The Cavalier Daily Alumni Association welcomed the new millennium in great style during Homecoming Weekend 2000. We were pleased that almost 150 attendees (alumni along with spouses and children)—spanning the graduation years of 1934 to the class of 2001—joined us over the course of the weekend.

For those of you who could not be there, you missed a wonderful time!

It took a year’s worth of planning, extended conference calls and an amazing team effort to coordinate all the events for the weekend, and I would like to begin this report by giving special recognition to some individuals for all their hard work.

First, a huge thanks to David Hallock for serving as the Reunion Chair for this event. We could not have pulled this weekend off without his leadership.

Also, thanks to Bob Cullen for coordinating and promoting Friday’s golf tournament at Birdwood and to Mandy Biles for handling the planning for Saturday’s Picnic/Tailgate before the game as well as coordinating the "Come-As-You-Go" farewell brunch on Sunday in Garden IX. To say we were well-fed during the weekend is putting it mildly!

Jeff Kerper and Bill Rittenberg graciously volunteered to coordinate the CDAA block of tickets for the Clemson vs. UVa. Homecoming game, and although we lost, it was a great opportunity to check out the new Carl Smith Center at Scott Stadium (Harrison Field is somewhere in that title, but no one can say all those names with a straight face…)

Chad Hall and Sarah Lindenfeld did all sorts of behind-the-scenes set-up, errands and hard work to keep things running smoothly at all the events, and Scott Ramsey’s history and photo projects at the Boar’s Head dinner were a huge hit with the alumni.

We were particularly pleased to recognize Kim Ramsey during the Reunion Dinner Saturday night for all her efforts as the Communications Director for the CDAA, and for this event. Kim was responsible for all marketing elements of the reunion, including invitations, coordinating sponsors and the web site, and she helped keep us on track throughout the planning process.

Finally, I must thank those individuals who agreed to serve as Honorary Hosts, especially Taylor Buckley from USA Today, who served as our guest speaker at Saturday night’s dinner. The hosts, along with the class sponsors, worked to notify and encourage alumni attendance and are a big reason why this weekend was so successful.

Of course, the hard work would have been for nothing had no one showed up, but when the RSVPs started rolling in, we stopped worrying about that! Thanks to all of you for spending a lovely weekend with us in Charlottesville.

In addition to reminiscing about the CD and celebrating its entry into the 21st century, part of the focus of the Reunion Weekend was to announce the kickoff of our latest project, the digitization of the CD’s bound volumes.

This will be an expensive and time-consuming effort for our group (See story Page 4), but one that is absolutely critical to preserving our past and making it relevant to today’s journalistic researchers.

Due to the high cost of the project, it will need to be done in stages, and we will begin this fund-raising effort starting this holiday season with a direct mail campaign. We hope that each of you will be able to provide some financial support to help us accomplish this important goal.

Lastly, I am happy to announce that the CDAA was approved for Affinity Interest Group status during the UVa. Alumni Association Board of Managers fall meeting in October. Currently only the CDAA and the Raven Society have been approved for this special status within the UVAA.

Benefits of this affiliation with Alumni Hall include a free annual mailing, a database package (includes mailing guidelines, software, labels), meeting space in Alumni Hall, eligibility for the Awards Banquet, assistance coordinating special events, web site server space and liability insurance for nonalcoholic events.

The Alumni Association’s support in these areas will help us with some of our current operating costs, and will allow us to direct more of our dollars toward digitization, scholarships, programming and alumni events.

As you can see, it has been a very busy year for the CDAA Board of Directors. We work diligently to make the organization responsive to the suggestions and needs of our alumni and CD staff members, so please let us hear from you!