Over 360 alumni and guests returned to the Iowa State campus last weekend during the annual Alumni Days.

The classes of 1949, 1944, 1939 and 1934 were honored at this year’s Alumni Days festival, held June 3-5.

The Alumni Days celebration has been an ISU tradition for about 65 years. It is a reunion for 50-year graduates of ISU and graduates who have already attended their fifty-year reunion, said Martha Vanderkamp, director of Alumni Events with the Alumni Association.

Thursday, there was a baroque music program, campus bus tours, a social hour and dinner with Kathleen MacKay, dean of students.

Events held on Friday included lunch at the Oak-Elm residence hall, class photos and a gold medal dinner in which President Jischke bestowed medals to alumni. Saturday’s agenda included a breakfast at the Knoll with Jischke, a dedication of the children’s garden at the Reiman Gardens and a retirement party for James A. Hopson, executive director of the Alumni Association. Vanderkamp said Alumni Days involves ISU students as well as alumni.

“This event is neat because we get to utilize the students, and they have a fun time doing it,” she said.

The events team of the Alumni Association comprises Vandercamp, David Orth, Beth Lott and Pat Thiede. The team is in charge of the pre-planning of Alumni Days. Students helped to coordinate the event. Suzanne Craig, senior in elementary education, assisted in the preparation and organization of the 1999 Alumni Days.

“It was a lot of fun to visit with the alums,” she said. “In this class, most of them were able to attend college because of the G.I. bill during the war.”

Most of the graduates who attended the 1999 Alumni Days were from the class of 1949, although one of the visiting alumni graduated in 1929. Orth, a 1987 graduate in journalism, commented about the new Web site for Alumni Days.

“This is a new thing that we will update with pictures and quotes every year for those who are not able to come to Alumni Days,” he said. “It’s a neat idea, and we’ll see how it works out and, hopefully, grows.”

The Web site address is www.alumni.iastate.edu/events/vr.