Greetings! I am Lindsay Topping, manager of the Emory Alumni Board (EAB), which is a group of 38 + members representing all of the different schools and units at Emory. They also come from all over the United States. I plan their quarterly meetings, and last Friday, March 6, we took the group to historic Oxford College, since many of them had never been there before. It was great to see how excited everyone was to spend the day at Oxford and how impressed they were with this community, even during their first moments on campus.

I am a newbie to Oxford, as well. This recent trip was only my fifth trip there. Several of my previous visits were due to the fact that my two brothers —Jason Topping 07Ox 09C and Carson Topping 09Ox – are Oxford alums, and I wanted to get a taste of their experiences there (and make sure they were behaving!).

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day at Oxford. The skies were blue and cloudless. The flowers were starting to bloom with the newly warmer temperatures in Georgia. And the students were pumped to be going on Spring Break beginning later that afternoon.

Four of our EAB members, all Oxford alumni, served as hosts for the day—Jim Bailey 67Ox 69C, Ed Cloaninger 91Ox 03C, Isam Vaid 93Ox 95C 99PH and Art Vinson 66Ox 68C. We took the board on tours of the main campus and of the new sustainability initiatives happening at Oxford, ate in their dining room with Oxford students, staff and council members, spent time in the Student Center hearing and discussing hot topics at Emory and were invited to Dean Stephen Bowen’s home for a reception at the end of the day. We couldn’t have asked for a better day at Oxford and hope to take this board back soon. If you have not visited this campus, it is a must do, plus it’s where Emory all began!

Click here to see a slideshow from the day (photos by Tom Brodnax 65Ox 68C).

Lindsay Topping, manager of the Emory Alumni Board, EAA