Reunion

Friday, September 19, 2008

Event locations will be provided at check-in.

8:00 am–9:00 am
Reunion Check-in and Full Breakfast
Reinhardt Alumnae House

9:00 am–10:00 am
Classroom Visits

Channel your inner student and experience the Mills classroom of today. You'll meet accomplished professors and students and sample current curriculum offerings guaranteed to engage and challenge you. A schedule of available classes will be provided when you check in.

9:30 am–10:00 am
Robe Up for Convocation

Alumnae participating in Convocation will meet at the Reinhardt Alumnae House to robe up before procession to the ceremony. Alumnae will be grouped by class year in the procession and will sit together during Convocation. If possible, please bring your own regalia. We will have a limited number of gowns, caps, and hoods for alumnae to borrow.

10:15 am–11:45 am
Convocation

Convocation for the 2008-09 academic year with speaker Trisha Brown '58, the widely acclaimed grande dame of post-modern dance.

Choreographer Trisha Brown has been defying gravity since graduating from Mills with a degree in dance. In fact, one of her earliest works, called Man Walking Down Side of a Building, featured the unusual sight of dancers in harnesses moving along a wall. This work foreshadowed not only the energy and creativity that would define her later works but also the accolades that would greet them. Her work has been hailed as "a masterpiece," "stunning," and "as close to the perfect dance opera as I have ever seen" (London Daily Telegraph). In 1991, she became the first woman choreographer to receive a "genius" MacArthur Fellowship.

Brown is widely acclaimed as the grande dame of postmodern dance, known for her maverick spirit and ability to push the human body to perform in unexpected ways. Unafraid to challenge new genres, she has choreographed opera, jazz, classical music, and ballet.

After graduating from Mills, Brown trained as a dancer and became a founding member of the avant-garde Judson Dance Theatre in New York. In 1970, she formed the Trisha Brown Dance Company, considered one of the leading contemporary dance ensembles in the world. She has won numerous awards in addition to the MacArthur Fellowship, including two Guggenheim Fellowships, the National Medal of Arts, and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the government of France.

12:30 pm–2:00 pm
Curb Your "Carb-ons" Lunch with a performance by East Bay Anointed Voices

Don't worry—this isn't about dieting. It's about sustainability, a priority at Mills. Packaging, processing, and transporting food all take unnecessary energy, so join us for a "greenbag" lunch, which avoids all these steps by taking advantage of local farmers' bountiful fare.

The East Bay Anointed Voices gospel choir, first place winner of the "Bay Praise 2002 Competition," will perform. This gospel choir mixes traditional and contemporary gospel styles with jazz, Latin, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. The co-director of Anointed Voices, Rachelle L. Rogers-Ard, completed her EdD in educational leadership at Mills in 2007.

1:30 pm–4:00 pm
Graduate Alumnae/i Reception

A time for alumnae/i from all graduate programs to come together for their own celebration and reconnect with Mills faculty. Drop in when you can. Stay and mingle.

1:30 pm–4:00 pm
Open Studio

Join David Bernstein, professor of music, for a multi-media experience including music and video featuring the legendary San Francisco Tape Music Center. The center, which in its early years showcased music by composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick, Terry Riley, and Ramon Sender, moved to the Mills campus in 1966 and was later renamed the Center for Contemporary Music.

1:30 pm–2:30 pm
Alumnae Book Club

Take time this summer to read (or re¬read!) the book all Mills freshwomen will be reading in the fall: Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. We'll meet and have a book club discussion.

1:30 pm–2:30 pm
Museum Tour

Join Linda Inson Choy '96, curator of The Offering Table: Activist Women Artists from Korea. The exhibition, a collection of works from seven Korean artists, explores the current struggles of women in Korea as they challenge patriarchal culture. Choy is curatorial assistant for Korean art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

2:15 pm–3:30 pm
Alumnae of Color BBQ

Reconnect with Mills alumnae, enjoy the weather, and share a delicious meal co-sponsored by the Alumnae of Color Committee and the Ethnic Studies Department.

2:30 pm–4:00 pm
Student Panel: The Dropout Dilemma

When Mills student journalists talk, people listen. Join students as they discuss what it took to produce The Dropout Dilemma, an eight-part radio series exploring Oakland public schools' high dropout rate, which drew immediate and passionate response from listeners who wanted to help. The documentary garnered several prestigious awards, including the 2007 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and two Gracie awards for exemplary electronic media programming for, by, and about women.

2:30 pm–4:00 pm
Taking the Lead in Environmental Sustainability

In December, Mills' Betty Irene Moore Natural Sciences Building became Oakland's first platinum-rated "green" building. Building "green" is just one of the many goals set by the College to promote environmentally sustainable practices on campus. Members of the Mills College Sustainability Committee will discuss how Mills is working to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, build partnerships, and use environmentally preferable products.

3:00 pm–4:00 pm
Museum Tour

Join Linda Inson Choy '96, curator of The Offering Table: Activist Women Artists from Korea. The exhibition, a collection of works from seven Korean artists, explores the current struggles of women in Korea as they challenge patriarchal culture. Choy is curatorial assistant for Korean art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

3:15 pm–4:00 pm
Celebrate Marriage Equality

Since 1967, the Mills Chapel has been the site of countless marriages and commitment ceremonies, including those for lesbian and gay unions that were not—until this spring—recognized by the State. On May 15, the California Supreme Court issued a momentous ruling that legalized lesbian and gay marriage, writing that "the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples." Join us at the Chapel to celebrate California's historic legalization of lesbian and gay marriage and affirm the increasing recognition of marriage as a civil right for all.

4:00 pm–5:30 pm
President's Garden Reception

Join members of the Mills community and President Janet L. Holmgren at an informal garden reception

6:00 pm–7:00 pm
Dance Department Performance

Choreographer, dancer, and Convocation speaker Trisha Brown '58 will be honored at a performance of Glacial Decoy Redux (1979/2007), Mills visiting artist Shelley Senter's adaptation of Brown's 1979 work, Glacial Decoy, on Friday, September 19, at 6:00 pm in Lisser Hall. Glacial Decoy—a collaboration with artist Robert Rauschenberg, who designed the original costumes and set—was Brown's first piece made to be performed on a proscenium stage. Senter reformatted the piece for Mills dancers and for the Lisser stage and invited  artist Andrew Wass to create new photographic material for the set and Liz Bootz to create new costumes, both adapted from Rauschenberg's original designs. The Mills Dance Department is the oldest dance department in the western United States.

6:30 pm–8:30 pm
International Dinner Buffet

Feast on delicious foods from around the world as you make new friends and catch up with former classmates. All are welcome to enjoy an enticing array of international treats in honor of the many Mills alumnae whose paths have taken them around the world.

8:00 pm–10:00 pm
Darius Milhaud Concert

Enjoy an evening of music in a concert dedicated to the late Madeleine Milhaud, wife of Darius Milhaud, one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, who taught at Mills for more than 30 years and helped establish the College's reputation as an internationally recognized training ground for composers. The all-women Eclipse Quartet will perform works by Milhaud and Ruth Crawford Seeger, a modernist composer known for her interpretations of traditional American folk songs. The Eclipse Quartet is a new music ensemble that focuses on the work of late-20th-century and present-day composers.

Internationally renowned actress, musician, and teacher Madeleine Milhaud, the wife of composer Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), died in Paris on January 17, 2008, at the age of 105. The Milhauds enjoyed a long association with Mills that began in 1940, when they joined the faculty after fleeing Paris as the Germans invaded France. Both contributed greatly to the College's cultural and intellectual life and helped establish Mills' international reputation in the arts.

10:00 pm-12:00 am
Rebeca Mauleón Quintet

Pianist Rebeca Mauleón '89, MA '97, and her quintet perform Rebeca's "fiery," "visceral" Latin jazz compositions exclusively for Mills alumnae. To learn more about this remarkable artist who will perform the following day at the Monterey Jazz Festival, visit www.rebecamauleon.com.

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