HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Following the success of Harvard's Black Alumni Weekend in 2003, in which more than 600 alumni turned out (representing the largest number of black graduates to return to the University for the event), the Harvard Alumni Association, together with the Black Students Association (BSA) and the Office of the President, are busily gearing up for this year's installment. Running Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at various locations across the University, Harvard Black Alumni Weekend 2006 will seek to provide a forum for the collective exchange of knowledge across generational and professional divides. The theme of this year's event is "Roots and Revision: Revitalizing Our Black Community."

The weekend will formally begin with a welcome reception Friday evening (Sept. 29). Optional programming Friday afternoon includes a Sisterhood Luncheon (noon to 2 p.m. at the Faculty Club); a career fair (2 to 5 p.m. in Gutman Library); a W.E.B. Du Bois Institute open house (2 to 5 p.m.), and an admissions presentation and campus tour (2 to 5 p.m. at the admissions office).

On Saturday (Sept. 30), a series of panel sessions and conversation circles will be held throughout the day. Following registration and a continental breakfast at the Science Center from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m., Harvard College Dean Benedict H. Gross will kick off the discussions with a 9:30 a.m. talk titled "The Undergraduate Experience" at the Science Center. Other discussions will cover such critical topics as black alumni involvement at Harvard; ways in which black alumni may leverage their resources for the advancement of others; representations of blacks in the media; and health care and disease in the black community, among other topics.

Capping the day of discussions will be a black-tie reception and dinner at the Cambridge Marriott beginning at 6:30 p.m. Stephanie Bell-Rose A.B. '79, J.D. '84, M.P.A. '84, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, will deliver the keynote address.

The weekend of events will conclude with a brunch (10 a.m. to noon, Annenberg Hall), featuring an address by the Rev. Patrick G. Duggan, pastor of the Congregational Church of South Hempstead United Church of Christ. Finally, the taking of a group photograph on the steps of Widener Library will mark the end of Harvard Black Alumni Weekend 2006.