MBA Class Reunions Coming this Fall

As it turns out, you can go home again.

The UW Business School will welcome back alumni for the first annual MBA Reunion Weekend, September 23-24, 2005. This year's event will honor the classes of 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000 in the MBA, Evening MBA, Executive MBA and all other master's degree programs offered by the Business School.

The MBA Reunion Weekend, coinciding with the popular Back To Business School Weekend, will offer the opportunity to both catch up on the news of the Business School and to attend seminars led by the School's finest professors, as selected by the various classes. Classes celebrating their 10th and 25th anniversaries will have an opportunity to commemorate their achievement with a class gift. And the weekend will represent a rare chance to network-or its less ambitious cousin, mingle-with classmates and colleagues.

"These reunions will be a great way for MBA alumni to stay connected with classmates and the Business School," said Arthur Buerk (BA 1958), a partner in Buerk Dale Victor, LLC, and long-time Advisory Board member who has been a driving force behind the MBA Reunions. "We want our graduates to be able to come back, see what's going on at their school and learn about the knowledge being created and taught so that they can add to their skill sets. And, of course, we want them to be able to catch up with classmates, keep the network alive so that when they are hunting for a job or looking for employees or just seeking information on a different industry, it will be there for them."

The Friday schedule begins with a chance to reconnect with friends and classmates, followed by a luncheon with UW President Mark Emmert and the Dean of the Business School. The afternoon offers admittance to a series of short seminars based on the research of favorite Business School faculty members. The evening will be capped by socials hosted by the organizing committee of each class.

Saturday kicks off with a pre-game tailgate brunch at the Waterfront Activities Center followed by the much-anticipated tilt between the Huskies and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Coach Tyrone Willingham's last employer.

Organizers hope the MBA Reunion Weekend will become a thriving tradition at the Business School for years to come.

"From the time you are accepted to the MBA, Evening MBA, EMBA program, TMMBA, MSIS or any graduate degree program, we want you to feel for the rest of your life like you will be a part of the business school community," said Sissy Bouchard, director of development at the Business School.

"Students in an MBA program become really close," added Buerk. "After several years of shared, intense experience, they become almost embedded with each other, like they are all in the same fox hole. We don't want to let that slip away."

For more information visit bschool.washington.edu/alumni/Reunions.shtml or contact Sissy Bouchard, sissyb@u.washington.edu or 206-685-8555.

Return to March 2005 MBA Alumni News