Photos by Tommy Leonardi
Alumni Awards of Merit
Faculty Award of Merit
Herman Beavers, PhD, PAR’l9
Herman, you have won wide renown in your field as a distinguished poet and teacher of 20th-century American and African American literature. At Penn, your scholarship has been recognized with your appointment to the Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professorship of English and Africana Studies. Just as important, you are well known on campus for your welcoming office, always open to students.
But your career is also notable for something equally important: your extraordinary commitment to extending education beyond the classroom, into the community.
“Literature belongs to everyone,” you have said.
Fortunately for Penn alumni, you have been a leader in sharing your scholarship with Quakers on campus, online, and around the world.
Your commitment to using literature to build community was first evident in a distinctive program you designed and taught: an Academically Based Community Service course on August Wilson’s plays, which connected West Philadelphia communities with Penn students through creative storytelling. It showed your distinctive ability to create collaborative, engaging educational experiences beyond the campus setting.
The course was rightly recognized with the first Community Engagement Award from the Netter Center for Community Partnerships—one of many honors recognizing your educational and civic contributions. You would later bring this program to Penn alumni by highlighting it at a Homecoming event.
You have also enriched the intellectual life of the Quaker community through the Penn Alumni Travel Program. You led two trips to Paris, which explored the experiences of African American expatriates, and one to Alabama, where you guided travelers through key sites of the Civil Rights Movement. Participants praised your ability to foster thoughtful conversations on often challenging topics, creating a safe space for candid dialogue and genuine connection.
But this was just one of many programs you offered for Penn alumni. You led two online meetings of the Penn Alumni Reading Club—the first on James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and the second on your own poetry chapbook, Obsidian Blues—giving participants a forum to think critically and engage deeply with significant literary works.
For the Inspiring Impact virtual series, you participated in a thought-provoking discussion on The ‘60s at Sixty: Protest Poetry Takes Center Stage, which offered a glimpse of the monumental role of Black artists in shaping art and culture in our country, then and now.
For Penn Alumni’s Global Discovery Series, you marked the 50th anniversary of one of Toni Morrison’s greatest works with a dynamic online lecture, The Bluest Eye at 50: Reading Toni Morrison in the Age of Trump. Afterwards, one participant commended you for a great presentation: “Herman Beavers has now made me want to read all of Toni’s writings.” That kind of transformative impact has been a hallmark of your interactions with Penn alumni.
Again and again, you have shown us that “literature is for everyone.” You have been extraordinarily generous in sharing your time and expertise with Penn alumni, posing challenging questions, leading meaningful conversations, and encouraging alumni to read—and revisit—difficult texts, especially those addressing the African American experience.
In recognition of your commitment to using the study of literature to keep alumni engaged with their alma mater, promote lifelong learning, and build community, we are pleased to present you with the Faculty Award of Merit for 2025.
Penn Alumni Social Impact Award
Rev. Liz Theoharis, PhD, C’98
The National Civil Rights Museum presents The Freedom Award annually to honor those who have made significant contributions in civil rights. In 2021, they chose to recognize The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which you revived with your Co-Chair, Rev. William J. Barber. As a widely recognized and celebrated minister, activist, and theologian, you have made a name for yourself over decades of activism and impassioned advocacy for the poor and disenfranchised, along with a range of other important social causes.
Your ministry is remarkable in its wide sweep. By drawing on theological scholarship, a deep rooting in the struggles of the American Civil Rights Movement, and lived experience in political struggle, you use your voice to make connections between the past and the present to call for a better future. Of your public ministry, Franciscan Action Network’s Executive Director Michele Dunne has said that you are an “incredibly important, inspiring, and challenging public speaker … [speaking] with clarity, with conviction, and also with love.”
Critical to your activism is the way you apply hard-won lessons to everyday life, including some learned during your time at Penn.
You came to Penn to pursue your degree in Urban Studies and Anthropology and quickly enmeshed yourself in the City of Philadelphia—embracing and advocating for its most vulnerable communities. You supported public school children by coaching sports teams and starting choir sessions, you joined grassroots organizations, and you began your involvement in anti-poverty activism through the National Union of the Homeless and the National Welfare Rights Union.
During this time, you protested funding cuts to low-income housing programs and deepened your faith and commitment to your values. This inspired you to further explore the theological grounding of your convictions, which ultimately led to you pursue a PhD at the Union Theological Seminary.
With such a long and dedicated history of activism, your reputation precedes you and has for some time. You are not the type to seek recognition or immediate gratification. Instead, you continue your life’s purpose in service of making the world better and more just for all.
For your lifelong efforts to use your fearless voice on behalf of the poor and dispossessed, and for boldly speaking the truth with “clarity, conviction, and love,” the Office of Social Equity and Community and Penn Alumni are proud to present you with the Social Impact Award for 2025.
Creative Spirit Award
Susan T. Marx, CW’66
In the realm of philosophy, the topic of creativity is a shape-shifter. Plato had Socrates say that when poets produce truly great poetry, they do it not through knowledge or mastery but through divine inspiration. Susanne Langer, the great 20th-century philosopher, argued that the creation of art is “expression;” that is, the extrusion of an artist’s knowledge of feeling.
We can bring no judgment on this count but would merely add that we know creativity when we see it. And it is because of your indefatigable spirit, Susan, that so many others can as well.
Perhaps the most recognizable example lies in your work with the Arthur Ross Gallery, where you serve as a valued member of its Alumni Advisory Board. Ever faithful to its mission to engage, educate, and inspire, the gallery has long been a welcoming forum for visitors to critically experience important art and artifacts across time periods, media, and cultures.
Because your Penn experience was shaped by the accessibility of the arts on campus, you knew the Arthur Ross Gallery would be a natural fit for a lecture series extending a similar opportunity to today’s students. This lecture series launched in 2016 with the work of Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, and it was such a success that in 2021, you endowed the program. Now called the Susan T. Marx Distinguished Lecture Series, the Marx lectures feature significant art leaders and artists who address timely issues. You have continued to work energetically and enthusiastically, and the speaker list has grown commensurately to include luminaries such as David C. Driskell, Jaume Plensa, William Kentridge, and Elizabeth Turk.
Susan, you are committed to expanding creative opportunities and exposure to the arts wherever you go, and we count ourselves lucky that, often, “wherever” happens to be at Penn. Notably, you serve on the Director’s Council of the Penn Museum—the same place where you took art history courses as an undergraduate and where your lifelong passion for stone carving was ignited. Then a consistent face among the classical Greek sculptures, you now return regularly for Council meetings and events. Your always-close relationship with these spaces only deepened after a Penn Alumni trip to Egypt in 2023, and your characteristic curiosity and engagement continue to enliven the Museum’s historic renovations of its Egyptian Galleries.
In addition to your work with the Penn Museum and Arthur Ross Gallery, you have also served on the Advisory Board of the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice and Research; are active with the Penn Club of New York, serving as President for three consecutive terms; are Co-Chair of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Emerita Committee and former chair of the Grants Committee, whose funding has supported the Penn Art Collection and its searchable archives.
Susan, much like the powerful carvings you display at the Century Association, your impact is set in stone: Because of your efforts—and the example of your own appreciation—the creative arts at Penn will continue to be displayed, debated, and delighted in for generations to come.
For your spirit of inquiry and commitment to creative opportunities, Penn Alumni is pleased to present you with the 2025 Creative Spirit Award.
Young Alumni Award
Jodi L. Miller, PhD, C’l4, GED’l5
People in your vicinity should be forewarned: at any moment, a shout may go up of “Ms. Miller!” That call—one of joy, excitement, and gratitude—inevitably means that one of your former students has spotted you.
Of course, you are no longer Ms. Miller, biology teacher in the Philadelphia School District. You are now Dr. Miller, with a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Education, specializing in how stress impacts the working memory and other cognitive abilities in children.
The path you took at Penn prepared you to become a teacher and a leader in the field of education. Your degree from the College in the biological basis of behavior provided you with a unique combination of skills: a strong foundation in biology that enabled you to effectively teach science to students and an understanding of neuroscience to better understand how they learned. Later, your degrees in secondary education and educational policy from the Graduate School of Education prepared you to put your knowledge to work for the benefit of your students.
As a Philadelphia public school teacher, you cared deeply about your students and their education. The job was rewarding but challenging, and you sought out other young teachers with whom to share your experiences and resources. You also knew that you could help even more students by working to improve the education system, leading you to pursue your PhD.
Your experience in the classroom helped you understand how difficult it is to know when students need additional support. You saw first-hand how hard it is for students to ask for help, and how challenging it is for teachers to gauge who needs it most. With that in mind, you founded WellCheq, an online resource to improve emotional wellbeing and academic outcomes. That simple tool, which makes it easier for students to reach out and share how they are feeling, has been used by 15,000 students and counting.
Through all these experiences, your connection to Penn has stayed strong. The involvement and leadership that began with your election as vice president of your class as a first-year student has continued to this day. Now, you serve as co-president of your alumni class and helped plan and implement last year’s 10th reunion. It is not just your own affinity that remains strong—you help others maintain their connection to Penn as well. Your listserv for those who have served on class boards has become a vital source of community and connection and currently includes nearly 30 years’ worth of Penn alumni.
It has been said, time and again, that you show up for Penn. From your work with your class, to your service on the Penn Alumni Board of Directors, to your role on the planning committee of the Penn Jewish Alumni Network, you get things done and connect others in service of the Penn community. Your view of leadership has always been one that emphasizes inclusion. You are a leader for all Penn alumni—from every background and lived experience. From your days as a student, to your time as a teacher, to your work as an alumni leader: your commitment lifts everyone.
For your ability to improve every space you occupy, your dedication to improving the education system for all, your commitment to strengthening the Penn alumni community, and for being the kind of teacher that students remember for years after they have graduated, we are honored to present you with the Young Alumni Award for 2025.
Young Alumni Award
Ian A. Seltzer, C’09
Ian, you are no stranger to history. Your family exposed you to the Red and the Blue early in life and taught you the longstanding traditions of Penn. You made early visits to the Egyptian Galleries at the Penn Museum, visits which, you have written, were pivotal experiences for you. Surely, it is no coincidence, then, that you set Penn in your sights and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2009—in history.
In an area of study that is built on records and derived from actions, yours reveal two things: First, your unique ability to make personal connections wherever you go, whatever the project. And second, the significance of Penn in your life. In the years following graduation, you have remained an integral part of this university, and your warmth, curiosity, and “wonderful, encouraging outlook” have touched every initiative you have been a part of.
To say there are many would be an understatement: the Class of 2009 Reunion Giving Committee, which you co-chaired on the occasion of your 15th reunion; the Penn Libraries Orrery Society Council; the Penn Performing Arts Regional Council of New York; and the Penn Museum Young Alumni Council, on which you currently serve as Chair.
For more than a decade, you have served on the Penn Libraries Seltzer Family Digital Media Awards Selection Committee; you are also a judge of the Milken Penn Graduate School of Engineering Business Plan Competition. You regularly attend events and often help host them—over a dozen, in fact, since 2011, spanning everything from Homecoming to Engaging Minds.
You give generously of your time, resources, and perhaps most strikingly, of yourself. When friends, colleagues, and fellow volunteers learned of your nomination for the Young Alumni Award, letters of support flooded in.
The quantity and the letters themselves speak volumes: in the words of Vincent Marron, W’09, “Ian is a great ambassador for the Penn Libraries and the Penn community at large. He has always been willing to lend his keen and constructive opinions to develop causes and is a great friend.” Dorcas Lee Colas, C’84, wrote stirringly that you are not just accomplished but “thoughtful, dedicated, kind” and “all-embracing.” Michael Baker commented that you perhaps stand out to him most for your empathy and the respect you show others and Penn as an institution. Lisa Katz, LPS’21, wrote with conviction that you are “the epitome of the quincentennial Quaker—a natural leader who has passionately advocated for and supported many schools and centers at Penn.”
More than anything, however, these letters unerringly quoted what seems to be your catchphrase: “Anything I can do to help.”
We are grateful to be able to respond, “We know.”
Ian, for nurturing a history that is both personal and institutional, and for your steady leadership across so many areas of this university, we are pleased to present you with the Young Alumni Award for 2025.
Alumni Award of Merit
Jackie Einstein Astrof, C’93, PAR’25
Service runs deep in Penn’s DNA. Our founder, Benjamin Franklin, saw “an inclination joined with an ability to serve humankind” as “the great aim and end of all learning”—a tenet that has been part of the University’s values ever since. Jackie, you clearly took this message to heart.
After graduating from the College in 1993, you continued your education at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where you earned an MBA. From there, you put your education to work in the nonprofit world, first at the Weill Cornell Physician Organization, and later at New York Road Runners.
Working in New York City during the late 2000s, you saw how the nationwide financial crisis affected the nonprofit sector. In that challenge, you saw an opportunity to bring the expertise of Penn alumni to nonprofits in need. With your can-do attitude and commitment to solving problems, you worked tirelessly to bring that vision to life.
The result was PennPAC, a nonprofit organization that brings alumni volunteers—across majors and careers, from recent graduates to retirees—together in teams to provide pro bono consulting services to nonprofits. But the nonprofits are not the only beneficiaries. Volunteers develop their own skills while gaining valuable exposure to the nonprofit world, connecting with fellow Quakers, and giving back to their communities.
Last spring, as PennPAC celebrated its 15th anniversary, its impact was undeniable: 300+ nonprofits served; 1,110 volunteers; 60,000 hours of volunteer service; and more than $12 million in pro bono consulting. Your enduring legacy in PennPAC, was created out of your commitment to serve and continues to exist as a vibrant service that helps nonprofits thrive.
Even more impressive: PennPAC’s impact on lives and communities has been remarkable, serving organizations including the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger; Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream, an early literacy organization; and Philadelphia’s Friends of the Wissahickon, to name only a few.
While building PennPAC, you served your alma mater in additional ways, as vice president and a dedicated reunion volunteer for the Class of 1993, a member of the Penn Alumni Board of Directors, Penn Hillel Board Chair, and a longtime member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW).
As the co-chair of TCPW’s Student Life Committee, you focused on student wellness and mental health, working to help Penn’s first-generation, lower-income students during the critical pandemic years. Under your leadership, the Committee organized a coat drive for students, delivered care packages during finals, and hosted a virtual leadership series, giving students an opportunity to learn new skills and socialize at a time of limited in-person contact.
Your friend and 2010 Alumni Award of Merit winner, Susan Molofsky Todres, CW’75, WG’77, summed up your contribution: “Jackie’s zest and spirit shines through in PennPAC’s diversity of volunteers, board members, donors, and clients. What a fabulous ambassador she is for Penn, what extraordinary connections she has created among Penn alumni, and what phenomenal goodwill she has spread among communities in Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco.”
We couldn’t agree more. In recognition of your extraordinary commitment to volunteer service and your inspired vision in founding and building PennPAC, we are pleased to present you with the Penn Alumni Award of Merit for 2025.
Alumni Award of Merit
Calvin Bland, W’72
When you came to Penn with your idea for the Calvin Bland Fellowship Program, you saw it as a way to help ensure that young men of color would have opportunities to lead “productive and rewarding lives.” Your choice of words speaks volumes, embodying the remarkable humility and graciousness that have defined your life and career.
Calvin, yours is a story of patience and dedication. It takes a great deal of faith and resilience to not only weather the changes you have seen, but to thrive through them and inspire others. Your experience attending Penn was unconventional but formative. As an older, married commuter student, you did not partake in the University’s typical social life, mingling instead with transfer and graduate students.
It is not in spite of but probably because of this less typical student experience that you developed the relationship you have with Penn. Without the usual guideposts, you had to blaze your own trail, but you quickly discovered Penn’s values and fully committed yourself to the transformative possibilities of your education.
Your enterprising spirit revealed itself early on when you became a research assistant to Dr. William Hamilton. This was just the beginning of your storied career at Penn, and an early sign of your enthusiasm for learning and personal growth.
You came to see Penn as a locus of change and opportunity that could make the world a better place for people of color. You committed yourself to stewarding this promise of possibility, and you sought to make an impact in ways both big and small.
The big: You are a true leader, as evidenced by your extensive resume of responsibilities including your role on the School of Social Policy & Practice’s Board of Advisors, where you quickly gained renown for your steadfast commitment to the School’s mission, and your active leadership in the James Brister Society, where you have gained a reputation for being one of the most thoughtful people in the room.
The small: You are deeply invested in community, and you make a point of intentionally being present so that students and alumni can see your continued leadership, especially in difficult times. Your peers describe you as a quiet and focused leader whose serious, soft-spoken nature brings people together and stills a room. These traits require self-possession and confidence, and a sharp, strategic mind in times of stress.
These personal qualities are even more powerful when paired with your sense of service. Your impressive career included serving as President of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, after which you served as Chief of Staff and Special Advisor to the President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and taught at Rutgers University. Your tenure at RWJF was so distinguished that they decided to honor you by endowing the Calvin Bland Fellowships at Penn. You went on to do even more—turning your success as a healthcare executive into a boon for students of color at Penn, establishing the W. E. B. DuBois College House Endowed Scholarship and a fellowship in your name at SP2. But your generosity extends beyond your own name. You recently created an endowed scholarship named in memory of your close friend and collaborator Claire Lomax, C’84, one of the first Black members of Penn’s Board of Trustees and a longtime member of the SP2 Board of Advisors. Claire often spoke about your mentorship and how you always stood in solidarity to combat racism and injustice. This latter gift underscores your service to a higher cause and your sincere dedication to improving Penn for students of all backgrounds.
Calvin, you are an integral part of Penn’s history and a paragon of leadership that is not about ego but is about helping others lead “productive and rewarding lives.” For your efforts to expand inclusivity, possibility, and justice across the University, we are honored to present you with the Penn Alumni Award of Merit for 2025.
Alumni Award of Merit
Denis Elton Cochran-Fikes, C’74, WG’79
Elton: in March of 1970, you wrote the following to an associate editor of Sport Magazine at the time, “I have decided to attend the University of Pennsylvania next fall. My main reason for attending Penn, besides its academic ranking, location, facilities, and my track future, is contained in an article I wrote for my school paper.”
The article was entitled My Profile in Black, and in it, you astutely observed the importance of Black inspiration in long-distance running. You hoped to be the first Black American runner to break four minutes in the mile, and to give young Black distance runners an example to look up to. You chose Penn as the place where you would build that running career.
Four years later, you famously ran a 3:55.0 mile, the first by a Penn and Ivy League runner. It was the best performance by a Black American athlete in the U.S. at the time and one which ranked 15th on the all-time world list. A senior captain of the cross country and track and field teams, you remain an alumni member of the Friars Senior Society and the Onyx Senior Honor Society.
Fifty-five years later, you have built more than a career at Penn: you have built a legacy.
In 1986, you returned to Penn with your wife Doris—a fellow alumna—to serve as Associate Athletic Director and brought with you a clear vision of work ethic and academic excellence. Over the course of your long administrative career, culminating in athletics compliance, you shared these traits with countless student-athletes with wisdom and good humor.
Ever-present trackside, you are an integral part of the team. You have supported generations of Penn athletes in their quest for greatness, from the Heptagonal Championships, to the Penn Relays, to the Olympics. You steward student-athletes like yourself—sharing what you learned. That achievement involves time, love, teammates, sweat, and tears. That true achievement is more than setting records and topping leaderboards: it is accomplishing both, then uplifting others to one day exceed them.
You have led this philosophy by example: After you yourself were inducted as part of the third class of the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame, you made sure that Willis N. Cummings, D’1919, was inducted five classes later. Not only was this a great athlete’s rightful due, but it unequivocally recognized the power of legacy for athletes in need of someone to look up to.
It has been said that long distance runners “build themselves up day by day, week by week, month upon month, and year after year.” We would extend this to say that the best build others up as well.
Elton, we are grateful for your legacy and the many ways you have built up generations of Penn athletes day by day, week by week, month upon month, and year after year. On behalf of the university you call home, we are proud to present you with the 2025 Penn Alumni Award of Merit.
Alumni Award of Merit
James (Jamie) H. Greene, Jr., W’72, PAR’05, ’08, ’10
A philosophy book from the 1980s called Finite and Infinite Games has recently made its way back into the public consciousness. It argued that for finite games, such as a single game of football, the aim was to win. But for infinite games, such as the sport of football itself, the aim was not to win, but to keep the game going for as long as possible.
Jamie, as a Penn lacrosse and football player, you won your share of finite games. But it could be argued that those victories pale in comparison to the infinite game you have been playing for the past four decades: using your volunteer leadership to ensure that Penn’s student athletes continue to play—and thrive—far into the future.
After graduating from the Wharton School, you began a highly successful career in banking and joined KohIberg Kravis Roberts & Co., spending 18 years as a partner before becoming founding partner and chair of True Wind Capital Management.
You joined the Athletics Board of Advisors in 1991 and have served as Vice Chair and now Chair. You brought that same vision and strategic thinking to the Athletics Board, partnering with the Athletic Director to rethink the Annual Fund for Athletics, helping create both short-term and long-term financial stability for the University’s varsity sports.
In addition, you led the effort to create an unrestricted fund for Athletics, much like the Dean’s discretionary funds at Penn’s twelve schools, to solve problems and support initiatives that do not currently have a continuing source of funding. And, vitally, you have been a trusted counselor to the Athletic Director, offering valuable insights as Penn Athletics helps student-athletes thrive on and off the field. You have also co-chaired the Lacrosse Board, leading the effort to restructure its composition and finances, providing more stability and increasing participation. That restructuring later became the model for every athletic program’s board.
Beyond your work with Penn Athletics, you have played a key role in advancing the educational and research mission of the University. You were named a Trustee in 2010, and served on the Executive, Budget and Finance, and Development Committees, and as Chair of the Facilities and Campus Planning Committee. In 2020, you received Trustee Emeritus status in recognition of your exceptional service. In addition, you continue to be an active and engaged member of the Penn Medicine Board, sharing your advice and counsel.
Not only have you dedicated your time and talent to the University, but you have also given generously to important institutional priorities, including Penn Athletics, numerous individual sports, and significant support for women’s athletics. You have made impactful gifts to Penn Medicine to support cancer research, the emergency response to COVID-19, and other vital initiatives.
And the commitment that you have fostered with Penn over so many years, you have passed to the next generation: to your three alumni children, Lindsay Ramsay, C’05; James Greene Ill, C’08; and Charles Greene, C’10; and to countless student-athletes who follow your example.
Jamie, you have been described as a “pure leader.” Someone intelligent, calm and measured who has a remarkable ability to inspire others to see his vision. And you have shared that leadership and vision with Penn. For your efforts to guarantee that Penn’s future remains infinite, we are honored to present you with the Penn Alumni Award of Merit for 2025.
Alumni Club Award of Merit | Penn Club of Los Angeles
Not only have you successfully connected the alumni in your area—an achievement on its own—you have built a thriving community that is always ready to show up for Penn and for each other. … You work hard to organize events in different neighborhoods, so everyone has a chance to attend, no matter where they live. … You have shown incredible support for the city and surrounding areas through Penn Serves LA. Since 2012, the initiative has organized over 50 service projects, with Penn alumni, parents, family, and friends contributing thousands of hours of community service through projects such as delivering food boxes to those experiencing food insecurity, installing smoke alarms in low-income homes through the Red Cross, and throwing a holiday ice cream party for hospitalized children. And, during the recent wildfires, your members reached out to provide support to fellow alumni who lost their homes during the tragedy. … For fostering service to causes that help those in need, as well as providing support to each other during extremely difficult times, Penn Alumni is proud to present you with the Alumni Club Award of Merit for 2025.
Innovation Award | Penn Club of France
Engagement Award | Penn Club of Nashville, and Penn & Wharton Club of The Netherlands
Community Service Award | Penn Club of Metro New Jersey
Class Award of Merit | Class of 1995
Just as I-95 connects 15 states (and the District of Columbia), your class leadership worked diligently to connect with far-flung classmates and build on-ramps for their engagement. In fact, you enthusiastically leaned into the concept and iconography throughout your planning. … When your milestone 25th reunion celebration was cancelled with the arrival of COVID-19, your class re-routed effectively, turning toward an even more spirited social media strategy to encourage community-building and engagement. Clear communication is where the rubber meets the road, and you made an amazing journey of staying in touch as your 30th reunion approached. Themed posts like Pennsive Moments and #WinningWednesday became class favorites, garnering lively responses to nostalgia-piquing questions. … Beyond exchanges on social media platforms, your digital reunion book gave classmates more opportunities to express themselves, resulting in submissions from over 300 classmates—a 25% participation rate! … In a show of spirit and community, you chose to endow a scholarship, opening doors for future students (putting $3.5 million into the Class of 1995 Endowed Scholarship!).
Class Award of Merit | Class of 2000
To celebrate your 25th reunion, you—Penn’s Class of 2000—took your classmates back in time to when they were still bright-eyed students on Locust Walk and when their future careers, travels, and achievements were all still to come. Nostalgic. Throwback. Vintage. … You spent months connecting and reconnecting with friends and classmates, including a significant push in the weeks leading up to reunion. That pavement-pounding, shoe-leather effort led to an incredible turnout on Alumni Weekend. … Your class showed up and brought their infectious positive energy to campus with 514 alumni and guests in attendance and 475 profiles on your digital reunion yearbook. … You also showed your class’s true character through thoughtful and impactful giving, which was recognized with the Class of 1917 Award for embodying the philanthropic spirit of Penn. You raised $5.8 million from over 380 classmates (this year’s highest participation rate of all reunion classes), supporting The Penn Fund, the Class of 2000 Endowed Scholarship Fund, and Penn First Plus New Student Orientation—and your university-wide giving totaled $16.7 million from 460 donors.
David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications | Class of 2005
What is the winning formula for planning a successful 20th reunion when your 15th reunion had been cancelled and many classmates had not seen each other in a decade? … Your monthly class newsletter was central, offering important updates and spotlighting members of the committee. Classmate profiles were especially popular, generating responses like: “I saw you in the newsletter! I’m definitely going back for our 20th reunion if you are!” … Another avenue, your digital reunion yearbook, became a place to connect with classmates, share updates, and add photos—past and present—to create a snapshot of your 20th reunion. … Pre-reunion events—held in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New York—helped generate excitement, and virtual wellness events—via Cycling and Peloton Yoga—provided another opportunity to connect. #Penn05, anyone? Creativity was encouraged! One memorable effort: A classmate piloted a class sweatshirt pop-up shop, with an ‘05 emblem to promote class pride. In the end, your hard work and persistence paid off. Attendance exceeded expectations, with 416 total registrations and 406 profiles on your digital reunion yearbook.
