BGSU alumni will have a unique opportunity to return to the classroom during the Alumni College program to be held in Naples, Florida on February 13. The event will feature art historian and philanthropist Mary T. Wolfe ’68, ’07 (Hon.), who will share her research of the influential French painter, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Alumni College is meant to bring together Falcon graduates who are committed to lifelong learning and to their alma mater, said Montique Cotton Kelly ’94, ’04, the executive director of the BGSU Alumni Association. Florida is an appropriate place to hold such a special event, because the state represents the third highest concentration of BGSU alumni in the country. About 6,035 alumni live in Florida, which the most alumni living outside the states of Ohio and Michigan.

“This is a tradition for our alumni in Florida,” Cotton Kelly said. “We could bring faculty to present, but it’s so nice to have an alumna like Mary Wolfe who is enthusiastic about sharing her passion and knowledge with other alumni.”

Wolfe has spent her career sharing her love of art. She developed her expertise at BGSU, where she earned a master’s degree in the history of art and painting. She is now a corporate art consultant and interior designer, and has also worked as an instructor of art, fine arts journalist and museum director.

She and her husband, Fritz, are also generous benefactors to the arts. Their major gift named the new Wolfe Center for the Arts, a beautiful new educational and performance space on the Bowling Green campus. Wolfe is also a member of several boards and committees, including the Medici Circle Board at BGSU, Ohio Arts Council, Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Curators Inc., the Board of Trustees of the Toledo Symphony and the Apollo Society of the Toledo Museum of Art.  

Wolfe’s presentation through the Alumni College will be the day after the annual Doyt Perry Florida Classic, a golf outing for BGSU alumni and held at the beautiful Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

To suggest a topic for a future event or to RSVP for the Alumni College, contact Assistant Director for Alumni Affairs Marna Cousino at mcousin@bgsu.edu or 419-372-2424.