Alumni Association
Sponsored Events

The Stanford Alumni Association (SAA) provides students with networking forums, celebratory and social events, and special awards that help students meet the needs of college life as well as transition into life as an alumnus. The SAA fosters classmate and student/alumni connections and develops programs that leverage a community of 200,000 students, alumni, and faculty worldwide.

The Stanford Alumni Association will host various events during Commencement Weekend.

Senior Dinner on the Quad

Thursday, June 11, 2009
7:00–11:00 pm
Main Quadrangle
This event is exclusively for graduating seniors.

Enjoy an elegant evening under the stars exclusively for the Class of ’09. The incomparable setting on the Main Quad makes this a can't miss event. Semi-formal dress. Seniors will receive further information about this event from the Alumni Association by e-mail.

Reservation information for a free ticket is available at www.stanfordalumni.org/seniordinner
or call (650) 725-3624; toll-free 866-434-8361. You must RSVP for this event by June 3.

Senior Dinner on the Quad is hosted by the Stanford Alumni Association.

Class Day Lecture 2009

Saturday, June 13, 2009
11:30am–12:30 pm
Maples Pavilion
This event is free for graduating seniors, advanced degree graduates, and their guests.

Class Day Lecture 2009 will give graduates, along with their family and friends, a unique occasion to experience what makes a Stanford education so special. For over 40 years, Class Day Lecture has featured a world renowned Stanford professor. As selected by the 2009 graduating class, this year’s featured speaker is Robert Sapolsky, a hugely popular Stanford professor recently featured in the 2008 National Geographic documentary, Stress: Portrait of a Killer.

Seniors and advanced degree graduates will receive further information about this event by e-mail.
Reservation information for Class Day Lecture is available at www.stanfordalumni.org/classday
or call (650) 725-3624; toll-free 866-434-8361.  Please RSVP for this event by June 3.

Class Day Lecture is hosted by the Stanford Alumni Association.

About Robert Sapolsky

Robert Sapolsky, the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor, will give this year's Senior Class Day lecture. A neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for help in protecting susceptible neurons from disease.

In his well-known book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases and Coping, Sapolsky examines how prolonged stress can cause or contribute to physical and mental afflictions. His lab was among the first to document that stress can damage the neurons of the hippocampus.

"Professor Sapolsky's dedication to his students, charisma for teaching and cutting-edge research will make him a superb Class Day speaker," the class presidents said. "He will make the Class of 2009's final lecture at Stanford unforgettable, and we are lucky to have him."

Sapolsky has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including a MacArthur Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and the Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience. He has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and a Young Investigator of the Year Award from the Society for Neuroscience, the Biological Psychiatry Society and the International Society for Psychoneuro-Endocrinology.

Excerpted from the Stanford Report, January 13, 2009. Read the full article.