Thursday, June 5, 2003
Friday, June 6, 2003
Saturday, June 7, 2003
Sunday, June 8, 2003
Virtual Reunion digital photos were taken by
A. Pierce Bounds '71, Dickinson College Photographer
Please send comments or corrections to webmaster@dickinson.edu.
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| Alumni Council President Anne W. Selden '65 |
Thank you President Durden and good morning to you all. As the President of the Alumni Council, I am pleased to be with you to share some of the Council's work and successes this year and to present awards to outstanding clubs and individuals.
Allow me to highlight some of the Council's accomplishments for the year:
- The Council hosted its annual Networking Session for seniors during the Winter meeting. This year the session, which was again held at the Comfort Suites, was attended by 78 alumni and over 140 seniors. This event, along with a daylong series of other networking opportunities, allowed students to meet and connect with alumni from a wide variety of occupations and vocations. These activities reinforced the expectation that these students will continue to utilize this network of accomplished Dickinsonians throughout their lives.
- The Alumni Programs and Services committee awarded 5 Senior Honor Awards and 2 honorable mentions to students who had made outstanding contributions to the College during their four years.
- The Development Committee awarded 8 alumni scholarships to legacy students totaling $9,000.
- The Leadership Committee elected two new members and nine returning members to the Council.
- And over the summer the Communications committee will be conducting interviews with peer institutions to discuss and compare their respective alumni communications efforts.
- I would also like to announce the Council officers for the 2003-2004 year. Allen Bell, Class of '68, will succeed me as President of the Council. Lu Conser, class of '72, will serve as Vice-President; and Brian Kamoie, class of '93, will serve as Secretary/Treasurer.
- Committee Chairpersons for the 2003-2004 year are Bob Yoder '87, Julie Johnson '82, John Russell '81, and David Wechsler '93. I would like to thank all of these individuals for agreeing to serve their alma mater in this capacity.
Club Awards
Another responsibility of the Alumni Council each year is to recognize outstanding alumni clubs and volunteers. Will the recipients of these awards who are present please come forward when the award is read to receive a certificate of appreciation for your service to the College.
The award for Most Improved Club this year goes to the Central Pennsylvania Club which has been newly invigorated with the help of the Central Pennsylvania Regional Cabinet. Activities included an event at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg where over 90 Dickinson guests viewed an IMAX presentation of Lewis and Clark's journey followed by a discussion with professors Noel Potter and Christian Keller. The Club also sponsored an evening at the Kitchen Shoppe in Carlisle where Dickinson chefs prepared a multi-course meal accompanied by wines selected by wine aficionado and international business & management professor Steve Erfle. Would Henry Line, class of '64, please come forward to accept this award on behalf of the Club.
This year the award for the Most Creative Club Event goes to the Boston Club for an event which was held at the Boston Stock Exchange. Hosted by Michael Curran, class of '76, a reception for over 50 people was held in the Vault Room of the Exchange - which is literally an old bank vault. Guests were greeted by the Chairman of the Stock Exchange and afterwards, political science professor, Andy Rudalevige, led a discussion on the idea of a citizen-leader. Would Lisa Mattthews, class of '83, please come forward to accept this award on behalf of the club.
 The winner of the Most Active Club is the Philadelphia Club. With the leadership of Michael
Chaplinski, class of '94 and Brad DeHart, class of '95, the Philadelphia club has truly become a model for other clubs to follow. This year, the club held ten events including a reception with President Durden at the home of Howard Goodwin '67, a family event at the NJ Aquarium led by Julie Johnson '82, a gathering of young alumni in Belmar, NJ, a wine tasting with Professor Steve Erfle at the home of Chuck and Emily Wagner, both class of '63, a Reading Phillies game, a football tailgate reception at Ursinus, a panel discussion with Major General David Meade, class of '62 and Professor Doug Stuart, Director of the Clarke Center, and several happy hours for young alumni. I think you will agree that this is worthy of recognition. Would Mike and Brad please come forward to accept the award on behalf of the Philadelphia Club.
I have asked Brad and Mike to stay on the platform as I'm not quite through with them yet. Each year, the Council selects a Volunteer of the Year - this award is given annually to a volunteer who has lent extraordinary service to an alumni club. Given the litany of events that I have just recited, you will not be surprised to learn that the Council has decided to recognize both Brad and Mike. Not only have they worked with their committee to organize numerous events, but they have made every effort to include a variety of programs which appeal to a broad alumni audience and have gone out of their way to recruit alumni and faculty participants. For all of these efforts, I am pleased to award both Brad and Mike with the Volunteer of the Year award. Congratulations.
Distinguished Alumni Awards
It is now my pleasure to introduce two truly distinguished alumni. Each year the Alumni Council selects the recipients for the Distinguished Alumni Awards for Professional Achievement and for Service to the College. First, I would like to call Congressman Jim Greenwood, Class of 1973, forward.
 The Professional Achievement Award is given each year in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in a person's professional and civic life. Jim Greenwood came to Dickinson in the fall of '69 from his home in Holland, PA. Self-admittedly, Jim was the only member of his class who had not yet declared a major as a senior. When pressed, he chose sociology. Shortly, after graduating from Dickinson, Jim became a caseworker working with abused and neglected children at the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services Agency. Although he never intended to run for office, in 1979 after much urging, he decided to run for state legislature. He served six years as a Republican Representative in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and six additional years as a state senator specializing in health, the environment and children's issues.
In 1992 he took a big step and ran for U.S. Congress and won...in fact, he is currently in his 5th term serving Pennsylvania's eighth district comprised of Bucks County and part of Montgomery County. A member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he is serving as chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation. As such he gained national prominence and nearly universal kudos for his leadership role in the investigation of the Enron collapse and for not letting the top corporate officials take the easy way out. And let us not forget Martha! The cheers of the American public could be heard as the committee began to investigate the actions of America's most notorious domestic goddess. In addition, Jim is a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee where he has been a leading voice in efforts to ensure that sufficient funds are available to meet the needs of children enrolled in special education programs and to prevent school violence.
Jim has been active with a variety of community service organizations such as the Bucks County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Bucks County. For his service he has won dozens of awards and recognitions at the local and national level. Jim's family includes his wife, Tina, and three children, Rob, Laura and Katie. We are pleased that Katie could join her father today.
Jim, you are to be commended for your tireless efforts on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and our country. On behalf of the Dickinson College Alumni Council, I am very proud to award you the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement. Congratulations!
I would now like to call Kevin Holleran, Class of 1973, forward.
 The Distinguished Service Award is given annually to that person who has distinguished him/herself through dedicated volunteer service to the College during his/her alumni years.
If one were to list the qualities of an ideal volunteer,
you would no doubt include descriptors such as: dedicated to the mission of the organization, willingness to take on leadership roles, generous in time commitment and financial support, and desire to recruit others to the cause. These only begin to describe Kevin Holleran's commitment to Dickinson College which began more than 30 years ago when he arrived on Dickinson's campus. As an undergraduate, Kevin was a member of the swim team, served as secretary of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and studied in Paris, France. After graduation he proceeded to Villanova University where he earned his law degree and then accepted a position with the law firm of Gawthrop Greenwood and Halsted where he has been a partner for the last 20 years concentrating on trusts and estates. He is a past president of the Chester County Bar Association and a member of the American Bar Association. In addition, he has served on numerous boards and has led several fundraising efforts for local charities.
But his first love is his role as "volunteer extraordinaire" for Dickinson College. His service to the College has included the alumni admissions program, the Alumni Council, the Board of Advisors, and the 1986 Philadelphia Regional Campaign Committee. Currently, he is serving on the Dickinson Fund Advisory Council, he participates in the Dickinson Works alumni-networking program, and is the chairman of the Philadelphia-area Regional Cabinet. He has also been involved with the Friends of the Library and with his wife, Burse, has traveled with the Alumni Travel Program to Bologna, Italy in 2000 and will packing his bags shortly for the next trip to Toulouse, France later this month. Lastly, he has served on several class reunion committees, including his 30th which he and his classmates are enjoying this weekend.
However, one of his greatest joys has been in talking with anybody and everybody about the virtues of a Dickinson College education. He has been a tireless advocate and recruiter for the admissions office including two current Dickinsonians who happen to be his nieces, Maggie Smith, class of '05 and Calley Connors who will be coming to Dickinson this fall as a member of the Class of '07.
Kevin, you are indeed a noble Dickinsonian. On behalf of the Dickinson College Alumni Council, it is my sincere pleasure to award you the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award for Service. Congratulations!
I now have the pleasure of making a very special presentation to Dr. Ray H. Crist, Class of 1920.
Born on March 8, 1900 on a farm in nearby Shepherdstown, PA. Ray Crist entered grade school at the age of 4 and has been doing homework ever since. In 1916 he began a four-year stint of commuting to Dickinson via train from Dillsburg. As an undergraduate, he joined the Student Army Training Corp, the newly chartered Theta Chi fraternity and ran cross-country. And in the true liberal arts spirit, although his degree was in chemistry, Dr. Crist has said that his courses in Shakespeare and ancient history were some of his favorites.
Shortly after graduating from Dickinson, he enrolled in Columbia University
and graduated in 1926 with a PhD in chemistry. In 1928 he received a Cutting Travelling Fellowship which allowed him to study for a year in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Crist returned to Columbia where he taught chemistry for 24 years until he was recruited in 1941 to work with a group of top scientists for the Manhattan Project developing the first atomic bomb. He then became director of research of the Manhattan district of the project based at Columbia. He and thousands of other scientists worked intensely for years to discover the active uranium isotope that would give birth to nuclear energy. Dr. Crist has said that while they were all struggling with the morality of developing a bomb, they realized that they needed to continue in order to protect themselves and the country in a time of war. After the war, Dr. Crist worked at Union Carbide Chemical Co. in Charleston, W. VA. where he developed a coal hydrogenation process whose by-product could be used as an alternative to petroleum oil.
Soon after this achievement, he was awarded an honorary
degree by Dickinson on the 40th anniversary of his graduation.
Three years later he returned to campus as a visiting professor of chemistry. Although he taught mostly upper-level chemistry courses, his favorite class was a general credit course on the history of science - designed for non-majors - where he helped students to understand some of the basic laws of the natural world around them. At the time of his employment, Dickinson had a mandatory retirement age of 70, but this didn't stop Dr. Crist from teaching. He just moved down the road to Messiah College where he continues to work to this day for the salary of $1 per year at his request. Soon after joining Messiah, Crist became concerned with the increasing deterioration of the environment which prompted him to begin biochemical-ecological research. As the visiting professor of environmental science he has taught classes and trained research students in his lab and has conducted research with his son, Lance, a retired Columbia University professor of chemistry.
Since 1971 he has published more than 20 scientific papers in national and international journals and presented his findings at numerous scientific meetings around the world including Nagasaki, Japan.
In recognition for his accomplishments, Dr. Crist was featured in the 2001 PBS series "The Living Century: Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People". In 2002 Experience Works, a national nonprofit organization that provides services for mature workers, named Crist "America's Oldest Worker." He has also been featured on CBS' 60 Minutes and The CBS News Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.
 In addition to his son, Lance, Dr. Crist has two other sons, Henry, a pathologist at Carlisle Hospital and a member of the class of '62 who is with us today, and Robert, a professor of American literature at the University of Athens, Greece. Dr. Crist still lives in Carlisle and if you pass by his house you may very well see him mowing his grass or shoveling snow.
Dr. Crist, would you join me at the podium. In recognition of your outstanding accomplishments in the field of chemistry, for your dedication to your countless students over the years and for your longevity in the workforce, I am delighted to award you this special Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the Dickinson College Alumni Council. Congratulations!
Thank you and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
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