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Cranbrook Alumni Gather in Chicago for Fall Networking Event

11/13/2025

On Thursday, October 23, alumni living in the Chicagoland area gathered in the River North neighborhood at Chicago Winery for an alumni networking event. About fifty alumni, representing class years from the 1950s through the 2020s, enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and remarks from Director of Schools Dr. Jeff Suzik.

Award-winning architect and 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Dirk Denison ’75 was also in attendance. Dirk, founder of the Chicago-based firm Dirk Denison Architects, is providing guidance as Cranbrook explores ways to renew and reimagine its residential life spaces—an area of campus identified as a major need and a top priority for future investment. He shared his perspective on how thoughtful design can strengthen the student experience and spoke about the importance of community support in bringing this vision to life.

If you are in the Chicago area and missed this event, we hope to see you at the next one! Our Chicago CRAN Representatives who live in the area are already excited to plan a future event.

Make sure you have your Chicago address up to date by emailing it to alumni@cranbrook.edu. You can also email the alumni office if you want more information about the upcoming residential life project.

To see more photos from this event, click here.

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- Alumni connected in Chicago October 23
- Architect Dirk Denison '75 updated alumni on needs in our residential spaces
- Director of Schools Jeff Suzik gave a campus update