Our annual photo gallery.
Plus: Alumni Award of Merit winners and citations.
Slideshow | Photography by Tommy Leonardi C’89
Merit Awards
Creative Spirit Award
Todd Lieberman C’95
It is one of those late nights in the early 1990s. You are at the Mask and Wig Clubhouse, like you always are, working on a show with your friends. It is hard work—you want to get everything right—but your sides hurt from how much you have been laughing. You should feel tired, but you are not. Then a thought comes to you: What if I could do this all the time? What if I had a job making things people loved to watch?
After you graduate from Penn in 1995 with a degree in psychology, you move to Los Angeles. It feels so far from where you grew up in Cleveland. But you trust your instincts, work your way up the ranks. You advocate for a quirky backwards-timeline movie called Memento. It becomes a hit. You acquire a teen-comedy called American Pie. That is a hit too. You eventually become Senior Vice President for Hyde Park Entertainment and then a partner in Mandeville Films.
At Mandeville, you produce a wide range of films, including dramas like The Fighter and Stronger and comedies like The Proposal and The Muppets. You also produce the critically acclaimed live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. The film is a tremendous success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide.
You and your work garner accolades throughout your career. You are named one of “35 under 35” people to watch in Hollywood. You are ranked among the most powerful producers in the business. You have eight movies debut at #1 at the box office. Your films are nominated for 11 Academy Awards and they win three. You, together with your wife, Heather Zeegen Lieberman C’94, start your own production company, Hidden Pictures, to foster new narrative and documentary projects.
But you do not forget what it was like back in the days of Mask and Wig. You worked with talented classmates who loved acting, directing, and producing. You knew they could have created incredible movies and television, but most of them decided to not take the risk of a career in the arts.
So you go back to Penn to show students on campus that a career in the arts is possible, and you offer to help them if they decide to take that leap. You screen your movies and talk to students about filmmaking, what it means to be a producer, and the excitement of turning an idea into a film that people can watch in their local theater. You also talk about your own career path and how you kept going, even when it was difficult. You and Heather create an endowed scholarship for students in the College and give your support to Penn Live Arts—both philanthropically and through your service on the PLA Director’s Council and Heather’s service on the PLA Board of Advisors. You also provide internship opportunities for students at your company, and you and Heather champion the Penn Live Arts Career Development Initiative.
But you know at heart that you are still doing exactly what you did 30 years ago at the Mask and Wig Clubhouse. You keep putting on shows. Just with a much bigger audience. You keep making people laugh and cry. You allow them to immerse themselves in another world for a few hours. And you give them stories they will always remember.
For your distinguished and award-winning career in filmmaking, your lifetime of dedication to the performing arts, and your commitment to the budding performing artists on Penn’s campus, we are proud to present you with the Creative Spirit Award for 2022.
Faculty Award of Merit
Laura W. Perna C’88 W’88
“Never stop learning” is your motto. This principle informs not only your distinguished scholarship, but your engagement with your fellow Quakers.
Happily, for alumni of the University and the Graduate School of Education (GSE), you believe that Penn should remain their intellectual home long after graduation day. Time and again, you have created opportunities to bring Quakers together, share your distinguished scholarship, and promote lifelong learning.
A leading voice in your field, you are well known for your expertise in college access, affordability, and success, especially for low-income, first-generation, and nontraditional students. Your accomplished scholarship has earned you honors on campus, beginning at GSE, where you serve as Centennial professor of Education, Chair of the Higher Education Division, and Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD). Known for your strong commitment to mentoring and advising students, you have chaired doctoral and dissertation committees for more than 60 students who have gone on to become educational leaders themselves.
Given the broad impact of your work, you have assumed roles all around Penn, at the Institute for Urban Research, the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, and the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. You have also been tapped to serve in University leadership as Vice Provost for Faculty, where your office facilitates and supports every stage of a faculty member’s life at Penn, from appointment through post-retirement.
Your expertise is also sought well beyond Locust Walk. You have testified before Congress, advised University leaders, and offered recommendations to policy makers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Your many awards include election to the National Academy of Education and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching.
A true champion of education, you believe that one of the benefits of a Penn degree is lifelong access to a robust community of alumni and scholars. Despite the considerable demands on your time, you always find time to share your scholarship with the larger Penn community.
When Penn Alumni launched Inspiring Impact, a new virtual series highlighting the work of Penn faculty, you joined your GSE colleagues in a spirited panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education.” Your generosity also extends to future generations of Quakers—for 15 years, you have served as a volunteer interviewer in the Penn Alumni Interview Program.
The innovative thinking that characterizes your scholarship extends to your work with alumni, as you look for new ways to bring the Penn community together. For example, you saw an opportunity to use Alumni Weekend to offer programs for graduates of the Higher Education Division at GSE. Your idea was quickly expanded to include the entire School and has since become a tradition. On a similar front, you saw an opportunity to use Homecoming Weekend to reengage GSE graduates and connect them with current students. That effort was so successful that it turned into an annual event, now open to all Penn alumni, featuring a panel discussion among distinguished scholars in education.
Not surprisingly, you are an especially strong advocate and mentor for graduates of GSE. You remain engaged with your students long after graduation, helping them advance their professional and academic goals. You stay abreast of their career progress and invite them to share their knowledge at events such as the Higher Education Leadership Conference. And you consistently leverage your own robust professional network to identify experts who can share their expertise with GSE alumni. The 400 graduates of the Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Management Program cite your continued engagement as the key factor in keeping them connected to GSE and to each other.
You are much more than a distinguished professor of education—you are an inspired advocate for education, on Penn’s campus and beyond. Fortunately for your fellow alumni, “Never stop learning” is a principle you put into action each and every day. With gratitude for your tireless commitment to bringing Quakers together, promoting lifelong learning, and strengthening both the GSE and larger alumni communities, we are proud to present you with the Faculty Award of Merit for 2022.
Young Alumni Award
Omid Shokoufandeh C’09
Team spirit radiates in everything you do. A standout as both a soccer player and an alumni volunteer, you have a knack for coming in clutch. The skills you honed as a striker have served you well in life. You lead with confidence, your moves put others in positions to shine, and you have a special touch for creating opportunities that bring the Penn team closer, no matter the distance.
Hailing from Los Angeles, you made a mark on campus. During your senior year, you earned First Team All-Ivy honors, becoming the first Quaker in over 10 years to notch more than 20 points in a season. Besides excelling on the pitch, you were an exceptional student, earning induction to the prestigious Friars Senior Society and graduating cum laude with a major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. After returning to Los Angeles, your career took flight, leading to a position as Vice President of Acquisitions and Development with Abington Emerson Investments.
No matter where life took you, you treasured your transformative Penn experience. You were eager to deepen your connection to Penn and help fellow alumni do the same. This was a tall order in a dispersed metropolitan area hosting one of Penn’s largest alumni bases. But, always goal-oriented, you were undeterred. You are a familiar face when Penn visits the Golden State. When the soccer team traveled to San Diego, you were front and center cheering on the Red and Blue. You celebrate all things Penn from coast to coast, returning to Philadelphia regularly for Alumni Weekend and Homecoming.
Starting with the Penn Alumni Interview Program, you became one of Penn’s most vibrant and visible young alumni leaders. Wherever you share your time, you prove willing to recruit, train, and support other alumni as they strengthen their bonds with the University and with one another. A natural choice to become President of the Penn Club of Los Angeles in 2016, your magnetic presence draws a diverse range of alumni and friends to activities where everyone feels welcome and included.
With boundless energy and enthusiasm, you have staged eclectic, creative events—happy hours, talks with faculty members and Penn-educated authors, outings to sports events, and tours of interesting sites like the Getty Center and SpaceX. You engage a wide swath of alumni through yPenn and Penn Spectrum and broaden horizons by connecting Penn people to the Ivy Plus alumni network in Los Angeles.
Amid a global pandemic, you kept spirits strong with programming including a yPenn welcome event and a timely talk on vaccines and misinformation co-sponsored by Penn Libraries and Penn Medicine. It is no wonder that the Penn Club of LA won the 2021 Alumni Club Award of Merit. Like a great leader, you attribute the Club’s success not to your own talents—prodigious as they are—but to the incredible team around you.
You have been a steadfast supporter of the soccer team, but you did not stop there. Always excited about contributing to the Penn community, you took your involvement to the next level. A founding member and current Chair of the Penn Libraries Young Alumni Board, you invoked the spirit of friendly competition in creating a fundraising challenge between members on the East and West Coasts that secured full participation.
Even with so much already under your belt, we know this is just the kickoff for many years of engagement at Penn. As a soccer star, it is no surprise that you have started off on the right foot. With gratitude for your inspired leadership and your dedication to our team both at home and on the road, Penn Alumni is delighted to present you with the Young Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Alumni Award of Merit
Albero Chamorro W’78 PAR’05 PAR’09 PAR’10
In everything you do, family comes first. When your great-grandfather—the aptly named Filadelfo Chamorro—took a steamship from Nicaragua to attend medical school at Penn, he launched a lineage of four generations of Chamorro alumni. You have built upon that legacy brilliantly through steadfast leadership, pivotal support of student aid, and vital assistance of Penn Admissions and Penn Alumni efforts across Central America. Along the way, you have created a new type of family tree—one whose branches have expanded our Penn community and bore fruitful opportunities for many.
Following your father’s footsteps, you called Penn home before joining the family business, E. Chamorro Group. However, the path you charted back to Penn would be singular—and significant. You wanted to put Penn front and center for young people from Nicaragua and make their dreams of studying in the United States a reality. First, you connected with the Admissions office and hosted a dinner for Ambrose Davis, former Director of International Recruitment and Development. That evening sparked over two decades of helping to magnify Penn’s reach and recognition.
You have generously supported Penn Admissions trips throughout Central America, offering lodging in your home when our representatives visit Nicaragua. Not only did you open your own doors, but you opened new avenues for staging information sessions in schools. Your efforts have spurred an increase in Penn students from the region, and, as a result, a stronger international alumni community.
Your volunteer leadership started with the Wharton Executive Board for Latin America—including serving on the Organizing Committee for the Wharton Global Forum in Costa Rica—and swelled from there. You were an enthusiastic member of the Parent Leadership Committee for seven years as your children Alberto III C’05, Carolina C’09, and Valeria C’10, enjoyed their own Penn experiences. Proudly, you have watched them join the family tradition of volunteerism and philanthropy.
As an Alumni Trustee, you offered an inquisitive mind and passionate support for Penn’s ambitious plans. A model of constancy and commitment, you have served as President of the Penn Club of Nicaragua for 18 years and, previously, as President of the Central/South America and the Caribbean Regional Alumni Club for 11 years. Since joining the Penn Nursing Board of Advisors, you have been a trusted partner, providing wise counsel to the Dean—including recommending expanded partnerships with researchers and health care providers in Nicaragua and Latin America—and support for the School’s highest priorities through annual giving.
Perhaps the most enduring expression of the extended family you have built is your support for student aid. When you learned how finances can create roadblocks for international students, you said, simply but staunchly, “I will help fix this.” With your father and son, you have established six scholarships, and joined fellow alumni to create another. One of your first scholarship recipients, a young woman from Panama, summed up the impact that has resonated for generations of Chamorro Scholars: “I recall feeling hopeless about receiving sufficient financial aid to cover expenses at a place like Penn. My life and my future prospects have now changed beyond my imagination thanks to your support.” Many more students like her are now part of the extended Chamorro lineage.
It has been said that you can pick your friends, but not your family. However, you have picked a second family—the Penn family—and have grown it through thoughtful action. In doing so, you have created a legacy that has transformed countless lives all over the world, from those beginning their college journeys to those celebrating their histories as alumni. For your dedication to the Penn family, Penn Alumni is delighted to present you with the Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Alumni Award of Merit
Lee Spelman Doty W’76 PAR’06
As you prepared to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, you made a resume as you applied for jobs. You listed your academic qualifications: a degree from the Wharton School with a major in finance; Dean’s List honors; coursework in computer science, accounting, and management. The resume also listed your previous work experience, along with a summer internship at a Wall Street firm where you wrote financial research reports on the burgeoning field of computers. It all fit on a single page.
Your resume could not have foretold the pioneering impact that was to follow. After graduation, you embarked on a trailblazing career, which started in the stacks at the local library, progressed into the world of finance, and culminated with you holding the positions of Managing Director and Head of U.S. Equity at JP Morgan Chase, one of the world’s leading financial institutions.
But those impressive accomplishments are only one facet of your far-reaching impact. If you had another resume—one for your engagement with Penn—you would need much more than a page.
We would need a section for volunteer leadership, since you spent nearly two decades on the Board of Trustees, serving as Chair of the Development Committee, where you were a connector, advocate, and champion of the University. You also served as Vice Chair of The Power of Penn Campaign, the University’s most successful fundraising and engagement effort of all time. We would also need to mention how you helped ensure the long-term stability and health of the University through your service as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and a longtime member of the Executive Committee.
Your history with Penn is prolific, but we would have to call out one of your most important roles: leading the alumni community as Penn Alumni President. For five years, you brought alumni closer to Penn and to one another. You motivated others to become donors and to find their passion as volunteer leaders. Your pioneering spirit was instrumental in strengthening the global alumni community, and you showed Quakers around the world how they, too, could make an impact.
You served so many different parts of the University: as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Graduate School of Education, as a member of the Penn Medicine Board, as Vice Chair of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, and as Co-Chair for your class gift committee.
In all these roles, you are a strategic and creative thinker, a trusted advisor, and a valued leader. You are a friend and mentor to countless members of the Penn community and a ubiquitous presence at Penn events near and far. The Red and Blue are your trademark colors.
Like your volunteer engagement, your philanthropy spans Penn, including generous support for undergraduate financial aid, fellowships at GSE, and early-career faculty doing exceptional research—as well as many other areas of the University. You have taken special care to ensure that a Penn education is accessible to exceptional students, regardless of their financial circumstances. With you as a beacon, today’s students have expansive opportunities to find their passion and launch their careers at Penn.
Of course, we should include that Penn pride runs in the family, from your husband, George E. Doty Jr. W’76, to your sister, Lisa A. Spelman Molisani C’77, and your beloved late brother, Edmund C. Spelman III C’79 GEd’79, as well as your son, Christopher S. Doty C’06, and your niece and nephews.
But like any resume, your Penn resume could not possibly cover it all. You have written a legacy far beyond the scope of any document. For your decades of commitment to the University’s mission, your peerless leadership and expertise in so many varied roles, and your commitment to giving the next generation of students countless new opportunities, we are proud to present you with the Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Alumni Award of Merit
Joan Lau EAS’92 WG’08
Noted Penn professor Angela Duckworth has said, “Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
Joan, through decades of involvement with your alma mater, you have turned your potential into limitless possibility. In the process, you have opened doors for future generations and set an inspiring example of what selfless leadership looks like.
As a born leader and mentor, an innovative engineer with inspired business acumen, and someone who proudly identifies as a member of the Asian and LGBTQ+ communities, you have long been a courageous, passionate, and inspired advocate for our university.
You came to Penn to study Bioengineering, but you also had an innate sense of the powerful community you found here. You did not hesitate to get involved, starting with the Penn Band, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Bioengineering Student Society. Later, while working toward your MBA at Wharton, you chaired the WEMBA Class Gift Committee, where you inspired others to leave a lasting legacy.
Your impact only increased from there. You set an impressive example as an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the health care industry, using your knowledge and expertise to identify innovative treatments and cures for inherited—and often deadly—respiratory diseases. As CEO of Spirovant Sciences, you envisioned the potential for advanced gene therapy to treat cystic fibrosis, and you have been recognized by your peers as a distinguished business leader and entrepreneur.
At the same time, your unwavering support of Penn people grew even more meaningful. You joined the Penn Alumni Board and served as Chair of PennGALA, where you used your voice to elevate and make visible the perspectives of those who were not always represented. You carried this mantle with pride, and frequently made time to connect with and mentor fellow alumni and current Penn students.
You were honored with the Young Alumni Award in 2006, and in the years since, your influence has been felt in nearly every corner of the University. You joined the Penn Engineering Alumni Society Board, the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management Advisory Board, the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, and the Board of Advisors at the School of Social Policy & Practice. What is more, you have given generously to advance key priorities across the University, from student scholarships to vital support for the LGBT Center.
In every role, and at every turn, you search for possibilities—asking the right questions, challenging the status quo, and finding innovative ways to create a more welcoming and inclusive Penn community. When you saw an absence of LGBTQ+ alumni leaders, you co-founded Penn Leadership Q, an official Penn Alumni initiative designed to harness the energy and potential among LGBTQ+ alumni so that our volunteer leadership more closely reflects the rich diversity in the Penn community. In fact, you embody this ethos. The University will be fortunate to benefit from your wise and generous counsel as a member of the Board of Trustees who openly identifies as LGBTQ+.
Penn’s worldwide community grows stronger when we create opportunities for all. You know this better than most. Your welcoming hospitality, generous spirit, courageous leadership, and unflagging fondness for Penn have inspired others to see new possibilities and empowered a new generation of alumni to use their time and talents in service to something greater than the sum of its parts.
For using your limitless potential to create a sense of belonging, for amplifying voices that are less often heard, and for always inspiring others to share their stories and build connections, we are proud to present you with the Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Alumni Award of Merit
Alex H. Park C’85 PAR’16 PAR’17
More than most, you understand the importance of growth—and not simply growth for its own sake. You know that cultivating something that sustains itself for future generations is incredibly difficult work, but one of the most valuable efforts a person can undertake. Your life is a testament to this principle, from your successful career in finance, to your nurturing of the Penn community in South Korea, to your own late-career shift into the world of comedy.
You graduated from Penn in 1985 with a B.A. in Economics from the College, then you attended New York University to earn your M.B.A. After returning to South Korea, you began a successful career that saw you rise through the ranks at Standard Chartered First Bank Korea to become Executive Vice President and then Head of Global Markets.
While your career was growing, you also saw an opportunity to grow the Penn alumni community in South Korea. You led the effort on multiple fronts—through the Penn Club of Korea, the Alumni Interview Program, and through Penn Parents—to create a thriving network of alumni, parents, and prospective students that other alumni communities abroad could look to as a model.
You have made an extraordinary impact on the Alumni Interview Program in South Korea, which you have been heavily involved with for over two decades. You took over as head of the committee in 2009, and since then, its membership has grown to include 170 alumni who provide interviews to prospective applicants in South Korea. Thanks to your efforts, nearly 100 percent of applicants from South Korea are able to be interviewed by a member of Penn’s alumni community, building valuable connections for the future.
Whenever Penn events came to South Korea, you were the consummate host, sharing your love for your country and providing guidance on the best ways to experience its beauty and culture. Whether at traditional Korean meals and cultural performances or by sharing a taste of raspberry wine, you opened your home and your country to the Penn community, cultivating friendships that span years and oceans.
When your own daughters followed in your footsteps and became Penn students, you realized how important it was to bolster the Penn Parents community in South Korea. You understood that the Penn experience is not just for students, but for entire families.
Perhaps the greatest testament to your dedication and foresight, you created a structure for the Penn community in South Korea. It has continued to grow and flourish, even after you handed the reins of leadership to younger alumni, who modeled their own commitment after yours.
Throughout the years, you grew personally as well, expanding your repertoire and exploring your passion for comedy. You retired from your position in finance and came to the United States to train with the famed Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. Now, you have brought what you learned back to your home country, creating yet another community—this one for performers who love to make people laugh—by founding and running your own theater company and teaching others how to do improv comedy.
For your leadership in building a vibrant Penn community in South Korea, your dedication to providing interviews and connections to prospective students, and for your hospitality and ability to build long-lasting connections between Penn and South Korea, we are honored to present you with the Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Alumni Award of Merit
William Hohns W’74 PAR’00
The Saturday of Homecoming Weekend 2021 was a crisp fall day, perfect for football—and for planting. The Class of 2025 gathered outside Sweeten Alumni House to dedicate their Class Tree, a Common Persimmon. Soon afterwards, in a pandemic-delayed celebration, the Class of 2024 came together on College Green to dedicate their tree, a Sassafras. The Penn Quaker was on hand to help with both plantings.
An inspired partnership between the Morris Arboretum and Penn Traditions, the Penn Tree Program exists because of one reason and one reason only: you.
In your volunteer work, as in your business life, you see opportunities that others do not. Then you work to bring them to fruition. Here, you saw the chance to enhance Penn’s tree canopy while building pride for each incoming class and creating a connection with the Morris Arboretum. After conceiving of the Penn Tree Program, you provided the generous funding that made it happen. As the program proved its worth, you provided an endowment so it will exist for future generations of Penn students. In the process, you have created a vital new Penn tradition.
Just one of your many contributions to your alma mater, the Penn Tree Program perfectly illustrates your careful approach to giving back. An avid gardener, with a business acumen honed through your Wharton education and successful career, you unite your passions with purpose, cultivating causes that matter and investing where you can make a difference.
You came to Penn to study business, and even before earning your Wharton degree, you had embarked on a career as a self-described “serial entrepreneur.” Over a half-century, you founded or acquired ten companies. One of your most distinctive products was the Surfer Dude, the world’s first beach action toy. Beyond the companies’ products and services, you take considerable pride in the fact that your firms have created over 25,000 jobs and all have become thriving employee-owned entities.
That same sense of purpose guides your work with your alma mater. You brought your love of horticulture and strong business sense to your work on the Morris Arboretum’s Advisory Board, where you help to assure the Arboretum’s verdant and vibrant future. You continue today as a Global Advisor on that Board.
Your other Penn roles reflect your passion for the arts. You have served as a member of the Homecoming Host Committee and been active in Arts@Homecoming events, serving as a host for the Gallery Hop and Sculpture Tours. You have also championed your beloved Class of 1974 through your work as a Reunion volunteer.
Your philanthropic support of Penn has focused on students. Again, you had a unique vision: You saw an opportunity to use the University’s varied cultural institutions to engage students and improve their well-being. You created and sponsored the ESCAPE program—short for Enabling Student Cultural Access to Penn Entities—which encourages students to enjoy the University’s rich resources. Thanks to ESCAPE, students can enjoy the art and educational programs at the Arthur Ross Gallery, visit the Morris Arboretum’s restful green spaces, volunteer at the Penn Working Dog Center, and take part in Penn Athletics’ club sports, intramural sports, as well as the Penn Athletics Mentorship Program. The ESCAPE program’s benefits have been wide-ranging. To cite one example among many, at the Arthur Ross Gallery the program has given student digital media interns the opportunity to learn new skills and receive valuable mentorship from Gallery staff.
Like the gardener that you are, you have carefully tended to the causes that are most meaningful to you. Fortunately for the Red and Blue, Penn is at the top of that list. With gratitude for your entrepreneurial spirit, passion for the arts and horticulture, and inspired philanthropy that engages Penn students in unexpected ways, we are delighted to present you with the Alumni Award of Merit for 2022.
Club Awards
Alumni Club Award of Merit | Penn Club of San Francisco
You are an important touchpoint for more than 15,000 alumni in San Francisco—a role that gained even greater importance when the pandemic hit. …[I]nstead of reducing your activity, you increased your event offerings by an impressive 20 percent. … What accounts for your success? It starts with a diverse, dynamic, and dedicated Board, ably led by Co-Presidents Susan Shinoff G’06 WG’06, and Pratik Shah GEng’05. … You welcome new ideas, and you have worked hard to create a culture where everyone is inspired to contribute. … The Penn Club of San Francisco shines bright in the Golden State, and we look forward to an even brighter future!
Class Award of Merit | Class of 1970
Months before COVID-19 entered our collective consciousness, you were hard at work planning for a milestone 50th Reunion. When the pandemic forced your plans to be postponed—twice!—you were undeterred. … You created a unique 50th Reunion Panel called “The Way We Were: Campus Life and the Penn Experience.” … Your traditional “Drinks with the Sphinx” party was a smashing success. … You collaborated with the Penn Libraries to create a special program … and you concluded the weekend with an intimate Rejoice and Remember Memorial Service to honor your classmates who could not be with you.
Class Award of Merit | Class of 1971
With a dedicated leadership team, strong planning and communications, and innovative pre-reunion programming, you created a 50+1 reunion that surmounted distance, time zones, and decades to lift your class to new heights. … The communications highlight was undoubtedly your Reunion yearbook. … Inside, readers found updates from a remarkable 450 members of the class, pages from The Daily Pennsylvanian, and photos of campus and world events from your college days. … You also remembered your late classmate, Miriam Labbok, MD, a world champion for women’s health and breastfeeding, with a four-room Lactation Suite in Huntsman Hall, dedicated in her memory.
Class Award of Merit | Class of 1982
After maintaining regular email contact in non-reunion years, you ramped up to monthly mailings in the buildup to Alumni Weekend. … You complemented those efforts with activities, both in person and virtual. … You welcomed 175 classmates to pre-reunion events, with 30% attending for the first time ever. For the 40th reunion, you welcomed 335 classmates and guests to Reunion Weekend, including 83 classmates who had not returned since the 25th milestone, and 30 who never attended one. You smashed a scholarship record—previously set by your own class—and became the first class to break the class donor record in four consecutive reunions.
David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications | Class of 1990
When you could not meet in-person because of the COVID-19 pandemic, you enhanced an already strong online following. With more than 1,000 members in your private Facebook group, you grew an active community. … You supplemented Facebook with direct emails. …Then 2020 brought an even better way to communicate when you could not gather in person—Zoom. The online effort paid off. With Class President Kyle Kozloff W’90 at the helm, along with a group of dedicated volunteers, you rallied fellow classmates as excitement grew about Alumni Weekend 2022. Your activity online led to in-person connections at your reunion, with 219 registered attendees—the best showing among the ’0s and ’5s!
David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications | Class of 2016
Communication among your class had diminished after your first Reunion but, motivated to revive the excitement you felt during that special weekend, you mobilized anew. Wisely, you began with a class outreach survey that resulted in over 500 responses and more than 100 new volunteers. … You hosted a virtual event to mark your official 5th Reunion, featuring a Smokes Quizzo with Penn-based trivia. Leading up to your 5th Reunion Plus One, you collaborated with your sister classes to co-host a series of in-person events in New York City, Philadelphia, and Austin, Texas. … Your class garnered impressive attendance and raised close to $600,000. …
David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications | Class of 1992
With a reimagined approach to alumni engagement, your class leadership motivated a cohort of volunteers to create the most inclusive, collaborative, and celebratory reunion of any class at Alumni Weekend 2022. … Nearly half your class—more than 900 members—joined in sharing throwback photos, event and Zoom links, and class updates. You also recognized the wide range of complex emotions your classmates felt during the COVID-19 pandemic and the civic unrest in the summer of 2020. Your volunteers reached out to over 400 classmates for one-on-one phone calls that year. … A new Belonging Chair was added as a volunteer position. … You acted when it mattered, and these efforts increased Alumni Weekend 2022 participation among your classmates.
