10+ Ways to Celebrate Alumni Weekend 2025
Cilla Owens (CAS’74) (from left), Bonita Hinson (Wheelock’76), Pamela Suko (SON’74), Darien Wilson (CAS’74), Mary Weir (SON’74), and Robin Hunter Butler (CAS’74) share a laugh at the Back to BU Beach Festival during Alumni Weekend 2024.
10+ Ways to Celebrate Alumni Weekend 2025
BU’s annual event also marks the 75th anniversary of Marsh Chapel
Alumni Weekend 2025 promises to be a fun-filled four days, with more than 70 events plus all-new programming and a few special celebrations—many open to the entire BU community. Alumni Weekend will be held September 25 to 29.
One of the celebrations is the 75th anniversary of Marsh Chapel. A beacon of religious life on campus, Marsh Chapel will be the site of three commemorative events during Alumni Weekend: a choral concert featuring alumni singers, a homecoming worship service, and a community luncheon.
Alumni Weekend 2025 also marks the first time the University has offered events designated for alums celebrating their 5- and 10-year reunions. Members of the Classes of 2015 and 2020 can mix and mingle at a reunion party at Cheeky Monkey Brewing Co. and a dining hall brunch at Marciano Commons.
On Saturday evening, the BU Alumni Association will present its highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, to six outstanding Terriers: Peter S. Del Vecho (CFA’80), an Academy Award–winning producer with Walt Disney Animation Studios; Rebeca Carrillo Martinez (LAW’92, Hon.’25), chief justice of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals, the nation’s first appellate court to hold an all-woman bench; Reshma Kewalramani (CAS’98, CAMED’98), president and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Fortune 500 biotechnology company; Russ Wilcox (CAS’13), CEO of ArtifexAI, which applies artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies to the field of urban planning; and Clarence B. Jones (LAW’59), a civil rights leader, lawyer, and close confidante of Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59), who drafted King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The 2025 Young Alumni Award will be presented to Hang Qin (CAS’16), a serial entrepreneur and creator of the BetterWorld Global Youth Model United Nations Conference. Many schools and colleges will also present their own Distinguished Alumni Awards.
“We host alumni events across the globe all year long,” says Hannah Gathman (CAS’09, MET’12), BU director of alumni programs, “but Alumni Weekend is special because it’s a chance for us to welcome alumni from everywhere—from Brookline to Hong Kong—back on campus to connect with BU and each other.”
Three Book Talks
This year’s Alumni Weekend events roster offers three opportunities to hear from faculty and alumni about their recent publications, research, and scholarship.
- At 10 am on Friday, Leora Lanz (COM’87), School of Hospitality Administration executive director of online programs and an associate professor of the practice, will talk about her first book, Developing Your Marketing Mindset (Hospitality Strategies Press, 2025).
- Also on Friday, the School of Theology and School of Social Work will cohost a conversation with Cristina Rathbone (STH’09) at 12:30 pm at STH about her newest book, The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border (Broadleaf Books, 2025).
- On Saturday, Eve Manz and TJ McKenna, both BU Wheelock associate professors of science education, will discuss their respective books, Productive Uncertainty in Science Education (Teachers College Press, 2025) and Making Sense of Sensemaking (Teachers College Press, 2025), at 4 pm at 2 Silber Way.
These events are free and open to all.
HTC Live Fridays: A Howard Thurman Center Celebration
In celebration of the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground’s fifth year in its new-and-improved location, the BU community is invited to drop in for a fun and relaxing networking event. Make friends and professional connections over refreshments and the musical stylings of a live DJ. This low-stakes mixer is designed to bring together BU alums, current students, and members of Boston’s wider professional community.
Friday, September 26, 2025, noon, Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, 808 Comm Ave. This event is free; reserve your spot here.
Gerald & Deanne Gitner Family Lecture
The annual Gitner Family Lecture, a highlight of Alumni Weekend, has covered a multitude of topics, from mental well-being to artificial intelligence to mass migration. This year, Deborah Carr, a College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of Sociology, will present Golden Years? Growing Old in the 21st Century, a discussion exploring, through social, economic, and environmental lenses, the discrepancy in quality of life for elders in a society with unprecedented life expectancy—and what individuals and policymakers can do to support them.
Friday, September 26, 3 pm, Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Comm Ave, Floor 17. This event is free and open to all.
CFA Arts Alive: School of Music Showcase
This evening concert revue is a comprehensive tour of the talent coming out of the College of Fine Arts School of Music. Highlights include the BU Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sarah Ioannides, CFA director of orchestral activities and an associate professor in orchestral conducting; a selection of Terrier school spirit tunes by way of the BU Pep Band; and an original piece written and performed by Grammy-winning composer Valerie Coleman (CFA’95).
Friday, September 26, 7:30 pm, Tsai Performance Center, 685 Comm Ave. This event is free and open to all.
Back to BU Beach Festival
Each year, the Back to BU Beach Festival is the most popular Alumni Weekend event, and with good reason: it’s got a stage boasting an extensive performance lineup, a campus expo, and a designated kids’ fun zone (complete with BU-themed activities and lawn games). (Food tickets are sold out, but the George Sherman Union food hall is nearby and open for business.)
Saturday, September 27, noon to 3 pm, BU Beach, 270 Bay State Road. This event is free.
Find a full list of Alumni Weekend events here.
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