September 2007

Hi, Linfield alum!

Welcome to the E-CAT, an electronic newsletter connecting Linfield alumni with each other an the institution.  For easy reading, we have kept it short and simple with links to additional information.

Much of this E-CAT is dedicated to news about Homecoming.  I do hope you will take the opportunity to return to campus.  I suspect you may find that the students look a little younger each year, that some of the faculty you knew and loved have retired, while others have just started their Linfield careers and that the campus seems to grow and change each year.  Yet, I am sure that much will be familiar to you.  So, do come back and walk among the oak trees, listen to the bells of Pioneer and reminisce about your own college days.  Linfield is calling you home!

Enjoy the fall!

Debbie Harmon '90
Director of Alumni Relations
alumni@linfield.edu

In this September 2007 issue:
1.  Linfield Is Calling You Home
2.  Survey Results and Questions
3.  College Financing and the College Search
4.  Costa Rica Reunion
5.  Recruit a Wildcat
6.  Cat Chat -- Keeping Wildcats Connected
7.  Where Are They Now?
8.  "Inspired Pragmatism" Explores the Rich History of Linfield College
9.  Celebrate Reading!

Linfield Is Calling You Home

Relive your college memories.  Stroll the beautiful Oak Grove.  Reconnect with friends and classmates.  Now is the time to return to campus.  Homecoming 2007, October 19-20, offers many great reasons to return to Linfield.  Celebrate some of Linfield's finest faculty and alumni.  "A Sampling of Linfield's Finest" on Friday, Oct. 19 will give alumni the opportunity to mix and mingle, as we honor alumni away recipients and bid on the fabulous prizes at the silent auction.  Bring the whole family to the pregame BBQ.  Enjoy Caribbean jerk chicken while your kinds play on the inflatable bounce houses and visit with the Wildcat.  If you are a member of the class of '47, '57, '67, '77, '82, '87', or '97, be sure to attend your class reunion following the football game.

Survey Results and Questions

"Big hair," food fights in Dillin and mannequins in the residence halls.  Those are just three memories of the many shared by alumni who took the time to complete our brief surveys about life at Linfield during their college years.  Thanks to those f you who shared your memories.  Results from the last survey on food, clothing and shelter can be found on our website.  This month's survey is about Linfield athletics -- whether you were an athletic on the field or a fan in the stands.

College Financing and the College Search

If you and your child are befuddled by the college application process, Linfield is here to help.  Join Dan Preston '85, dean of enrollment services, Lisa Knodle Bragiel '86, director of admission, and Crisanne Werner, director of financial aid tomorrow, Sept. 13, at 7:00pm, in Peterson Hall on the Portland Campus as they demystify the application process and answer your college search questions. 

Costa Rica Reunion

Did you study abroad in Costa Rice while attending Linfield?  Do you wonder how the program may have changed?  Dona Mayra Herra-Monge, director of Linfield's Costa Rica program, is visiting this month and she is eager to reconnect with those Linfield alumni who studied in Costa Rica.  Join us for an authentic Costa Rican meal of chicken asado and fried plantains, and relive those cherished "pura vida" moments.

Recruit a Wildcat

Did you know that students you recommend to Linfield do not need to pay an application fee?  It's true!  The Recruit a Wildcat program benefits both alumni and the college.  Tell a qualified high school student about your Linfield Experience and then tell us about the student using our website form.  That way, the student will be able to apply free of charge!  Save a friend the $40 fee while helping recruit the next generation of Wildcats.

Cat Chat -- Keeping Wildcats Connected

Check our the new online community and find out what your college roommate and classmates are doing.  It's a great way to stay connected to the college and to old friends.  Visit or create a message board.  With Homecoming just around the corner, recommend a great place to eat, visit or stay.  Take advantage of the photo albums.  As Linfield plans for its sesquicentennial celebration, be a part of 150 years of history.  Go to the photo gallery and share your own "historic" photo of your college days.  The first 20 people to add messages or photos will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift certificate to the bookstore.

Where are they now?

First classmates, then colleagues and now friends for more than 60 years, Edith "Duffy" Reynolds '51, professor emerita of consumer and family studies and Tom Meicho '51, dean emeritus of admission, have each woven Linfield and a love of learning into their retirement lives.  Catch up with them on our website.

"Inspired Pragmatism" explores the rich history of Linfield College

"Inspired Pragmatism: An Illustrated History of Linfield College" traces the stiry of Linfield College from its origins to the eve of its sesquicentennial celebration on January 30, 2008.  To the original Baptist founders, the college's charter served as an act of hope and inspiration.  To those who later inherited responsibility for Linfield, keeping the college alive proved an exercise in pragmatism in the highest and best sense.  For anyone today concerned with the welfare of the state and the nation Linfield serves, the college's history commands interest as a study in inspired pragmatism.

The book, written by Marvin henberg, professor of philosophy who also served as interim president and vice president of academic affairs/dean of faculty, tells the story of the many men and women who have not only shaped Linfield, but played important  roles in Oregon, the Northwest and the nation.  The book will be available this fall.  Henberg will present a special program during Homecoming covering the research and writing of the book.

Celebrate reading!

Readings at the Nick, the annual reading series sponsored by the Friends of Nicholson Library, has an impressive array of readings scheduled this year including a Northwest exclusive appearance of the exhibit "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America" in the Jereld R. Nicholson Library.  Three lectures are scheduled in conjunction with the exhibit.  Diana Abu-Jaber's book, "Crescent," is the selection for MacReads.  She will speak about this and her other books in May.