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For the Record

Posted on Nov 7, 1997

Robert Sharlet, Chauncey Winters Professor of Political Science,
and a University of California-Berkeley research team have won a $250,000 grant from the
Carnegie Corporation for a book on “Russia on the Eve of the Twenty-First
Century.” Sharlet has also recently published four works, including “The
Politics of Constitutional Amendment in Russia,” lead article in Post-Soviet
Affairs,
13:3 (1997); “The Progress of Human Rights” in Developments
in Russian Politics
ed. by S. White et al. (Macmillan, 1997); “Bringing the Rule
of Law to Russia and the Newly Independent States (NIS)” in The International
Dimension of Post-Communist Transitions in Russia and the New States of Eurasia
ed. by
K. Dawisha (M.E. Sharpe, 1997); and “The Politics of Constitution-Making in Russia
and the NIS,” American University Journal of Law and Policy, 12:1 (1997).
In June, he also gave a presentation at a European conference on parliamentary democracy
held at the University of Umea, Sweden.

George Gmelch, professor of anthropology, and Sharon Gmelch,
professor of anthropology and director of women's studies, have published a book, The
Parish Behind God's Back: The Changing Culture of Rural Barbados
(University of
Michigan Press). An ethnography of Barbados' rural and most remote parish, the book
also looks at the global forces — notably television, migration and tourism –
that influence, shape and impinge on the lives of villagers today. It also details some of
the experiences of Union students who have lived and worked in rural Barbados as part of
Union's anthropology research term abroad.

Martin Strosberg, professor of management at the Graduate
Management Institute is co-author (with Daniel Teres, professor of medicine and surgery at
Tufts University) of Gatekeeping in the Intensive Care Unit. Published by Health
Administration Press, the book explores the ethical, legal, medical, managerial and public
policy issues arising from resource allocation in intensive care units in the age of
managed care.

Louisa Matthew, associate professor of art history, and Charlotte
Eyerman,
assistant professor of visual arts, both spoke in the Fall 1997 lecture
series at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls titled “The Permanent Collection in
Context,” a journey through the history of Western art. Matthew spoke on “The
Renaissance,” Eyerman on “The 18th and 19th Centuries.”

Patrick Allen, director of educational studies, recently received
an award as an “Educator of Excellence” from the New York State English Council.
The Council cited outstanding teachers and programs throughout the state at its annual
convention last month in Albany.

Hilary Tann, professor of music, has composed “From the Song
of Amergin” for harp trio, performed recently at Williams College; and “Of Erthe
and Air”(for flute, clarinet, and frame drums), performed by Dinosaur Annex at Paine
Hall, Harvard University. Also, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Gerhardt Zimmermann, is to premiere “Here, the Cliffs,” a violin concerto which
Tann completed earlier this year.

A book by David R. Gerhan, professor, Schaffer Library — Bibliography
of American Demographic History, the Literature from 1984 to 1994
(Greenwood Press,
1995) — has been recognized as one of the “Best Bibliographies in the Field of
History,” a tribute awarded by the American Library Association's Reference and
User Services Association (the History Section of its Bibliographies and Indexes
Committee). The award is given biennially “to honor outstanding English-language
book-length bibliographies in the field of history.”

John Sowa, professor of chemistry, has been named to a Community
Advisory Panel by Schenectady International Inc. and the Chemical Manufacturer's
Association. He was an observer at a recent emergency drill at SII's Rotterdam
Junction plant. Sowa also received OSHA Hazardous Materials training as a member of a
Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).

Jean Sheviak, associate professor, Schaffer Library, is a member
of the New York State Electronic Doorway Library Action Committee, which has completed
work on a draft of the third statewide technology plan, “Doorways to Information in
the 21st Century: Every New York Library an Electronic Doorway Library.” She was
elected president of the Board of Trustees of the Capital District Library Council and to
a term on the SCCC Library Resources Committee.

Diane Keller, director of academic computing; Ted Gilman,
assistant professor of political science; and Mary Parlett, senior computer
information consultant; gave a presentation on electronic classrooms at a recent meeting
of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC) at Franklin & Marshall College. David
Cossey,
executive director of computer services, was organizer and moderator. Cossey
was re-elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of CLAC, and was re-elected
as chair of the board for the 1997-98 year. Cossey also spoke on “Internet2, Other
Networking Developments and Other Technology Developments of Interest” for a group of
academic library directors at their recent meeting, “Academic Libraries 2000: The
Economics of Electronic Information.”

Margaret Schadler, research professor of biology, presented a
paper titled “DNA Profiles Indicated That Captive Pine Voles Can Become Highly Inbred
in a Laboratory Colony” at the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Society of
Mammalogists at Oklahoma State University. The paper presented evidence from DNA
fingerprinting that pine voles trapped in the wild will inbreed to the degree that little
or no genetic difference can be distinguished among members of the population.

David A. Cotter, visiting assistant professor of sociology, has
published a paper titled “All Women Benefit: The Macro-Level Effect of Occupational
Integration on Gender Earnings Inequality” in the October issue of The American
Sociological Review.
The paper, written with JoAnn DeFiore, Joan Hermsen, Brenda
Marsteller Kowalewski, and Reeve Vanneman, shows how, even after accounting for
individual- and occupational-level characteristics, the level of occupational integration
in a metropolitan labor market reduces the difference in women's and men's
earnings. The paper resulted from an NSF-funded research project on the determinants of
work-related gender inequality.

Martin Benjamin, professor of photography, and his wife, Donna
Fitzgerald,
are exhibiting the photographs Made In Italy at LuLu Gallery
through Dec. 2. The couple lived and traveled in Italy for four months in the fall of 1995
while leading a Union term abroad. The show consists of 40 black and white 16- by 20-inch
prints of photographs depicting life in Italy. They were made in Florence, Urbino, Buono
Convento, Venice, Pisa, Arezzo, Siena, Montalcino, Lucca, Rome and Sicily.

Karen N. Williams, counselor for the Health Professions Programs
and adjunct associate professor of biology, and George H. Williams, professor of computer
science, published, with two of their colleagues, a paper “Screening for Postpartum
Depression: An Antepartum Questionnaire” in the April 1997 issue of the Journal of
Reproductive Medicine.
The paper represents the culmination of more than 20 years of
research conducted at Maimonides Hospital, Albany Medical Center, Ellis Hospital and Union
College.

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Union in Story on Campus Filming

Posted on Nov 7, 1997

The College was part of a recent New York Times article (Sunday, Nov. 2) under the headline “Colleges are Often Unsung Film Stars.” The article recounts the filming on campus of The Way We Were.

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Art / Science Drawings on Display

Posted on Nov 7, 1997

“One must draw to think and communicate more fully; the artist and the scientist share this challenge to a remarkable degree.”

So begins an exhibit titled “Natural History Illustrations: Union's Examples from the Past and Present” on display through Jan. 2 in the
Arts Atrium.

The show contains a number of works by the two dozen students enrolled
in the Illustrated Organism (Art/Bio 45), taught this term by biologist Carl George and
artists Sandy Wimer and Walter Hatke. Along with student drawings of birds, fish,
salamanders, leopards, mammalian skulls and leaves are those by such notables as Audubon,
Alexander Wilson and Bente Starke King.

The drawings in the exhibit – by students and masters alike —
are striking in their attention to the rich detail of the biological specimens. The course
is devoted to the idea that graphic representation is a powerful concept and integrative
instrument.

“A great artist is very much a scientist in her or his search for
truth and documentation; the great scientist engages in much which is art,” according
to the exhibit text.

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Benjamin Cited for ARC-Union Photo Project

Posted on Nov 7, 1997

Martin Benjamin, professor of photography, has been awarded the 1997 Golden Light Award for Photography Educator of the Year by the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, Maine.

Benjamin earned one of the most prestigious awards in photography education for both the work done over two years with the Schenectady Adult Retarded
Citizens (ARC) and for the Union College student involvement in the project.

Among the Union students on the ARC project were Manisha Tinani
'96, Noelle Pirnie '97, Doug Tanner '98, Bryan Serrell '98, Azul
Jaffer '98, and Michalena Skiadas '98. Azul and Michalena are doing an
independent study and internship with Schenectady ARC and photography. Photographs by the
Union students as well Benjamin's works with the ARC students were considered for
this award.

The Union/ARC Photography Project is continuing, and the exhibition
“Good Shots” is traveling. It will appear at Southern Light Gallery in Amarillo,
Texas, in June and July 1998, and at LuLu Gallery in Albany in April 1998. The exhibition
was hosted this fall by the Kirkland Arts Center in Clinton, N.Y.

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Next at Schaffer Library: Interior Finish Work

Posted on Nov 7, 1997

With the installation of windows and enclosure of the building beginning this week, interior finish work on the new addition of Schaffer Library will begin over the next several weeks, according to William Shafer, capital projects manager.

Library operations are to begin moving into the new section by the end
of January, with Special Collections moving to the third floor, and Government
Documents/Periodicals moving to the basement as the first and second are being completed,
Shafer said.

Workers began installing roofing on Monday, the building's
electrical system has been “roughed in,” and stucco is being applied on the east
wall facing Alumni Gymnasium. The stucco walls share the “earthtone palette”
found in the Nott Memorial and Reamer Campus Center, Shafer noted.

Phase II of the Schaffer project — the renovation of the 1961
building — is to begin this winter.

Meanwhile, workers on Monday finished pouring a large slab for the west
lobby floor of the F.W. Olin Center. This week, masons are beginning to apply the
multicolor exterior veneer masonry, a sample of which can be seen in the southwest corner.
Crews at the end of November are to begin adding steel trusses to the north and south
blocks of the building, Shafer added.

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