Class of 1962 to reunite at UW-Madison

Nostalgia and campus memories will join with a look at culture change and public policy as alumni from the Class of 1962 celebrate their 50-year reunion at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

More than 150 alumni are expected for the reunion weekend, Sept. 14-16, hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. Interim Chancellor David Ward, who earned his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, will welcome his fellow alumni to the Half-Century Club and award commemorative pins at a time-honored dinner event. 1962 Class President Marv Bauer will deliver remarks to the class.

A reunion gift of more than $140,000 from the Class of 1962 will support Alumni Park, a new green space on the shore of Lake Mendota. Part of the East Campus Gateway, Alumni Park is a gift from WAA to campus to mark the association’s 150th anniversary.

The Women of ’62, a collective of female graduates, will also gather to reflect on the remarkable changes this generation of women has experienced.

“Our culture moved from the Mad Men ’50s, the hippie ’60s, the women’s lib ’70s, to the increasingly women-empowered ’80s through 2012,” says Su Schaffer ’62 of Menlo Park, Calif., a past member of the national WAA Board, who is co-hosting the gathering with Claudia Card ’62, a UW–Madison professor of philosophy.

“We were at the beginning of those momentous changes, and each of us has stories fueled by our reluctance, indifference, acceptance or activism over those years,” Schaffer adds.

On Friday, the class will engage in dialogue with faculty and alumni experts for a day of learning, focused on policy in health care, higher education, and the university’s relationship with state government and Wisconsin citizens. Panels will include:

• Redesigining the U.S. Health Care System: Moderated by J. Timothy Harrington ’62, MD’65, a faculty member of the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and featuring Katharyn May, dean of the School of Nursing; internationally known infectious disease specialist Dennis Maki ’62, MS’64, MD’67, and Brian Joiner, quality improvement consultant and past director of the UW Statistical Lab.
• Repairing Our Politics: Hosted by Cap Times Editor Emeritus Dave Zweifel ’62, moderated by journalism Professor James Baughman, and featuring UW–Madison Professors Katherine Cramer Walsh ’94, Lucas Graves and Charles Franklin.
• Re-examining Higher Education: Presentation from Interim Chancellor David Ward, moderated by Jim Nafziger ’62, MA’69, a professor at Willamette University College of Law, and featuring former Regent Michael Spector ’62, Professor Emerita Joy Dohr ’62, MS’65, PhD’80, and Walter Dickey ’68, JD’71, senior associate athletic director at UW–Madison.

The Class of 1962 reunion will also include boat tours of Lake Mendota and a special tailgate party for class members before the Badgers play Utah State on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.