2014 Milestone Reunions Draw Record Turnout
About 250 members of the King Hall classes of 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, together with friends, family, and faculty, attended the UC Davis School of Law 2014 Milestone Reunions on October 25, making it the largest reunion ever hosted by the School of Law.
The event included a lunch reception at the UC Davis Conference Center that featured remarks from Dean Kevin R. Johnson, Alumni Board President Gage Dungy '03, and Penny Westfall '84, as well as a slide presentation of images of King Hall students and faculty from years past, and a showing of "Davis State of Mind," a humorous video created by students in 2011. Following the luncheon, alumni attended a reception at King Hall and participated in tours of the expanded and remodeled building, and many of the individual classes held separate social events.
Dean Johnson welcomed the attendees and thanked the reunion committee volunteers for their work in putting in putting the event together. He acknowledged the faculty members in attendance, including Professors Joel Dobris, John Poulos, Floyd Feeney, Rex Perschbacher, John Ayer, Martha West, and Cruz Reynoso. (Professor Lisa Pruitt missed the luncheon but was present at the afternoon reception.)
"We have a lot to celebrate," Dean Johnson said. "You should be proud of what's going on at UC Davis. This is our first reunion following the full completion of the King Hall Expansion and Renovation project. We have been recruiting some outstanding new faculty-tenured faculty from Harvard, UC Berkeley, UC Hastings, and other great schools. Even though there has been a decline in law school applications nationally, we recently experienced a 25 increase."
Dean Johnson also mentioned the Class of 2013's 85 percent bar pass rate, the Law School's expanding international partnerships, the Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom, recently launched academic centers, and other points of pride. "Things are going very well at the School of Law, and I want to thank you all for your support and for making this possible," Dean Johnson said.
Dungy, a partner at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore in Sacramento, thanked the alumni for attending and talked about the need to support the School of Law. With state funding for King Hall down to about 10 percent of the Law School budget, alumni support is more important than ever, he said.
"Times are changing," said Dungy. "One thing that has not changed is what I call the spirit of King Hall, the sense of community we came to enjoy when we were present here as law students and appreciate later on as practitioners and alumni. And I think it's important to maintain that King Hall community atmosphere."
Dungy encouraged alumni to help maintain ties to the community by supporting King Hall's fundraising efforts and assisting the Office of Admissions and Career Services as they seek to recruit prospective students and help recent graduates find employment.
Westfall, who is Vice President & Regional Counsel at Sutter Health, said that she enjoyed working with her reunion committee to ensure a big turnout from the Class of 1984 and to organize a class gift. She said that in spite of all the impressive achievements of her class and the others present at the reunion, the true hallmark of the King Hall community was "our giving hearts and generosity of spirit." She said that was why her class had pledged to raise money to endow the Class of 1984 Scholarship, the first King Hall scholarship to be named in honor of a graduating class.
"That's our gift to the future and the future members of this community," said Westfall.