Imagine that the Mountaineers play football in the lush, green bowl behind the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University.

Imagine a student body of about 6,000 who pass through a smaller version of the Mountainlair. There’s no Evansdale campus to speak of, and the Health Sciences campus is just getting started.

The WVU graduates of 1961 don’t have to imagine it. They were there.

On nearly every front, WVU was facing change along with the nation. John F. Kennedy had just been elected president; his brother Bobby had represented JFK the year before at WVU’s mock Democratic Convention. Scientific exploration, technology development and the population were booming or ready to boom.

Now 50 years after they went their separate ways, members of the class of 1961 and those from classes before then are being invited back to meet up, remember and renew ties to their alma mater.

WVU graduates who have already reconnected and attended previous reunions are coordinating the 2011 Emeritus Reunion.

Al Ware, a 1950 alumnus who is chairing this year’s reunion committee, estimates there are more than 12,000 WVU alumni still living who graduated 50 or more years ago.

The benefits to both WVU and these graduates of a relationship grow stronger as both age, Ware said. The graduates serve as high-level links between WVU and their career fields and as generous supporters. The University remains for them a strong emotional home.

“The returning graduates will be honored by WVU, meet the president, Jim Clements, and the University leadership, and engage in dialogue with faculty on the strategy and action now under way in growing WVU nationally and internationally,” Ware said.

At the reunion, scheduled for May 6-7, 2011, graduates can get a good picture of the research, education, diversity, international activity and overall development of their alma mater, he added, while allowing the University to draw in a group of major stakeholders at a critical time in WVU’s history.

“WVU will encourage these graduates to become more involved and will present various opportunities where they can use their talents and life experiences in giving back to their University,” Ware said.

Dee Brown, a 1960 alumna and former WVU administrator, remembers fondly her close-knit campus that cheered on Jerry West and Willie Akers. Students knew most of the faces around them if not the names. It is that reconnection that she finds to be so special at reunions. But to get that, everyone has to be there.

“If you don’t come, it’s not a reunion” has been Brown’s selling point as she reaches out to alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago.

“I’m sure alums are very interested to know how the University is interacting in the greater world,” Brown said. “From my perspective what I enjoyed watching is the growth in the student body, not necessarily in size but in their aptitudes and their interests and the University taking on a more student-centered attitude.”

Forest “Jack” Bowman, WVU student body president from 1959-60 and retired professor emeritus at the College of Law, enjoyed his 50th reunion last year but was disappointed that many of his former classmates were unable to attend.

“It was wonderful to see people,” he said, as he urged former classmates to make plans to join the May festivities.

Teaching law at WVU for 23 years, Bowman was able to see up close the changes to the University since he graduated.

He has no doubts about the role that alumni through their financial generosity and influence can play in driving their university forward. He said it was alumni who convinced the state’s governor to bring a medical center to Morgantown.

Bowman’s top message to alumni is simple: “I would just say come back and see how this University is growing and blossoming, and get reconnected with old friends.”

For this reunion, the planning committee is working to involve returning alumni in not just finding out what the University looks like, but what it is accomplishing through education, research and service.

This year’s reunion will offer a welcome reception at Blaney House with President James P. Clements and his wife, Beth, on Friday (May 6). The festivities on Saturday (May 7) will include a breakfast, evening induction ceremony for Emeritus graduates, a luncheon centering around WVU’s heritage, a campus bus tour and sessions for participants to learn more about current WVU projects.

For more information, contact the WVU Alumni Association at 304-293-4731.

By Diana Mazzella
University Relations/News

-WVU-

dm/11/10/10

CONTACT: Tara Curtis, WVU Alumni Association
304-698-2472, tara.curtis@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.