ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES

Welcome Back to Homecoming Weekend

This year's Annual Meeting of the Graduates' Society marked more than the opening of McGill's Reunion/ Homecoming Weekend ñ it was a turning point in the Society's 138-year history. A motion presented and unanimously accepted changed the name of the Graduates' Society of McGill University to the McGill Alumni Association.

The name change is a momentous step for us, as it clarifies the role of the Association within and outside the McGill community. "Alumni" more clearly represents the activities of the Association as it is generally used in North America to cover all those having a direct connection with a university. On campus, it will enable the Association to be distinguished from other departments whose names incorporate the word graduate, including the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research and the Post- Graduate Students' Society. The name will help volunteers and staff meet the Alumni Association's recently expanded mission: "to enable alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of McGill University to maintain their contact with the University and each other, for their shared benefit and for the continuing vital support and advancement of McGill."

The Annual Meeting also served as an occasion to recognize members of the McGill community who have made outstanding contributions toward the betterment of the University and the Alumni Association. The list of award recipients are as follows.

The 26th annual Leacock Luncheon, held on Friday, September 22, was the usual lively, humorous affair, as 750 alumni and friends gathered to help the host, Professor Derek Drummond, BEng'62, and special guest lecturer Allan Fotheringham pay tribute to Stephen Leacock. Other Homecoming events included the Chancellor's Dinner, hosted by Gretta Chambers, BA'47, welcoming graduates of '25, '30, '35 and '40; and the Principal's Dinner, hosted by Dr. Bernard J. Shapiro, BA'56, LLD'88, and Professor Phyllis Shapiro, DipEd'56, for graduates of 1945. This year, Homecoming included various activities to appeal to a wider audience, such as the successful Dinosaur Day, held for families at the Redpath Museum. As well, at the annual Homecoming game the McGill Redmen rewarded those alumni in attendance, including the reuniting members of the 1938 Championship football team, as they beat the Concordia Stingers 35-14.

This year's Homecoming marked the first time that events on the downtown campus coincided with those at Macdonald Campus ñ ensuring a successful weekend for both. Highlights at Macdonald included the opening of the McEwen Field and the annual Sir William Macdonald Luncheon, where guest speaker Desmond Morton, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, gave a riveting speech on the connection and uniqueness of Macdonald Campus as an integral part of McGill. Professor Morton received a standing ovation from the 210 alumni and friends in attendance. Mastery of Service Award winner Robert Broughton, PhD'72, was honoured at the event.

The Year in Review

SOAR (Student Organization for Alumni Relations) teamed up with various North American branches and the Admissions Office to increase the number of Send-Off Programs in 1995. The Send-Off Program puts future students from outside Montreal in touch with recent alumni and current students for advice on issues ranging from student life to academics. This year, 22 Send-Offs were organized for first-year students in cities from Calgary to New York, permitting over 1,800 of the 2,200 non-Montreal incoming students access to the program. The Vancouver Branch has taken the Send-Off one step further through the establishment of student financial awards for graduating high school students attending McGill. The first awards will be presented by the Branch during its August 1996 Send-Off. If you are aware of any prospective McGill students who would be interested in obtaining information on admissions to McGill, let us know.

Alumni Association Branches have been working overtime. Activities are currently organized in over 90 branches world-wide. Exciting expansions to the Branch programs include an emphasis on the Florida Branch to keep snow birds in tune with their Alma Mater, and the hosting of the annual All Canadian Universities Alumni Dinner by the Chicago Branch in April 1996. The Dinner brings together alumni from Canadian universities living in Chicago. In addition, branches have been shifting their orientation to include community service. The New York City Branch put its energies into the renovation of inner-city homes. Alumni living in Germany hosted a day of activities in K¸hlungsborn on the Baltic Sea. It was the first time that the group held an event behind the former Iron Curtain.

Alumni Services made a strong showing in the 1994-95 year, offering valuable services to alumni while generating revenues for the Association and the University from such services as the Alumni Travel Program, ACC Long Distance and the McGill MasterCard. Alumni can look forward to the McGill Alumni Directory that will be released in September 1996 to celebrate McGill's 175th anniversary. Look for your Directory questionnaire in January 1996. Please contact the Alumni Association with any suggestions you have about Alumni Services.

Travel and Fine Wine

By Gavin Ross, Executive Director of the McGill Alumni Association

With our greatly expanded day-to-day alumni programs being so well handled by our young, energetic and capable staff, I find I am becoming more involved in branch travel and special projects. My recent travels included less than 24 hours in London, England (on my way back from an Irish vacation), where our McGill Society of Great Britain hosted a marvelous black-tie dinner at the Reform Club, with Principal Bernard Shapiro as guest of honour. The evening was organized by Lucinda Kitchin, Diana Ridley and Adrienne Jack (none of whom are McGill grads!) and was chaired by Gordon Wasserman, BA'59. More than 70 graduates and friends attended, and seated at each table was a director of the recently formed McGill University (Canada) Trust. Headed by Julian Royle, Science'61, the Trust provides an opportunity for graduates and friends in the U.K. to support McGill financially and receive relief.

By the time this issue of the McGill News goes to press, I shall have met with graduates in Kitchener-Waterloo and Oakville, Ontario, and will be joining the Principal at a very special dinner in Hong Kong on November 20, after visiting graduates in Taiwan.

Under the heading of special projects, the Alumni Association has launched Cellier James McGill, an Appelation Bordeaux contrÙllÈe, to celebrate McGill's 175th anniversary in 1996. The wine proved very popular at various Reunion/Homecoming events and is available in selected retail outlets in the Province of Quebec. It sells for $11.95 a bottle (red and white), and more information can be received by calling Daniel Holland at (514) 398-8288, or (800) 567-5175. So far, 900 cases have been bottled by the SAQ and we are told by the various retail outlet managers that they're "selling like hotcakes."

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