By Melyssa Allen

On June 23, a Meredith alumnae event took place in an unusual location—a TGIFriday’s restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.

The reunion, which is believed to be the first international alumnae event in Meredith’s history, was an opportunity for alumnae who live far from campus to reconnect. Most of those who attended have not had an opportunity to return to Meredith since their graduations.

Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy Pamela Winfield planned the event. She chose the restaurant because she “thought it would be fun for everyone to have a little taste of America again.”

Winfield is in Japan until December 2007 as a Religion and Art Fellow at Temple University’s campus in Japan. The event was an opportunity for her to establish a network in Japan, and for Meredith “to strengthen the word-of-mouth network [in Japan] that might encourage other bright young women to apply” to the College.

Winfield and Assistant Professor of Communication Michiko Yamada, a native of Japan, served as hosts of the event. Attendees included six alumnae and their guests. Class years represented ranged from 1982 to an incoming member of the Class of 2011.

Yamada noted that the alumnae gave Suyun Chi, ’11, some insights about Meredith, including the strong bonds among classmates.

Two alumnae flew to Tokyo to attend. Teiko Higashi, ’90, traveled from Osaka and Eiko Kodama, ’82, flew in from Akita, which is located far north of Tokyo.

“I was really touched by the amount of time, energy, effort and expense they put into coming,” Winfield said.

Higashi said the effort was worth it.

“I enjoyed meeting everyone and sharing our memories at Meredith, talking about the professors and the courses we had,” Higashi said.

Cindy Suzuki, ’97, agreed that the best part of the event was meeting “people from different graduating years than I, [including] a person who graduated ten years before me in ’87, and seeing some pictures from that time, which was very interesting.”

The alumnae event, which is hoped to be just the first of many, is an example of Meredith’s overall efforts to internationalize the experience for its students, staff and faculty. For Winfield, events like these just make sense.

“I think it’s important to assert the global networking potential that we have wherever we travel,” Winfield said. “Being on the other side of the planet doesn’t matter that much these days.”