The rededication and public unveiling of the renovated Alumni Hall highlighted Knox College's 2014 Homecoming celebration, which combined the College's long-standing traditions with its vision of the future.

More than 1,000 alumni and friends returned to campus for the October 10-12 festivities, including an all-class reunion, Homecoming Convocation, and Prairie Fire sporting events. Current Knox students planned additional Homecoming activities, including a Friday night bonfire.

The Alumni Hall rededication and ribbon-cutting ceremony attracted hundreds of people eager to take a peek at the historic structure, long unused but now transformed through a $12.5 renovation project.

"It's fantastic," said Ann Hutchcroft Weber '79.

At the rededication ceremony, President Teresa Amott said the renovation of Alumni Hall is a historic occasion for Knox and for the city of Galesburg.

"Over the past three years, our historic Alumni Hall has been transformed into a remarkable, contemporary space that will serve as the gateway to a Knox education for the next generation of students and the gateway to Knox for many visitors to the campus," she said during her rededication speech.

Alumni Hall will house several of Knox's signature educational programs, such as the Gerald and Carol Vovis Center for Research and Advanced Study, the Eleanor Stellyes Center for Global Studies, the Kleine Center for Community Service, and the Lincoln Studies Center. It also will house the Offices of Admission and Alumni Relations, the Bastian Family Career Center, and the Whitcomb Heritage Center.

"This building offers great resources and opportunities -- finally, all in one location -- to allow our students to become even more successful, more knowledgeable, and more prepared for our life beyond college," Student Senate President Hiba Ahmed '15 said during her rededication speech.

For Carolyn Cooke '79 and her friends Ann Hutchcroft Weber '79 and Laurie Horton O'Dear '79, seeing the new Alumni Hall triggered memories of their time at Knox, when the building was in declining condition.

"We were the last class to ever take classes here," Cooke said. "Even when it was at its worst, it was a lovely building. It's unbelievable what the inside looks like now."

See more photos on the Knox Flickr page of Alumni Hall and Homecoming 2014.

ALUMNI MEMORIES

For Mike Smothers '74, some of his favorite Knox memories are of "the tremendous professors."

They included history professors Rod Davis and Hermann Muelder, along with "Howard Wilson, the English department chairman at the time who did so much for me in terms of helping me to learn how to write," said Smothers, a longtime journalist. "Those classes were small, very intimate, and they were wide-ranging."

Laurie Horton O'Dear '79 said she looks back fondly on her experiences with the Knox Choir and touring with the Choir to Toronto, Canada; Nashville, Tennessee; Colorado; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Choir was a close-knit and fun group she said, adding that she once won its "Golden Screw" award for accidentally knocking over a rack of postcards at a shopping mall.

Jamal Muhammad '99, Dunston Simpson '99, and Nyerere Billups '99 met as Knox students about 20 years ago and have remained good friends, even though they live far away from each other.

"I come back for my friends," Muhammad said. "Knox College is the springboard that launched us from adolescence into adulthood."

HOMECOMING AWARDS

Knox's traditional Homecoming Convocation got off to a rocking start with the Class of 1964 Processional, where members of the class entered Kresge Recital Hall while Ricky Dale and the Dreamers performed the Beatles' song "Twist and Shout."

The Class of 1964, observing its 50th reunion, presented Knox College with a giant check representing the classmates' combined contribution of $450,443.

Several other presentations were made at Homecoming Convocation. They included:

• The Ralph Walter Prize to the Classes of 1954 and 1964 for highest percentage of alumni donating to the College.
• The Homecoming Attendance Award to the Class of 1964 for having the largest number (72) of registered class members at Homecoming.
• Knox Service Awards to Anthony Balthazor '03 and Chris Eik Winick ‘73.
• The Steven Floyd '70 Fellowship Award to Knox senior Noah Gleason-Hart ‘15.