Matthew Derr '89, Maribeth Joy McManus '00, Abby Pike '00, Risa Grimes
Some 45 Antiochians and friends celebrated Antioch College’s independence and enjoyed the stunning skyline views and urban cacophony of Nic Ruley 02 and Brett King’s South Loop sky garden on Saturday, Aug. 1.
Guests chief transition officer Matthew Derr ‘89, College Revival Fund executive director Risa Grimes, and assistant director of alumni relations Steve Duffy ‘77 spoke about ongoing rebuilding and fundraising efforts at the college.
Matthew reported that hiring some 40 staff will begin this week. He’s forming a search committee to hire the first core six college faculty, called Morgan Fellows, who will develop curriculum and hire more faculty. The faculty search committee includes, among others, former dean and professor emeritus Steve Schwerner ’60, Cary Nelson ’67, president of the American Association of University Professors, and Frances Degen Horowitz ‘54, president of the graduate school at the City University of New York.
All three guests emphasized the need to increase alumni participation in the movement to revive the college. Increasing the rate of alumni giving, which currently stands at 5%, will be instrumental in qualifying the college for larger grants.
See photos.
Audio from the event (complete with El trains and police sirens) will be posted shortly at http://listen.antiochians.org. Video from the event will be posted later this month.