More than 3,700 College alumni and their guests descended on campus from May 31–June 3 for Alumni Reunion Weekend and Dean’s Day 2012. The 50-year milestone belonged to the Class of 1962, which capped off its Saturday dinner by presenting a $1.13 million Class Gift to the Columbia College Fund — the largest reunion Class Gift ever given by a 50th-anniversary class. The Class of 1987, meanwhile, celebrated not only its 25-year reunion but also its silver anniversary as the College’s first fully coeducational class.

You can view photos of all the weekend's festivities in the following galleries:

• Class Photos
• Lectures
• Lunches, Dinners & Receptions
• Wine Tasting & Starlight Reception
• Young Alumni Party on the U.S.S. Intrepid

Gathering this year were classes that end in 2 or 7 and, of course, every class had something to celebrate, from the six self-proclaimed members of the “Nonagenarian Club” who represented the 70th anniversary Class of 1942, to the Class of 2007, which made its reunion debut with a record-setting 264 attendees. And among them all, the chorus was the same: how fast time flies.

The sentiment also applied to the weekend itself. On Thursday and Friday, alumni fanned out around the city for special events, tours and receptions. Friday featured Back-on-Campus Sessions, an array of Mini-Core Courses on subjects from Plato and Rousseau, to the Divine Comedy and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, to Hellenistic philosophy and the inner workings of the brain. Saturday featured Dean’s Day Public Intellectual Lectures in the morning and more Mini-Core Courses in the afternoon; Saturday’s lectures and presentations were open to all alumni, including those from non-reunion years, as well as to parents. Saturday also inaugurated the Witten Center for the Core Open House and Core Stories Taping. Alumni were invited to tour the center and to videotape a favorite Core memory.

Throughout Saturday, Camp Columbia kept kids 3–12 busy with sports, arts and crafts, movies and magic. Saturday evening brought the all-class Wine Tasting and class-specific dinners; afterward, all were invited to Low Plaza for the annual Starlight Reception where guests enjoyed dessert and drank champagne while the band served up songs for every generation. The dancing lasted until 2 a.m., when the party broke up — at least until next year.

• View a Reunion 2012 video.

Columbia College initiated 87 seniors into Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society, on Tuesday, May 15. The students were chosen by a faculty selection committee of Phi Beta Kappa members based on the breadth, depth and rigor of their academic programs, as well as recommendations from faculty members who have worked closely them and know their commitment to scholarly endeavor. Each year, 10 percent of the Columbia College graduating class is elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Two percent (Junior Phi Beta Kappa) is elected in November. See http://college.columbia.edu/news/seniors-inducted-phi-beta-kappa for details on the Junior Phi Beta Kappa inductees.

The students and their guests were welcomed by Hazel May, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Dean of Columbia College James J. Valentini spoke, congratulating the students.

Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Members receive a distinctive gold key, which symbolizes the core principles of Phi Beta Kappa – freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression.

The Class of 2012 Phi Beta Kappa members are:

Shreya Agarwal
Yusuf Ahmad
Lauren Alpert
Audrey Baker
Katherine Balkoski
Noelle Bodick
Ashley Chin
Dane Cook
Jackson Cooper
Jacob Coppola
Philip Crandall
Joseph Daly
Samuel Draxler
Katherine Duh
Max Ehrman
Daniel Flicker
Elizabeth Foydel
Anne Gabriel
Priya Gandhi
Emma Gebert
Jou Glasheen
Erin Glennon
Sophie Gloeckler
Elyssa Goldberg
Felipe Goncalves
Perry Hampilos
Mark Hay
Benjamin Henderson
Victoria Jackson-Hanen
Alejandro Jinich
Madeleine Joseph
Colin Kinniburgh
Samuel Klug
Komal Kothari
Dylan Kotliar
Rafael Krichevsky
Rebecca Kutzer-Rice
Jacob Lasser
Cindy Law
Jiwoo Lee
William Leonard
Daniel Leong
Scott Levin
Emelyn Lih
Soo Youn Lim
Jodie Liu
Jordan Lord
Alexandra Lotero
Yin Yin Lu
Emma Manson
Katherine Marshall
Keith Miao
Laura Mills
Emilia Monell
Siddharth Nair
Michael Newman
Chimno Nnadi
Kelly O'Reilly
Sofia Pacheco-Fores
Vir Patel
Milesh Patel
Bartlomiej Piela
Lea Pollack
Samuel Preston
Jacob Rice
Julian Richers
Isabel Ricker
Kimberly Rubin
Usha Sahay
Sara Salzbank
John Sarlitto
Ian Scheffler
Amanda Schiff
Samuel Schube
Adria Schulman-Eyink
Ruijie Song
Erin Stahmer
Kevin Sun
Waradon Sungnak
Natasha Terhorst
Daniel Valella
Laura Waelbroeck
Yinou Wang
Elaine Wang
Erica Weaver
Fan Wu
Katherine Zee

The Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA) welcomed its newest members, the Class of 2012, on May 15 as the 1,132 graduates were supported by family and friends on South Lawn under tents that protected all from the morning’s passing showers.

For the ninth year, the Class Day festivities included the Alumni Parade of Classes, with 175 alumni from as far back as 1949 marching with their class banners to shepherd the seniors into the alumni community.

View photos of the Class Day Alumni Parade of Classes.

Salutatorian Zachary Evan Levine ’12 addressed the group, followed by keynote speaker John R. “Rick” MacArthur ’78, an award-winning journalist, an author, and president and publisher of Harper’s Magazine, who made light of the fact that he was following in the shadow of Barnard’s May 14 Commencement speaker, President Barack Obama ’83: “Many of you are disappointed I am not President of the United States … I share your disappointment.”

Presenting student life and service awards and academic awards were Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger and Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn B. Yatrakis. CCAA President Kyra Tirana Barry ’87 presented three alumni awards and prizes.

Dean James J. Valentini and President Lee C. Bollinger also spoke briefly — Valentini urged the graduates to “take pride in being graduates of the greatest college, in the greatest university, in the greatest city in the world” — followed by Stephanie Foster ’12 and Jacob Goren ’12, co-chairs of the Seniors Fund, presenting the Class Gift. Class President Sarah Chai ’12 also spoke, followed by the reading of names and presentation of the class pins. Four members of the 50th anniversary Class of ’62 were on hand to welcome the newest alumni to the Columbia family.

The ceremony concluded with the singing of Sans Souci and Roar Lion Roar.

Sahrula Kubie CC'14 and Shamm Petros CC'14 were among the 10 Columbia University students who were awarded 2012 Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) by the US Department of State. Kubie will go to Russia to study the language and Petros will study Arabic in Oman.  

These students are among the approximately 575 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s CLS Program in 2012 to study Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, or Urdu languages.  U.S. students will spend seven to ten weeks in intensive language institutes this summer in 14 countries where these languages are spoken.  The CLS Program provides fully-funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences.  CLS Program participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.  

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Selected finalists for the 2012 CLS Program hail from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and represent 239 institutions of higher education from across the United States, including public and private universities, liberal arts colleges, minority-serving institutions and community colleges.

For further information about the CLS Program or other exchange programs offered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, please visit their websites at http://www.clscholarship.org and http://exchanges.state.gov.

More than 900 seniors celebrated the last day of classes at the annual Senior Dinner on April 30 under a tent on South Lawn. The soon-to-be alumni enjoyed a gourmet meal, upbeat music, a slideshow of memories and remarks from Dean James J. Valentini, Columbia College Student Council Class of 2012 President Sarah Chai ’12, Senior Dinner Co-chairs Eylul Kayin ’12 and Randy Subramany ’12, CCSC President Aki Terasaki ’12, Columbia College Alumni Association President Kyra Tirana Barry ’87 and Columbia College Young Alumni Board President Justin Ifill ’06.

Check out the photo gallery

A highlight of the evening was the announcement by Senior Fund Co-chairs Stephanie Foster ’12 and Jake Goren ’12 that the fund had achieved its goal of 750 donors and raised more than $16,250. By reaching its goal, the Senior Fund secured a $100,000 gift from Charles Santoro ’82 to be given to the Columbia College Fund by June 30, the end of Fiscal Year 2012.

The Senior Fund also exceeded its goal of 200 donors to Valentini’s “3-2-1 Challenge” of committing to give $20.12 for three years, convincing two friends to do the same and then having the gift matched 1:1 by an alumnus/a (for this year, Gene Davis ’75 will match all gifts). More than 230 seniors were committed to the 3-2-1 Challenge as of April 30.

When Valentini stepped up to the podium, he was met with cheers and applause. He spoke briefly, noting “At this point, I am supposed to turn you over to the Columbia College Alumni Association. I refuse. In my lexicon, there are only students — future students, current students and past students … I am going to give you some advice, and I am going to keep it simple, just four words: Pass the swim test!”