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Tech Reunions 2006 Draw Record Crowd to Reminisce, Celebrate

The Class of 1956 marched in the 2006 Commencement procession in honor of their 50th reunion.

Tech Reunions 2006 proved a memorable and festive affair, with a record 3,300 alumni and guests visiting campus June 8-11. Not even a little rain dampened spirits as alumni reminisced and reconnected at some 128 events, including revered favorites such as Tech Night at the Pops and Technology Day and new gatherings, like the Class Connections breakfast.

Several records were broken this year: the Classes of 1986 and 1996 posted record-breaking attendance. The tenth reunion Class of 1996 also set a class giving record for dollars raised with $136,515. The 40th reunion Class of 1966 set a record with 75 percent donor participation in the five years leading up to this reunion. In all, reunion classes raised a combined $46,511,164. The Class of 1956 boasted the highest class reunion gift with 68 percent of class members giving $12,353,460 in gifts and bequests over a five-year period.

Indeed, the weekend proved quite special for the 50th reunion class, which followed tradition by leading graduates into Commencement on June 9. Fifty years ago, LIFE magazine featured several members in a cover story about promising graduates. The class, which produced such successful alumni as an astronaut and a communications revolutionary among many others, prided themselves on living up to the magazine's expectations.

Here are more highlights of the weekend.

From right: Sabrina Cheng '91, Patrick Chang '89, and Stephen Chang search for Sabrina in the Class of 1991 freshmen photo.

Enterprise Forum Broadcast: Talk to an Angel—Crucial Connections to Early Stage Capital

Wednesday's Enterprise Forum broadcast offered tactical advice for appealing to angel investors and crafting realistic financing to some 500 people and a record 58 worldwide viewing sites.

109th Annual Tech Night at the Pops

The Pops entertained a sold-out crowd of alumni, graduating students, and their guests with a program ranging from Tchaikovsky to music from Star Wars and the alma mater, "In Praise of MIT." MIT Professor Marcus Thompson also performed a Telemann viola concerto.

Commencement

Federal Reserve Chair Ben S. Bernanke EC '79 and President Hockfield urged more than 2,100 graduates to celebrate their successes, instill in others a sense of optimism and hope about the future, and engage in humanitarian activities at MIT's 140th Commencement exercises.

First Annual Events: MIT10 Reception and Class Connections Breakfast

Alumni from the last decade mingled surrounded by robots and holograms at the MIT Museum Friday evening, while Sunday's Class Connections breakfast united all reunion participants and their families.

Members of the yellow team, representing the Class of 1991, pile together during one event of the Tech Challenge Games.

Class Bonding

Classes celebrated and gathered in different ways throughout the weekend, including lobster bakes, Duck Boat tours, scavenger hunts, the Cardinal and Gray dinner dance, and a Chinatown feast.

Technology Day

Four MIT professors—Woodie C. Flowers ME '73, Philip Gschwend, Esther Duflo EC '99, and Subra Suresh ME '81—discussed educating a new breed of engineers, responding to new environmental challenges, poverty action, and globalizing collaboration among engineers and scientists at Saturday's Technology Day program, "MIT Tackles Global Challenges."

Technology Day Luncheon

Isaac Colbert, Wesley Harris, and Liba Mikic were each given honorary memberships in the Alumni Association at the annual Technology Day Luncheon. Class giving results, also announced at that time, totaled a combined $46,511,164.

Reunion Row

The two Class of 1991 boats finished first and second in the 10th annual Reunion Row and took home the celebratory cup on the first sunny day of reunions. View the slide show.

Tech Challenge Games

Alumni, their families, and friends wrote crazy poems, computed Smoots, and tossed water balloons at one another as part of the annual Tech Challenge Games. Congrats to the winning Class of 1981.

Techsas BBQ

The weekend ended on a sunny note with a family barbecue, complete with carnival games, Tim the Beaver, and a band.