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Taking Stock, Taking the Pulse,
& Taking Your Breath Away

Christopher Queen, Director of Alumni Relations

As the 1990s roll inexorably toward a new millennium, members of the Harvard Extension Alumni Association (HEAA) stopped to take inventory of their own progress. Each of the HEAA meetings for 1996-97 took up a facet of the human condition (though not necessarily in the order ordained by heaven): personal finance, careers in the nineties, love and romance, and health and wellness. The presentations, all offered by devoted volunteers from the Extension School faculty and alumni body, reflected a spirit of optimism for the future and a measure of the success that Harvard folk have achieved by applying their education to daily life.

"Financial Planning for Everyone" drew an eager crowd to the Grossman Common Room on October 9. The panelists were Diane A. Lapon, founder of Lapon Financial Services, and instructor of CSS-322 Developing Personal Financial Planning Strategies; Daniel Howard, CSS '83, account executive for stocks and bonds, H. J. Meyers & Co.; and James Cipoletta, ALM '95, attorney and partner, Cipoletta and Ogus, experts in trusts, wills, and living wills. Members of the audience, many of whom were recent graduates and first-time visitors to an HEAA function, shared their own investment, savings, and tax-time secrets with the panel and audience.

The December meeting journeyed "From Extension School to Careers in the Nineties," under the able guidance of Dr. Robert Benfari, popular instructor of CSS-217 The Assessment and Analysis of Your Management Style. Following his overview of waxing and waning professions in the current economy, Dr. Benfari was joined by a lively panel of Harvard Extension alumni from unexpected walks of life. Brigitte Carangelo, ALM '95, described her work as the founding president of Get to Know Boston, a "destination management company" that caters to the transportation, accommodation, and cultural needs of business and diplomatic visitors to the Hub and environs. Kelly Tyler, ALB '89, recounted the hair-raising conditions she survived as producer of a "NOVA" series on tornadoes and Egyptian tombs for WGBH and its PBS affiliates. Finally, Joseph Aurelio, ALB '83, ALM '85, encouraged members of the audience to change careers often, as their talents and interests shift over a working lifespan. Mr. Aurelio (who endowed an Extension School prize for the most outstanding graduate over the age of 50), has worked as a court reporter, a college teacher, and, most recently, a docent at the Harvard museums.

On Valentine's Day, the HEAA again marked the birthday and the favorite verse of Dr. Sue Weaver Schopf. Her breathtaking reading was entitled "The Saccharine, the Sanguine, the Erotic, the Wise: Further Explorations of the Poetry of Love." Following a tasty spread in the library at the Faculty Club, a mellow gathering of alumni intimates, spouses, and friends savored 25 poems in evocative categories. For a souvenir of the evening's tender and raucous moments, Dr. Schopf and Chris Hamilton, AA '88, ALB '93, EdM '96, and Assistant Director of the Master of Liberal Arts Program, distributed beautifully printed and wrapped copies of the poetry of William Carlos Williams and William Butler Yeats.

Bringing the regular meetings of the HEAA calendar to a healthful close was Dr. Donna Cooper, Instructor in Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and teacher of NSCI E-105/W Current Topics in Medicine, whose April lecture covered a wide range of topics for the savvy medical consumer: how physicians approach medical problems; how to negotiate the labyrinth of HMOs, PPOs, and managed care agencies; what questions to ask when joining a medical insurance group plan; and how to communicate with doctors and other health care providers. Members of the audience freely shared their own tales of success and disappointment with the American health care system.

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