School of Pharmacy Reunion Planning – Tips from Alumni Relations
--by Ryan Gibbard, PharmD, RPh, BCPS | Chair for Pharmacy Practice & Associate Professor | School of Pharmacy
We spend two years together on the 4th floor of Creighton Hall before heading out to APPE sites across the Northwest (and beyond!). Months go by. You don’t call. You don’t write. Then, for a week in May, we return to campus to share stories, compare preceptors, and start cramming for the NAPLEX and MPJE. Together again! Then life as a PharmD graduate begins and, once again, we all go our separate ways.
For some of us, that was over a decade ago. Since then we’ve crammed for the NAPLEX and MPJE alone, become the preceptors, and shared those stories with our spouses, children, and co-workers. Maybe you’ve kept in touch with a few people, but there are probably a majority of your classmates who you haven’t seen since that Saturday in May when you received your Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Do you ever wonder what they’re doing now? Have you thought, “Gee, it would be nice to see [insert name here].” Well, maybe it’s time to start thinking about a reunion.
At Pacific University, reunions are alumni-driven events. The Alumni Association supports alumni from all class years and programs in planning reunions to celebrate their milestones with their peers. The inaugural Class of 2009 held a 10-year reunion, and the Class of 2010 was in the midst of planning when COVID-19 derailed things.
But what about your class? I reached out to Martha Calus-McLain ‘03, Associate Vice President of Alumni Engagement (and undergraduate alumnus) for tips on planning a reunion.
“For best results, I recommend starting volunteer recruitment no later than 14 months before the reunion date,” she advises. Planning reunions requires volunteers, and for programs like Pharmacy, Martha said reunions work best when they have at least two volunteers, “especially when we successfully recruit connectors who aren’t all in the same social circle. When the volunteers are all part of the same social group, the reunion is really fun for the guests who attend, but attendance is unlikely to grow beyond that group.”
It’s important to set realistic expectations, too. “The best attendance I’ve seen for reunions is 50% of the class, so keep in mind that not everyone will attend and that’s (sort of) okay. People don’t attend reunions for two reasons: They don’t want to (and can’t be convinced otherwise), or they can’t due to conflicts.” This second reason is why Martha recommends starting the planning process as early as possible so that dates can be communicated to the class and everyone can start planning accordingly. “With strong communication and a long timeline, we can set ourselves up for success,” she adds.
Pacific University’s Alumni Association is available to assist the reunion volunteers, and they’ve put together a reunion planning guide that they can provide. Additionally, they can support three types of reunions:
- Reunions during Homecoming (their preference) – while many of the graduate and professional programs have only an informal relationship with the undergraduate campus, reunions around Homecoming offer a number of great opportunities for socializing that are pre-planned and can enhance any specific events the volunteers want to organize.
- Local, single-event reunions – these allow alumni to connect for a couple of hours or an evening outside of Homecoming week.
- Destination reunions – if volunteers wish to have a reunion at a destination other than the Portland area, the Alumni Association can provide some guidance, a class directory, and some swag for giveaways, but most of the arrangements will be up to the volunteers, including booking venues, arranging food, etc. The Alumni Association may have some information on venues in the area that they can share upon request. Reunion volunteers will need to consider costs and other factors in their plans. Although destination reunions are sometimes planned in conjunction with professional conferences, destination reunions do not attract a larger crowd than those held in the Portland area.
Martha encourages anyone who wishes to volunteer for a Pharmacy class reunion committee to contact Kylie Thompson ’01, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement by email at alumni@pacificu.edu to get started.
Anyone interested in planning a 15-year reunion for the Class of 2010 in 2025 can hit me up!
P.S. Don’t forget to invite former faculty and staff to your event if you would like to see them, too! You might be surprised who shows up.