This is Vassar...Reunion 2009

1,273 Alumnae/i Return to Campus for 2009 Reunion

On the weekend of June 5, warm, spring weather greeted 1,273 alums and nearly 600 guests as they returned for Vassar’s 2009 Reunion weekend.

Alumnae and alumni from as far away as Japan and Switzerland participated in a diverse lineup of reunion activities, including a beginner’s ballet class led by Bette Prinsen ’79 and a tour of the Shakespeare Garden, hosted by Marty Pinnavaia and Jason Scism of the Vassar Greenhouse.

Clockwise from right: A ballet class taught by Bette Prinsen ’79; The Class of ’69 celebrates its 40-year reunion at Sunset Lake; Peter Wilson ’84, a professional circus performer, creates a balloon sculpture on the lawn of the President’s House.

Participants also enjoyed perennially popular “Alumnae/i College” courses such as “Ritual, Brain, and Belief: On the Cognitive Science of Religion,” taught by Professor of Psychology Ken Livingston, and “Art and U.S. Social Movements of the 1960s and 1970s,” presented by Associate Professor of Art Lisa Collins.

A highlight of this year’s reunion was a moving Service of Remembrance, at which reunion participants celebrated the lives of alumnae and alumni who have passed away within the past five years. The interfaith service featured speeches by Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant leaders. Participants ended the service by pinning the names of deceased alumnae and alumni on tree saplings, which they later planted.

Photo credit: Ballet and class lunch photos by Jim Mills

Crew Recreates Alumna Alice Ramsey’s Historic Cross-Country Drive

The sky may have been gray, but the scene at Vassar on June 9th was anything but dreary as a crowd of nearly 125 people gathered at Main Gate to greet the crew retracing the historic 1909 journey made by Alice Huyler Ramsey ’07, the first woman to drive cross-country.

The commemorative trip was the brainchild of Emily Anderson, an event planner from Seattle who built a replica of Ramsey’s Maxwell DA touring car with her father. Her crew’s journey kicked off in Manhattan earlier that morning and will follow the route that Ramsey took on her pioneering drive, which commenced exactly one hundred years prior and also included a pit stop in Poughkeepsie on the day of her departure.

Despite the rain and a broken axle somewhere near Tarrytown, the crew of Alice’s Ride arrived at their namesake’s alma mater with high spirits and a full entourage of vehicles, proudly led by Anderson in the driver’s seat of the replica. A reception held to mark the event featured remarks by college historian Elizabeth Daniels ’41, AAVC Executive Director Pat Duane Lichtenberg ’90, P ’10 and President Catharine Hill, who deemed June 9th “Alice Ramsey Drive Day.” After receiving a framed copy of the decree, an emotional Anderson noted that members of Alice’s family, including her grandson Peter and great-grandson Andrew, had tagged along for the drive to Vassar, and that the warm reception they all had received was a wonderful way to start the journey ahead.

Emily Anderson’s crew is commemorating the first female-led cross-country drive.

The crew is expected to arrive at its destination in San Francisco on July 9th. Stay posted by visiting the Alice’s Drive website, which provides more information about the project, an interactive map of the route, and a blog with frequent updates on the whereabouts of the caravan.

Read an article on Alice’s Drive that previously appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of VQ.

Photo credit: Todd D'Addario

The Powerhouse Theater Celebrates its 25th Season

This year, the Powerhouse Theater celebrates 25 years of great new theater works by presenting three fully staged plays:

• Ninety by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, directed by Maria Mileaf, and featuring Sarita Choudhury and Kevin Kilner (6/30 – 7/12).
• The musical The Burnt Part Boys, directed by Vassar and Powerhouse Apprentice alumna Erica Schmidt '97, with book by Mariana Elder, music by Chris Miller, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen (7/17 – 7/26).
• Vera Laughed, written by Poughkeepsie native Keith Bunin (one of the writers for HBO's hit In Treatment) and directed by Carolyn Cantor (7/22 – 8/2).

Visit the Powerhouse website for more information on these shows, then take advantage of a special 15% discount* on tickets offered to Vassar alumnae/i during the 25th anniversary season. Use the code ALUM. Tickets are available online, in person at the Powerhouse Box Office on the Vassar campus, or by calling 845.437.7235 or 845.437.5599.

Sarita Choudhury and Kevin Kilner star in Ninety, the first play of the 2009 Powerhouse season.

Enjoy Mediterranean cuisine by Gigi Hudson Valley at the Alumnae House, starting at 6pm before Friday and Saturday evening performances. Download the prix-fixe dinner menu and make reservations by calling 914.388.7175. Or take advantage of Powerhouse’s “Summer Suppers,” prepared by a rotating selection of Arlington's restaurants, at Café on the Quad from 5:30 to 8pm.

In addition, Alumnae House offers discounted rates for patrons of the Powerhouse Theater. Call 845.437.7100 to reserve one of the hotel’s newly redecorated guest rooms and use promotional code AHPH09.

*This discount is available for single ticket sales only. All sales are final. Individual tickets are not exchangeable. Artists subject to change without notice.

AAVC Welcomes New Director of Alumnae/i Communications

On June 15, Alumnae & Alumni of Vassar College (AAVC) welcomed Elizabeth Randolph as Director of Alumnae/i Communications. She will serve as Editor of the Vassar Quarterly and will develop means of effectively communicating with and engaging the alumnae and alumni of Vassar College.

For the past six years, Randolph has worked at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, most recently as Senior Communications Manager in the Office of Public Relations and Communications, where she was responsible for overseeing the creation of most of the Institute’s printed publications, as well as email and web communications.

During her time at Pratt, Randolph worked closely with the Institute’s Director of Alumni Relations, using the organization’s publications to help increase satisfaction among the Institute’s graduates. She was instrumental in the redesign and re-conceptualization of two of Pratt’s most important publications — its newsletter, Gateway, and its magazine, Prattfolio, which earned Gold and Bronze medals in the “Alumni Relations Publications” category of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence Awards.

Randolph received a bachelor degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master degree in interactive telecommunications from New York University.