Raymond alumni and faculty come together from time to time in small groups to pursue projects of common interest. Some are formal projects that are clearly branded “Raymond.” Here are some examples.
The Reading Group began in the 1970s when Prof. Walter (Mike) Wagner and a group of alumni decided to continue the readings in economics and political theory that had started in Wagner’s “Introduction to the Modern World” seminars. Group membership is by invitation only and meets monthly, discussing books selected by the members. Salon Magazine described the reading group as perhaps one of the longest standing non-fiction reading groups in the US.
A Database of Raymond Alumni and Faculty allows us to find each other and maintain communications within our community, even though we are scattered across the world. When Raymond closed, many alumni grieved the loss of the college, and did not feel the larger university (University of the Pacific) represented our interests. In the 1980s, we developed our own database of Raymond alumni and faculty contact information, accessible only by our community.
The Raymond Common Room Listserve allows alumni and faculty to connect electronically and maintain our intentional virtual community. The email discussion group reads, discusses, and argues about current affairs, politics, history, medical research, and personal news.
The Raymondcollege.org Website provides our community a home for all our communications and projects. We can maintain an ongoing presence for ourselves and our own interests, while representing the best of Raymond College, and our many endeavors and considerations, to the world at large.
Raymond Phoenix Institute (RPI) is our non-profit corporation, established in 2006. It is committed to insuring the exchange of intellectual ideas, opinions, experiences and pursuits among its members. It promotes dynamic and critical analysis. Programs incorporate networking, daily internet dialogue, events, interface with UOP, maintenance of Raymond College history, as well as research and service to individuals and our greater Raymond community. It is the fiscal agent for any group activities we plan, and serves as the business entity for the Raymond community.
Reunions are organized by RPI, and held roughly every five years, usually in Stockton, with one day of the weekend reunion held on the UOP campus, in the Raymond quadrangle. Typically we hold a series of seminar groups led by alumni or former faculty, sometimes partnering with current UOP faculty.
Our Raymond Archives are located in the UOP library collection. They include donated primary source material from alumni and faculty, including original brochures for the college, student required reading lists, news articles about the college, and photographs.
The Raymond College Study Room is a small-group study room on the second floor of the library. Donations from alumni paid for construction of the study room. Once completed, it will include media information on Raymond College, as well as internet links to the Raymond Archives, and to the Raymond Oral History Project not yet started.
The Faulkner Reading Group is a relatively new addition to the Raymond projects. Professor John Williams, a Faulkner scholar, hosts an independent study group of alumni, meeting one day a month and discussing novels of William Faulkner. (Currently on hold due to the pandemic)
A Raymond Oral History Project is in the planning stages. Oral histories will be organized thematically rather than simply being memories of individual students. At this point, we envision themes that reflect the major attributes of the era in which the college existed, i.e., civil rights, feminism, community activism.
