The Geography Department's 50th Anniversary Banquet was held at Brock's Riverside Grill in Downtown Fredericksburg on Saturday April 18th, 2009. The evening featured Marshall Bowen's recollections on the Department's history (click here for a pdf copy of the speech,) the presentation of awards and the Geography Alumni Scholarship to current students, and the recognition of the contributions to the department made by students, faculty, and alumni over the years.

But mostly, it was just a lot of fun! Alumni from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and the 2000s shared stories and laughs, caught up with each other and made new connections.

In addition to celebrating our past, we recognized the accomplishments of our current students. Timothy St. Onge, Emily Fornof, Leah Shopneck, Keith Garrett, and Hilary Lufkin won the department's annual awards while Allyson Thompson won the Geography Alumni Scholarship for
2009-2010.

Finally, the current faculty and students took some time to thank past graduates for all their contributions over the years - the teaching, the internships, and the job opportunities that have helped our students make their way in the world. We also thanked Ellen and Keith Littlefield (1979) and Jeff Rountree (1991) and his wife Lisa for their generous gifts towards the Geography Alumni Scholarship fund and the new 50th Anniversary Geography Endowment.

Let me end this by thanking Dawn Bowen, Donald Rallis, Jackie Gallagher, Dora Minor, Jason Smith, and everyone else who made this such a special evening!

Stephen P. Hanna
Department Chair

Photo: Emeritus Professor Marshall Bowen and alumna Sue Liebenow at the Banquet.

Note: There are more photographs from the Banquet on the Geography website umwgeography.org and on the Mary Washington Geography Alumni group on Facebook.