Fall 2016 Mini-Reunion

This summary was sent to classmates after the Fall 2016 Mini-Reunion:

On November 3-4, we had our first class of 1971 Mini-Reunion in Williamstown. It was a great weekend attended by 39 of our classmates, spouses and friends (listed below). We had a Friday night cocktail party at Taconic Golf Club which was attended by some of our 1971 class scholars who proved that our 25th Reunion gift was very well spent. Saturday night we enjoyed a dinner with members of the class of 1967. We will have a Mini-Reunion every fall in Williamstown the next four years leading to our 50th in June, 2021. The tentative date for next year is Oct. 20-22, 2017 in Williamstown.

Three quick notes on the reunion planning front: 1) Rob Farnham and Doug Pickard have switched jobs so Rob is now our Reunion Chair and Doug is our Treasurer; 2) we are busy getting our full Reunion Planning Committee organized and 5-year timeline developed (including mini-reunions and regional events) – thank you to those of you who volunteered so far and we welcome any additional volunteers; and 3) we are aiming towards early next spring to have a comprehensive letter and timeline out to you describing an exciting next 4 ½ years leading up to our reunion. All thoughts, ideas, and comments are welcome.

On Saturday morning there was a meeting of our class 50th Reunion Gift Committee. To keep everyone in the class advised on our progress to date, we decided to periodically send out short reports on our progress. This report briefly summarizes the discussions at that meeting.

50th Reunion Gift Committee

A. Gift Committee Reports. Traditionally the 50th Reunion Class Gift[s] to the College is the largest fundraising effort each class will undertake. Our goal is to assure that our Class shows its gratitude to the College in ways the Class believes will have a meaningfully impact the lives of future undergraduates. To that end we have organized a Gift Objectives Committee, chaired by Geo Estes, which is comprised of three subcommittees. These subcommittees have begun their work and these are summaries of their first reports. Once the Gift Committee has completed its work and have defined projects they believe are consistent with our goals the entire class will be polled to identify the two, three, or four projects we wish to support with our 50th Reunion Gifts.

1. Science Advancement Subcommittee. This subcommittee is chaired by Mark Ruchman and Mike Rade. Bruce Lindsey, Bob Eyre, Ken Richardson, and John Finnerty have volunteered to serve as subcommittee members. This committee reported on their discussions with the College’s science faculty and the College Development Office. The College has experienced what only be called an explosion in Division III majors and double majors. In response a new science center is under construction. There are multiple brick and mortar projects and programmatic support projects our Class might support. At this point in time the subcommittee leans toward programmatic support projects with particular interest in a project which would promote student scientific research and in a project to support junior faculty research. If you would like more information on the work of the subcommittee or would like to join in this effort please contact Mark ( [email protected]).

2. Academic and Scholarship Support Subcommittee. This subcommittee is chaired by Nick Tortorello. Jim Lavine, George Ebright, Bill Wilson, and Rod Brown have volunteered to serve as members of this subcommittee. In addition to enhancing scholarship opportunities for students with needs, this subcommittee is exploring projects to enhance student learning opportunities on issues dealing with ethical conduct in business and government, leadership development, and effective involvement in the political process. If you would like more information on the work of this subcommittee or would like to join in this effort please contact Nick ( [email protected]).

3. Support Beyond The Classroom Subcommittee. This subcommittee is chaired by Jack Sands. Steve Brown, Steve Lawson, Roger Kaufman, Peter Clark, and John Ackroff have volunteered to assist in this effort. The focus of this subcommittee is to investigate possible funding opportunities in support of student enrichment and faculty engagement outside of the classroom. This subcommittee is looking into whether the Class of 1971 Public Forum might merit additional support and whether there are other initiatives that might further faculty and student interaction on projects outside of the classroom. If you would like more information on the work of this subcommittee or would like to join in this effort please contact Jack ([email protected]).

Also John Ackroff , our outstanding Class Agent, reported on the status of our campaign . As of the date of our meeting, $2.7 million dollars has already been credited to our 50th Reunion Campaign. Of this amount approximately $790,000 were gifts made to the Annual Fund. Gifts to the Annual Fund are very important to the experiences of today’s undergraduates and a critical element to our 50th Reunion efforts. All such gifts over the next four years are credited to our 50th Campaign. Since our 40th Reunion ( which is the date on which counting for the 50th Reunion Gift commenced) 68.1% of the Class have made a gift to the College either through the Annual Fund or to support some other College effort. Our goal is to hit 71% (something magical about that number) by our 50th

If you have any question please call or email us. Best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving !!

Steve and Sey

Gene Bauer and Ellen Shortell
Colin Brown
Steve and Sue Brown
John Chambers and Laurel Cardellichio
Peter Clarke and his son, Noah ‘95
Bob and Kate Eyre ‘73
Rob Farnham
John and Louise Finnerty
Roger Kaufman and Mary Ann Lee
Dave and Audrey Kubie
Dick Lamb and Holly Taylor
Steve and Jorie Latham
John and Anne MacKinnon
Ken Richardson
Doug and Jane Pickard
Mark and Sharon Ruchman
Jack and Arria Sands
Paul and Meg Schneider
Nick and Ann Tortorello
Jim and Sharon Vipond
Sey and Janet Zimmerman