Tag: THanksgiving

Olin has a lot to be grateful for: a century of excellence, inspiring students and faculty, and generous alumni who are dedicated to continuing Olin’s distinction as an institution for world-class business education. As our Centennial year comes to a close, we are doubling our efforts to ensure Olin’s bright future.

The $1.5 million Bob (BS ’60, MBA ’62) and Barbara Frick Olin Centennial Challenge will help lay a solid foundation for Olin’s second century of top-ranked business education while supporting Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University.

The Fricks, already generous donors to Washington University, hope to inspire alumni, parents, and friends to make a contribution in support of the innovative, ethical, world-class business education Olin provides to its students every day. This challenge will match gifts designated to the Olin Annual Fund or endowed scholarships, and all gifts will be put to work immediately to help Olin continue its mission of teaching, research, and service to society.

“Barbara and I are proud to show our appreciation and support of Olin Business School through this challenge,” said Bob Frick about the matching program.

How the Challenge Works

The Bob and Barbara Frick Olin Centennial Challenge will match the following gifts (up to $1.5 million):

• 1:1 match for any new gifts of $500 or more.
• 1:1 match for a new, named scholarship gift or pledge at the current minimum of $5,000 or $2,500 for young alumni (available to alumni under age 35 who have graduated in the past five years). You may establish a named, annual scholarship in your name or in honor of a friend or loved one.
• 2:1 match for multiyear pledges of $1,000 or more.
• 1:1 match for all gifts or pledges for new or existing Olin Business School endowed scholarships, facilities gifts, or programmatic initiatives. (Maximum match of $100,000 per donor).

All Annual Fund gifts will be recognized with membership in a giving club. Gifts are tax deductible to the extent allowed by US and Canadian law. The challenge ends Dec. 31, 2017.

Click here to make a gift to Olin

For more information, please contact Kent Dunson, associate director of development, at 877-215-2727 or 314-935-8495.

Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff gathered at the Knight Center on Thanksgiving day for the 21st Annual Olin Feast. There was turkey, of course, with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, gravy, and pumpkin pie! There was also apple pie and bread pudding, and soft serve ice cream with cookies. More than 400 people reserved places at the event and the Aramark staff always plans for more walk-ins. For many of the international students it was their first Thanksgiving experience and first time to try the traditional food unique to the American holiday.

Dean Emeritus Stuart Greenbaum, who held the first Thanksgiving Feast in 1995, and his wife attended the 2016 event, as well as Interim Dean Kurt Dirks and his family. Dean Designate Mark Taylor also celebrated his arrival in the U.S. from the U.K. when he sent his very first tweet from the festive dining hall:

Click on images below to expand. Photos by Mary Butkus/WUSTL Photos.

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, family-centric, and unfamiliar to international college students who are left on campus when all the American kids head home for the long weekend in November. That’s why Dean Stuart Greenbaum organized the first Thanksgiving potluck dinner in 1995.

“I came from the Kellogg School at Northwestern, and the campus Thanksgiving dinner there was a popular event,” Greenbaum said. “Students, faculty, alumni brought their families and it was a great community gathering for the business school.”

At the first Olin Thanksgiving, faculty and staff prepared the turkey and traditional meal for a few dozen guests. By the next year, with 161 RSVPs, reinforcements were called in from campus food services. The table, set up in Piper Hallway in Simon Hall, kept getting longer as the number of guests kept multiplying. In 1998, 170 people attended. There were more than 350 guests in 2002!

• 2008: A record-setting year with more than 600 professors, students, and families in attendance and they gobbled up more than 250 pounds of turkey.
• 2009: A few statistics from the chef: The kitchen prepared and served 260 pounds of turkey, 100 pounds of white potatoes and 120 pounds of sweet potatoes. They ran out of turkey legs, but no one left hungry. The dessert tables were brimming with pies, cookies and candy, and there was the always-popular soft-serve ice cream.
• 2011: More than 515 guests were served during the event, at which 28 Knight Center staff members arrived at 4 a.m. to help prepare.
• 2014: the chefs roasted 50 turkeys to serve more than 500 guests.

Many thanks to the Aramark staff who prepare and serve the Olin Thanksgiving feast every year before heading home to do the same for their families.

Click below to expand images:

Over the years, the Thanksgiving Feast at Olin Business School has grown to be a favorite tradition for many. The tradition started as a potluck dinner for international students under former Dean Stuart Greenbaum. The dinner was originally served by faculty and staff in Simon Hall, then moved to the Knight Center to better accommodate the number of attendees that increased annually.

This year, the Olin community looks forward to sharing this holiday tradition with several hundred of our extended Olin family of students, faculty, staff, and their guests.

Dean Gupta and his wife, Sunita, and the Aramark staff expect more than 400 guests to attend this year’s feast on Thanksgiving Day at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center.

Image: Jeremy Tarling, Huge turkey, Flikr Creative Commons

Many thanks to all the Aramark employees at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education and Conference Center who work so hard to cook, serve, and clean up the biggest Thanksgiving day feast on campus! 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of Olin’s turkey tradition that began with a small gathering of international students who were introduced to this very American holiday with all the fixings when Stuart Greenbaum was dean.

More than 500 reservations have been made for this year’s celebration. And the Knight Center Chef has roasted 50 turkeys. Pass the mashed potatoes and enjoy!!

Image: Rick Scully, Thanksgiving Dinner, 2008, Flickr, Creative Commons