Simpson College will host Alumni Weekend 2005 from Thursday, June 23 through Saturday, June 25 on the college’s Indianola campus.  Activities scheduled include the Presidents’ Picnic, Alumni College Classes, the Alumni Recognition Dinner, class reunions and many other events. 

Seven Alumni College sessions will be held throughout the weekend. Community members and alumni are invited to attend any or all of Alumni College courses, with a one-time $10 fee allowing an individual access to all sessions.

Alumni Weekend events kick off on Thursday, July 23 at 3:30 p.m. with Alumni College 1, which will feature two courses; one on Printmaking, where attendees will learn to make their own greeting cards and one titled New Developments in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, there will be a Presidents’ Picnic on the patio of  Brenton Student Center. The picnic will be a welcome to Simpson’s new president, John Byrd and his wife Nancy and a farewell to former president Kevin LaGree and his wife Patty.

Friday, June 24 begins with Alumni College 2 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Courses include Let Your Life Speak, Criminal Justice Policy: Sense & Nonsense and Printmaking—Greeting Cards. Alumni College 3 will be from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. featuring Menopause and More!, Birds and Blest Be the “Thai” that Binds.

The Simpson Cup Golf Tournament will be held Friday at the Indianola Country Club beginning at 11 a.m. Cost is $50 per person.

Alumni College 4, featuring the course Simpson College on Mount Everest will be held from 1 p.m. to 2: 30 p.m. and Alumni College 5 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. will include the classes Vital Signs in American Education, Iraq: Background of War and Politics of Us vs. Them.

There will also be an Alumni Artists’ reception in Farnham Galleries from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Two alumni artists, Jo Ann Guthrie Krivin ’55 and Claudia Cole Meek ’77 will display their work in the galleries throughout the weekend. Besides the reception on Friday, Farnham Galleries will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Alumni Recognition Dinner will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. in Great Hall. Alumni award recipients including Richard White ’82, Rita Harvey Berg ’90, Dr. Craig January ’69, Patrick Daugherty ’58, Dr. Drew Appleby ’69, Percy Baker ’72 and Dr. Suzanne Keller ’98 will be honored during the dinner. Dr. Ron Albrecht, professor of music, will also be recognized for his 25 years of service to Simpson. Cost is $15.50 per person.

Throughout the weekend, the following classes will have reunions: 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965 and 1979-81 will celebrate milestone reunions on Saturday, June 25. For reunion dinner times and locations visit the Simpson website at www.simpson.edu/alumni/weekend/ or call the alumni office at 515.961.1544. Also on Saturday will be the Half-Century Luncheon where the class of 1955 will be inducted into the Half-Century Club.  All current and future members of the Half-Century Club are encouraged to attend. The luncheon will be held in the Matthew Simpson Room at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $8.50 per person.

Alumni College 7, the final session for the weekend will be held Saturday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will feature Iraq: Background of War, The Legacy of George Washington Carver and The Cancer Cell.

For additional information on Alumni Weekend 2005, including detailed Alumni College course descriptions, visit the Simpson website at www.simpson.edu/alumni/weekend or call the alumni office at 515.961.1544.