Bucknell Reunion Weekend Set for May 31-June 2

Bucknell University will welcome more than 1,600 alumni and family members to campus for its Reunion Weekend this Friday through Sunday, May 31 to June 2.
The weekend will celebrate class years ending in 4 and 9, with special recognition for the Class of 1974, which is celebrating its 50th reunion.

Returning Bucknellians will enjoy activities ranging from all-class celebrations and class-year events to shuttle and walking tours of campus, Bucknell 360° classroom sessions, and outdoor activities including kayak trips on the Susquehanna River and a golf tournament.

Friday evening's special events in or near the Kenneth Langone Athletics & Recreation Center include a Bison Round-up reception with coaches and members of the athletics department and a yacht rock-themed welcome picnic, which will feature games, children's activities and plenty to do for all ages.

On Saturday, the Department of Theatre & Dance and Special Collections/University Archives will celebrate the public launch of the Stages of Bucknell Theatre & Dance website and host a special exhibit of archival material in Bertrand Library. Saturday events in the Elaine Langone Center include a craft beer-tasting hosted by Tara Hankinson '09, co-founder and co-CEO of TALEA Beer Co., New York City's first and only female-founded brewery; a Bucknell 360° learning session on creativity and entrepreneurial mindset led by Professor Erin Jablonski, associate dean of the College of Engineering and inaugural director of the Perricelli-Gegnas Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; and a special screening of LOVE IS A TEST, a 21-minute black-and-white silent film produced by and starring Emily Hooper '14. There will also be a Bison women's golf 25th anniversary meet and greet in the Bachman Golf Center with Head Coach Laura Tyler-Cook.

Saturday morning will also feature the Bucknell University Alumni Association awards reception and ceremony in the Elaine Langone Center’s Terrace Room. This year's recipients are:

• Loyalty to Bucknell Award:Michael Sinkus '74, M'76, P'90
  Sinkus routinely engages with other alumni and friends of the University to encourage them to give back to Bucknell. He has served on the Bison Board for Athletics, the Bucknell University Alumni Association Board (including the executive committee) and multiple Reunion committees, and is a member of the William Bucknell Society and the Bertrand Society. Sinkus served many different roles over his 45 years at the fundraising firm Marts & Lundy, including CEO and chair of the board. He will receive the award during the 50th reunion of his graduating class.
• Outstanding Achievement in a Chosen Profession Award:Robert J. Gamgort '84, P'16
  Gamgort has had a successful 38-year career in consumer products and entertainment, leading a wide range of iconic brands and blue-chip companies. He progressed through a series of marketing, sales, corporate strategy and general management roles before earning his first CEO position in 2009. More recently, he became Keurig Green Mountain's CEO when the company was taken private with a coalition of investors, and later led the company through a merger with the publicly traded Dr Pepper Snapple Group to create Keurig Dr Pepper, one of North America's largest beverage companies. He will move into the role of executive chairman in 2024. In addition, Gamgort is a director for Chobani and NVA & Ethos Veterinary Health companies. A previous member of the Bucknell Board of Trustees and the Bucknell Business Advisory Board, he and his wife, Sue, financially support the Gateway Scholars Program, which provides first-generation college students with access to a Bucknell education.
• Service to Humanity Award:Richard Pollard '74
  Pollard joined the Peace Corps after graduation and spent two and a half years in Nepal. He then joined a small team executing the USAID-financed Tanzania School Health Project, where he managed the water supply and sanitation component in eighty rural schools in Tanzania. He then joined the Technology Advisory Group (TAG) at the World Bank, where he worked to improve the effectiveness of investments in water supply and sanitation services in poor communities around the world. TAG later morphed into a larger Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) at the World Bank, where Pollard spent the bulk of his career. Pollard first worked in Lesotho, then moved to Pakistan where he provided advisory services for water supply and sanitation policies and supported the design and implementation of several related infrastructure projects. During that period he also served in India and Bangladesh, as well as Nepal, where he led a joint WHO-WSP team in updating the national strategy for rural water supply and sanitation services. He then moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, and led WSP’s regional team for East Asia and the Pacific. He spent his final years at the World Bank's Washington D.C. office where he led water, sanitation and related operational research and policy advisory activities in Central Asia and the Middle East. Notably, his work in the West Bank and Gaza established a multi-donor infrastructure development trust fund to coordinate investments in water supply, sanitation and urban development.
• Young Alumni Award:Eric Diamond '09
  Diamond is the president of Greencastle Consulting, a company renowned for its veteran-focused mission. Upon graduation from Bucknell, he launched MainLine Solar, an entrepreneurial venture that showcased the practical application of classroom learning and the importance of seizing timely opportunities. He transitioned from start-up leadership to serving as a Chinook helicopter pilot in the military. His subsequent experiences with companies like Uber, Etsy and Tesla as well as the federal government equipped him with the blend of skills and insights that he brought to Greencastle. Under his leadership, the company has achieved remarkable growth, pioneering innovative frameworks that align closely with the company’s military ethos of efficiency and effectiveness.

The weekend's "Bison Blast" celebration — featuring music by the band The Business — will begin at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday in the tent near Sojka Lawn. Weather permitting, the day will conclude with late-night fireworks beginning at 10:40 p.m. Community members should be aware that the fireworks may last until 11 p.m.

Sunday will bring Reunion Weekend to a close and include the Robert Lowry Service of Remembrance and Celebration in Rooke Chapel, an interfaith service in which all alumni, faculty and staff who passed away in the past year will be remembered, starting at 10 a.m.

The Lewisburg community is invited to join several of these events during the weekend, including Bucknell 360° sessions and Sunday's service in Rooke Chapel.

The complete schedule is available here.