms, he entered into his “second career,” advocating
for increased federal support for biomedical research. He is a frequent witness
before congressional committees and is highly respected for the scope and quality
of his research, writing, and testimony.
The Briggs Award was conferred in absentia.
The Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award
Catherine A. Statz, ’96, Chippewa Falls, is education director for the
Wisconsin Farmers Union, where she coordinates cooperative-education programs
for Farmers Union members, their children, and the general public.
She graduated from Lawrence with a B.A. degree in English and a B.Mus. in voice
performance and was encouraged by her voice professor, Patrice Michaels, to pursue
further study and a professional career in vocal music. However, her commitment
to the values of a cooperative lifestyle led her, in 1997, to employment with
the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
The George B. Walter, ’36, Service to Society Award
Jose Hernandez Ugalde, ’96, is Costa Rica country director for Cross-Cultural
Solutions, an international agency offering individual and small-group volunteer
opportunities in ten countries.
He came to Lawrence as a Spanish department language assistant and graduated
with an English major in 1996. As a graduate student at the University of Costa
Rica, he was employed in the university’s international programs department,
and he also has worked with the Foreign Service Foundation for Peace and Democracy
and served as director of public relations and as a protocol officer for the
United Nations Conference on the Environment. He has taught courses on civic
education and democracy as a visiting faculty member at the Close-Up Foundation
in Washington, D.C.
The Gertrude Breithaupt Jupp, M-D’18, Service Award
Margaret Banta Humleker, ’41, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, served on the Lawrence
University Board of Trustees for 23 years and was elected an emerita trustee
in 2004.
An alumna whose total commitment to Lawrence has been long-evident, she has been
class secretary for the Class of 1941 for 33 years. A prime mover in the life
of her class, she ably served in such capacities as reunion gift committee member
and reunion steering committee member (and chair). She has been hostess of regional
and reunion events without number. In 1997 she represented the college as a delegate
to the inauguration of a new president at Marion College.
Kathleen Karst Larson, ’60, McAllen, Texas, was honored not simply for
her long-standing leadership as class secretary for the Class of 1960 but also
for her dependability as a volunteer who has been willing to do anything Lawrence
needs her to do.
A former member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, she has served
the Class of 1960 as its class secretary for 42 years and also has been a member
of its reunion steering committees on numerous occasions, including this year’s
45th-anniversary cluster reunion. A long-time leader in Lawrence alumni affairs,
she currently serves as a career contact and has been an admissions volunteer.
Peter G. Kelly, ’87, West Newton, Massachusetts, has taken lead volunteer
roles in service to Lawrence, often in the area of alumni development. In addition
to serving as co-chair of his tenth-reunion gift committee and a member of this
year’s committee, he has been an active member of both the Viking Gift
Committee for young alumni and the Ambassadors Peer Solicitation Committee for
alumni ten to 25 years out of college.
A former member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, he served on its
executive committee for three years. In addition, he has distinguished himself
as one of the college’s key volunteers in the Boston area, helping with
events and career contacts.
In convocation assembled
Presided over by LUAA President Linda Laarman, ’73, the Reunion Convocation,
like the weekend itself, is a time for looking not only back but ahead, and,
in that spirit, President Jill Beck’s “state of the college” address
not only summarizes achievements of the past year but also is an informed foretaste
of Lawrence news to come.
A traditional component of the convocation is the annual Parade of Classes that
brings the reunioning alumni from Mudd Library to Memorial Chapel, accompanied
by band music. Special thanks go to Kurt Dietrich, ’73, trombone; Jim Stellmacher,
French horn; Jim Thaldorf, tuba; and Marty Robinson, ’91, and John Quigley, ’87.
Similarly, the volunteers in the Alumni Choir, under the direction of Richard
Bjella, professor of music, perform magnificently at the convocation, having
come together for the first time Saturday morning for less than two hours of
rehearsal.
Another highlight of the Reunion Convocation is the moment when the reunion classes
present their class gifts to President Beck and Lawrence. Details of these gifts
will appear in the Report on Giving to be published in fall 2006.
Special recognition was given to Murna Wickert Weller, ’27 (pictured, standing),
in honor of her 100th birthday, which she celebrated in March 2006.
Something for everyone
Why go to your Lawrence reunion? Lots of reasons, like these examples from
Reunion Weekend 2006.
•
Child care: Lawrence provides supervision and activities for family
members from infancy to age 18, allowing parents to enjoy their own reunion
activities unencumbered.
•
Fun run: runners and walkers of literally all ages test themselves
against a course that begins and ends at the Downer Commons parking lot. There’s
a bit of melancholy surrounding this year’s event, coming soon after the
death of its founder, long-time Lawrence coach Gene Davis. Taking over for his
father is John Davis, ’76, who makes a few brief remarks and wields the
starter’s pistol, a family heirloom.
•
SLUG work: Alumni who have brought “gardening-appropriate” clothes
are invited to work in the Sustainable
Lawrence University Garden at the base
of Union Hill on Saturday afternoon.
•
Occasions: In addition to the many unscheduled get-togethers between
alumni and Lawrence faculty and staff that are a core value of any reunion,
scheduled opportunities
to mingle include a reception for retiring professors Mark
Dintenfass and William
Perreault; a chance to help Professor of Music Emerita Marjory Irvin celebrate
an unspecified milestone birthday; a champagne reception in honor of members
of the Class of 1956 whose artworks are displayed in a special exhibition in
the library’s Mudd Gallery; a geology department coffee with current and
retired faculty members; and informational open houses at International House,
the Diversity Center, fraternity houses, and the Panhellenic Wing.
Why come to your college reunion? Do you really have to ask?