The Harvard Club of Dallas opened its doors 100 years ago. Back then, Southern Methodist University was about to open. A Ford Model T plant had just come to what is now Deep Ellum. And Hockaday got its start in a house on North Haskell Avenue.
Over the years, the club, like its hometown, has blossomed. Today it’s a thriving alumni club with about 550 members and a regular slate of programs.
To celebrate its centennial, the club is joining with its sister clubs in Texas — Austin, Houston and San Antonio — for two days of events at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. The San Antonio Club is also celebrating its centennial.
The festivities will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a gala dinner featuring remarks by Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust. Faust will share her vision for the future of the university.
Another speaker will be a graduate who now serves as president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Richard Fisher will deliver an address at a luncheon on Saturday.
Fisher, who graduated with honors in 1971, kept Harvard in his family. All four of his children went there, as well. He’s also on Harvard’s Board of Overseers.
“Since graduating from Harvard in 1971, I have lived in London, Palo Alto, New York, Washington, Tokyo and Dallas,” Fisher said. “I have been active in the Harvard Clubs or affiliated organizations in each of these cities”
Although the Harvard Club of New York is believed to be the oldest and largest, Harvard Club of Dallas holds its own, according to many members.
“The Harvard Club of Dallas is growing smartly and is a very active organization,” Fisher said. “Few can rival its enthusiasm for our alma mater.”
One member who helped energize the club is Dulany Howland of the Park Cities. Howland, Class of 1967, co-chaired the club’s 75th anniversary event, which was also a two-day celebration, and is on the organizing committee for the centennial.
“We used to have one program every two or three months,” Howland said about the early 1980s. Now, the club is one of the most active in the country and often offers weekly events.
Howland also points out the club’s outreach to students and its philanthropic efforts.
The club’s Schools Committee provides a way for students in the community to learn about Harvard. Alumni also conduct interviews for Harvard applicants.
Its Nash Flores Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to Harvard undergraduates from North Texas. The Betsey Bradley and Hal Urschel M.D. Community Service Fund helps an undergraduate pursuing a public service internship in North Texas.
Betsey Urschel, an alumna of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, said she likes the club’s emphasis on community service.
“Alumni should give back, especially when they have had a good education,” said Urschel, a centennial celebration co-chair. “I also like that we connect students who may not leave Texas to go to Harvard.”
Rebecca Dubowy Posten, Class of 1995 and now president of the Harvard Club of Dallas, said the number of applicants to Harvard continues to rise locally as it does throughout the country. She believes this may be due in part because of the school’s generous financial aid.
Parents of current students can join the club. And there are auxiliary groups, like the Harvard Business School Club of Dallas. The Harvard Club of Dallas serves as the umbrella organization, according to Howland.
“It’s a vibrant and supportive community,” Posten said. “We have everything from large lunch events with distinguished speakers to small shared-interest groups.”
Most of the members plan to join in the centennial celebration. Howland said about 500 are expected at the dinner and 300 to 400 guests signed up for the Saturday sessions with faculty.
“We have rock star professors at these sessions,” Howland added. Among them are Dr. David Malan, Diana Paulus, Daniel Nocera and Edward Glaeser.
Howland will be there. After all, he is, as noted in a 1984 story in The Dallas Morning News, “A Harvard Man.”
