Photos: New era for alumni house

Homecoming week concludes with a celebration as the Bea Field Alumni House is dedicated in honor of the late Beatrice McMillan Field, who served as alumni director at Tulane for 34 years.

With perfect weather for a tree-shaded ceremony outdoors on Sunday (Oct. 23), members of the Tulane community celebrate both the reopening of the alumni house, restored after Hurricane Katrina flooding, and its renaming in honor of Bea Field.

Charlotte Travieso, executive director of the Office of Alumni Affairs, speaks during the dedication ceremony. Tulane President Scott Cowen lauded her work on behalf of the university's alumni, presenting her with a large bouquet of flowers.

After a ribbon-cutting, Betty M. Field, left, and David F. Edwards, executive director of the Diboll Foundation, welcome visitors at the renovated alumni house. Betty Field, a three-time Tulane alumna, is the niece of Bea Field, and Edwards, a double alumnus, leads the foundation that established an endowment to support the alumni affairs office and maintenance of the alumni house.

Beautifully restored interiors welcome celebrants who tour the alumni house after the dedication ceremony. Over the mantle is a painting of the late Bea Field.

Photographer Matt Anderson, who received a bachelor's degree from Tulane in 1971, is delighted to see one of his photos displayed in the alumni house.

This room holds a treasure trove of Tulane memorabilia, including back issues of Tulanian magazine.

Among the attendees at the event are, from left, professor emeritus James T. Rogers with alumna Ruth Ulmer “Candy” Kirby, showing the cheerleading sweater that belonged to her mother, Ruth St. Martin Ulmer, a 1925 graduate of Newcomb College who was a friend of Bea Field. Musicians with The Last Straws entertain the crowd on the back patio.