Alumni Weekend 2005 brings storied grads back to campus

Some of UW–Madison’s most illustrious graduates, alongside those with lesser-known but just as inspiring stories, will be on campus this weekend for Alumni Weekend 2005.

On Friday, five graduates whose works have benefited the campus and the world will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards from the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

Weekend highlights include:

Friday, May 6:

During the day, more than 200 alumni will attend classes on topics ranging from “Security Challenges Since 9/11” to “Why We Love Dogs.” In attendance will be graduates such as Erick Laine of the Class of 1955, whose parents smuggled him out of a Soviet work camp to safety and freedom in Finland when he was a baby. He later became chair of the board of the largest cutlery manufacturer in the nation and was featured in On Wisconsin Magazine in December 2004. Three generations of Laines are now Badgers. Programs will be held in the Pyle Center and Memorial Union.

At the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Awards program, meet 2005 recipients Florence Chenoweth MS’70, PhD’86, executive director of the Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office at the United Nations, New York; Paul Collins BBA’58, retired vice chair of Citigroup; Elliot Lehman ’38, co-chair emeritus, Fel-Pro, Inc. and national Family Leave Act pioneer; Cisco Systems Chair of the Board John Morgridge BBA’55 and retired teacher and author Tashia Morgridge ’55; and Anthony Shadid ’90, the Distinguished Young Alumni Award recipient, who is the Washington Post’s Islamic affairs correspondent based in the Middle East.

The honorees will be available for interviews at a reception at the Wisconsin Union Theater lobby at 5:00 p.m., followed by the awards program in the theater and dinner in Great Hall.

Saturday, May 7:

At the Half Century Club Luncheon in Great Hall, Chancellor John Wiley will help honor alumni who graduated 50 years ago. You’ll even get a chance to meet the oldest graduate back on campus during the weekend, Einar Cannelin from the Class of 1937 (received a master’s degree in 1948). Photo opportunities as the chancellor awards pins. There will also be reunions for the classes of 1945, 1950 and 1955.