After traveling to Saudi Arabia and New York, President Schenck spent two days in Washington seeking U.S. government support for the University and its students. She met with members of Congress and Hill staffers and with Department of Education officials. On April 29, she briefed twenty-five alumni and friends on recent developments at AUP.

President Schenck was upbeat about the ongoing re-accreditation process, the fifth since 1973, when what was then the American College in Paris received its initial accreditation. The University had attained all fourteen standards of excellence and was awaiting final word from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The re-accreditation team had praised AUP in its exit interviews, referring to our "plucky little university."

President Schenck related that AUP has entered into a partnership with the Eugene Lang College of the New School in New York and will share three majors. In connection with this new partnership, AUP has applied for a $650,000 Mellon Grant.

Graduation this year will take place at the Théâtre du Châtelet to accommodate the larger number of graduates. Honorary degrees will be granted to South African Nobel Prize writer John Coetzee, American avant-garde director Robert Wilson, and American entrepreneur Eugene Lang, founder of the I Have a Dream Foundation. Schenck invited everyone present to attend graduation and share in the many wonderful experiences of the Global Alumni Weekend.

President Schenck was also pleased to announce a new joint program with Oxford University in International Law that would lead to a Masters degree. Susan Perry will be running this program.

It was a wonderful evening at Café St. Ex in Washington’s dynamic U Street District with many new faces and Celeste joining us. Participants came from as far away as Richmond and Raleigh, including a a potential AUP student who drove from NC with her father to be there. All of us met many new people. Thanks so much to Carey Kluttz, AUPDC's new Event Planner and Board member, for arranging the evening and to Celeste for coming all the way from Paris.

The group created a short greeting to send to attendees at the 2010 AUP Global Alumni Weekend. The videos are dark, because lighting at the Café was dim, but you might enjoy them anyway.