Webb Celebrates Alumni Weekend 2021

More than 300 alumni, faculty, parents, and friends tuned in for Alumni Weekend 2021 on Oct. 22 and 23. The virtual celebration offered a mix of traditional Alumni Weekend events as well as some new offerings.

The weekend kicked off with the 29th annual Peccary Society Dinner on Oct. 22. Museum Director Dr. Andy Farke led the evening where attendees learned about the latest Alf Museum projects and celebrated the 2021 recipient of the Alf Award, Dr. Julie Meachen, who is researching climate impacts on ice age mammals. During the program, the museum also honored Director Emeritus Dr. Don Lofgren, who will retire at the end of the school year after 31 years with the museum. After the program, attendees were invited to join a social hour on Zoom to catch up with one another and share some of their favorite Peccary memories.

Saturday’s programming saw a mix of traditional and new programming, adjusted for the virtual format. The day started with a virtual tour of the Alf Museum with Dr. Farke. Then a panel on DEI Allyship was hosted by the Alumni Office and featured alumni guests sharing their insights and observations about diversity, equity and inclusion allyship at their professional settings and as it pertained to their time at Webb.

Moderated by Jennifer Ishiguro ’91, the panel featured Dr. Christina Mercer McGinley ’84, Dr. Lydia Charles ’86, Dr. Rahmi Mowjood ’90 and Kane Willis ’11. Rev. Bill Ripley ’60 led the alumni chapel service in the afternoon that included a chapel talk by Joe Thomas ’70, a reading by Jarasa Kanok ’96 and a remembrance of classmates who are no longer with us.

Throughout the day, attendees were able to watch a virtual dorm crawl through their favorite homes away from home, including a first look into the newly renovated Appleby Dorm. Also available for viewing was a look inside the recently remodeled and upgraded Hooper Community Center with Director of Finance, Planning and Operations Janet Peddy and Dean of Campus Life Ken Rosenfeld.

You can view several of these recorded events and more on the Webb Alumni YouTube channel.

The weekend culminated in The Centennial Years Opening Celebration when Webb announced an historic estate gift of at least $100 million from an anonymous donor and launched the $200 million Centennial Campaign aimed at three pillars: open Webb to the world, foster academic innovation, and transform our campus home.

Information about the campaign and transformative gift can be found at Webb100.org

Thank you to everyone that joined us for Alumni Weekend 2021 and we look forward to welcoming you back to campus soon!