Class reunions are part of alumni traditions at the School of Business

The class that started in the Olympic year of 1952 met for dinner at the main building of the School of Business on Monday 5 March. There were 280 students on the class, and they have been tightly knit since the beginning of their studies. They graduated in 1955 and have since organised class reunions every five years. They have met more often since 2006, and started to have lunch once a year at the Proffa restaurant of the School of Business, always on the first Monday of March. They intend to continue this tradition in the years to come, but next year they may have lunch at the new building of the School of Business in Otaniemi.

‘We hope that our active and valuable alumni activities find a new home in our new building. It is important that fine traditions, such as these class reunions, continue, even if the location of the School of Business changes. We will continue to trust the planning and implementation of the gatherings in the hands of the delightfully active alumni – albeit our alumni coordinator will certainly help for example with the sending of invitations’, Head of External Relations at the School of Business Jonna Söderholm says.

‘Alumni from our class have always had a strong will to work together. Since 2006, we even organised charity concerts at the festival hall of the School of Business, providing support for the Finnish Red Cross, girls' education in the developing countries and the activities of the Salvation Army. As wartime children, we got to study in a country retaining its independence, and so we thought we could also give something back’, says Onerva Vartiainen, an active alumna from the class of 1952.

Associate Dean Timo Saarinen (in the picture below) brought greetings and an update from the School of Business to the event. The audience nodded approvingly when Timo Saarinen talked about the strength of the collaboration between the three disciplines, supported by the move to Otaniemi. ‘We are on the excellent path that the late Professor Reijo Luostarinen pioneeringly opened already in the 1990s. He was then in charge of the award-winning International Design Business Management (IDBM) Master's Degree Programme, which is still part of our study options and combines international business with art and technology education.

Over 45 000 alumni from 80 different countries are already members of the Aalto University Alumni network. You can join the network free of charge at: www.alumninet.aalto.fi

Text: Terhi Ollikainen
Photos: Roope Kiviranta