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Written by Diana Mazzella
Imagine
that the Mountaineers play football in a green bowl behind the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. Imagine a student body of about 6,000 who pass through a smaller version of the Mountainlair. There’s no Evansdale campus to speak of, and the Health Sciences campus is just getting started. The WVU graduates of 1961 don’t have to imagine it. They were there. On nearly every front, WVU was facing change along with the nation. John F. Kennedy had just been elected president; his brother Bobby had represented JFK the year before at WVU’s mock Democratic Convention, though in WVU’s convention, JFK lost the nomination. Now 50 years after they went their separate ways, members of the class of 1961 (along with alumni from years before) returned in May to remember the way it was. WVU graduates who have already reconnected and attended previous reunions coordinated the 2011 Emeritus Reunion, just like the first 50-year alums who decided it would be a good idea to get together. An Emeritus Club began accepting members in 1951 and was founded by 20 alums who graduated before 1901, around when cadavers were first regularly being used in the medical school for dissections, and Stewart Hall opened as a library. More than 2,000 alumni have been inducted as emeritus graduates, and of course thousands more have been eligible. Al Ware, a 1950 alumnus who chaired the 2011 reunion committee, estimates there are more than 13,000 WVU alumni still living who graduated 50 or more years ago. The benefits of an enduring relationship to both WVU and these graduates grow stronger as both age, Ware said. The graduates serve as high-level links between WVU and their career fields and as generous supporters. In return, the University remains a strong emotional home. “The returning graduates were honored by WVU, met the president, Jim Clements, and the University leadership, and engaged in dialogue with faculty on the strategy and action now under way in growing WVU nationally and internationally,” Ware said of the reunion. The goal of the reunions is to give graduates a good picture of the research, education, diversity, international activity, and overall development of their alma mater, while allowing the University to draw in a group of major stakeholders at a critical time in WVU’s history. Graduates can become involved in the development of a University that developed them long after they’ve turned their tassels, taken their first
Emily Jones and Bob and Amy Mead (left) and Forest “Jack” Bowman with Ellie and Ed Flowers at an Emeritus Weekend reception at Blaney House.
jobs, and raised families. After all, it was WVU alumni who successfully petitioned the state’s governor to bring a medical center—now Ruby Hospital and nearby facilities—to Morgantown. Forest “Jack” Bowman, WVU student body president from 195960 and retired professor emeritus at the College of Law, enjoyed his 50th reunion last year. He has no doubts about the role that alumni, through their financial generosity and influence, can play in driving their University forward. To those who need an invitation to future reunions, even if their 50th year has come and gone, Bowman states, “I would just say come back and see how this University is growing and blossoming, and get reconnected with old friends.” Dee Brown, a 1960 alumna and former WVU administrator, remembers fondly a close-knit campus that cheered on Jerry West and Willie Akers. Students knew most of the faces around them. It is that reconnection that she finds to be so special at reunions. But to get that, everyone has to be there. “If you don’t come, it’s not a reunion” has been Brown’s selling point as she reaches out to alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago. “I’m sure alums are very interested to know how the University is interacting in the greater world,” Brown said. “From my perspective what I enjoyed watching is the growth in the student body, not necessarily in size but in their aptitudes and their interests and the University taking on a more student-centered attitude.” Graduates can see not just new buildings, but what the University has accomplished through education, research, and service when they make the trip home for the reunion. Although the weekends include a variety of activities, both social and serious, they’re perhaps most of all a time to reminisce. This year’s class discussed the midpoint of their four years when Jerry West led the team to compete for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, the opening of the hospital, and the mock Democratic convention. Who knows? In a couple years, classes might be sitting on the terrace at The Erickson Alumni Center recalling the first open-heart surgery in West Virginia (performed by a team of School of Medicine doctors), or the first days of the PRT. You’ll only know what the talk will be if you show up. For more information about Emeritus Reunions, visit http://emeritus.wvu. edu/ or contact the WVU Alumni Association at 304-293-4731. Plans are underway for the next reunion in fall 2012.
West Virginia University Alumni Magazine
2011
35