If you grew up in the greater Atlanta area like I did, it’s likely that your memories of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History focus on elementary school field trips, complete with sack lunches, playing with the giant bubbles in the Sensing Nature exhibit, and all the dinosaurs you can imagine.

Well, imagine Martinis and IMAX as a field trip for adults, minus all those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s a chance to enjoy live music and company under their dinosaurs, followed by a larger-than-life IMAX film, with a martini in hand.

This was the setting for a recent Young Alumni and Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) event. Guests were welcomed to an Emory reception area, complete with some rather tasty hors d'oeuvres. It quickly became crowded due to the large group in attendance, causing guests to disperse among the many tables the museum had neatly positioned around the dinosaurs.

Have I mentioned the dinosaurs? I may be one of those rare adults who never grew out of their childhood dinosaur phase (so what if I have a T. Rex in my apartment), but I think everyone in attendance will admit that they provided a delightful backdrop for the evening.

The band was great, the drinks were better, and after a couple of hours of mingling guests were ushered upstairs to see Arabia. I wish I could tell you what the film was about, but I spent most of it amazed/grossed out by the camels. They have two joints in their back legs, allowing them to bend in the weirdest way possible. Maybe someone else who was there can speak to the actual purpose of the film, since I may have missed the point.

All in all, it was an excellent event and a perfect way to kick off the weekend. I’m always a fan of doing something new and can’t wait to see what the Young Alumni come up with next.

-- Kelley Quinn 08B, coordinator, Emory Alumni Board

Voices!

What? Were you expecting something else? This is a family blog.

There was lots of glee on Friday, April 9, as the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts hosted the seventh annual Barenaked Voices concert, featuring all of Emory's student a cappella groups, including the University's Concert Choir.

Six groups: Dooley Noted, Aural Pleasure, AHANA a cappella, The Gathering, and No Strings Attached, plus the concert choir got their chance on stage and wrapped up the night with a all-group performance of Michael Jackson's classic Man in the Mirror.

For photos of each act, please visit the EAA's Facebook fan page. Feel free to sing along.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

A group of 45 Emory alumnae, friends, and colleagues enjoyed a wine tasting at New York Vintners in Tribeca while a panel of women representing legal, finance, publishing, and creative fields discussed their experiences as successful women navigating through their careers.

The March 22 panel discussed the current state of female participation among the management and executive roles in various fields. Panelists recounted their own personal experiences throughout their careers, and provided advice to the audience on how to find success and happiness in their chosen fields. Popular tips included identifying the right career, choosing a mentor, and how to network with other women and within the larger corporate world.

Closing remarks were provided by Carolyn Bregman 82L, the director of alumni career services for the Emory Alumni Association, who discussed the variety of career coaching and support offered by the University.

-- Carey Bertolet 96L, Alumnae and Women of Emory, New York

This year's Classroom on the Green, formerly called Called Classroom on the Quad, centered on an issue hotter than the current heat wave spreading through Emory's campus: health care reform. The green part of the title came from its location on the quad of the School of Medicine (the "green" is on the other side of the building at left).

As its annual signature event, Student Government Association (SGA) invited prominent speakers, like Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and keynote speaker Rear Admiral Steven Solomon, the director of the Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, four other speakers with health care-related backgrounds formed a panel that later participated in a Q&A session with those in the audience. Nursing school professor Marcia Holstad moderated the whole event.

Each of the panelists approached the issue in a non-aggressive way, encouraging those in the audience to be patient and hopeful for the future of health care. The following Q&A entertained plenty of open-ended questions about the panelists' opinions of the costs, benefits, and effects of the newly-passed bill.

Despite high temperatures and pollen-crazed bees hovering about, an audience of about 100 students and faculty made their way to the tent on the medical school quad throughout the afternoon. A definite attendance lure, SGA gave out free t-shirts to students who signed up for them. Ironically--or intentionally--the shirts were also green and on them, posed the question of being able to survive health care reform in America.

Although the event was intended to answer that question, the take-home message was this: these are the beginning stages of new legislation and the only thing to do is wait and see what will happen next.

-- Lindsey Bomnin 12C, EAA communications assistant

Today is Opening Day here in Atlanta for the hometown Braves , who face the Chicago Cubs at 4:10 p.m. at Turner Field. So there's no better time for a baseball post ...

The late W. Clyde “Doc” Partin 50C 51G was a beloved Emory icon for more than 50 years—a teacher, coach, athletics director, and historian known for his remarkable contributions to the athletics program. Now that his family has given his personal papers, books, and sports memorabilia to Emory’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL), he will have a permanent place within the University.

Keep reading for more about the Partin papers. or you can click here for the full story. That is unless you're watching the Cubs/Braves game, which is OK by us ...

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

Partin’s son Clyde Partin Jr. 78C 83M 86MR , an Emory alumnus, physician, and professor who has been a member of the MARBL Literary Collections board for the past 10 years, was instrumental in arranging the gift. He and his mother, Betty Partin, and his two siblings, Keith Partin of Charlotte, N.C., and Betsy Partin Vinsor of Gainesville, Fla., are making the gift as a family.

Partin said the family has been touched by Emory’s welcoming response. “We are incredibly pleased that Emory has shown an interest in preserving the sports collections of my father. He was a keen competitor who was devoted to Emory University, the study of baseball, and the history of athletics.”

The archive includes essays Doc Partin wrote about baseball Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth, Earle Combs, and Frank Robinson, as well as drafts and research notes for those essays. It also includes posters, documents, and baseballs signed by Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neill, and many other legendary players, along with a substantial collection of books related to African American athletes.

These materials will form the nucleus of what the Partin family hopes will evolve into a major collection exploring the role of African Americans in sports and the role of athletics in the struggle for human and civil rights.

“Doc Partin had a hand in nearly every major athletic development in Atlanta for years, from the Atlanta Braves to the Olympics,” said Randall Burkett, curator of MARBL’s African American collections. “One of the lesser known but profoundly important aspects of Partin’s career was his eagerness to break down barriers to the success of African American athletes in sports at every level.”

The Partin archive also includes extensive records related to the Atlanta Chiefs, the soccer team from the late 1960s that was the brainchild of Partin’s close friend Richard Cecil, a former executive with the Atlanta Braves. Cecil played a key role in conceiving the idea of a sports archive at Emory.

Partin earned a bachelor’s degree from Emory in 1950 and a master’s in education in 1951. During his tenure as athletics director from 1966 until 1983, Emory athletics saw unprecedented growth that culminated in the construction of the Woodruff P.E. Center, which opened in 1983. He expanded the number of intercollegiate sports, particularly for female students, with women’s tennis being added in 1975 followed by women’s cross-country and track and field in the early 1980s. Partin also founded the Emory Sports Fitness Camp, now in its 45th year.

From 1986 until his retirement in 2002, Partin was a professor of physical education. Over the course of his career, he mentored hundreds of young student athletes. Even after his retirement, he kept an office on campus and often manned the press box, announcing during Emory baseball games. Partin’s book on the history of Emory athletics, Athletics for All: The History of Sports at Emory, was released in 2006. He passed away in June 2009.

Emory's mascot is the Eagle, but, really ... maybe it should be the Peep.

What would the holidays be without them? But ... what do we really know about Peeps?

Back in 1999, two Emory alumni, Gary Falcon 91C and James Zimring 92C 98PhD 99M 02MR, wanted to find out. The groundbreaking research they conducted on Peeps back then remains remarkably popular today. (More than 12.6 million visitors popular, if you believe those odometer counter things.)

Emory's eScienceCommons blog picked up on it a little while back, and recently posted a survey you can take, gauging your Peepness. (Is that even a word?)

EAAvesdropping is just happy that spring has come to Georgia ... the Peeps like being outside. That said, the Peeps are really happy anytime. After all ... they're always in season.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

We're glad Bishop Warren A. Candler 1875C still likes to show off his gold and blue accessories.

To see Bishop Candler up close, visit Emory's Candler School of Theology Building.