Posted on Mar 1, 1994

A $175,000 grant to the College from the W. M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles will be used to improve and renovate two chemistry laboratories and equip them with some of the most advanced instrumentation available.

The grant will give Union students, including freshmen in introductory chemistry laboratories, access to some of the most sophisticated spectroscopic instrumentation, according to Leslie Hull, chairman of the Chemistry Department.

“It is highly unusual for undergraduates to have direct access to this type of equipment,” Hull says. “That our freshmen will use this instrumentation in
their labs, we think, will make chemistry at Union unique.”

Additional renovation will also take place in a senior laboratory in polymer chemistry. Added equipment for that lab was purchased with a 1989 grant from the National Science Foundation.

The renovation and new equipment are intended to raise the level of interest by students through discovery-oriented experiments and the hands-on use of computers and instruments, Hull says.

The renovation and instrumentation also will be used in the department's undergraduate research program. About fifteen students are involved in undergraduate research; most either publish their research results or present them at the annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research and at the College's Steinmetz Symposium, an exposition of undergraduate research.

The equipment includes two diode array UV/VIS spectrophotometers, two FT-IR spectrophotometers, and two capillary gas chromatographs with flame ionization detection. The instruments will be supplemented with additional equipment from the department that will include additional UV/VIS and FT-IR equipment, an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and two scanning tunnelling microscopes.

Union has received a number of grants from the W. M. Keck Foundation, including $100,000 in 1984 for computer science equipment; $125,000
in 1986 for chemistry, geology, and mechanical engineering equipment; and $200,000 in 1988 for geology equipment.

An average of twelve chemistry majors graduate each year, two-thirds of whom go on to graduate or medical school. Union ranks fifth of 867 fouryear private colleges in the number of graduates who go on to attain Ph.D.s in chemistry.

The W. M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest foundations in terms of annual grants, was established in 1954 by the late William M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company, who also created in his will the W. M. Keck Trust for the benefit of the Foundation.

Posted on Mar 1, 1994

The Yulman Theater Takes Shape

The normally quiet northwest corner of the campus has been converted into a bustling “hard hat” zone, as the Morton and Helen Yulman Theater begins to take shape. The new facility is located on North Terrace Lane, just north of Bronner House (now part of North College). In addition to the theater and box office, the Yulman Theater building will contain an actors' studio and lab, offices for theater faculty and the Mountebanks, a scene shop, a design and drafting lab, a costume shop, and a “Green
Room.  “The College gratefully acknowledges those individuals and foundations whose generosity has made this Bicentennial project possible:

Donors to the Yulman Theater

Gift of $3,000,000

• Morton H. '36 and Helen Yulman

Gifts of $250,000

• Robert Cummings, Jr. '71 

• The Fred L. Emerson Foundation 
• The Estate of James M. Schmidt '17

Gifts of $100,000 to $249,999

• The Estate of Margaret Lee Crofts

Gifts of $50,000 to $99,999

• Herbert 0. '39 and Jean Fox 

• The William & Mary Greve Foundation 
• Barbara C. and Albert W. Lawrence 
• J. Dawson Van Eps '28

Gifts of $25,000 to $49,999

• Richard A. Ferguson '67 

• Alan M. Gnessin '76 
• James H. Maloy, Inc. 
• Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Tilghman, Jr. '69 
• Gloria and Rhein Vogel, Jr. '53

Gifts of $10,000 to $24,999

• David L. Henle '75 

• Karen Singer Miller '79 
• Anthony P. Tartaglia '54, M.D.

Gifts of $1,000 to $9,999

• Vincent C. DeBaun '47 

• Lewis Horwitz '33 
• Donald G. Mackenzie '34

Gifts under $1,000

• Anonymous 

• Paul J. Adamo 
• Harold Ashworth 
• Kenneth Baer 
• John J. Barrett 
• Richard I. Barstow '29, M.D. 
• Peter Bishko '63 
• Lee Bloomrosen '76 
• Barbara C. Burek '75 
• Mary E. Cahill 
• Robert J. Campbell '78, M.D. 
• Philippe Y. Chang '90 
• Robert C. Connell '42 
• Francis P. Coward '42 
• Peter T. Crames '79 
• Burton B. Delack '36 
• Ruth Anne Evans 
• Janet R. Gray 
• Karl S. Hartmann '90 
• Robert H. Hess 
• Richard G. Hoppenstedt '73 
• Karen I. Huggins '77 
• Stephen S. Israel '49 
• William D. Katz '75 
• J. Robert LaPann '44 
• Adele Levine, in memory of Leonard J. Levine '42 
• Kenneth J. Male '45 
• Mary Kay and Lawrence J. Matteson '61 
• Julie C. Medow '92 
• Michelle Merer '91 
• Joseph E. Milano '36 
• Joseph A. Nalli '81 
• F. John Neverman '47 
• James B. Newton '71 
• Orazio Ottaviano '47 
• George R. Richards 
• Donal M. Rickard '41 
• John J. Roberts '40 
• Richard E. Roberts '50 
• Deborah Sabin 
• Michael 0. Schulitz '90 
• Patricia L. Seftel '80 
• Kenneth S. Sheldon, Jr. '50 
• Leroy Siegel '46 
• J. Michael Smiles 
• Peter K. Smith '70 
• Gail Goodman Snitkoff '74 
• Louis S. Snitkoff '73, M.D. 
• Dorothy Golub Spira 
• Professor Hilary Tann 
• John Tesiero 
• Professor Donald R. Thurston 
• Harrison Todd 
• Dean and Mrs. James E. Underwood 
• Edward W. VanWoert '71 
• Abbie S. Verner 
• Sally Webster

Posted on Mar 1, 1994

As a family practitioner, Charlotte Hawkins '76 is one of the people who is often seen as the future of healthcare in America.

Hawkins not only knows a little about everything, but also a great deal about a few things, especially obstetrics. In fact, Hawkins's practice, which includes one other physician and one physician's assistant, delivers on average of about 200 babies each year.

Hawkins wanted to be a doctor ever since she was a little girl. “I spent the first several years of my life going in and out of hospitals with a urinary reflux,” she recalls. “Finally, when I was six, I had an operation that solved the problem. But ever since I was two and began to remember the treatments, I wanted to become a doctor.”

After attending Union because of its premedical program, Hawkins went on to the University of Rochester Medical School. She toyed with the idea of a concentrating in surgery, but decided to become a family practitioner since she had grown up in the small town of
Newport, N.Y., and had been exposed to family medicine for most of her childhood.

After ten years as a family practitioner, Hawkins has developed reasons beyond mere nostalgia for why she loves what she does. First and foremost, Hawkins enjoys becoming involved in both a person's and a family's life. Living in a small city like Cortland, N.Y., has given her the opportunity to work with grandparents and their children and their grandchildren.

And working with extended families gives Hawkins a benefit many specialists can never enjoy-a clinical, family medical history. “You can really gain a great insight into just what's going on medically throughout generations,”
she says.

Since thirty to forty percent of Hawkins's practice consists of obstetrics and gynecology, she has the pleasure of nursing a fetus through prenatal
care, performing the childbirth, and then continuing through the pediatric stage. “Thankfully I'm not old enough to say I've treated one of those babies with adult medicine, but I imagine one day I will be,” she says.

Hawkins landed in upstate New York through the National Health Service Corps. The corps had paid for Hawkins's medical education and she was obligated to practice first in a rural medical district. She spent three years commuting among three upstate clinics that were at least twenty miles from the nearest doctor or hospital. She was the only M.D. on the premises, so she was
responsible for the treatments administered by the assistants.

A family practice in the middle of the nineties has its struggles. Hawkins says that insurance companies and government regulations have become increasingly inappropriate. She cites the insurance company representative who calls just a few hours after she has checked a patient into a hospital.

“We'll still be trying to figure out just what's wrong and the insurance company will want an update on what treatments we're going to administer. It can be frustrating.”

Despite these difficulties and the increasing risk of malpractice suits, Hawkins treats anyone, regardless of his or her ability to pay. “I simply will not turn a patient away,” she states firmly.

“Family medicine is a growing field,” says Hawkins. “Families like to deal with one doctor and not a pediatrician, an adolescent physician, and a whole cast of adult medical specialists. With family practitioners, one family can see one doctor.”

And for many families in the small town of Cortland, Charlotte Hawkins is all they need.

Posted on Mar 1, 1994

On his first night at Union, Jeffrey Wisoff '74 sat in his room in Davidson Hall and talked with his roommate about what each of them would do upon graduation.

“I'm going to be a brain surgeon,” he stated confidently. “Four years of college, four years of medical school, then a five or six-year residency, and when you speak to me in fourteen years, I'll be a neurosurgeon.”

Wisoff recalls the moment as he sits in his office at the New York University Medical Center. “My father (Hugh '49) is a brain surgeon, and it seemed like he had a very nice, gratifying, intellectually-stimulating life.”

But Wisoff is not just another brain surgeon (if such a thing exists). A quick glance around the rooms surrounding his office reveals a tricycle here, a puff basketball net there, an adjustable hoop for dunking in one room, and lots of soft cushioned mats and nerf and rubber balls.

The toys are a vital part of Wisoff's pediatric neurosurgery practice. When a six-year-old comes to Wisoff to have a tumor removed from his brain-an operation that may result in months of rehabilitation-chances are the child is going to need some fun and some nurturing whenever possible.

As he sets off on his evening rounds, Wisoff says, “When I decide to go ahead with surgery on patient, it's really a commitment for life. Some of these kids are going to need several operations and various other treatments, like radiation and chemotherapy, and you're with them through the whole process. You really become a part of their lives.”

We meet Christopher, a two-year-old who lies on a baby-sized gurney in the intensive care unit, gauze bandages wrapped three inches thick around the top and front of his head. Just
twenty-four hours ago, Wisoff removed a tumor three centimeters in diameter from just underneath the pituitary gland at the front of Christopher's brain.

Wisoff leans down and in a light voice says hello to Christopher as he takes his tiny hand between his thumb and forefinger. “How we doing tonight?” he asks softly.

A nervous father, already relieved to see his son's surgeon, answers for Christopher. He tells Wisoff his son is shaking somewhat, but Wisoff assures him this is just a nervous reaction. Normal, nothing to worry about.

“I got to tell you, doctor, you're a godsend,” the father says.

Then there is Boris, a thirteen-year old Russian immigrant who had a golfball sized tumor at the base of his brain stem. Only five days after surgery, Wisoff tells Boris to hold his arms out straight with his palms up. Boris's eyes close slightly, becoming serious with concentration that increases when Wisoff asks him to touch his forefingers to his nose. With a forced steadiness, Boris succeeds. And the joy on his face when Wisoff tells him simply and with a smile, “Very good,” is a sight to behold.

The joy is eclipsed by the way Boris rubs his hands together and flares his eyebrows at his mother when he overhears Wisoff tell a relative over the phone that Boris will begin school again, through tutors in the NYU rehabilitation center, in just a few weeks. If all goes well, Boris will be a full-time student once again in the fall.

Wisoff can't save every child he sees-no surgeon could possibly do
that. On his rounds he visits Sammy, not even two. Born with spina-bifida-a condition in which the upper part of the spinal column is exposed at
birth Sammy has now developed hydrocephalus-the gathering of water in the cerebral cavity.

Though Wisoff has done all he can for the spinal column and has surgically inserted a shunt-a tube to drain the fluid-Sammy has now developed an infection. As Wisoff moves away from where Sammy lies with tubes emerging from his mouth and the back of his neck in every direction, he says soberly, “Sammy's in some trouble.”

“I use diabetes and Mary Tyler Moore as a model for the kids and their parents,” Wisoff says. “Here's a woman who has had diabetes for twenty-five years and has been under the constant care of a physician, yet she's had an incredibly successful life. And that's what these kids can have.

“Seventy percent of kids with brain tumors survive, and we have a seventy to eighty percent success rate with our hydrocephalus patients. Even if the brain tumor happens to be a malignancy, radiation and chemotherapy work on fifty percent of children whereas only twenty-five percent of adults are cured.

“I think you have to have a different philosophy when you're dealing with neurological disorders in kids,” Wisoff continues. “For an adult with a malignant brain tumor, if you buy three months, six months, a year, that's tremendous. Each of us clings to every moment. But in the case of a three- or four-year old child, I don't know what you've done if you've bought a few months. When you treat a child you have to be planning for the next sixty or seventy years.

“With adults you're concerned with winning little battles. In a child's case, you have to win the war.”

Posted on Mar 1, 1994

Americans love their myths just look at how long Abner Doubleday's invention of baseball in rural Cooperstown has persisted.

But Mary Jack Wald '67 wants to let the truth out about one myth-women were enrolled at Union long before 1971, generally considered the start of coeducation.

Wald arrived on campus in the mid-1960s with her first husband, who was stationed by the ROTC to teach military history. Since the College allowed faculty spouses to enroll as full-time students, Wald spent four years as the only woman in her classes before she graduated and the Air Force moved her husband to Germany.

“I got married when L was eighteen,” Wald recalls, “and so L used to attend college wherever my husband was stationed. First L went to Boston University, then to the University of Tampa, and finally Union. The problem was, each college threw out the credit I'd earned at my previous schools.” Today, as president of her own literary agency, Mary Jack Wald Literary Associates,
this Union alumna puts her degree in English to good use. In fact, she has been using her English education for more than a quarter century, having worked as an English teacher, a book product manager in charge of mail order distribution and catalog copywriting, and a managing editor at Western Publishing.

After Western scaled back its operations in 1984 and Wald found herself out of job, she began thinking about becoming a literary agent. Her husband, Alvin Wald, a professor in the Anesthesiology Department at Columbia University, lent support.

In her first year Wald followed the formula of all aspiring literary agents: go to the American Booksellers Association convention and try to get a small hardcover publisher to retain her as a freelance subsidiary rights director who would sell the publisher's reprint and film rights. While she was at the convention, she used her Union background in an unexpected fashion.

“I recognized Paul Kurtz, who had been my logic professor before he became the publisher of Prometheus Books. So L reintroduced myself, gave him my business card, and offered my hard-working services. He responded by pulling out two pocketfuls of agents' business cards, promptly threw them all in the garbage can, and told me L had the job.”

Working with such prominent Prometheus authors as Isaac Asimov and Martin Gardiner gave Wald the foundation to build her reputation. Today, Wald's eclectic client fist includes Winifred Milius Lube, an author and artist whose Metamorphosis of Baubo, consisting of both original
drawings and text representing the historical embodiments of women's sexual energy, will be published by the Vanderbilt University Press; the literary fiction writers Eileen Pollack, whose latest story collection Rabbi in the Attic was reviewed prominently last winter by the New York Times Book Review, and Patricia MacInnes, author of The View From KWAJ, a collection of related stories set in the Bikini Islands during the nuclear tests there in the 1940s; Star Trek and horror writer John Peel; and Baxter Black, known nationwide as the “Cowboy Poet.”

Recently, Wald tracked down the essayist and photographer Robert Crum, whose work she had read in nature and science magazines. Working with Wald, Crum has created a children's book, Eagle Drum: The Story of a Native American Boy Learning to Dance.

“I like to try to show people their potential,” says Wald.

Finding new avenues for writers and artists has become essential in today's shrinking publishing market. With fewer publishing houses, disappearing imprints, and smaller lists, it has become harder for writers and agents to sell their work, especially literary fiction. As a result, Wald says, university presses are going to have to take up the slack for the larger corporate pubfishing companies that no longer seem interested in developing a writer.

Given the state of the publishing world in the nineties, Wald is working even harder to cultivate new projects and develop the careers of her clients. There's certainly reason to believe her business will continue to thrive, though. After all, when you've played a part in overturning a myth, the publishing world should feel like just another ordinary challenge.