The judges in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II Accolades Awards program recognized the Reunion & Homecoming program, “Rensselaer in Space: Live from the International Space Station with Reid Wiseman ’97,” with a Gold Award in the Alumni Relation Programming: Events category.
The program, which was the culmination of a more than a year of planning between NASA and Rensselaer, brought nearly 600 alumni and friends back to campus during Reunion & Homecoming weekend in 2014 to participate in a live interview with NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman ’97, who at the time was on a mission aboard the International Space Station. The success of the program allowed a follow-up NASA collaboration at Reunion & Homecoming 2015, when President Jackson moderated a conversation with Wiseman and NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, ’08 (hon.)—this time from the Rensselaer campus.
The judges praised the program’s concept and execution, and noted that, as was mentioned in the feedback from alumni, “you could say the program was out of this world!”
The award was presented at a conference in Philadelphia in February.