Greetings from the HCWPA President...


July 8, 2024

Welcome to the Harvard Club of Western PA (HCWPA). We are a Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Club based in Pittsburgh, PA. HCWPA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose dues and student-related contributions are tax deductible. Your support enables us to fund our Schools & Scholarship Committee activities, including recruitment activities and receptions for local admitted students. HCWPA also provides venues for you to cultivate and grow close ties and affiliations with your fellow–Harvard alumni family.


For your information, our Schools & Scholarship Committee is currently seeking alumni who are willing to interview local candidates for admission to Harvard’s Class of 2029. If you have the interest and the time, please feel free to contact the HCWPA Schools & Scholarship Committee Chair, Leigh Argentieri Coogan (Harvard Class of 2010) at coogan.leigh@gmail.com.

I encourage you to periodically visit our website regarding upcoming events including our annual Fall Family Picnic, from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 21, 2024, in O’Hara Township Community Park. This is a family picnic – children and family members are welcome! There is a playground next to our shelter. The Club will provide hamburgers, veggie burgers, soft drinks and beer from local breweries. Those with a last name in the A – N range can feel free to bring a salad or an appetizer; while those with a last name in the O – Z range can feel free to bring a dessert. This family picnic will take place “rain or shine”! If you are planning to attend, please RSVP affirmatively to Suzy Apel at saapel17@gmail.com.

In addition, stay tuned for other networking opportunities and events throughout the upcoming academic year
including:
 The Harvard-Yale Game watch party, at noon on Saturday, November 23 rd , at the Allegheny H-Y-P Club;
 Various ad hoc volunteer community service activities (yet to be announced);
 Periodic networking events such as lectures, plays and cultural district performances, and supper club outings (both among Harvard alums and with the broader All-Ivy-Plus community in Pittsburgh);
 Our Annual Dinner meeting, at a date to be determined in May 2025, which will culminate our program year.


You can typically register for HCWPA-affiliated events via our website at https://hcwesternpennsylvania.clubs.harvard.edu. In addition, updates and details regarding these and other events will be sent to you via e-mail. Please let us know if you would like to be added to the distribution list for our periodic e-mail updates, by reaching out to HCWPA Vice President and webmaster – Mark Zheng at zhengmark87@gmail.com. As a reminder, our standard one-year HCWPA membership is $55 and is effective from September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025. Note that we offer a discounted HCWPA membership rate of $25 for those Harvard alums who have graduated in 2014 or later.


On behalf of the HCWPA Executive Committee, I would like to extend our best wishes to you for a positive and productive year! If you have any questions, or if you want to share ideas to enhance our HCWPA offerings and club membership experience, please feel free to contact me at vij14@pitt.edu or via cellphone at 412-327-8459.


Warm regards,
Vincent O. Johnson
(he/him/his)
Harvard College Class of 1979