A little over a week after the Class of 2026 departed campus to begin new adventures, members of the nearly 40,000-strong alumnae community were gearing up to return for an annual event celebrating community, connections, and friendship: Barnard Reunion.
From May 28 through May 30, Barnard women from all across the world arrived in Morningside Heights, and, for a weekend, they found a home again in their alma mater, as if they never left. The alumnae easily slipped back into the seats and spaces they once called their own. Their chatter and laughter echoed across campus, replacing the quiet that had blanketed Barnard since the undergraduates’ departure.
“I’m back for my first Barnard reunion,” said Juliette Samimi ’16, celebrating her tenth milestone reunion. “It’s been very emotional, in a good way.” Samimi traveled all the way from Paris for the reunion.
Judith Joseph ’56 was celebrating her seventieth reunion. Joseph traveled from Michigan and has attended every reunion but one. “I have a lifelong connection with Barnard,” said Joseph. “It made me the person I am today.”
The multigenerational alumnae moved across campus, muscle memory returning as they revisited the grounds and classrooms where they spent some of their most formative years.
To some, the campus looked different, with modernized buildings and renovated spaces. Guided tours highlighted the updates of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center, poised to be New York City’s first net-zero carbon, all-electric academic science building. On Friday, alumnae explored the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being, on a tour guided by architect Carol Loewenson ’76 – who was celebrating her own fiftieth reunion.
For three days, over 600 alumnae and guests stepped back through the College gates and into a familiar community, revisiting old memories while creating new ones. Reunion featured a packed schedule of events, discussions, and celebrations. Alumnae eased back into collegiate life, with schedules in hand, attending discussions on topics ranging from data analysis to women’s leadership before reconnecting with classmates over lunch.
Thursday night festivities included milestone reunion class opening receptions across Manhattan and the Alumnae of Color dinner, during which playwright Phanésia Pharel ’21 performed a scene from her recent off-Broadway play with the award-winning starring actor, Patrice Johnson.
On Friday, President Laura Ann Rosenbury joined Nancy K. Huemer ’10 for an exclusive fireside chat, as the pair discussed the vision for Barnard’s fearless future.
“Our goal is always to teach students how to think as opposed to what to think,” said Rosenbury.
Huemer also asked about the importance of women’s education.
“Barnard is more important than ever because we can show the world that women belong everywhere. We will take a seat at every table, and we will create new tables to make the world a better place,” said Rosenbury.
“Barnard is the first time that I”m a part of a community that is unabashedly committed to the empowerment of women. That is why we’re here. The empowerment and education of women is our foundation.”
A full day of programming culminated in lively cocktail receptions and dinners across campus, where classmates and alumnae from different class years spent the evening reconnecting and forging new connections.
Throughout the weekend, alumnae and their guests found moments of rest and relaxation at Millie’s Den, where they mingled with fellow reunion goers and took advantage of the friendship bracelet station. In one particularly lively moment, alumnae played “bear pong” on Futter Field, before breaking out into a raucous and infectious dance party.
Barnard Reunion Highlights
On Saturday, Barnard | Next presented its Authors’ Shelf program, a panel featuring Elizabeth Benedict ’76, Shareen Brysac ’61, Mary Gordon ’71, Amy Blumenfeld Kamensky ’96, and Hester Kaplan ’81. The College has notably produced a remarkable number of accomplished writers, and the panelists reflected on how it helped shape their creative careers.
Benedict moderated the panel, posing questions about the writers’ careers and their ties to the College.
“One of the things about Barnard is it’s an investment that keeps going,” Benedict said. “It doesn’t just end when you receive your diploma.”
Gordon then recounted her first visit to campus.
“I walked through the gates and I thought, ‘this is paradise,’” Gordon said. “The freedom, the intelligence, and the energy was extraordinary.”
She also credited Barnard’s literary tradition with shaping generations of writers.
“The reason we have a disproportionate number of writers graduating from Barnard is because we always made our writers have a strong literary background,” she said.
Among the audience members were Eva Metalios ’86 and Megan Frampton ’86, first-year roommates back on campus in celebration of their fortieth reunion.
“Forty feels like a milestone worthy of celebration,” Metalios said.
Frampton, an author herself, has a fantasy novel, Demons and Diplomacy, slated for release in August 2026. This was her first reunion.
“This is my year of doing things I wouldn’t normally do,” Frampton said.
Elsewhere, the Class of 1991, celebrating its thirty-fifth reunion, gathered for lunch with Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Anna Quindlen ’74.
Classmates reconnected with old friends and reflected on the milestones that had brought them back to campus. For Michelle Jung-McCullough ’91, the reunion followed another significant Barnard event: her daughter, Paige McCullough ’26, had just graduated from the College.
“It’s especially meaningful to be back because my daughter just graduated from Barnard,” said Jung-McCullough. “Being able to give her a Barnard education was such a gift.”
Quindlen spoke about aging, self-confidence, and womanhood as members of the Class of 1991 navigate their fifties and beyond.
“Don’t think about making women fit the world,” she said. “Think about making the world fit women.”
Reflecting on her own life, Quindlen added: “I feel like I am finally what I wanted to be when I grew up: myself.”
Later that day, alumnae were invited to enjoy a sneak preview of the newest episode of the Stand UP Speak OUT docuseries, To Marry Whom We Love, or, Not At All. The episode explores how women helped drive the legal and social transformations that allow Americans today to choose their own paths in love, partnership, and singlehood.
Stand UP Speak OUT was created by the nonprofit organization BC Voices, founded by members of the Class of 1971.
Katherine Brewster ’71, a producer of the episode, was celebrating her fifty-fifth reunion.
“It feels like an honor to be screening it here,” Brewster said. “Part of the genesis was our class and how we are the fulcrum between pre-second-wave and post-second-wave feminism. We experienced this seismic change in our lives, and it was while we were here at Barnard.”
For Brewster, the weekend was also an opportunity to reconnect.
“It’s always wonderful to reconnect with this space, meet some new people, and catch up with those that I hadn’t been in close touch with,” she said.
Susan Shapiro ’71, an associate producer, also attended the screening.
“The film is a rough cut straight from the filmmakers,” Shapiro said. “The audience gets a sneak preview before it even goes public.”
As reunion weekend drew to a close, alumnae lingered on campus pathways, squeezing in final conversations and goodbyes before returning home, whether on a flight back to Paris or a subway ride a few stops away.
Some were celebrating their first reunion, while others had been returning to Morningside Heights for decades. Despite the years between graduation dates, many described the same feeling — that Barnard remained a place that shaped who they were.
“What Barnard is hasn’t really changed that much,” Quindlen reflected. “It’s still the place for women to know themselves and know one another.”
For a few days each spring, that enduring connection brings generations of women back home to Barnard.
Reunion 2027 is scheduled for June 3-5.