MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will celebrate its homecoming Saturday, Oct. 19, by honoring several alumni and dedicating a new arts facility featuring an inaugural gallery exhibition by a former instructor.
Cornell’s homecoming celebrates the reunion classes of 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997. Events begin Friday, Oct. 18, and include a pep rally and fireworks in Ash Park, starting at 9:30 p.m.
Seven alumni will be honored at a convocation in King Chapel at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. William Parsons, chief of staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a 1967 graduate, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award. Alumni Leadership and Service Awards will be presented to Robert Majors of Mount Vernon, a 1957 graduate; Robert Bowman of Glenview, Ill., and John Urheim of Fort Collins, Colo., both 1962 graduates; Richard Scott of Cedar Rapids, a 1963 graduate; and Dennis Fisher of Chesterfield, Va., a 1975 graduate. Cornell’s first Young Alumni Award will be presented to Kathleen Braddy of Coralville, a 1992 graduate. She is an interventional cardiology fellow at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Also Saturday is a dedication for McWethy Hall, the new home of the art department, at 11:30 a.m., and a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. for Karen Gunderson, the artist whose paintings and drawings are exhibited in “Moral Courage During WWII: Denmark and Bulgaria,” the first show in McWethy Hall’s new Peter Paul Luce Gallery. Named for major benefactor James McWethy, a 1965 graduate living in Downers Grove, Ill., who pledged $2 million toward the renovation, McWethy Hall was formerly the college’s first gymnasium, opened in 1909.
Other Saturday activities include a carnival open to the Mount Vernon-Lisbon community from 9 to11 a.m. near the tri-dorm area of Pfeiffer, Dows and Tarr halls, featuring games and booths sponsored by campus organizations. At 1:30 p.m. Cornell takes on Loras at Ash Park.