Reunion Weekend Schedule

Alumni College Classes: Session 1

*Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Rock Films and American Culture
Room 200, Science Center
This class is designed to introduce you to the culture, language, and history of rock music and its representation in American cinema. Rock ‘n’ roll and films about it have been synergistically interdependent since they emerged simultaneously in the U.S. in the mid-1950s. At one level, the class surveys trends and styles in how rock has been used in American cinema, focusing first on how rock music originally entered cinema in Blackboard Jungle with Bill Hayley’s song “Rock Around the Clock” playing over the opening credits and then moving through cinematic history. The course focuses film soundtracks as an expression and extension of the social, cultural, and political changes over time reflected in our domestic cinema. My session will offer a broad course overview illustrated with film clips that you will probably enjoy far more than what I have to say.

Instructor: Jack Ryan, Co-Chairperson Communication Studies

*The Ever-Changing, Always-Interesting, Wonderful World of Admissions and Higher Ed
Room 300, Science Center
The college admissions process has evolved dramatically over the last 10, 25, and 50 years. With numerous technological developments, changing student demographics, and a much more high-profile visibility in politics, there are both more challenges and opportunities than ever. Join Mary in an engaging discussion of how the landscape, the rules, and the students have changed (and remained the same!). The session will also include an interactive case study to offer an "insider's look" at the application review process.

Instructor: Mary Smith '00, Director of Admission for Recruitment and Selection

*Marketing Gettysburg College: How we share our community’s story
Room 200, Science Center
Audiences experience Gettysburg College in more ways—and in more places—than ever before. This session looks at how we approach marketing and storytelling across today’s media environment, including how audiences interact with content and where their interests overlap. We’ll share the thinking that guides our work and how we’re adapting to a rapidly evolving landscape while keeping our message consistent, authentic, and grounded in the Gettysburg community.

Instructors: Jamie Yates, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, Mike Baker, Deputy Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, Staci Grimes, Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement

*Playable Sound: How Video Game Music Works, How We Perform It, and How We Save It
Room 101, Darrah Auditorium, McCreary Hall
This session presents three lessons on the history and cultural relevance of video game music, drawn from Prof. O’Hara’s popular Gettysburg Curriculum course. In the first segment, we explore how game music borrows from popular film soundtracks, and how game soundtracks come into their own through interactivity. In the second segment, we explore the rise and fall of music performance games, and (aided by hands-on demonstrations from brave participants!) discuss the ways in which these games are and are not creative. Finally, we explore issues of digital history, preservation, and the economics of old games, in dialogue with Special Collections librarian R.C. Miessler.

Instructor: William O’Hara (Associate Professor, Sunderman Conservatory of Music / Chair, Data Science)

*AI is Great - Except on Liberal Politics, Ethics, and Religion
Room 200, Science Center
In preparation for his forthcoming book on the subject of AI and Religion, Mark Ellingsen '71 has discovered some interesting strengths and weaknesses of Artificial Intelligence. He wants Gettysburg alumni and the general public to be aware of these exciting resources and the flaws in data and advice that AI dispenses. His alumni class is not an AI-bashing, alarmist session like you've heard lots of times in the media. It starts with a review of the great things AI can do, but we'll see that precisely because AI does not have all the structures and capacities of the human brain it has serious flaws when treating ethics and religion. You'll learn exactly what those flaws are (AI biases), why they happen, and at what cutting-edge computer engineering research is doing to try to remedy them. After this session, you'll have a better idea about exactly what and when to be suspicious about AI claims (learn to be suspicious about its preferences and pronouncements on at least some issues in politics, ethics, and religion).

Instructor: Dr. Mark Ellingsen '71, Tenured Professor (Retired), Department of Church History, Interdenominational Theological Center

Creativity, Innovation, and Robots
Innovation and Creativity Lab, Plank Gym, Lower Level
Discover the innovative technology being used to enrich the education of students at Gettysburg College. This class will highlight the tools and methodology of the Creativity and Innovation lab. At the end of the class attendees will create a light up paper robot using a copper circuit.

Instructor: Josh Wagner, Manager, Innovation and Creativity Lab

A Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Attorney and a Health System Patient Safety Leader Walk Into a Bar…
Room 300, Science Center
It sounds like the setup to a joke—but the conversation that follows is anything but. Medical errors touch far more lives than most of us realize. Maybe you’ve experienced one personally or know someone who has. Maybe you’ve seen news stories about wrong-site surgeries, missed diagnoses, or medication mix-ups and wondered how such things still happen. In this session, Laura Lee, MS, BSN, Assistant Vice President for Patient Safety at a major Mid-Atlantic health system, brings three decades of frontline experience to demystify how and why medical errors occur. Through powerful stories, she’ll explore the toll these events take on patients and providers, and show how the culture of health care has slowly—but significantly—shifted toward greater transparency, psychological safety, and systems-oriented thinking. Balancing the conversation is Carol Shelly, Esquire, a seasoned plaintiff’s personal injury attorney from Doylestown, PA. Discussing real life cases, Carol will pull back the curtain on what happens when medical errors enter the legal arena: how cases are investigated, what determines whether a lawsuit is filed, and what patients and families need to know to protect themselves. She’ll also speak candidly about what she believes health systems can—and should—do differently when things go wrong. Together, these two alumni offer a rare, insightful, and unexpectedly compelling look at medical error from both sides of the table.

Instructors: Carol Shelly, Esquire '81 and Laura Lee, MS, BSN '81

Generation G-burg: A Look at Students from Gen Z to Alpha
Room 200, Science Center
If you find yourself scratching your head and wondering if it’s me? Come to an informative but light-hearted session on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Learn their unique characteristics and how they may influence interactions among previous generations.

Instructor: Jan Reichard-Brown '76, Associate Professor of Health Care Studies and Biology, Emeritus, Susquehanna University, and NEAAHP Past-President 

*Constitutional Interpretation
Room 200, Science Center
The question as to what is the "proper" way to interpret the United States Constitution is one that has sparked ongoing debate and disagreement for many years. The current Supreme Court has been asked to interpret presidential power, e.g., the extent of presidential immunity and how far the the president can go imposing tariffs without the approval of Congress. The Court's immunity decision from 2024 has been the subject of considerable criticism, with charges that the Court exceeded its proper role and, in effect, added new provisions to the Constitution. I've been studying and teaching about this subject for over sixty years. I will discuss conclusions I have reached as to the "proper role", and I will add a few favorite stories about justices who have served on the Court and their own approaches to constitutional interpretation.

Instructor: James S. Todd ’65, J.D., Ph. D., Assistant Professor (Retired), Department of Politics, University of Virginia

*Cameras, Canvas & Cannons: Visual Culture of the Civil War Era
Room 300, Science Center
This class examines American visual culture in the Civil War period, encompassing painting, sculpture, prints, and photography. It treats works that directly depict aspects of the conflict, and those that address how everyday life and perceptions of what it meant to be American were shaped by the war and its aftermath. We will examine how the making and circulation of images shifted during this pivotal period. 

Instructor: Sarah Kate Gillespie, Interim Director of Schmucker Art Gallery

*Bravura: A Musicological Detective Story
Paul Recital Hall, Room 222, Schmucker Hall
You can be one of the first people in the world to hear the extraordinary music of genius composer Agnes Tyrrell, forgotten for over a century but finally coming to light. Though erased by history, Tyrrell created a substantial body of work, including orchestral music, dozens of songs and piano pieces, and even an opera. The music itself is virtuosic and beautiful, full of passion and mirth. Professor Jocelyn Swigger has been publishing and premiering Tyrrell’s music, leading the excavation of sound and story from silent manuscripts. In this lecture-recital you can hear music, stories (including some unanswered questions!), and images of discovering a great composer and her world.

Instructor: Jocelyn Swigger DMA, Professor of Music and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Sunderman Conservatory of Music

The Great American Musical and American Identity
This course explores the world of the American musical: the most popular form of theatre in the United States for over a hundred years; one of the only truly "American" art forms; and, arguably, the most complex of all the arts because of its fusion of literature, poetry, music, dance, and the visual arts. The class will provide remarkable case studies of the struggles and triumphs of American multiculturalism in its history and development. Topics explored include the roots of the genre in Greek drama and later, opera, operetta and minstrelsy; the huge influence of African American and Jewish composers, writers and performers, as early as the 1920s; the so-called "Golden Age" of musical theatre in the 1940s and 1950s; and the gradual inclusion of more diverse voices and styles during the 1960s and into the twenty-first century.

Instructor: Dr. Susan F. Russell, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts

Gettysburg College Civil War Tour
Meet in front of the Admissions House
Join John Rudy ’07 on a walking tour of the campus that reveals the College’s Civil War history. This tour was developed by John, a history major and Civil War Era Studies minor, as an independent project when he was a Gettysburg College student.

Instructor: John Rudy '07, Assistant Director, Office of Student Activities and Greek Life

*Class of 1976 50th Reunion Social 
The Attic, West Building

*All Reunion Class Social 
Bullet Hole and Junction, College Union Building
All classes are welcome! Good food, great friends and live entertainment!

President’s Address and Awards Ceremony
Ballroom, College Union Building (CUB)
Remarks from President Iuliano, class reunion gift presentations, and alumni awards.

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD (for a lifetime of service to Gettysburg College)

YOUNG ALUMNI - SERVICE AWARD (for service to Gettysburg College)

YOUNG ALUMNI - CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARD (for professional achievement)

Class Reunion Photos
(Listed in Class Order)

Class of 1961 - 1:30 p.m. - Heritage Society Lunch
Class of 1966 - 1:45 p.m. - Heritage Society Lunch
Class of 1971 - 12:00 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 1976 - 12:15 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 1981 - 1:30 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 1986 - 1:45 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 1991 - 2:00 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 1996 - 2:15 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 2001 - 2:30 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 2006 - 2:45 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall
Class of 2011 - 3:00 p.m. - North Steps, Pennsylvania Hall

Turning Points in Gettysburg College History
Continuities—not least in its commitment to the liberal arts—have dominated Gettysburg College history since its founding in 1832. This lecture will focus on two turning points in the college’s 20th century history, both of them for the good of the institution. One relates to co-education and the other to the visionary leadership of a modern president. Come to the lecture and learn more. The join us afterwards for a reception to celebrate Michael's many years of teaching at Gettysburg College.
Instructor: Michael J. Birkner, Professor of History

Pennington Station Band (aka Primetime)
Attic, West Building