Schedule of Events

Saturday, September 20, 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
Jane's Stroll

For more than 30 years, Jane's Stroll has been a popular feature of Reunion Weekend. Join Jane Cudlip King '42 as she conducts an easy walking tour around campus, complete with stories from the past and present.

9:00 am–10:00 am
AAMC Bylaws Meeting

Attend this important meeting to vote on proposed changes to the AAMC bylaws. The changes reflect the new configuration of the AAMC and include an updated conflict-of-interest statement and an indemnification description. The proposed changes can be found on the AAMC web page.

9:00 am–10:00 am
Girls' Sports Day with the Cyclones

Mills' student-athletes have long been recognized for their efforts to reach out and inspire budding young athletes in the community. Join the Mills Cyclones as they work with girls in grades three through eight, conducting clinics in tennis, soccer, and track and field. The student-athletes' community efforts have been rewarded for three consecutive years with the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators/Jostens Community Service Award for outstanding community service.

10:15 am–12:00 pm
State of the College Address

Mills College President Janet L. Holmgren will provide an update on programs, academics, and life at Mills over the past year. AAMC President Anita Aragon Bowers '63 will describe the latest activities of the AAMC. Class gift totals will be announced for class years ending in 3 and 8.

12:00 pm–1:30 pm
AAMC Awards Luncheon

Gather for lunch and celebrate the hard work and commitment of all Mills alumnae. The second annual AAMC Awards Luncheon will honor three particularly accomplished alumnae: Commencement speaker Trisha Brown '58 of New York will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award for her nationally recognized leadership in dance and choreography; Peggy Weber '65 of Minneapolis—who has served with unparalleled enthusiasm as an alumna admissions representative, a Trustee of Mills College, and a volunteer on many AAMC committees—will take home the Outstanding Volunteer Award; and Ramona Lisa Smith '01, MBA '02, of Oakland will be awarded the Recent Graduate Award for her service as treasurer and member of the AAMC
Board of Governors.

12:30 pm–3:00 pm
Class Photos

To be included in your class photo, please be present with your class on the steps of Lisser Hall at the time listed below. This is a time to be recognized and to wear your class colors (see chart). There will be no retakes, and the photographer will not wait for missing classmates. An assistant will take orders on the spot. Postcards and order envelopes will be handed out at registration. Please fill them out and have them ready before your class photo is taken.

1:30 pm–2:30 pm
Landscape Heritage Tour

History Professor Bert Gordon conducts a tour celebrating the distinctive architecture and landscape that helped Mills win one of 13 Campus Heritage grants from the Getty Foundation in 2006. As part of the grant, the College this year published Celebrating the Cultural Landscape Heritage of Mills College, a 159-page book filled with historical photos. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the end of the tour.

2:00 pm–3:00 pm
Estate Planning Workshop

Put your mind at ease and your affairs in order. This seminar on estate planning in the 21st century will be conducted by Mary Rudser, an Oakland attorney who specializes in advising clients about how to avoid probate and minimize estate taxes. Learn about these topics as well as the differences between wills and trusts, options for ownership of property and associated tax advantages, and the importance of estate planning for people at all income levels.

2:00 pm–3:30 pm
Discussion with Provost and Dean of the Faculty Sandra C. Greer

A wide-ranging discussion by the newly appointed provost and dean of faculty at Mills, Sandra C. Greer. Greer has long been an eloquent advocate for stronger representation of women and people of color in the sciences and in higher education. She served with distinction as a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was the first woman hired on the regular research track in 1978. She’s won prestigious grants for her own research on the behavior of polymers and biopolymers in solution and has spoken several times at Mills about the need to increase opportunities for women in the sciences. She begins her new position in July, succeeding Mary-Ann Milford, provost since 2003, who is returning to teaching art history at Mills.

Greer served as convener of the Women in Sciences Summit hosted by Mills in 1994 and was a panel member at the 2007 dedication of the Betty Irene Moore Natural Sciences Building. She held many administrative positions at the University of Maryland, including associate chair for graduate studies, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and associate chair for administration of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She has co-authored numerous publications and been awarded research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Petroleum Research Fund. She received her PhD in chemical physics from the University of Chicago.

3:00 pm–4:30 pm
Open Studio

Studio Art Professor Hung Liu will take a group of 50 alumnae and friends on a tour of her studio, located five minutes from campus (transportation provided). Spaces will go to the first 50 participants who register for this event so, if you’re interested, register early. Each alumna may bring one guest; please indicate the total number attending, including yourself, on your registration form.

Liu’s mural, Going Away, Coming Home, in Oakland International Airport’s Terminal 2, inspired the theme of Reunion 2008. This work was commissioned by the Port of Oakland and constructed by Liu in a glass studio in Germany. The 160-foot-long glass wall intricately depicts 80 cranes with satellite images underneath that offer travelers alternate views of the Bay Area and the entire Asian Pacific region. Departing travelers see their world gradually enlarge with views of the Pacific Ocean and beyond, while returning passengers see that larger world gradually settle back on images of the Bay Area, home to so many. The theme Going Away, Coming Home seems particularly appropriate for Reunion Weekend as Mills alumnae from far and wide gather again in a place we hope you will always consider a home.

Liu, who has been on the Mills faculty since 1990, grew up in China, where she was sent to the countryside for re-education during the Cultural Revolution. She began her training as a muralist at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, where she later taught. Liu immigrated to the United States in 1984, earning her MFA at UC San Diego before coming to Mills.

Hung Liu’s recent paintings are images of Chinese workers, fighters, and refugees—often women—drawn from historical photographs, which are interwoven with traditional Chinese painting motifs, including images of birds, flowers, stamps, calligraphy, and landscapes. She says that in her work, “the images from one era witness and pass through those of another.”

3:00 pm–5:00 pm
Literary Salon

One of the most popular events at Reunion each year, the salon features readings by Mills alumna and faculty authors of published works in a variety of genres—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. This year's authors and the works they will present are: Dorothy Carter, DFA '42, His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut (young adult nonfiction); Yvonne Daniel, MA '75, Dancing with Them (nonfiction); Aries Hines, MFA '08, eight published poems and articles; Sharon Niederhaus '63, Together Again: A Guide to Successful Multigenerational Living (nonfiction); Associate Professor of English Julianna Spahr, Things of Each Possible Relation Hashing Against One Another (poetry), This Connection of Everyone With Lungs (poetry), The Transformation (prose); Lauren Speeth '81, Tracks of Hope: The Forgotten Story of America's Runaway Train and How We Can Change Its Course (nonfiction); Kathie Warne '45, My Twentieth Century: Madeleine Milhaud Interviews with Mildred Clary (nonfiction); Tania Wisbar '57, The Last Cemetery in Berlin: A Post-Holocaust Love Story in the Ruins of the Berlin Wall (fiction).

Take advantage of an opportunity to meet with the authors one-on-one after the readings and get your books signed. The salon is facilitated by Daphne Muse, director of the Women's Leadership Institute.

6:30 pm–7:00 pm
Class of 1958 Cocktail Reception

7:00 pm–9:00 pm
Class of 1958 Dinner

We are pleased to honor members of the 50th Reunion class with a cocktail reception and special dinner. All Golden Girls, spouses, partners, guests, and friends are welcome to attend. Golden Girls are Mills alumnae who have already celebrated their 50th Reunion.

7:00 pm
Class Dinners

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