Author: Elena Fuell
Alumni and current students shared their respective Oxy experiences at the second annual Decades Dinner in Gresham dining room, Wednesday, April 11. Sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations as a part of Oxy History Week, a slide show of archival photographs accompanied the dinner, documenting college events over the past several decades. “The main goal for the event is to bring together alumni and students in an informal setting, but in a way that should be fun and informative for everyone involved,” Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Alison Graunke said.
About 30 alumni attended the dinner, from graduating classes going as far back as 1942 and as recent as 1998. Alumni sat at tables according to the decade in which they graduated, sharing past traditions and their experiences as students with the present Oxy community. “I talked to a couple from the 1960s,” Alison Dempsey (sophomore) said. “They spoke a lot about the changing U.S. culture during the time they were at Oxy-the turmoil of the Vietnam War, civil rights issues and the exposure of pot smoking to popular culture. They were in college during a very interesting and unique period of time.” Several alumni at the ’40s table even brought yearbooks and memorabilia to share with students, Graunke said.
Students and alumni also engaged in discussions regarding recent changes and current happenings at the College. “[Alumni] were very interested in our campus climate and said when they went here there was no diversity,” Dempsey said. “They were impressed by the improvements to our campus in this way.”
Lively conversations and a significant turn-out made the event a hit with both students and alumni. “What is most successful about the event is having a lot of alumni involved and getting the students excited about engaging with them,” Graunke said. “In the future, we will just need to work harder on promoting the event to students. It is fun and worthwhile to connect with our alumni [. . .] you never know who you are going to meet!”
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