Dudley House Celebrates 20 Years

In the southwest corner of Harvard Yard, graduate students and alumni sipped Dudley Daiquiris and snacked on Dudley House-themed green and yellow candies Thursday evening, as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of Harvard’s graduate student center.

Dudley House, founded in 1991, provides a meeting place and social center for the 4,000 students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

University President Drew G. Faust spoke at the event, and thanked the graduate students for their dedication to scholarship.

“The best thing about Harvard University is the people who are in it.” Faust said.

“We have to make sure that all those students have a chance to intersect with one another.”

Faust also joked about the weather conditions—which were similar to those at Harvard’s 375th anniversary celebration two weeks ago—by saying that she was “a little sad” to see that the graduate center had the foresight to holds its festivities indoors.

According to Dudley House Master James M. Hogle, Dudley House was founded as an “experiment” and was designed to give students in GSAS a communal space to relax and interact across disciplines.

The house employs 25 graduate students, who serve as Fellows. They collectively host events including art and music classes, outings to Boston, intramural sports, monthly book clubs, and theme parties.

“In general the offering are so diverse that people often find they will be participating in one way or another,” said Coordinating Fellow Anshul Kumar.

Another attendee, former Dudley House Master and GSAS Alum Everett Mendelsohn, said there was no real common space when he came to graduate school in the 1950s.

“One of the things we had in mind as masters was to bring into the house some of the things we missed as grad students,” said Everett, who is also a History of Science professor.

The House’s offerings now include a dining hall, game rooms, a cafe, and even a shower.

“It really is a place for students to come and take a break,” said Graduate Student Council President Cammi N. Valdez.

Some in attendance had Dudley House to thank for more than just its social offerings. Graduate students Katie M. Rose and Jonathan Ruel met at the 2008 Spring Swing Party hosted by Dudley house. They are now married and expecting their first child.

Rose and Ruel are in different departments, and if Dudley House did not exist, they say they may have never met.

According to Dudley House Administrator Susan Zawalich, who has been working at the house for 19 years, Rose and Ruel’s case is not unique.

“Several couples who meet here have married,” she said. “The place means a lot to the students.”