Reunion Events planned to date:
Class of 1966 50th Reunion
Friday, May 13 - Monday, May 16
Friday, May 13
Noon - 3:15 PM The 50+ Lunch and Learn (for 50th reunion and Old Guard Classes) Claudia Cohen Hall (formerly Logan Hall) Join Penn faculty and alumni for two intriguing educational sessions and a catered lunch. There is no charge for this event.
--12:15 - 1:15 PM Reaching Across the Generation Gaps - Building bridges between age groups Methods of communication are changing faster than ever before creating larger gaps between generations. Come learn how to bridge these gaps with Jon Greenawalt, C’61, G’63, Personal Mastery Programs and Empathy Institute, Inc.; a young Penn alumnus; and Michael Nakkula, Ed.D., Practice Professor and Chair, Division of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Penn Graduate School of Education.
--1:15 - 2:15 PM Lunch (complimentary)
--2:15 - 3:15 PM Changes & Advances in Health Care: Learn from Penn’s leading experts in health care, geriatrics, and gerontology. Topics covered will include innovations in technology and the doctor/patient relationship, Alzheimer’s and other related diseases, the latest of changes in Medicare, and healthy aging. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Daniel Polsky, Ph.D.,Executive Director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, Professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, and the Robert D. Eilers Professor of Health Care Management in the Wharton School. Panelists include: Jason Karlawish, MD, Professor of Medicine, Medical Ethics & Health Policy; Pamela Z. Cacchione, PhD, APRN, GNP, BC, FAAN, Ralston House Endowed Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing, Associate Professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing and Shivan J. Mehta, MD, MBA, MSMP, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center.Featuring Penn faculty to discuss and help us understand what’s happening in health care and how we can better take care of ourselves and live healthy lives.
3:30 - 4:30 PM What’s Next in TECH with Vijay Kumar, Dean of Penn Engineering and Howard Anderson (co-sponsored by Class of 1966 and Alumni Education, open to all alumni)
Claudia Cohen Hall (formerly Logan Hall) A discussion of how developments in technology will affect business and personal ‘life’, featuring the Engineering Dean and classmate Howard Anderson, whose expertise includes success in the commercial world as well as academics at Harvard and MIT.
6 - 8 PM Class of 1966 50th Welcome Party Van Pelt Library, 6th Floor, 3420 Walnut Street (Rosengarten Reserves Entrance) No books needed! Remember the time you spent at Van Pelt (or the time your books did while you were at the ‘Drug’)? Remember the ‘stacks’? Well our Friday party will be in the beautifully re-done 6th floor Rare Book area of Van Pelt, with a grand view of the campus. Enjoy light hors d’oeuvres and cocktails while you reconnect with friends. Highlights include a welcome from Penn President Dr. Amy Gutmann; music provided by the Counterparts, a student performance group; and the Class of 1966 Authors and Artists Display (if interested in participating contact our staff liaison at lisbethw@upenn.edu).
7 - 11 PM Join Franklin Fest - The All Alumni Party College Green (Rain Location Houston Hall / 2nd floor) Following the Welcome Party, join classmates for drinks (including a wine tasting), light fare and live entertainment.
Saturday, May 14
8:30 - 10:15 AM 50th Reunion Women's Breakfast Houston Hall, Ben Franklin Room (2nd Floor) Women of all Schools - Let’s get together and celebrate where we've been and who we've become. This is an opportunity to find out what became of our friends, roommates, and how we used our Penn degree over the last 50+ years. We will reminisce, share our stories, network, and reconnect with old friends, plus make new ones. Women's Host Committee: Phyllis Maletzky Fisher, Helene Hollander Lepkowski, Susan Marx, Bobbie Humenny McCrackin, Queenie Zettler Northrup and Margaret H. Hager, M.D.
8:30 - 10:15 AM Penn Athletics Coaches Panel (Sponsored by Class of 1966 and open to all alumni) Houston Hall, Class of 1949 Room (2nd Floor) Penn Athletics Coaches Panel - Hear from several of Penn’s men’s and women’s coaches about challenges and opportunities and opportunities in their respective sports. Howard Coonley, 1966 Class President will facilitate the conversation between Coaches Ray Priore (Football), Ira Bowman, Assistant Coach (Men’s Basketball), Mike McLaughlin (Women’s Basketball), Jack Wyant (Penn Men’s and Women’s Squash Coach), and Sanela Kunovac (Women’s Tennis). Athletes from the 50th milestone reunion will be recognized. Light refreshments will be served.
10:30 - 11:15 AM Conversation with President Amy Gutmann Annenberg Center Live, 3680 Walnut Street
Hear about what is exciting at Penn directly from the President, with special recognition of the class.
11:45 AM Parade Lineup for Noon Parade procession Meet at the patio at 37th Street & Locust Walk for Noon Parade procession to College Green
Joyously leading other classes, behind our Penn’66 banner marching to OUR own Picnic tent.
12:30 - 3:30 PM Alumni Day Picnic Penn '66 Tent on College Green Enjoy a picnic lunch buffet (vegetarian and kosher meals available).Entertainment from the Penn Band and Glee Club.
3:30 - 4:30 PM A Discussion with Judith Rodin: Building Resilience in a World Defined by Disruption- From the Ivy league to Superstorm Sandy, Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street Classmate Judith Seitz Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, President Emerita of Penn, will sit down with Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D, the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, for an in-depth discussion about her time at Penn and the topic of resiliency.
A widely recognized international leader in academia, science, and development, she has the distinctions of being the first woman named to lead an Ivy League Institution, serving as Penn’s seventh president, and the first woman to serve as The Rockefeller Foundation’s president in its 103-year history. In 1994, she returned to her hometown to lead Penn, and over the next decade, guided the University through a period of unprecedented growth and development that transformed Penn’s academic core and dramatically enhanced the quality of life on campus and revitalized the surrounding community.
In 2005, she brought that same visionary transformation to the Rockefeller Foundation, where she has recalibrated the institution’s model to position it to meet the challenges of the 21st century, focusing on dual goals of advancing inclusive economies and building greater resilience around the world. She is the author of 15 books including her most recent, The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong.
Jonathan D. Moreno is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania where he is one of sixteen Penn Integrates Knowledge professors. At Penn he is also Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, of History and Sociology of Science, and of Philosophy. His latest book is Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network (2014). The American Journal of Bioethics has called him “the most interesting bioethicist of our time.”
7 - 11 PM 50th Reunion Celebration in the Fisher Fine Arts Library Furness Building, 220 South 34th Street (enter through College Green) Remember SOS (Save Open Space)? There were plans to ‘tear down’ the Furness Fine Arts Building. Thankfully it was saved, and this will be the beautiful venue for our Saturday evening party. Start the night outside under the tent with cocktails, appetizers and a tasting of our Route 66 Red and Backroads Blue wines. Hear the Penn ’66 song with original lyrics performed by Penn Jazz combo. Join classmates for dinner where we once studied. No need for library quiet, plenty of room to reminisce and catch up or dance to tunes from the 60s spun by our DJ.
Sunday, May 15
9 - 11:30 AM Penn '66 Champagne Breakfast and Memorial Service Houston Hall, Bodek Lounge, 3417 Spruce Street The University Chaplain will hold a private Class of 1966 memorial Service from 9 – 9:30 AM, with music from the Glee Club. Breakfast buffet is open from 9 – 11:30 AM with a New Orleans style Jazz Performance.
Monday, May 16
8 AM - 1 PM 260th Commencement Procession Starts in Annenberg Center Live, 3680 Walnut Street Revisit Graduation, caps and gowns included, in a joyous procession with students from Locust Walk to Franklin Field. You’ll be cheered on by spectators including Penn faculty. Watch the Commencement on Franklin Field. Start time is 8 AM for continental breakfast and robing. The procession across campus begins at 9 AM with the ceremony beginning at 10:15 AM. Rain or shine. A light lunch is provided after Commencement in Sweeten Alumni House. Registration is closed for this event.