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   BOSTON UNIVERSITY ALUMNI WEEKEND - SEPTEMBER 26 - 28, 2024

Register For Events Now!

Saturday, July 27
Della Hardman Day (CFA'45) at Ocean Park, Oak Bluffs | 4 pm
Celebrating the life & legacy of a beloved vineyard resident and BU alumna, Della Hardman. Since her passing in 2005, the town has celebrated her spirit and ever-present reminder to ”savor the moment.”
Free

Tuesday, July 30
BU Gathering at Nomans, Oak Bluffs | 12 pm - 4 pm
Bring friends and family to join with fellow alumni during a casual afternoon to relax, enjoy lawn games and socialize. Come for lunch and enjoy or stop by in the afternoon after your morning adventures on the island.
$15 per adult, $10 per child under 21 (fee includes hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and soft drinks)

Wednesday, July 31
Sunset Boat Cruise with BU, Vineyard Haven Harbor | 5 pm - 8 pm
Cruise with BU and fellow terriers around Vineyard Sound. Ages 21+. Space is limited; advanced registration required.
$20 per person (fee includes hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine)

Thursday, August 1
Charles Ogletree Public Forum Series at Union Chapel, Oak Bluffs | 4 pm
Panelists will include alumni and faculty from BU’s College of Fine Arts. 
Free

BU Reception at Center of Knowhere Art Gallery, Oak Bluffs | 6 pm – 8 pm
After the Charles Ogletree Public Forum, join hosts Ralph Groce (Questrom, CGS, MET) and Valerie Francis to continue the conversation and connect with the BU panelists and fellow alumni. Space is limited; advanced registration required.
Free

Please Note: All sales are final, no refunds or exchanges.

From: Boston University's Alumni Magazine

BU Rolls Out The Red Carpet For Black 

Alums To Celebrate 50th Reunion

During 2023 Alumni Weekend

"The Class of 1973 has remained a tight-knit group.  Some are

 returning to campus for the first time in decades."

Though the University did not create yearbooks for the Class of 1973, Umoja, BU’s Black student union, created its own for Black graduating seniors. Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lewis (CAS’73)

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 - SOPHIE YARIN

A tight-knit group of Black alumni from the Class of 1973 have arrived on campus for Alumni Weekend and their 50th reunion. It’s not this group’s first class reunion; many alums have maintained relationships over the decades, as well as with Black graduates in classes a few years ahead and behind them. But this is their first reunion on campus. 

There is a reason for that, according to Linda Keene (Questrom’73), who attended what was then the College of Business Administration. “We didn’t feel necessarily welcome to be part of things like student government, so we created our own,” says Keene, a retired corporate marketing executive now working as a fiber artist. “We had our own newspaper, our own student union, our own sororities and fraternities, our own choral groups. Our connections were to the people, not to the school.”

In early 2023, she found herself in a conversation about engagement opportunities for Golden Terriers (50-year alums) like herself with Liliana Mickle, BU’s associate director for generational and alumni engagement. The two had a long talk about how Keene and other Black alums in her class felt about their time at BU.

“There were two streams of conversation that occurred,” Mickle recalls. “One, that she and other Black alums went on to have very successful careers, and really credit that to being at BU. The other was that BU had not engaged these alumni, and they did not feel that they had a community outside of their group that supported them.”

Linda Keene graduated from what was then the BU College of Business Administration in 1973. Photo by Ebony Stubbs of Rae Images

The two agreed that they wanted to see these alums feel more welcome. Keene reached out to fellow alums to ask if any of them would be interested in coming back to BU for their Golden Terrier reunion during Alumni Weekend 2023, September 21 to 23.

“We spent a couple of hours [together] on a Saturday, and everybody got a chance to speak about the time that they were at BU,” Mickle says of the group’s first Zoom meeting.

They discovered that Keene’s fellow alums were enthusiastic about the idea of a BU reunion. Mickle also realized that Keene possesses a rare ability to unite people toward a common goal—and then light a fire under them.

“If I can find one Linda in each class, then every reunion will have a meaningful return to campus,” Mickle says. “I tell everybody, I’m working for Linda until Alumni Weekend. That’s my boss.”

“People said, ‘Thank you for volunteering [to organize the event],’” Keene says with a laugh. “That’s not exactly how it went, but I’m that kind of person. I said, ‘If we do something, it would be a lot of work and we’re already behind.’ And I certainly wouldn’t be willing to do it unless there was a substantial number of people who were willing to participate.”

By the end of March, 25 people had signed up to help plan the reunion. “So I said, ‘Well, I guess we’re doing this thing,’” she says.

The goal was to create a program of events, activities, and outreach opportunities for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Keene oversaw the creation of a steering committee of five alums, each overseeing a team of their own: outreach, documenting our history, legacy, yearbook, and program/activities.

The yearbook was especially important, as the University did not produce one in 1973. 

“Most of us were first-generation and we wanted something to mark the fact that we had been to college—and our families wanted something,” Keene says. “So, we produced our own yearbook.” (Umoja, BU’s Black student union, compiled and distributed a yearbook for the Black student community.) “It was something that people have cherished over the years.” 

In anticipation of this year’s reunion, the steering committee decided that after 50 years, the yearbook might be due for revision. Those attending the reunion can order an updated yearbook, complete with then-and-now photos and current profiles of participating alums.

Like the new yearbook, the weekend’s events are an amalgamation of the present and the past. Many of the scheduled events, such as tours of newer facilities and meet-and-greets with faculty and students of color, are meant to introduce alums to today’s BU. The committee also prepared a history presentation—which Keene hopes will “set the tone for the weekend.”

The slides are a slice of life, at BU and beyond, in the early 1970s. Among the events and achievements highlighted: Umoja’s successful 1968 negotiation with then-President Arland F. Christ-Janer, which increased financial aid, expanded recruitment of Black students, and established the Martin Luther King Center, a resource office for Black students; the Black Power movement; the Boston busing crisis; and some of the best fashion and music of the time. 

“We had a lot of fun too,” Keene adds. “Whenever we would go to the football games, we had a Black cheering section. The sororities and fraternities all had great parties, and there were a lot of cultural activities. It wasn’t just about school.”

Looking back is vital, because some of the support structures Black students fought for in the 1970s no longer exist, Keene says, such as the King Center, which once stood at 178 Bay State Road. 

“It was a place you could go for help if you needed it and it was very much a central location for us,” she says. “There were people there whose job it was to try to help us be successful and navigate Boston University. It was an information place, it was a gathering place, and it was a place where we could be ourselves.”

But in planning the Alumni Weekend events, the group is also looking ahead, in a way. “We are having a meeting with African American faculty and administrators, because we’re trying to understand what the University is doing today to attract and retain administrators and faculty of color, and how we as alums can hopefully engage with them on that front,” Keene says. “We’re also meeting with current students [of color] to try to understand what some of their challenges are and how we as a group might be able to help with that.”

The reunion has lots of room for celebration as well. The penultimate event is a farewell party at the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, featuring popular hits from the 1970s and lots of dancing. The next morning, alums are invited to a farewell worship service at St. Paul AME Church in Cambridge—“another touchstone in the community,” Keene says. 

Mickle and Keene, who saw the program go from an idea to reality in a matter of months, credit the alums who volunteered their time and enthusiasm to make the reunion happen. Like the community the alums have nurtured for 54 years, this reunion is a labor of love. 

“People have really gone the extra mile—particularly the members of the steering committee, who have worked overtime to provide the kind of leadership that was necessary to make this happen,” Keene says. “It helps a little bit that we’re retired, although we’re the busiest retired people I know.”

She believes the alums who come for the weekend will be excited. “I think they’re going to be really gratified to be there,” she says. “Given where we all are in our lives, this may be the last chance we have to be in that space with this group of people who were such an important part of our formative experience, and that’s very meaningful.”

From: BU Today

 Bringing Visibility to the Black Experience at BU

     The BLOCK student organization aims to capture Black and brown joy and success

February 2023

In 2022, We Celebrated Emancipation on the Soil Where America's "Original Sin" Began

RECAP: BU ALUMS ARRIVE SMILING ON DAY ONE

Day Two Is Movie Night And It's On Like Hot-Buttered Popcorn

THE BU JUNETEENTH REUNION GETS UNDERWAY

See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

ON DAY TWO, IT'S MOVIE NIGHT AND A FREE MEAL

Day Three Is Dinner And Party Night...Dancing Shoes Required

THE BU JUNETEENTH REUNION CONTINUED

See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

ON DAY THREE, BU'S ERIKA JORDAN IS IN THE HOUSE

After Dinner and Before The Party Starts, Attendees Hear From From V.P.

THE BU JUNETEENTH REUNION CONTINUED

See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

PARTYING IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR ON JUNETEENTH

When The Music Turned Up Reunion Attendees Hit The Dance Floor

THE 2022 BU REUNION WRAPS ON THE GOOD FOOT

See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

It seems BU50 alum Ralph H. Groce III is always finding new ways to show his appreciation for his alma mater and new ways to give back to the current students of Boston University.  Case in point, the Metropolitan College Culinary Arts Program at 808 Commonwealth Avenue now has a fully renovated and modernized laboratory kitchen which bears Ralph's name and that of the renowned French chef Jacques Pepin, who teaches there.  

The Groce Pepin Culinary Innovation Laboratory, which Ralph funded, is a state-of-the-art kitchen for a one-of-a-kind in the nation, hands-on cooking course preparing students for a wide variety of jobs.

From: BU Today

Acclaimed chef and cofounder of Metropolitan College’s Certificate Program in the Culinary Arts, Jacques Pépin (Hon.’11), assisted by Lisa Falso-Doherty, assistant director of Programs in Food & Wine, prepares the bread and spinach stuffing for Chicken Ballottine in the newly renovated Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory kitchen.

CAMPUS & FACILITIES

Newly Renovated Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory Is Now Cooking

After four months and more than $200,000 in improvements, MET’s Jacques Pépin (Hon.’11) launches space with a demo for culinary arts students

February 16, 2022

Standing at the front of the Metropolitan College Programs in Food & Wine renovated demonstration kitchen recently, Jacques Pépin deftly scraped his paring knife along a block of butter, coaxing—as if by magic—the petals of a rose from the block. Famed chef, prolific cookbook author, and Emmy-winning TV host Pépin (Hon.’11) then turned to his audience of MET culinary arts students, and said, “If I had to explain [this] with words, after half a page, you’d say, ‘What is he talking about?’” 

Now, thanks to more than $200,000 in renovations, the renamed Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory is providing students with an even closer look at the maestro’s hands at work.  

With the demo kitchen’s first major renovation in 30 years, the space now boasts a gleaming new charcoal gray granite countertop, stainless steel stove, glass door fridge, and commercial sink station, not to mention freshly painted walls.

The launch of the recently renamed Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory kitchen was open to culinary arts students, who can now observe visiting chefs’ techniques up close and at different angles thanks to five newly installed overhead cameras and wall-mounted screens.

The most significant change, however, is a series of five overhead cameras and wall-mounted monitors that replaced a large mirror previously hung above the kitchen’s central island. The new technology enables students to watch cooking demos from multiple angles—whether they’re in the room or tuning in from afar, says Potter Palmer, Food & Wine programs director. “The new system allows us to stream and record events,” Palmer says, making “it simple and easy to expand our classes to be both in person and online via Zoom.”

The upgrade has already proven invaluable. Faced with the pandemic’s Omicron surge in early January, MET made the tough decision to move the 14-week culinary arts program completely online. 

This vision of expanding the program’s reach resonated with attendees at the Culinary Arts 30th Anniversary Gala in December 2018, including major donor and alum Ralph H. Groce III. “Not only was this initiative a matter of immense importance,” Groce says, “but I also felt a significant sense of urgency about the project.” The global head of operations technology at Wells Fargo and a 2017 MET Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Groce hopes the redesigned space will allow the program to evolve along with the changing educational landscape. He also wants it to provide “Pépin [with] a ‘state of the art’ facility that measures up to his genius, passion, and the desire he has to train the next generation of culinary artists,” he says. “Food shows us we have more in common than we might think, and I hope the Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory is a place where that perspective becomes a reality for everyone who graces its doors.”  

The space is drawing rave reviews from culinary arts students, among them Julian Plovnick (MET’22), who hadn’t seen it prior to Pépin’s demo. “It’s clear that [the kitchen] was designed with the intention of highlighting both the instructor’s presentation and the food being prepared,” Plovnick says. “The inclusion of the TV monitors makes it super easy to view every angle of the demo, which is really important for replication of the recipes later on.”

"Food shows us we have more in common than we might think, and I hope the Groce Pépin Culinary Innovation Laboratory is a place where that perspective becomes a reality for everyone who graces its doors."

Ralph H. Groce III

While the overhead cameras and monitors have modernized the viewing experience, not much has changed structurally during the demo kitchen’s three decades of use. Aside from removing a closet that once housed a cascading door (used to curtain visiting chefs as they prepped for their audience), the recent upgrades—four months in the making—remained faithful to the kitchen’s original layout and preserved the original brick-colored tile floor. The same is true of the central island, which was originally constructed a few inches taller than normal to accommodate the height of the program’s legendary cofounder, Julia Child (Hon.’76), who was six feet, two inches tall.

Not far from the island, tucked into the right corner of the space as you enter, is the desk where Child, acclaimed author of The Art of French Cooking and host of several television shows, penned many of her best-selling cookbooks. For nearly two decades, the desk had sat in the basement of MET gastronomy lecturer Netta Davis (GRS’13), a one-time student and later an employee of Child’s. Child donated her Cambridge, Mass., home kitchen to the Smithsonian in 2001, but when museum staff arrived to pack it up, they declined the large mahogany desk.

The newly renovated public-facing demo kitchen is just the tip of the iceberg. The video above offers a behind-the-scenes peek inside the professional kitchen where students in MET’s Programs in Food & Wine hone their craft. Video by Pam DeBarros

Davis says she “felt that the desk was an important piece, [since] Julia had written so many books there,” and decided to rescue it. “It was always my intention to have it come home to BU, where Julia inspired and cheered on so many students,” Davis says. Finally, after building renovations at 808 Comm Ave were completed in 2020, the perfect spot was found to display the desk. 

Along with the favorite metal stool Child used when she taught at MET, the desk commemorates the program’s three founders—Child, Pépin, and Rebecca Alssid, longtime program administrator—whose portraits rest atop the desk. After creating MET’s Programs in Food & Wine in 1989, the trio went on to establish the Gastronomy Program at Metropolitan College in 1991, the first academic program of its kind in the United States. 

Beyond baptizing the new equipment, Pépin’s visit to the new demo kitchen in October also marked the start of what is colloquially known in the program as “Jacques week”—a semester high point for culinary arts students, where Pépin reviews French knife cuts, teaches some of his classic dishes, such as the French omelet, signs books, and often enjoys a few glasses of wine with students. The event was Pépin’s first live demo for the program since the start of the pandemic. With help from Lisa Falso-Doherty, Programs in Food & Wine assistant director, he deboned an entire leg of lamb, whipped up an impromptu buttery asparagus soup, and offered tender soy-cured salmon on pumpernickel bread to his attentive audience, comprising culinary art students and a handful of 2020 graduates.

In the past, the 86-year-old chef has also given a public cooking demonstration during his visits to BU, typically packing the demo kitchen to its maximum capacity of 80 people. While the pandemic has put such events on the back burner, Palmer is hopeful that the kitchen’s new overhead cameras will help bring Pépin’s demos, as well as other public-facing events, such as wine tastings and guest lectures, to a broader audience. 

For recent grad Carol Waldo (MET’21), though, a video stream could never replace a chance to view firsthand the master chef at work. She was able to attend Pépin’s demo, and compared to her cohorts’ Zoom session with Pépin in fall 2020, she says, “seeing him in person was a very different experience. The way he embodies technique is evident in a way that video can’t capture.” 

Surrounded by the sparkling new space, Pépin used the opportunity to impart some hard-earned wisdom to the students. “To be a professional chef, you have to be a technician first. And that happens when you repeat, repeat, repeat,” he said, making a slicing motion with his hands. Recounting his apprenticeship at a French restaurant at age 13, which began with sweeping the floor, chopping parsley, and plucking chickens, Pépin continued, “You repeat, repeat, repeat, to a point where the chef one day says, ‘You start at the stove tomorrow.’ That’s how it happens. 

“In a sense, it becomes a part of your DNA.” 

The Personal Impact Of COVID-19's Long Haul 

Life And Loss During The Height Of The Coronavirus Pandemic

A Video By Marcus Jones, Boston University COM 1982

Graduating Students Share Their Journeys of Faith

Personal reflections offered during Marsh Chapel’s annual “This I Believe” Sunday - May 12, 2019

Members of the Class of 2019 selected to speak at Marsh Chapel’s annual “This I Believe” Sunday: Carolyn Hoffman (CAS’19) (from left), Denise-Nicole Stone (CAS’19), Jonathan Allen (LAW’19), Katherine Ward (ENG’19), and Karey Statin (CAS’18, MET'19).

There was a hush during Marsh Chapel’s weekly interdenominational service Sunday, May 12th, as five members of BU’s Class of 2019 stood before the congregation and shared personal reflections about their spiritual journeys as undergraduate and graduate students at BU.

“This I Believe” Sunday is a tradition that began in 1982, as a way to give students active in the Marsh Chapel community a forum to share publicly how their spiritual lives had been shaped at BU.  Today, students from all of the University’s schools and colleges, whatever their faith tradition, are invited in the spring to submit an outline for a proposed talk.  Several are then chosen by chapel staff, and they address the Marsh Chapel congregation on the Sunday before Commencement.

In the video above, Karey Statin (CAS’18, MET’19) talks about the importance of being willing to change in order to achieve one’s true potential.

         Karey Statin (CAS’18, MET’19)

Karey Statin believes deeply that by working together, we can overcome political challenges, eradicate racism and disease, and solve other pressing social issues.  Statin, a College of Arts & Sciences political science grad, earned a master’s degree in urban affairs in 2019.  His plan is to earn one more degree—a PhD in African American studies.

The Next Big Thing Wraps with One Big Fling!

2018 Old School Reunion Organizers Thank All Who Made the Trip

See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

BU Inaugurates a Pre-Commencement Rite of Passage Ceremony for UMOJA Members Beginning with the Class of 2018

Click below to read the BOSTONIA article

 BU50 alum, Ralph H. Groce, III, delivers 2017 Metropolitan College commencement address...

Way to go, Ralph!

See more on the "Stuff to Brag About," "Commencements," and "Event Photo Gallery" pages on this web site

 BU50 alum, Wanda Jackson, named one of The Network Journal's 25 Influential Black Women in Business for 2017...

Way to go, Wanda!

See more on the "Stuff to Brag About" page on this web site

"Old School" Featured Photo

Alphas Descend on Boston for Centennial Celebration 

 See more on "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

 Deltas Descend on Washington, DC for Centennial Celebration

 See more on "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

New York Alums Enjoy an Annual Dining Ritual at One of Brooklyn's Oldest Steak Houses

 See more on the "Event Photo Gallery" page on this web site

We Mourn the Loss of a Universal University Figure

September 27, 2012

 See more on the "Tribute" page on this web site 

Partying on campus during Alumni Weekend

Grown folks proving they can still get down

See more on "BU Alumni Association Activities" page on this web site 

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 BU Deans in DC for MLK Memorial Reception

BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, Hellen Beard, '84, Katherine Kennedy, Director of the Howard Thurman Center for Race, Culture and Ethnicity, and Matthew Murphy, ENG '85, pose for the camera during an alumni reception in Washington, DC preceding the official dedication of the memorial to MLK, Jr. on the National Mall. 

See "King Memorial" page on this web site for more information 

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Celebrating a 50th Birthday in NYC

Boston University alum Jean Celestin celebrates the Big-50 in New York City, October 2, 2010, with his wife, family and several BU classmates. 

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The Summer of 2010 was a Blast and the Future Possibilities are Endless

Share Your Thoughts and Ideas with Us in the Comment Box Below

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Grown Folks Assembled in the National Capital Area for the Inaugural BU50 Social Event