Reunion Highlights 2026

Vassar has been my special place since I first entered Main Gate.” Those words, spoken by outgoing Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC) President Monica Vachher ’77 during Celebrate Vassar, part of Vassar’s annual Reunion lineup, might well have been uttered by most of the 1,631 alums and guests who returned to campus June 4–7.

This year, classes ending in 1s and 6s took their turn at Reunion fun. The Class of 1951 celebrated its 75th as part of a virtual program hosted on Zoom the week of Reunion. The youngest class to return to campus was 2021, celebrating its 5th reunion, and the most senior was 1956, celebrating its 70th.

The Class of 1976 celebrated its landmark 50th reunion, hosting a variety of special events. There was the cleverly titled “Senior Moment Invitational,” which tested classmates’ recall of 1970s trivia, a lecture that blended research and reflections on how to thrive while aging, and a gathering at the class tree to remember the lives of classmates lost during the past 50 years.

Music was a vital part of the “Spirit of ’76”—from “Sir Duke,” the Steve Wonder serenade as the class marched into the Chapel for Celebrate Vassar, to a beautiful rendition of “Circle Game” by Joni Mitchell at the class memorial service. According to Cathy Agnello ’76, that was largely because ’76ers are Baby Boomers who lived through the birth of rock and roll, the British Invasion, and Motown. “There were many days on campus when you could walk through the quad and listen to glorious music being played on speakers that were propped up against windows,” she recalled. “As is the case with every generation, listening to music from a specific part of your life is so evocative and so full of memories.”

The crème de la crème, however, was 1976’s Saturday musical soirée, featuring members of the class and one friend from 1978. Organized by Class Vice President Steve Rothman (who attended virtually from Germany), the event featured Jon Delfin on piano, Agnello, and about 10 other performers. “The showcase was everything we had hoped it would be, and it was lovely to have every chair filled,” Agnello reported.

As at past reunions, all classes enjoyed a variety of lectures, affinity group celebrations, luncheons, dinners, and receptions. Fireworks titillated alums on Friday night, and some spent the rest of the evening luxuriating in nostalgia at a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Blodgett. And on Saturday night, alums shook their “moneymakers” at a grooving all-class dance party.

It was impressive, since most had gotten up bright and early on Saturday morning to attend an Hour with the President. There, Elizabeth H. Bradley updated alums on Vassar’s robust admissions results, financial health, evolving curriculum, students’ positive career outcomes, the College’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusion, and need-blind enrollment. She also acknowledged challenges faced by Vassar and higher education more broadly, including federal policies and political rhetoric hostile to colleges and universities, federal funding cuts, declining college enrollment among men, and technological disruptions such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. She assured the audience that Vassar is proactively addressing these issues.

After President Bradley’s talk in the Chapel, the annual alum parade took a different path than in years prior, as alums gleefully promenaded around the Chapel and Library lawns before returning to the Chapel for Celebrate Vassar.

Celebrate Vassar, an all-class celebration, illuminates the many ways in which alums make a difference in the lives of students, fellow alums, and the community at large. There, Kat Mills Polys ’93, AAVC Board member and Vassar Fund Committee Chair, announced that an astounding $50 million in gifts had been cumulatively raised over the past five years from reunion classes.

Celebrate Vassar also serves as the annual meeting of the AAVC—it’s where a new slate of members and officers is approved annually. Anne Green ’93 was elected AAVC president and an AAVC trustee to the College. Alums also heard that Lisa Tessler, who has served as Associate Vice President for Engagement and Executive Director of the AAVC for 11 years, would retire from Vassar at the end of June.

Willa Vincitore ’92, who has served in increasingly responsible alum engagement roles at the College for nearly 35 years, will step into these roles starting July 1. “I’m so proud to have the opportunity to serve the Alumnae/i Association and the College in this new role and am particularly excited to work with Anne as she assumes the presidency,” said Vincitore.

At a Saturday afternoon luncheon, the AAVC bestowed its 2026 Outstanding Faculty or Staff Award upon Marianne Begemann ’79. Begemann has served as Vassar’s Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources for nearly 15 years, but she has been affiliated with the College for most of her life—first as a student and then as Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean of the Faculty. “Marianne is a bridge among all the communities here at the College—students, faculty, administration, and alums—because she herself has belonged to each one of these communities,” noted Vachher. “Marianne’s Vassar roots are deep—not only is she an alum, but so are her mother and grandmother, and three of her children.” See page 50 for more information on the 2026 AAVC honorees.

There were notable occurrences involving The Preserve at Vassar over Reunion weekend. In addition to offering tours of The Preserve, Vassar broke ground on the Class of ’71 Gateway to the Old Vassar Farm, a beautiful new pavilion slated for completion by the end of the year. And the Class of 1966 celebrated classmate Barbara LeWinter’s donation of Markers Triptych, a painting by the late Eleanor Daniels ’66 that will hang in the Environmental Co-Op on The Preserve.

Most of all, alums enjoyed seeing old friends, making new ones, and, of course, revisiting the campus. “Being back here is a reminder of the privilege to which we were exposed when we were younger, that we probably weren’t even aware of, and it’s wonderful to see that and to appreciate it and have the notion that maybe we can pay it forward somehow,” said Randall Maconachy ’96. –Elizabeth Randolph