University
Reunion Weekend Triple Feature
By Tim Knight on November 9, 2009 7:52 AM
- Former USC Dean of Women Joan Schaefer (seated, center) joined Class of 1959 alumnae for the 50-Year Reunion luncheon at Town & Gown.
- Photo/Devin Begley
More than 860 alumni and friends returned to USC to evoke fond memories, create new ones and renew support for their alma mater during Reunion Weekend 2009.
Sponsored by the USC Alumni Association, this year’s two-day celebration of Trojan Family ties welcomed three generations of alumni back to campus: the Class of 1959 for its 50-Year Reunion, the Class of 1984 for the 25-Year Reunion, and the classes of 1999-2009 for the all-new Young Alumni Reunion.
Trojans from as far away as New Zealand and London began arriving on campus on Oct. 23 to check in, reconnect with old friends and enjoy a slate of cultural, educational and social activities.
While the 25-year and Young Alumni attendees enjoyed a buffet at Widney Alumni House, approximately 150 members of the Class of 1959 attended an elegant luncheon in the Town & Gown banquet hall decorated with poster-size reproductions of Daily Trojan front pages circa 1959.
Following a welcome by Scott M. Mory, associate senior vice president for alumni relations, 50-Year Reunion committee co-chairs Scott Fitz-Randolph ’59 and Alli Lockwood Solum ’59 took the podium to kick off the reunion festivities. They also introduced a special guest: former USC Dean of Women Joan M. Schaefer, who had joined the university in 1955 — “the day we stepped on campus,” according to Solum.
Following Schaefer’s appearance, former yell king and current class legacy chair Barney Rosenzweig ’59 informed his classmates that their generous reunion-giving program would fully fund the Norman Topping Commemorative Monument in honor of the university’s seventh president and also enhance the Widney Alumni House Legacy Fund.
The luncheon concluded with “USC Then and Now,” a special presentation by Courtney Surls, vice president for development, who charted the university’s changes over five decades.
After a football pep rally at Heritage Hall, the festivities shifted to the University Club for the 50-year cocktail party and the Cinematic Arts complex for back-to-back events: the 25-year reunion dinner and the Young Alumni cocktail party.
On Oct. 24, more than 600 Reunion Weekend attendees demonstrated their Trojan Spirit at a tailgate party in Argue Plaza, next to the Alumni House, before the 42-36 Trojan victory over Oregon State.
With Reunion Weekend attendance increasing 83 percent over the previous year and class-legacy giving surpassing the $100,000 mark for the second time in as many years, USC’s expanded reunion program fulfilled two key alumni association goals: providing alumni of all ages with meaningful opportunities to reconnect with USC and inspiring philanthropic support for current university initiatives.
“Reunion Weekend 2009, with its expanded class outreach, represented a significant step in our efforts to engage alumni from different generations in meaningful university experiences,” said senior director of alumni relations Patrick Auerbach EdD ’08. “We hope to continually expand such reunion opportunities to enhance engagement, strengthen the Trojan Family and advance the mission of the university.”
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Los Angeles Times featured the USC Rossier School’s centennial gala, which took place February 1. USC President Steven B. Sample was honored with the Global Education Leadership Award, and USC alumna Cindy McCain was honored with the Dean’s Alumni Achievement Award. “It’s rare for someone who’s lived as long as I have in politics with my husband to be speechless, but I truly am,” McCain said. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced Sample, recounting his work in raising USC’s stature globally, being open to international students, and understanding USC’s position in Los Angeles as “the gateway to Asia and Latin America.” Nearly 350 people attended the event, including Sen. John McCain; Ed Roski, chairman of the USC Board of Trustees; Barbara and Roger Rossier, for whom the Rossier School is named; John Katzman, Princeton Review founder and benefactor of an endowed chair at the Rossier School; and alumni and longtime USC supporters Debbie and J. Terrence Lanni and Verna Dauterive.
The Chronicle of Higher Education included USC in a chart on international fundraising by higher education institutions. USC has received $2.9 million from international philanthropic funds, and is estimated to have more than 6,000 foreign alumni, the story stated.
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured Paul Debevec of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, who won an Academy Award for co-creating a light stage capture device and image-based facial rendering system that has been used in movies like “Avatar.” The award will be presented at a formal dinner on February 20, the story noted. Asked whether the technology could be applied to education, Debevec said: “Absolutely, yes. Maybe there’s a little rendering of a chemistry professor at the side of the screen who smiles at you when you get the question right and frowns when you get the question wrong. [In perhaps 10 years] that computer might, through its Web cam, look back at you, see where you’re looking on the screen, see how engaged you are, and actually adapt itself to trying to teach you in the way that it seems to be working the best. Just like one-on-one tutoring.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured linguist Paul Frommer of the USC Marshall School, who created the language Na’vi for the Golden Globe-winning movie “Avatar.” “Doing this kind of work as an academic is not going to advance your research reputation. It’s not going to result in publications in peer-reviewed journals,” Frommer said. “But it just may push the world forward in the way it’s turning on young people to the wonders of language”
Los Angeles Times reported that the 22nd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award was given to “Up in the Air” novelist Walter Kirn and to USC alumnus Jason Reitman and Shelton Turner, who adapted Kirn’s book for the screen. Los Angeles Times ran a second story about the Scripter Award.
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