Alumni Relations
Alumni Reunion and Comeback Recap
The 26th annual Veterinary Alumni Reunion and Comeback was a great success! Thank you to everyone, especially our many alumni, volunteers and staff who helped make the weekend's festivities possible.
As our alumni population continues to grow and the Reunion and Comeback attendance steadily increases, we have outgrown our familiar Grafton Campus accommodations. So this year, following Open House and campus tours at the veterinary school on Saturday, we transitioned to the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester, MA for the evening's program and festivities.
Alumni, their families, faculty members, and other guests were greeted at the Oktoberfest-themed gathering by the festive music of the polka band. On hand, with his beer stein raised in celebration, was our very own George Saperstein donning his lederhosen. Fall was in the air and polka was on our minds while we celebrated our alumni, the Reunion classes, and good memories.
TUVAA President Bill Rosenblad (V95) welcomed everyone in attendance and emceed the evening's program. Dean Deborah Kochevar provided an update on the many exciting things taking place at the school. As the evening progressed, Steve Rowell (V83) made the Faculty Hall of Fame presentation to this year's inductee, Dr. Sawkat Anwer, for his outstanding commitment to excellence in teaching. And David McGrath (V86) received the 2011 Outstanding Alumnus Award for his many accomplishments and his contributions to Tufts, the Cummings School, the veterinary profession, and the greater community.
Another highlight of the evening included the annual presentation of a check to the school by TUVAA Vice President Dan Hebert (V01) on behalf of all alumni. The amount of the check represented the alumni contributions to the Cummings Veterinary Fund for the past year, with the total again setting a new record with an increase over last year!
An addition to this year's program was the Reunion Challenge, issued and made possible by Dr. McGrath in celebration of his 25-year reunion. Each of the Reunion classes—1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006—set new records for alumni participation. Alumni donations increased by 506% over the previous year in response to the challenge! With participations rates exceeding the 50% goal, the Classes of 1986 and 1991 now have scholarships donated in honor of each of their classes and which have been awarded to students for the current academic year. With the highest participation rate of all the classes, the Class of 1991 now has a seat dedicated in the Agnes Varis Auditorium. Congratulations to all of the Reunion classes on a successful Reunion Challenge!
In response to alumni interest, we also expanded the program from Saturday to also include Sunday, adding a day of continuing education courses. Under the direction of co-directors Lisa Freeman (V91) and Dan Hebert (V01), and with the assistance of Susan Brogan and the Office of Continuing Education, we hosted the first CE by alumni, for alumni
in the Agnes Varis Campus Center and Auditorium. Through the generosity of a number of sponsors, we were able to offer both a Small Animal and a Large Animal track, with five hours of CE credit in each track.
Thank you again to everyone who helped to make Reunion and Comeback 2011 a great success!
Special thanks to:
- Reunion and Comeback Dinner Sponsors
- Tufts University Veterinary Alumni Association
- TCSVM Office of Alumni Relations
- VCA Animal Hospitals
- Tufts University Alumni Association
- Reunion and Comeback CE Sponsors
- Tufts University Veterinary Alumni Association
- TCSVM Office of Alumni Relations
- Gold Level Sponsors
- IDEXX Laboratories
- Virbac Animal Health
- Silver Level Sponsors
- VetCor
- Elanco
- Hill's
- Pfizer
- Merial
- Bank of America
- Bronze Level Sponsor
- Novartis