Welcome!
The Harvard Club of WNC has three main activities: Service, Interviewing, and Events. Each activity is led by one of our committees.
We all benefit from the dedication, creativity, and expertise of our volunteer committees.
All alumni in the area are invited to get involved in the activity that they find most compelling!
Harvard Club Global Networking Night
Calling all Harvard alumni in Western North Carolina!
Harvard alumni are coming together both online and in cities around the world for a night of connection and community. Register now to reconnect with friends and classmates and expand your Harvard network. Connect your social media accounts to the guest list to more easily connect with other attendees before, during, and after the event.
https://alumni.harvard.edu/programs-events/gnn/asheville
See you there!
Harvard Club Activities Survey
Are you interested in being part of any activities with your Harvard Club here in Western North Carolina?
If so, please add your thoughts using the survey found at https://bit.ly/49Picna if you haven't already from the email request.
The Club board members want to support the activities you want! Let us know what those are. Thanks!
Harvard Club Leadership Transition
We have new leaders and we will update the Board information soon.
PAST EVENTS and NEWS:
FROM SEPTEMBER 2021-
Annual Get-Together
Please save the date for our annual meeting and happy hour at Forestry Camp on Thursday, September 30th from 5-7pm. Be on the lookout for the official invitation. This will be a great chance to socialize with your fellow alums as well as sort out some official club business. We will also be soliciting your input on future club activities and looking for volunteers to help out with all aspects of the Club—so bring your good will and great ideas!
Interviewing Committee
Since it’s been some time since our last communique, here’s an update on the last two years of Harvard interviewing.
Our interviewing committee, spearheaded by John Van Wye (MD ’81) and Angela Newnam (MBA ‘96), coordinated a record 58 applicant interviews in the 2020-2021 school year. Six students were waitlisted (none of whom were admitted), and one student was admitted in the Early Action round: Kelsey Mann from Asheville School. Congratulations, Kelsey, from your alumni community!
During the 2019-2020 school year we interviewed 45 applicants, of which two were accepted Early Action: Justice Agobor and Michael Mahoney, both from Christ School.
Thanks also to the entire Interviewing Committee for your gifts of time, wisdom, and discernment: Amy Alexander (’06), Ellen Carr (‘94), Dan Casse (MPA ‘89), Dan Ford (MLAUD ’00), Jill Fromewick (MS ‘01/ScD ’08), Rob Gage ('70), Demetrius Giger '14, Jeff Goodman (’85), Scott Hickman (MBA ’87), Daniel Lopez (’97), Olga Mahoney (EdM '97), Mike McCue ('73, MBA '75), Mark Morris, MD ('72), Todd Newnam (MBA ’96), Tom Plaut ('60), Stephen Presser (’68, JD ’71), Mary Robinson-Hervig (’06), Beate Short ('88), Anna Wheeler (’95), Matt Williams, Peter Williams (’65), and Canyon Woodward ('15). We thank you all for your service!
We also give a special thanks to John Van Wye for his decades of service as a chair of the committee. Effective summer 2022, he will be passing the baton to Daniel Lopez (‘97), who will assume co-chair responsibilities with Angela Newnam.
If you’d like to get involved in assisting and interviewing high school seniors by contacting John Van Wye at jvw@post.harvard.edu or Angela Newnam at angelanewnam@gmail.com . It's a meaningful way to keep in touch with the pulse of the lives of talented students from our area, and to enjoy some amazing conversations with these young men and women.
11 Harvard Book Prizes Awarded
Through the Harvard Book Prize Program coordinated by John Van Wye (MD ’81), the Harvard Club of WNC has donated copies of “Making the Most of College - Students Speak Their Minds” to 11 area high schools, to be awarded to "an outstanding junior" selected by the school faculties.
Alumni News
We would love to hear news from local alumni! Please email Ellen Carr (eocarr@gmail.com) with any updates you’d like to publish in the quarterly(ish) newsletter we’re planning to send out going forward. For now, here are a couple of publications from local Harvard folks:
Kerry Garvin (ALB ’17, ALM ’20) recently relocated to Bryson City. She teaches Creative Nonfiction Writing to Women Veterans at the Asheville VA, Creative Writing through Haywood Community College's Creative Arts Continuing Education, and Environmental Storytelling at Unity College. And she just published a book, What Doesn’t Kill Her: Women’s Stories of Resilience, which Gloria Steinem, among others, praised.
Ellen Carr (BA ’94), a North Asheville resident and your Treasurer, recently published a co-authored book, Undiversified: The Big Gender Short in Investment Management, which explores why there are so few professional female investors—and how to change that.
Megan Epler Wood of Harvard to speak in Asheville, September 22
Megan Epler Wood is a thought leader, author, teacher, speaker, and consultant on questions of managing sustainable tourism for destinations and a founder of the field of ecotourism. From 2010-2021 her research and online courses at Harvard University vetted a wide range of solutions to help protect travel destinations.
Join Megan as she kicks off the Ideas to Action Leadership Forum, a program of THRIVE ASHEVILLE, a year-long community-led discussion about sustainable tourism. Learn more and RSVP to join via Zoom on 9/22 from 12-1 EST https://www.buildingourcity.org/
A Reminder—We Are Paperless!
Communications and financial transactions are available and encouraged online. Make sure Harvard Alumni Association has your correct email address at http://alumni.harvard.edu so you can receive email from the Club about upcoming events.
Recent Events
Upcoming Events Below
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Global Networking Night on March 13 at Bold Rock Asheville
FEATURED
6:30PM - 8:30PM Wed 13 Mar 2024, Eastern timezone
It’s that time of year again! Join us for Global Networking Night on March 13 at Bold Rock Asheville. RSVP at https://alumni.harvard.edu/programs-events/gnn/asheville