Alumni Events

Alumni Program Office Hours on Zoom

March 21, 5 to 6 pm (Pacific)

Join us on Zoom for an informal chat with the alumni office! We wanted to offer the opportunity to put faces to names and meet more alumni. We'd love to hear any updates you have, just say hi, or answer your questions about the alumni program. We'll also have the chance to share more on the most transformative campaign in Catlin Gabel's history, Eagles Soar. 

AlumniTalks: Watercolor Painting with Ronna Fujisawa (Virtual event)

Wednesday, February 22, 5:30 to 7:00 pm (Pacific)

In this class, participants will paint a Bohemian Waxwing alongside Ronna, who will guide you through the process. Learning how to mix watercolors to create realistic colors found in nature can be done with a very minimal palette. We will learn how to make grays with these simple steps, and an understanding of how to achieve loose, transparent, and luminescent paintings.

Ronna is a Catlin parent to a middle schooler, as well as a teacher of painting and mixed media classes at Catlin Gabel Community Arts Program on East Campus since 2020. You can learn more about Ronna at her website here.

Before class, please print a color print of the bird as reference / that fits the size of your watercolor paper. For more information and a copy of the image to print, please email alumni@catlin.edu.

Supplies: Watercolor paints ( you may use what you have but I recommend good quality paints and paper for best results) *see document for more information; Watercolor paint palette with a large mixing area; Watercolor paintbrushes in various sizes; Watercolor paper at least 9x12” or 11x14"; Cheaper scratch Watercolor paper or sketch book for painting studies and making swatches of color; 8x10 ink carbon paper one sheet for tracing (You may trace the bird by putting carbon paper ink side down on watercolor paper and color copy on top, pressing not too firmly, and trace the bird); #2 sharp pencil or mechanical pencil for sketching or tracing; White eraser; Paper towels; 2 Water pots; 1” artist tape or blue painters tape; Board about the same size or a bit bigger than your paper size to tape your paper to cardboard, masonite, or foam core; Hairdryer or hot air gun to dry quickly.

On behalf of the Alumni Council, I'm excited to invite you all to the Alumni & Friends Holiday Social. Our alumni community, made up of alumni, parents of alumni, and former faculty, is something worth celebrating. The holiday social is a great chance to do just that, celebrate! Many of you have already RSVP'd, and I'm looking forward to seeing you there. If you haven't yet, check out the details below to see all the fun offerings for this year's social. After the ceramics class, we'll get to hear an update about the school from Head of School Tim Bazemore. I hope I'll see you there!
-Taylor Kaplan '05, Alumni Council President

December 8, 2022 at 5 to 8 pm
From 5 to 8 pm we'll gather on the upper floor of the Vollum building on Catlin Gabel's East Campus. We'll have food, drinks, and fun activities including gingerbread house decorating, giant Connect 4, and a photo station!

AlumniTalks: Daniel Nieh '02 and Amelia Templeton '02

Writing about the World Stage: Amelia Templeton '02 speaks with
Daniel Nieh '02 about his latest geopolitical thriller, Take No Names

November 17 5:30 to 6:30 pm (PST), on Zoom

Join alumni Daniel Nieh '02 and Amelia Templeton '02 as they discuss Daniel's newest book, Take No Names. After reading from his novel, Amelia and Daniel will discuss the writing process, as well as Daniel's experience in translation. There will be time for Q&A at the end. To watch the recording of the event, please email alumni@catlin.edu.

September 29, 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Catlin Gabel Fir Grove
Now that your eagles have flown the nest, we invite you back to campus and join fellow parents and guardians of Catlin Gabel alumni classes of 2018 through 2022 for a chance to reconnect and fellowship in the Fir Grove. Appetizers and light refreshments will be served. We'd love to see you there!

Please RSVP by Friday, September 23

What's the Eagles Nest? It's you! As parents and guardians of Catlin Gabel students, you continue to be a part of our community. The alumni program honors your special and ongoing relationship with the school through events and opportunities specifically for parents and guardians of alumni.

Below are the gatherings we currently know about. If you know of others planned or would like to be put in touch with gathering organizers, please email Rebecca Allen, Alumni Relations Assistant Director.

• Class of 1972 50th Reunion hosted by Betsy Warren
• Class of 1975 Reunion hosted by Len Carr and Robert Deering at Robert's kombucha brewery Camellia Grove in Portland on Saturday, October 15, at 4:00 pm
• Class of 1977 Reunion at Kelley Brand's home in Tigard on June 17, 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm
• Classes of 1990 and 1991 Joint Reunion hosted by Pippa Arend and D'Artagnan Caliman at 5MLK on June 18, 6:30 to 9:30 pm
• Class of 1992 30th Reunion hosted by Meg Salquist and Tonya Miller at Meg's home in West Linn on July 30 at 5:00 pm
• Class of 1996 Picnic hosted by Daniel Karlin at Catlin Gabel's Upper School Quad on June 25 at 5:00 pm
• Class of 2002 20th Reunion hosted by Kim Larson and Hillary Brevig in Catlin Gabel's Barn on Saturday, August 13 at 12:00 to 4:00 pm

2022 Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony

September 22, 2022 at 9:40 am

This year's Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony will be Thursday, September 22 at 9:40 am in Cabell Theater. Our honorees are:

• Gus Van Sant '71, Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award
• Tamara Chang '99 MD, Distinguished Alumni Community Engagement Award
• Casey Michel '06, Distinguished Younger Alumni Award

You can read more about this year's honorees on our Distinguished Alumni Awards page.

Young Alumni Summer Social

August 5, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Join us in the Fir Grove to catch up with fellow recent grads from the classes of 2018 through 2022.  Enjoy music, lawn games, and tacos from Tamale Boy!

Alumni Weekend
June 18, 2022

Saturday, June 18

11:30 am to 1:00 pm: Pine Cone Guild Luncheon (class years 50+ years out). You've reached a great milestone and we want to celebrate your long relationship with the school and maybe take a trip down memory lane with a display of memorabilia from archives. Alumni from class of 1972 and before can view the invitation and RSVP by June 10 here.

1:00 pm to 4:00 pm: Alumni & Former Faculty Social in the Paddock under the tent. Gather in the Paddock for food and a chance to catch up with fellow alumni and former faculty. We will have the playground open for families, and an option to take a campus tour. Register here.

4:00 pm to 6:00 pm: Alumni Soccer Game on main Davis-Gant soccer field. If you are interested in playing with fellow members of the alumni community, please sign up here. And if you'd just like to cheer from the sidelines, we'd love to see you there.

In the evening, optional off-site or virtual gatherings by class year. If your class would like to gather on Zoom, let us know and we can help provide a link. If you have already or would like to plan a gathering of your classmates, reach out to Rebecca Allen, Alumni Relations Assistant Director, at allenr@catlin.edu so we can best support you. For those classes whom we know have an event planned, we will list those on the alumni events webpage and can put you in touch with organizers.

For questions, please email alumni@catlin.edu.

Bay Area Alumni Social

Saturday, May 21, 4-6PM

SPIN 690 Folsom Street #100
San Francisco, CA 94107

SPIN is ping pong venue that serves food and drinks. We have reserved an outdoor covered patio space with plenty of room to visit - ping pong optional! Appetizers and drinks provided, and this is a family-friendly event.

virtual alumni Science Series: The Future of Computing with Abram Falk '99
May 4, 5:00-6:00 PM (PDT)

Join retired faculty Paul Dickinson and Dave Corkran as they moderate this discussion with Abram Falk '99, covering quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and other related topics based on your submitted questions.

Abram “Alfie” Falk ’99 was a lifer at Catlin Gabel, along with his twin sister Jani '99 and little brother Phillip '02. He then went on to Swarthmore College for his B.A., Harvard University for his Ph.D. in Physics, and the University of California Santa Barbara for a postdoctoral fellowship, where he was awarded the Elings Prize in Experimental Science. He is now a research staff member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research center in Yorktown Heights, NY, where he studies quantum photonics and quantum computing. His achievements include the discovery of a new type of optical excitation in carbon nanotubes and a new class of artificial atoms based on crystal defects in wide-gap semiconductors. He has published 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been granted 20 patents by the U.S. patent office.

The event will be recorded for those who cannot attend. If you'd like to view the recording, please contact Rebecca Allen at allenr@catlin.edu.

virtual alumni panel: Alternative Housing Models in the Pacific Northwest
March 8, 5-6:15 PM (PST)

Today’s most common housing models haven’t changed much from mid-century concepts of suburban tract housing and urban multifamily developments. Though these traditional approaches fall short of meeting the needs of all Americans, alternatives have been slow to emerge. Join our panel with alumni Owen Gabbert ’02, Erik Granum ’03, and Afton Walsh ’03, moderated by Taylor Kaplan ’05, to hear some of the new ways these builders and developers are formulating residential projects to provide a wider array of housing options in the Pacific Northwest. The panelists will discuss some of their projects, and there will be time for a Q & A.

December 9
Virtual Alumni Art Class

Join William Hernandez, Lower school parent and art instructor with Catlin Gabel's Adult Community Programs, as he provides a virtual introductory mixed media class on
Thursday, December 9, 6:00-7:15 pm (PST).

Watch the virtual ceremony here.

2021 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENTS

Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award - Gil Kelley ’71 has served as the Chief Urban Planner for several West Coast cities (Portland, Berkeley, San Francisco and Vancouver, BC). After graduating from Catlin Gabel, he pursued education in urban studies and planning at Evergreen, Harvard and MIT and has spent over four decades in public and private sector roles, guiding the planning and development of cities in the US and abroad. He has served as Practitioner in Residence at Portland State University, taught master classes at the University of Amsterdam and maintains an independent consulting practice, advising cities and private clients on urban planning and design strategies, climate action and sustainable development, as well as housing and economic development. He is also a member of the Oregon Investment Board. He and his wife currently live near Hood River, Oregon.

Distinguished Alumni Community Engagement Award - Katie Sharff ’98 MD, is an Infectious Disease physician at Kaiser Permanente in Clackamas, Oregon. Dr. Sharff received her BA in Biology at Williams College, her MD at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Disease fellowship at Oregon Health Sciences University.  As a physician with Kaiser Permanente, she has been the Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship for the NW region, leading a program that was awarded the Infectious Disease Society of America Center of Excellence Designation, an award only bestowed to 131 hospitals nationwide.

Dr. Sharff diagnosed the first case of COVID-19 in Oregon and only the 2^nd known case of community transmission in the United States with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.  Throughout the pandemic she has continued to contribute to the medical field and served as the Infectious Disease physician lead at the All4Oregon mass vaccination site at the Oregon Convention Center. She continues to lead vaccination work for the Kaiser Permanente region and serves as a sub-investigator on several COVID-19 vaccine trials at the Center for Health Research. Additionally, she co-chairs the KP National Quality COVID-19 Vaccine Medication Safety Workgroup to impact patient safety related to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Sharff has appeared in several local and national media outlets throughout the pandemic to educate the public on COVID-19 and vaccines.  Katie enjoys long-distance running and spending time with her husband, 2 children and bernedoodle dog.

Distinguished Younger Alumni Award - Sprinavasa Brown ’02 is a recognized change agent, community leader, and advocate for education with a deep passion for social justice, racial equity, and solving complex problems facing Communities of Color. Holding a BA from Oberlin College in Biology and African American Studies and an MA in Communication and Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, Sprinavasa has experience advising and working alongside local agencies and regional governments to further engagement with Communities of Color. In 2015 she co-founded ELSO, Inc. as a space where Youth of Color have the opportunity to see people who look like them as their science mentors.

Zoom Visits with Former Faculty (June 25, 4-5:30 p.m. (PST))

Drop in and out of various Zoom breakout rooms to catch up with former faculty! Visit with Dave Corkran, Paul Dickinson, Ron Sobel, and Meg & Sid Eaton. Click here to receive your personal zoom link. 

Zoom Gatherings by Class Year (June 26, 10-11 a.m. (PST))

Connect with classmates near and far without having to go anywhere! While most alumni are wanting to connect through Alumni Talks & Former Faculty drop-ins, some want to hold a virtual class gathering over Zoom. If you want to catch up with your classmates over Zoom, sign-up here to host a zoom gathering.

Hoping for more time in-person with other Catlin Gabel alumni? Sign-up here to host an outdoor gathering in your area.

We will help coordinate the details!