WABASH COLLEGE Class Agents Letter Class of 1981 Alumni and Parent Relations P.O. Box 352 Class Agents Crawfordsville, IN 47933 Peter Wright Web site: www.wabash.edu [email protected] Email us: [email protected] Stephen Pavy Phone: (765) 361-6369 [email protected]

March 28, 2012

Fellow Members of the Class of 1981

By all accounts, the College is having a very good year with a little over a month or so of classes left in the academic year for the College. The recent survey of alumni conducted on behalf of the Society of Class Agents tells us that most alumni look to their class agents first as communicators. Most alumni want to hear about what is happening on campus and to hear news about fellow classmates. Stephen and I are always glad to receive information that you would like us to pass along to the rest of our classmates.

There is one recent sports related item of note that you might not have read about if you were not looking at the College’s website following the end of the basketball season. The latest athletic success is a national championship in the one mile race captured by senior Kevin McCarthy '12 at the recent Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship. Kevin has also been recognized for his success off the track by being awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. He is the 19th Little Giant to win a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which will assist him as he goes on to post-graduate medical studies.

The National Association of Wabash Men has decided to include teams in the Athletics Hall of Fame. Let Stephen and I know if you have any recommendations for nominations. Two rather obvious teams come to mind from our era. The 1977 football team which played in the Stagg Bowl, played in December of our first year on campus, featured some of our classmates as freshmen. The second is the National Championship basketball team of 1982. The basketball team the year before, our senior year at Wabash, was a great team and our classmates played a prominent role in its success and I think built the base for the following's triumph.

I do want to provide you with a reminder about some upcoming dates 2012 dates:

Commencement is May 13 Big Bash Weekend is June 1 - 3 The End of the Wabash Fiscal year - June 30 Wabash Day is the weekend of September 15 - 16 Homecoming Weekend is September 27 - 29 (this is the 100th Homecoming, 120th anniversary of the Glee Club and the 180th anniversary of the founding of Wabash and the 91st anniversary of the Sphinx Club)

During our 30th Reunion a number of us talked about both how much we enjoyed the Big Bash Reunion weekend and how we were close to guys in classes in addition to our own graduating class and so would think about attending the Big Bash more frequently then every five years. I have signed up under planning to attend and intend to register shortly once I have my early summer schedule planned. I hope to see some of you at the Big Bash weekend this June.

It would, of course, be great to see you in person at the Big Bash Weekend, next fall at Homecoming, or some other time and place when we find ourselves in the same city. Another way we can keep in touch is through our Class of 1981 blog (http://wabash1981.blogspot.com/) I have not been very regular about posting information to the blog, but would be motivated to do so, if I thought it was a useful source of information for our class. Check out the blog and let me know what you think. We had also set up a Facebook page for our 30th Reunion, but I am not sure that we as a class are big Facebook users.

The Challenge of Excellence is making great progress and now stands at $53 million towards the goal of $60 million. The undergraduates recently donated $25,000 to the campaign. If you go the website for the Challenge https://www.wabash.edu/excellence/ you see that the College continues to uphold the standards and traditions we know are so important. At the same time the Challenge demonstrates that the College is forward thinking and putting itself in the position to take advantage of opportunities in the future.

Our own class is doing its share supporting the College financially. To date 46 of us have contributed to the Annual Fund (the names of our current year honor roll members are listed below). Wabash's fiscal year ends June 30, but why wait to make your donation and join the roll? You can make you donation online at https://www.wabash.edu/alumni/egift.

Yours in Wabash,

Peter Wright

News About Classmates

Dave Neal ’81 – New Chair of Board of Immigration Appeals

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced that David L. Neal ’81 has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA); he has been Acting Chairman since 2009.

After Wabash, Dave earned a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. During his career before BIA, Dave served as Chief Immigration Judge, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Immigration Judge at the Headquarters Immigration Court, special counsel to the Director of EOIR as attorney advisor at the BIA, chief counsel for the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, and he practiced immigration law in Los Angeles. Previously, Dave was the director of policy analysis for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and is currently a member of the District of Columbia and New York State Bars.

The BIA hears appeals of decisions rendered by immigration judges in removal cases brought by the Department of Homeland Security. It is the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying federal immigration laws.

2011 - 2012 Honor Roll March, 2012

Kevin Altman David Lewis Jay Want Dean Beckman Rolf Loescher Tom Weber Jim Cooper Mark McGrady Monty Woolsey Doug Coplen Doug McKay Pete Wright Eric Faires Don Miller Brian Wyneken Lou Fenoglio Carl Myers Kent Yoder Larry Frye Jon Myers Kevin Young Randy Grimes Dave Neal, Jr. Steve Hartenstein Bill Nesbitt Doug Haywood Jerry Noll John Helm Steve Pruett Cris Johnston Phil Purcell Scott Jones Steven Riggs Terry Jones Bill Rippy, Jr. Carl Kipp, III Kurt Rupenthal Jim Kipp, Jr. Curt Schmitt Mike Kraus, FACP Ned Segelken Doug Kvachkoff Frank Smaron Mark Lazar Stan Thompson Mike Leagre Ron Vogel