The Women of '74
The Women of '74
UPDATE: The 2024 Reunion classes have broken the record for Reunion giving with over $21.6 million in gifts as of June 23.
Fifty years ago, the Class of 1974 walked the Lawn as the first fully coeducational class to graduate from UVA. The 1974 alumni continue to make history this year by breaking the record for reunion giving set by the Class of 1950. As of their Reunion weekend, members of the Class of ’74 had contributed over $63.8 million. These trailblazers also had the highest rate of participation, earned the new “Wahoowa Cup” for giving the most since their last Reunion, and were awarded trophies from the Alumni Association for attendance by the class and by the Reunion Planning Committee.
“We were thrilled and delighted with the outcome,” said Ann Brown (Col ’74, Law ’77), who co-chaired the Class of 1974 Reunion Giving Committee with Stuart Ball, M.D. (Col ’74); Mark Friedman (Col ’74, Law ’77); Gregory Luce (Col ’74); and Michael Miller (Col ’74, Law ’77).
“The participation was extraordinary,” said Brown. “And that’s about this class and what they care about. We want to be a part of keeping the University excellent and growing academically and programmatically stronger with the passage of time. We want UVA to be even better into the future.”
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Ann Brown, third from right, with her fellow reunion giving co-chairs and Paulette Morant (Col ’74), far right. Morant and Brown both served on the 1974 Alumnae Steering Committee.
The Class of 1974 has always come back to Reunions in large numbers. “We have a remarkable bond across the class and a devotion to the University and each other,” said Brown. “We have such respect for each other and admiration for the class as a whole. We walked arm-in-arm through that period, and that feeling has always carried forward through the decades that have passed.”
It was a notable year for reunion giving overall, with alumni from the 12 returning classes committing over $120.4 million as of June 17, with a strong possibility of exceeding (by June 30) the record $120.5 million total from 2022. The Class of ’74 total had risen to over $64 million as of June 17.
“Your gifts in honor of your reunion are making a difference across Grounds and in the lives of our students and faculty—the heart and soul of what makes our University so special,” said Mark Luellen, vice president for advancement, in his remarks to the returning classes.
“These gifts affect people’s lives. Whether that’s a first-generation student who attends UVA because it’s more financially accessible, the vital renovations completed to make the University libraries a focal point of student and academic life for the next century, charting a path for the creation of a new School of Data Science, or providing extra money for a school’s annual fund that enables the dean to open another section of a popular class, you make that happen. Our University is better because of you.”