Summer Newsletter 2021

Dear Class Leaders,

Greetings from the Association of Class Leaders (ACL) Board!

As we bring this year to a close, we want to thank all our class leaders for staying engaged and supporting fellow alumni over the past year through some difficult times. We hope that the ACL’s support helped you in these efforts. Our mission is to engage and train class leaders, and we believe that the engagement of our alumni community is critically important.

Over this past year, we have supported class leaders by providing virtual engagement ideas, collaborating with Alumni Relations staff to develop and implement class leader training, and regularly shared tips and advice on our ACL Facebook page. We invite you to take advantage of these resources and keep an eye out in the coming year as we share other creative ways to keep your classmates engaged.

We look forward to working with you!

Ever true,

ACL Board News

The ACL board is committed to engaging and training alumni class leaders. Over the last few years, the board has been fortunate to have some very dedicated members who are “retiring” at the end of June. We are so grateful for their dedication, creativity, and just plain hard work on the behalf of alumni class leaders.

Retiring board members include:

• Rebecca de Sa ’09
• Patsy Dimm ’78
• Elena Gerli ’90
• Christian Martell ’10
• Jamaica Maxwell ’00
• Orlando Rodriguez ’17

During the ACL Annual Meeting on May 19, the board nominations committee announced the newly-elected ACL Board members.

We are happy to welcome:

• Salsabil Ahmed ’11
• Didier Jean Baptiste ’90
• Krista Bradley ’86
• Marco Martinez ’08
• Berit Spant Muh ’64, P’94
• Haru Okuda ’94

ACL Annual Meeting Wrap Up

This year’s Annual Meeting was held virtually on May 19, and began with a budget presentation from treasurer Petros Perselis ’10. The budget was presented under the assumption that there will be some virtual events during 2021/2022.

Over the course of the meeting, class leaders heard from ACL Board committee chairs about their work over the last year:

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Committee

Chair: Orlando Rodriquez ’17
Committee Members: Zack Langway ’09, Patsy Dimm ’78, Michelle Frea ’14, Jamaica Maxwell ’00, Gabby Napolitano ’03, and Bill Taylor ’75

The DE&I committee has focused on providing useful information and tools for classes to lead at all levels with a DE&I lens. They worked on class officer descriptions so that each officer has a role in class DE&I. They also have established guidance for DE&I considerations in planning events, created an elevator pitch for recruiting diverse and inclusive leaders, and developed DE&I-focused statements on behalf of the ACL.

Communication and Outreach Committee

Chair: Barbara Langworthy ’63
Committee Members: Harry Holt ’84, P’16; Christian Martell ’10; Jim Moody ’58 ScM’65, P’97; Jennie Pritzker ’00; and Bill Tanenbaum ’76

The Communication Committee has collaborated with the other ACL committees on content for ACL newsletters with the goal of highlighting the work of the ACL Board and providing resources for class leaders. In addition, the committee has been actively posting on the ACL Facebook account, providing Brown-sponsored content and events for class leaders to share on their class social media accounts.

Class Engagement & Training Committee

Chair: Sarah Gomel ’06
Committee Members: Rebecca de Sa ’09; Elena Gerli ’90; Miriam Gonzales ’87, P’20; Terri Sevilla ’82; Robert Sherman ’69, P’98; Bill Taylor ’75

The committee goals have been to create a virtual boot camp, increase communications and collaboration with other committees, and expand descriptions of class leader roles, job descriptions, and resources. The first goal of a boot camp was achieved in October, and the expanded class leader job descriptions are now complete (look for them in the next few months). Finally, the committee collaborated throughout the year with the other ACL Board committees, but particularly with DE&I in creating the job descriptions.

Virtual Engagement Committee

Chairs: Jade Palomino ’07, Josh Spector ’96
Committee Members: Mike Mancuso ’98; Steve Owens ’78, P’17; Petros Perselis ’10; Stephanie Vasquez ’13

The Virtual Engagement committee surveyed class leaders on what methods they were using for engaging their classes. Although they varied by age group, the BRAVO email tool is the primary means of class communication. Social media is utilized across all classes, but Facebook is most popular for classes in the older age groups. The biggest limiting factor for BRAVO is ensuring that alumni keep their contact information updated. The committee urged class leaders to utilize the thorough and easy-to-use Virtual Engagement Toolkit for planning class events.

Following the business part of the meeting, the board sponsored a year-end celebration featuring magician Andrew Evans ’09. Founder of The Magic Patio, Evans performed a private magic show exclusively for class leaders. His magic was delightful and mystifying, and he was “joined” on stage by a few of our ACL members. It was fun to see the looks of amazement on the faces of those in attendance, and all of us were left wondering “how did he do that?!”

A Statement of Support from the ACL Board

“I feel cautious optimism for the seeds of lasting change, but with an eye toward the hard work that must continue to combat systemic racism, inequity, brutality and violence that exists in society.”

In her recent letter to the Brown community, President Christina H. Paxson expressed a sentiment many in our alumni community aspire to.

We say “aspire” because we have faced immense difficulty in the last 12 months. The continued, senseless murder of Black and Brown neighbors – George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Adam Toledo, and far too many others to list. Rising rates of violence against the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities. The targeting of LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people of color. All of this set against a persistent backdrop of misogyny, xenophobia, mass shootings, a global pandemic, and more.

The honest and horrifying truth is this: the volume of violent, unspeakable acts committed against people because of who they are, who they love, the color of their skin, or the language they speak is so great that it is simply impossible to express the solidarity we deeply feel each time we learn of a new tragedy. Our hearts break each time – as parents and friends, as neighbors and colleagues, and as members of the Brown community.

We aspire to feel cautious optimism, while at the same time so many of us are also still processing these experiences and events. And of course, there’s no one “right” way or timeline for processing the simultaneous feelings of grief, joy, anger, anxiety, frustration, relief and fear, all at once.

Whether or not we feel that cautious optimism now, however, we must aspire to it. Because in holding space for cautious optimism, we also hold hope for the repair of our broken hearts. We hold hope that voices can be heard, and justice served. We hold hope that empathy can be deepened, and understanding built. We hold hope that our actions tomorrow will resonate more clearly than any message of solidarity today, and that the lasting change we leave in society will be a more equitable future for the next generation.

We are leaders, each of us, in our families, communities, and classes. And as the hard work continues towards a more just future, we affirm our commitment to each other and to you that we are in this together. We will hold space for cautious optimism in our hearts, as class leaders in service to the Brown community. We will not merely speak in solidarity. We will act. We will influence. We will engage and lead in a way that lifts up the dignity of each member of our beautiful, diverse, and passionate community.

Always and Ever True,
The Brown University ACL Board

A Year of Firsts for Brown’s Virtual Reunion Weekend

APRIL 30 – MAY 2, 2021

Among the many challenges we have faced as class leaders during the pandemic, helping with this year’s Reunion Weekend certainly ranks high on the list! Brown’s first-ever virtual Reunion was also the first event to combine two sets of Reunion classes, bringing together alumni from class years ending in 0, 1, 5, or 6 and recent graduates. Alumni enjoyed a variety of new activities and fun “extras” like Brown-inspired food and drink recipes, custom Zoom backgrounds, Spotify playlists, coloring pages for the kids, and more.

Eight ACL Board members were celebrating Reunion with their classes this year, and two shared a brief account of their weekend experiences.

Jennie Pritzker ’00
“The class of 2000’s 20th reunion was supposed to be in May of 2020. Although we had a virtual trivia night over Memorial Day weekend last year, we were excited to have a chance to celebrate and be together for this year’s virtual Reunion. Our class event, ‘A Top Shelf 20th Reunion’ was the highlight of the weekend! Held over Zoom on Saturday night, we started with a mixologist who showed us how to make a lemon drop cocktail and a lime rickey mocktail. Classmates had the ingredients ready and mixed along with the mixologist. Then came the trivia games! The emcee divided us into randomly selected teams of five and together we answered a variety of questions ranging from Brown trivia to 2000s trivia to general knowledge. The questions were challenging, the games got heated, and everyone had a lot of fun. Of course, three members of the class of 2000 who attended the event had actually been on ‘Jeopardy!’ so the standards were very high. Class members also participated in the virtual class lounges, which gave people a chance to connect and talk on a more meaningful level. On Saturday afternoon, many people participated in the virtual field day, getting caricatures made and watching the virtual Dave Binder concert. If there was truly a way to feel transported back 20 years, it was listening to Dave Binder play ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ and you could feel the clouds parting on Wriston Quad. And of course ‘The Fast Food Song’ and ‘Green Alligators,’ the classic Dave Binder songs, were performed too. The virtual reunion was a huge success and it was wonderful to be able to connect and celebrate from afar.”

Bill Tannenbaum ’76
“The Class of ’76 took advantage of the virtual nature of our 40th reunion to draw participation from across the country – including those who might not have traveled to Providence in another year. The breakout sessions during our class event on Saturday night allowed friends to re-connect, and the virtual class lounge, among other things, allowed us to meet class members whom we did not know or did not know well while undergraduates. During our class event, Debra Lee — who was CEO of BET, the parent company of Black Entertainment Network — was interviewed by Reunion Chair Jonathan Gottlieb and shared her experience and insights into the racism that existed while we were at school, giving rise to thoughtful online discussions. Tom Rothman, Chair of Sony Motion Pictures, recounted how Brown influenced his career. Ben Weiser used his New York Times reporter skills to engineer an interview of Professor Barrett Hazeltine, and Pastor Heidi Neumark led a class memorial service. During an informal get-together in the class lounge, former Chancellor Tom Tish gave us his view of how Brown’s model of university administration gives us advantages over that of other Ivies. As we reflect on our lives 40 years after Brown, we went from being Brown students to having very Brown-like careers: creating new professional paths, identifying emerging fields early, reinventing our career focus, and exploring our artistic talents. The diversity of roads our class took and contributions we strove to make across so many fields is the New Curriculum writ large.”

The ACL Board would like to thank our Alumni Relations Class Programs team — Amy Haughey, Alice Rose, Jill Stange, and Mary Ward — as well as many other Alumni Relations staff who worked long hours to help make this reunion successful.

Would you be willing to share your class’s reunion experience? The ACL Communications Committee will be posting Jennie and Bill’s above comments on our Facebook page and would like to share yours as well! Please email your thoughts to classleaders@brown.edu and we will post them with attribution.

The Future of Virtual Events

The ACL Board has discussed the topic of virtual programming going forward, and most of us feel there is a role for these tools post-pandemic. The ACL Virtual Engagement and Training committees are both looking at how we can support alumni class leaders as they integrate virtual events into future class engagement planning. For those class leaders who want to engage their classes virtually going forward (especially between reunions) the Virtual Engagement Toolkit developed by the Alumni Relations team has many creative ideas and practical tools to help get started.

News from Campus

In case you missed it: recent headlines from Brown and beyond.

• Vincent T. Harris, PhD Joins Campus Life as Associate Dean and Director of the Brown Center for Students of Color
• New health and wellness center and residence hall welcomes first undergraduate residents
• Big Problems, Big Solutions: The Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship celebrates five years
• Escalating the fight against Alzheimer’s disease
• New center will expand research support, community outreach at Brown Library
• M. Grace Calhoun ’92 to lead athletics and recreation at Brown

About the ACL

If you’re one of Brown’s 600+ elected or appointed class leaders, you’re automatically a member of the Association of Class Leaders (ACL). The ACL Board of Advisors is here to help by recruiting, engaging, training, and supporting class volunteer leaders. Please reach out to your ACL board members with any questions or suggestions. You can reach us at classleaders@brown.edu.