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Many Happy Returns
More than 3,800 alumni and family members
gathered on campus for Reunions Weekend in April.
Here's a roundup of attendance: Class of 1956, 277 attending; Class
of 1961, 168; Class of 1966, 175; Class of 1971, 162; Class of
1976, 238; Class of 1981, 398; Class of 1986, 721 (a record for
20th reunions); Class of 1991, 302; Class of 1996, 616; Class of
2001, 661.
By the end of the weekend, class gift records had been set for
the 55th, 45th, 25th, 20th, and 10th reunion classes. The Class
of 1981 set a new overall record for giving, and the Class of 1956
set a record for percent participation.
Throughout the weekend, alumni were offered tours of the Nasher
Museum of Art and other new campus buildings, as well as old favorites
like Duke Forest and the Duke Primate Center; treated to a PRISM
concert in Baldwin Auditorium; and invited to take in lectures
ranging from "Ethics in the Workplace," with John Hawkins,
a business-ethics consultant at the Kenan Institute for Ethics,
to "A New Way of Tackling Global Health Problems: HIV Vaccine
Research at Duke," with Barton Haynes, Frederic M. Hanes Professor
of medicine and immunology. They heard from Sam Wells, the new
dean of the Chapel, and Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs
and president and CEO of the Duke Health System.
Local and national media outlets were on campus covering the men's
lacrosse team, and President Richard H. Brodhead set aside time
to answer questions about the incident from concerned alumni.
Thunderstorms punctuated Brodhead's State of the University address
in Page Auditorium on Saturday and led to the cancellation of the
traditional procession to Cameron Indoor Stadium. But, despite
continuing showers, thunder, and lightning, the evening's Big Dance
went off without a hitch--with the sky clearing long enough for
the annual display of manmade fireworks.
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