World class: Alumni travel program connects Bearcats on global scale
Exciting excursions deliver continuing education, check off bucket-list trips
Most people have a natural curiosity to see the world, while most Bearcats enjoy being around other Bearcats. Alumni can check both boxes through the UC Alumni Association’s travel program, which offers about half a dozen excursions annually to fascinating places around the globe.
Nancy Upchurch, Pharm ’76, and her husband, Michael, enjoyed a hands-on culinary experience in a Roman kitchen, making homemade pasta from scratch. Photo/Provided
The range of destinations and experiences available through the Alumni Travel Program creates some visceral memories for those who take the journey. For example:
- Nancy Upchurch, Pharm ’76, took a trip with husband Michael to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Malta last year. Among the highlights, she particularly loved her visit to a kitchen/resturant in Rome where she learned to make her own cheese ravioli from scratch. And on Malta, she heard David Eisenhower, the grandson of Supreme Allied Commander and later U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, describe how the Allied forces entered Italy to help end World War II in Europe.
- As a maven of history’s standing stones phenomenon, Pam Popp, Nur ’81, Law ’84, was delighted to visit and learn about the Ring of Broadnar in Orkney, Scotland, during her Scottish Isles/Norwegian Fjords trip in 2023.
David Jones, A&S ’77, and his wife, Dottie, loved taking in the beauty of the French Alps during their Great European Journey in 2025. Photo/Provided
- For David Jones, A&S ’77, and wife Dottie, who took the Great European Journey riverboat tour through the heart of the continent last summer, a highlight was riding a cogwheel train up into the Alps, “soaking up the majesty and feeling how small we were in comparison to these big mountains.”
- Dr. Frederick Kaskel, Med ’72, ’75, and wife Phyllis braved the winter cold of the 2024 trip to Iceland and loved the social aspect of a UC contingent that was two dozen strong, busing together to see the sights in various towns and villages around the island. And he was grateful that on the last night of the trip the group trekked to a remote point and saw the northern lights.
Kim Dobbs, CECH ’78, shared many moments like this with local vendors in the vibrant street markets during her 2015 trip to Cuba. Photo/Provided
In creating such unique moments for UC alumni and friends to share, and enabling them to learn from expert tour guides each step of the way, the Alumni Travel Program is aligned with the UC Alumni Association’s mission to serve our Bearcats-for-Life, according to Kim Dobbs, CECH ’78, vice chair of the UC Alumni Association. She has her own vivid memory of traveling with her late husband, Bob Dobbs, Bus ’76, ’88, to Cuba in 2015 in a 10-member UC travel party.
“What we liked most was getting to talk with the people, to see the artwork they had created, and feel the pride they had, even given the state of their country,” Dobbs said. “Anytime you travel to a place that’s not like where we live, you learn something about yourself as well as the place you’re visiting.”
Pam Popp, Nur ’81, Law ’84, left, and her friend Deborah aboard the cruise ship Le Dumont-d’Urville, moments before setting sail from the Scottish coastline toward Norway’s dramatic fjords. Photo/Provided
Popp also appreciated the continuing education aspect of her visit to Scotland and Norway, something that Gohagan & Company, the UC Alumni Association’s travel program partner, excels in providing.
Much of the Alumni Travel Program’s appeal is how its offerings satisfy Bearcats who are nearing or in their retirement phase in a post-Covid era. Travel was difficult for a while but is seeing a big rebound now.
“We missed a lot of travel opportunities for a few years and it’s taken some time for a lot of us to have a comfort level again for traveling,” said Upchurch. “So this fit the bill of what we were looking for.”
A lot of bang for the buck/euro/krone
She praised the high quality of the travel experience and the level of detail that Gohagan delivered, from securing tickets to the Vatican and various museums, to getting reservations to a variety of dining experiences, to the precise timing involved with a busy itinerary. She believes she got a great return on her investment.
“When I first signed up for the cruise, I thought it was kind of expensive,” Upchurch recalled. “But as the days went on, I realized that once the whole cruise was paid for, everything else was taken care of, other than some gratuities here and there. We didn’t have to go stand in a line and get tickets and then wait and wait. All the arrangements were made before we got there, so we could tour all day. There’s no way I could have done anything like that on my own. There’s just too many things to plan, too many details.”
Frederick Kaskel, Med ’72, ’75, captured this dramatic photo of members of the UC travel party watching the Northern Lights early one morning in Iceland. Photo/Provided
Kaskel agreed that the level of organization and customer focus were definite strengths on his Iceland journey.
“I think travel companies have a mission to educate their clients, to make the travel easy, and they did that. Everything is done for you — just follow their directions. You go, and you learn along the way. It was one of our most memorable trips.”
A trip of 10 days or so naturally creates a social atmosphere. Bearcats tend to gather and be grouped together as their tours unfold, which they appreciate.
“The UC people had our own bus so we could interact more with each other,” said Kaskel. “In Reykjavik we had a social hour at the hotel where we stood up and talked about where we’re from, our time in school, what we’re doing now — really made us feel comfortable from the start.”
"We did some icebreaking exercises that helped us all get to know each other and become more of a cohesive group, rather than just be ‘travel buddies,’” Popp said.
Most Bearcats who sample the Alumni Travel Program are interested to see what other trips are coming up because they enjoyed their “maiden voyages” with UC so much. The schedule for 2026 and 2027 includes 11 trips touching four continents plus the Pacific islands.
“We’ve been getting flyers from the UC Alumni Association about trips for several years, and they always seem to have some interesting ones,” said Jones. “The Rhine River and Swiss Alps were always on our bucket list, the timing worked out, and we were so glad we went.”
Featured image at top: UC Chief Alumni Officer Jennifer Heisey, A&S '97, center, hosted a Bearcat contingent on a 2024 Alumni Travel Program trip to Iceland. Photo/Provided
Travel with Bearcats
All UC alumni trips include an array of enhanced travel services. For more information on the program and the array of upcoming trips, visit the Alumni Travel Program website, join UCAA’s travel mailing list, or call 513-556-4344 for more information.
Kelly Grant, A&S '08
Associate Director, Annual Giving and Member Services
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