Loyola Celebrates 30 Years of Global Learning with Newcastle University

The warm nostalgia in exchange at Alumni House on Saturday during Loyola’s celebration of its 30 year Global Learning partnership with Newcastle University took on a more urgent quality than usual. 

After all, one doesn’t often receive dear friends from overseas.

President Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D. was in attendance along with International Studies Dean Jack Hobson and roughly 50 alumni of the Loyola Center at Newcastle, all welcoming Newcastle University representatives Lauren Huntington, Grace Barker, and Martha Radley, as well as Vice-Chancellor and President Chris Day. 

Within an hour, the air was thick with stories swapped between new and old connections. What was your experience like? Was the Tuxedo Princess still open while you were there? Did you hear the Magpies just handed Ipswich a relegation? 

The lively gathering included a range of Newcastle program alumni spanning from the program’s third ever class in 1997–1998, back when the exchange lasted an entire academic year, to those recently returned from the 2025 Spring semester experience. 

Barker, Hobson, Sawyer, and Day each addressed the gathering with cheerful words of friendship, and the President of each institution exchanged gifts in recognition of three successful decades of cultural and educational kinship.

“I’m glad to see so many alumni of the program in attendance, and welcome you all to think of Newcastle as your second home,” said Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor and President Chris Day.

If the high spirits at Saturday’s gathering are any indication, this partnership is in excellent shape to endure for at least another 30 years.

To browse more photos of the Loyola Newcastle 30 Year Celebration, go to the Advancement Events Flickr page. Want to share your own? Email alumni@loyola.edu.

For more information about upcoming events, check out the Loyola Alumni Events calendar.