Spring has sprung in Schenectady, which means it’s time for a favorite
College tradition – ReUnion. More than 1,500 visitors are expected on campus for the annual celebration of Union’s graduates.
“ReUnion is the time of year when we welcome alumni back home – home to remember the friends they met, the professors they learned from and the many life experiences they cherished,” said Marna S. Redding, director of Alumni & Parent Engagement. “You can’t relive your college experience but you can reconnect and remember. That’s what ReUnion is all about.”
Highlights of ReUnion 2015, which begins Friday, May 29 and continues through Sunday, May 31, include all the perennial favorites, like the Alumni Parade (10:30 a.m. Saturday), the fireworks display (9 p.m. Saturday) and the family picnic and kids carnival (noon Saturday). In addition, visitors can enjoy a number of other special events.
Among these are:
• Karp Hall Dedication (12:30 p.m. Saturday): Built in 1965, the Humanities building – one of the most heavily-used academic spaces – was recently renovated and reopened as Karp Hall. Supported by a lead gift from the Karp Family Foundation, the building boasts 37 offices, 10 classrooms, a lobby, a faculty lounge and a cluster of student alcoves. Home to nearly 40 faculty and staff members in the departments of English and Modern Languages and Literatures, Karp Hall is also an interdisciplinary hub of higher learning for the entire campus.
• 200th Anniversary of North & South Colleges (2 p.m. Saturday): Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of North and South Colleges. The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi and Minerva House Council members will walk you down memory lane. Come get a look at your “old room,” back when you called these places home. Also, hear Frieda Sanidas Leason discuss the impact of the French Enlightenment on Union through the work of Eliphalet Nott and campus architect Joseph Ramée.
• Steinmetz Symposium 25th Anniversary (2 p.m. Saturday, Wold Center): Check out this poster session and learn more about the research Union students are doing today. The Steinmetz Symposium was created in 1991 to celebrate student research, and research across all disciplines is a linchpin of a Union education.
Also at ReUnion, the Alumni Council will present Alumni Gold Medals to David L. Henle ’75, president of DLH Capital; Richard Crookes ’65, who spent decades in financial management at GE; and Valerie J. Hoffman ’75, attorney and partner at Seyfarth Shaw. Cheryl Rockwood, head trainer and director of Student-Athlete Programming, will receive the Faculty Meritorious Service Award.
Alumni Engineering Gold Awards will also be presented to Richard K. Templeton ’80 (electrical engineering), Cregg Brown ’00 (computer systems engineering) and Brian D. Reh ’95 (mechanical engineering).