At the 50+1 Alumni Reunion Celebration held in May 2023, we announced a proposal to bring alumni guest speakers back to Collins to connect with current students and strengthen the bonds across generations. Academic year 2023-2024 marked the first year of our new Collins Alumni Speaker Program.
Get Involved
- Our first program was brought to us by alum Erin Woodward through a partnership with Arts Council on Saturday, September 23, 2023. Erin brought members of their Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast to Collins for a screening and discussion about the history of the shadow cast phenomenon and the historic theatre where they perform.
- Our second program came to us from alum Stephen Volan through a partnership with the Board of Educational Programming (BOEP). On October 12, 2023, Stephen, a then Bloomington City Council member, presented a public talk called, "Doppelgänger Cities: A History of Campuses -- How They Came to Compete with Municipalities, How They Hold Students Back from Adulthood, and How American Universities Must Rethink Their Physical Plants".
- For our final program of 2023-2024, alum Justin Otten offered a Fireside Chat through BOEP where he talked about his PhD research on changes in the wine industry. Although no wine was served, students enjoyed cookies from Baked!
We look forward to hosting more alumni programs in the future where Collinsites past and present can gather together to share their passions.
Interested in being a part of our Alumni Speaker Program? Tell us about your program proposal.
Alumni Reunions
Collins has held large-scale reunions with support from the College of Arts + Sciences to celebrate the 40th (May 2012) and 50th (May 2023) anniversaries of the LLC, with many smaller reunions and alulmni gatherings in between. We look forward to inviting you back for another reunion in the coming years. Until then, we hope you're finding ways to keep in touch with your fellow Collinsites with gatherings you plan in your own towns.
For four years, I spent more time at Collins than anywhere else on campus. I met my best friends, proposed marriage, learned my political beliefs, and developed an obsession with gnomes. Collins didn’t just shape my life, it was my life.
Josh Warren, Collins resident, Class of 2012
The College of Arts