In 100 years of business education at SMU, there’s never been an official reunion of graduate business school alumni until Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.

That’s when SMU Cox held its first-ever graduate business program reunion in conjunction with SMU’s homecoming weekend. Along with participating in a range of homecoming activities, SMU Cox alumni from graduating MBA, PMBA, EMBA and MS classes that end in ’4 or ’9 gathered downtown at The Statler for fun, fellowship and a trip down memory lane.

FTMBA ’99 alumnae Michelle Weiss (left) and Stephanie Jones (right) memorialize their 20-year reunion in a photo.

Abteen Vaziri, MBA ’04, reminisced with his classmates about the stresses and joys of an intense MBA experience: “You’re in the trenches together. You live together. You go to happy hour. We all became family. All of us are very fortunate to now have amazing careers and help each other. None of this would have been possible without the network at SMU Cox.”

Missy Rench, PMBA ’04, recalled her SMU Cox experience as life-changing on many levels: “I actually met my husband in this program, and we met so many amazing friends. We came up with lots of them. It was really great to see the ones that we haven’t seen in years, and catch up on their lives and see how they’re doing in the world.”

The reunion was inspired by Dean Matt Myers’ own experience. He met his wife, Gina, while they were both graduate students in the University of South Carolina’s Master of International Business program. The couple has attended their business school reunion annually for almost 30 years. “We really love reconnecting with our class,” Myers says. “It enriches our lives and connects us with the university.” Myers worked with Kevin Knox, assistant dean of external relations and executive director of the Cox Alumni Association, to create a reunion experience for Cox alumni. The result, says Knox, was the perfect alumni opportunity.

“Get back together. Get to know your classmates. Get to know other people from the other classes. It’s a great network. The Cox Alumni Association is a worldwide network.”

PMBA alumni who graduated in 2004 reunite after 16 years.

Plans are underway for the graduate business program reunion of classes that end in ’0 or ’5 on homecoming weekend, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. According to Myers, “We want to make sure that we do this each and every year, just build it annually and make sure everybody understands what we’re doing at Cox, why it’s worthwhile investing in Cox and why it’s worthwhile keeping up with your classmates.”