YALE CLASS OF 1969 - 55th REUNION
May 30 – June 2, 2024
'69 Turns 55: Looking Forward With Wisdom
A Message from 55th Reunion Co-Chairs Derry Allen and Bill Newman
Dear Classmates and Friends,
Our 55th Yale College Reunion is approaching quickly – Thursday afternoon, May 30, to Sunday morning, June 2, 2024. It promises to be an excellent weekend so please be there! Here is what you need to know.
Registration
Registration is now open, so please sign up as soon as you can and let us know that you will be there. Your classmates want to see you, and of course, you want to see them. Yale’s surveys have consistently shown that the #1 reason that people come to reunions is to see each other. The advantage of registering early is that it will enable Yale to generate the “Who Is Coming” list. If you say you are coming, your friends are more likely to do so too.
Reunion HQ: Timothy Dwight College
As we have already announced, our headquarters will be in Timothy Dwight College. We will check in there and have our meals under a tent in the courtyard. If you plan to stay in TD, you will be able to make a room reservation at the same time as you register for the reunion. Yale is doing its best to make the process easy.
If you wish to stay in a hotel and you have not already made a reservation, you will find the most up-to-date information regarding 2024 Yale reunion hotel room blocks on the Housing & Hotels web page.
Class Survey
Many of you have already taken the class survey. If you have not already done so, please respond to the survey.
Our classmates who authored the survey, Tom Guterbock and Mike Baum, have been gratified by the positive response. The questions are fun. The survey is completely anonymous. Neither Tom nor Mike will be able to find out how you responded.
The results will be compared to the successful survey we took five years ago and will be reported in the opening class discussion on Thursday afternoon at our reunion. They should help us know ourselves better and provide grist for our conversations during the weekend. An innovation this time is that the results will also be discussed in at least two of our other formal class discussions, focusing on wellness in our 70’s and beyond, and environment/energy.
Weekend Schedule
Our preliminary schedule of events for our reunion weekend can be viewed in our weekend schedule. This schedule includes the details of our weekend as we now know them, and we will update this schedule in the coming weeks as we work out more details.
A major highlight of Yale reunions for many people is the series of discussions organized by and for our class, and outstanding lectures by professors that Yale makes available for all returning alumni.
We will lead off on Thursday afternoon with a discussion of our class survey. On Friday and Saturday afternoons we will talk about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our lives, new Yale research on wellness in our 70’s and beyond, environment/energy, and the future of liberal education. We will hold our traditional Memorial Service on Saturday afternoon in Battell Chapel. Our own Rev. Doug Ousley will lead the service, and Eliot Norman, Dick Williams and possibly others will provide music.
Yale is also organizing a series of lectures and tours on Friday and Saturday mornings, in addition to organizing receptions for several cultural centers and shared interest groups. President Peter Salovey, who plans to step down after this academic year, will give a University Update on Saturday, followed by the always enjoyable Celebration of Yale Singing to close out Saturday afternoon.
We will have our sit-down class dinner on Saturday evening. When we finish dessert and while beverage service continues, we will have musical entertainment by some of our classmates. As previously announced, in response to multiple requests by classmates who want to be able to hear each other, we will not hire an outside band!
Reunion Giving
Our 55th Reunion Gift Co-Chairs, Woody Collins, Howard Newman, Steve Schwarzman, and Ken Wolfe, have started contacting us about this initiative. Our class has a proud tradition of supporting Yale’s priorities and excellence, a tradition that we will continue. Thank you for contributing!
Other Resources
The alumni office has created this webpage for our 55th Reunion, updating it with official information as it becomes available, and a website with general information about all reunions.
Questions and Suggestions?
Please write to us at reunion@Yale1969.org with any class-specific questions and suggestions.
For all other inquiries pertaining to 2024 Yale College Reunions, please contact YAA’s reunion customer service team via email or call (203) 432-2110, Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 5pm ET.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!
Derry Allen and Bill Newman
55th Reunion Co-Chairs