Alumni & Friends

Everyone is busy, and historians and former history students are no exception—so busy that it’s often hard to find time to stay connected and, even more importantly, to meet up and enjoy time together as history alumni and friends.

Thankfully, however, a few of our dedicated alumni and emeriti decided to ride to our rescue by joining forces in 2014 to create a new history group, the Friends of UC History Association, whose principal purpose is to keep us all in touch.

Our dynamic Friends group now hosts an annual fall benefit with fine food and drink – and even better conversation! – that brings together History Department alumni and emeriti with current department faculty, graduate students, and university administrators. The Friends have hosted three such autumnal parties so far, each one at a different special venue in the city, including the handsome home of UC Board of Trustees member and History alumnus Thomas Cassady, the Queen City Club, and the Mercantile Library. The Friends group also does regular work through the year to reach out to alumni and keep track of alumni news.

The Advisory Board of the Friends association has been especially generous with their time and creative ideas. Our special thanks go out to our board members Buck Niehoff, Peter and Betsy Niehoff, Gene and Dottie Lewis, Barbara Ramusack, Doloris Learmonth, and Fritz Casey-Leininger for all their much-appreciated help. 

On November 13th, 2019, the Friends of UC History Association held their sixth annual Friends of UC History Fall Benefit at the Hyde Park Observatory. The evening was a wonderful success as special guest Mary Lindemann (AHA President and UC History Alumna) and some fifty current History faculty, students, alumni, emeriti, and members of the UC administration, including Provost Kristi Nelson and Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Valerio Ferme, gathered to share warm conversation and give thanks to the department's many loyal friends and donors.