Dal Alumni Days 2023 a chance to celebrate among friends

Dal Alumni Days 2023 was an incredible celebration of our shared connection to Dalhousie.

We played trivia, saw exciting evolutions happening on campus in faculty tours, networked at the mentorship mixer, awarded our flagship alumni awards — the Aurum Awards — and closed it out with a delicious brunch and the bestowing of a new award for lifetime achievement.

Here are some highlights!

In a lively game of trivia to kick-off the celebrations, teams were tested on their ability to recall details, considerations and pieces of information of questionable importance or value. It was silly, it was tricky and above all else, it was fun.

On one of the faculty tours, a group got to see inside the Faculty of Engineering's Emera IDEA Building and learn about additive manufacturing technology. The highlight was watching our new gas atomizer in action. Its purpose is to convert any metal into powder that can be used in 3D printers. Dalhousie is the first university in Canada and one of only a few in the world to have a facility engaged in this type of research.

Faculty of Agriculture alumni and retirees gathered for an evening of catching up and connecting with one another and members of the alumni association at the Agricultural Campus. They enjoyed refreshments while hearing a campus/faculty update from Dean Gray with opportunities to ask questions and win door prizes.

Alumni learned about the Dal Alumni Link – Dal's alumni mentorship program – at a cocktail-hour mixer at the beautiful new Queen's Marque on Halifax's waterfront.

Mentee Rose Schoohoven (BMgt’21) spoke about her gratitude for the opportunity to grow her network. "Mentorship is invaluable for the opportunities it provides to gain exposure to different industries," she said.

Mentor Cherry Ferguson (LLB’72) called young alumni the leaders of tomorrow, urging others to consider enrolling: "The Dal alumni community is an important wealth of resources…[mentorship is a] gratifying, valuable experience you’ll never forget."

We were moved and inspired by the stories shared through videos and speeches at the Aurum Awards gala, where five esteemed alumni received Dal's flagship alumni awards. Among this year's winners are a dentist who brings smiles to those who can't afford dental care, a lawyer helping Ukrainians find refuge in Canada, a musician and activist, a judge working to help women judges leave Afghanistan to find safety and freedom, and a nurse practitioner improving health outcomes for Indigenous patients.

We closed out Alumni Days with our much-loved Champagne Social. There we got to enjoy an incredible buffet of food, and honour and toast our milestone alumni. The highlight was the bestowing of a new award – The Golden Eagle Lifetime Achievement Award – to alum Dr. Margaret Oulton (PhD’75).

We are very grateful to our Alumni Days volunteers, including our event hosts and attending Dal Alumni Association members.

We so enjoyed seeing everyone who joined us at the festivities, and we can't wait to do it all again at Dal Alumni Days next year! Thank you for being part of our strong alumni community.