Janet Anderson, professor of chemistry, is the author of “Polymers and Material Science: A Course for Nonscience Majors,” which appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education (December 1994). The article was based on a course she developed for the General Education laboratory science requirement.
Robert Baker, professor of philosophy, and Martin Strosberg, professor of management, are the coeditors of a book, Legislating Medical Ethics: A Study of the New York State Do-Not-Resuscitate Law. The book grew out of a conference held at the College in 1990, which brought together public officials, researchers, and health care providers to assess the impact of the new law. Partially as a result of the conference, the law was amended.
Joseph Board, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government, spent the past academic year as a visiting fellow at Oriel College, Oxford University. He also continued work about the rise and decline of the Swedish welfare state.
Vuk Fatik, associate professor of electrical engineering, delivered papers at the IEEE Mediterranean Symposium on New Directions in Control and Automation and the IASTED International Conference on Modeling and Simulation. All three papers developed an original variational theory that considers the evolution of dynamical processes in reverse directions-past to future and future to past-in order to extend Hamilton's principle to
linear dissipative processes.
Hilary Tann
Hilary Tann, professor of music, had her composition for mixed trio, Of Erthe and Air (for flute, clarinet, and frame drums) performed and broadcast in Ireland by the Concorde Ensemble
in Dublin and Galway. This and other compositions were performed by orchestras from Sacramento, Calif., to Pwllelli, North Wales.
Continuing what has become a Bicentennial tradition
of spectacular events, Reunion Weekend '95 brought the largest Reunion crowd in history to campus.
Director of Alumni Affairs Paul Rieschick '74 said, “The numbers on campus were larger than we anticipated, but all in all things went smoothly, and we are gratified by the number of alumni who expressed their thanks for our efforts.”
More than 2,300 alumni registered for ReUnion, and spouses, children, and guests raised the total number of visitors by several thousand more. They enjoyed seminars, races, a parade with visit
ing dignitaries (Eliphalet Nott, Chester Arthur, William Seward, Robert Toombs, Charles Steinmetz, and Minerva) and grand marshal Bill Huntley '34, the picnic, “Required Chapel,” class dinners, an
ecumenical service, and a piano sing-a-long.
Saturday evening's highlight events included an alumni concert consisting of 125 voices, honoring Professor Hugh Allen Wilson; a spectacular fire
works show put on by Steve Ente '75; and a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Social sponsored by Bob Holland '62, president of the Vermont company.
“I believe a huge percentage of our alumni and friends went home with a very special feeling about the College,” said Rieschick. “Special thanks are extended to all the volunteers who helped make the weekend such a success, especially the weekend's co-chairs, Bill Allen '59 and Gail Snitkoff '74.”
Five individuals were honored by the Alumni Council. Alumni Gold Medals were presented by Alumni Council President Art Salvatore, Jr. '62 to Gerry Barandes '54 and Karen Huggins '77 for outstanding service to the College (Huggins became the first alumna to receive an Alumni Gold Medal). Jean Collin '76 was the third Gold Medal winner, but she was unable to attend so her medal will be presented to her in the fall.
Professor of Political Science Byron Nichols was awarded the Faculty Meritorious Service Award and Vice President for Campus Life Joe Mammola received a Special Appreciation Award.
Barandes, an attorney in New York City and a member of the College's Board of trustees, was honored for his work with the New York Alumni Club, the Alumni Admissions Group, and the Terrace Council.
Huggins, one of the most
active members of the Schenectady Alumni Club, was cited for her numerous
contributions secretary of the Alumni Council, a phonathon worker, a Terrace Council
member, chair of ReUnion, a member of the Trustee Board of Advisors, and a co-host of the Founders Day satellite broadcast.
Collin, former president of the Washington, D.C., Alumni Club, became president of the Atlanta club when she moved there and revitalized the chapter with a number of new activities. In addition to her efforts on behalf of admissions and development, she also has represented the College at three college presidential inaugurations.
The Alumni Council paid tribute to Nichols for his “intellect, wit, and insight,” and honored him for his guidance of the biggest party the College has ever had-the Bicentennial celebration. As
chair of the Bicentennial Steering Committee, “Byron took on the appearance of a coach, encouraging his team to dig deep.”
Mammola was cited for his efforts in preparing the campus for the Bicentennial celebration, the construction of the Yulman Theater, and the restoration of the Nott Memorial.
Parade trophies went to the Class of 1975 for the largest number of alumni in the parade (Anable Cup) and to the Class of 1945 for the highest percentage of alumni in the parade (McClellan Cup) and for the best costume (Van Voast Cup).
The following officers were elected by their classes over Reunion Weekend:
1935 – President: Norman O. Chadbourne; Vice President: George W. Stroebel, Jr.; Alumni Council Representative: Kenneth N. Mathes; Reunion 2000 Co-Chairs: Chadbourne, C. Malcolm Rhoades, and Stroebel.
1940 – President: Robert W. Hanson; Vice President: Nathan Paul; Alumni Council Representative: Philip T. Hill II; Reunion 2000 Chair: Edgar Sandman
1941 – President: Paul Mara; Vice President: Robert Herman; Alumni Council Representatives: Donal Rickard and Alexander Turchick
1945 – President: Edward J. Craig; Alumni Council Representatives: Joseph D. Goldreich and Malcolm D. Horton; Reunion 2000 Co-Chairs: Craig and Chester T. Marvin
1950 – President: George E. Martin; Vice President: Samuel Stein; Secretary: Bertram J. Napear; Alumni Council Representatives: Robert Pletman and Charles Snow; Reunion 2000 Chair: Mitchell Rabbino
1955 – President: Martin Meyer; Vice President: Dominick Carbone; Secretary/ Treasurer: Gustave Umbsen; Alumni Council Representatives: Saul Babbin and Walter Stark; Reunion 2000 Co-Chairs: Lloyd Fallowes and Stark
1960 – President: Charles E. Roden; Vice President: David R Merritt; Secretary: David R
Meager; Treasurer: Lewis T. Buckman; Alumni Council Representatives: Buckman and Roden; ReUnion 2000 Chair: Roden
1965 – President: Gary A. Morris; Vice President: Gary G. Brown; Secretary: Jon Lechevet; Alumni Council Representatives: Brown and Sherwood B. Lee; ReUnion 2000 Chair: John W. Waterbury
1970 – President: M. William Munno; Secretary: Frank
Donnini; Alumni Council Representatives: Donnini and David Seward; ReUnion 2000 Chair: David Gray
1975 – President: Mary Alison Sloat Makarczuk; Vice President: Mark Manus; Secretary: Kipp Kelley Freeman; Alumni Council Representatives: Richard Burrell and Lance Jacobson; ReUnion 2000 Chair: Linda Burns Colmenares
1980 – President: Mirabella Sheppard; Secretary: Patricia Seftel; Alumni Council Representative: Richard DeVall
1985 – President: Paul K. Kurker; Vice President: Amy L. Solomon; Secretary: Jonathan C. Mathewson; Treasurer: Robert A. Israel; Alumni Council Representatives: Joseph Picano and Robert A. Veidman, Jr.; ReUnion 2000 Chair: Picano and Veidman
1990 – President: Cristos Nikolis; Vice President: Karl Hartmann; Secretary: MJ Conley Burke; Treasurer: John Meyer; Alumni Council Representatives: Burke and Hartmann; ReUnion 2000 Chair: Rebecca Whidden
Everyone who works on a college campus finds that the rhythms of the summer are very different from the rest of the year. With students gone and with faculty working on their research, the campus is indeed quiet. For those of us in residence, though, summer provides the perfect opportunity for developing long-range, strategic plans for the institution.
Summer also provides an opportunity to do other things of import. For six days following our festive Bicentennial ReUnion, I traveled to Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria and Wroclaw, Poland to set up new exchange programs with the American University in Bulgaria and The Technical University of Wroclaw.
Both programs should provide magnificent opportunities for our students to be exposed to other peoples and cultures. Aside from the obvious benefits of living in another country, the exchanges will give Union students the chance to see democracy in its early stages at work. Although the programs will not appeal to everyone, they will give the right Union students a truly wonderful experience.
In Blagoevgrad, for instance, students will be studying in a university housed in former Communist Party headquarters, and they will be residing in one of the country retreats of the former dictator of Bulgaria. Situated less than ten kilometers from the Macedonian border, Blagoevgrad also offers a great jumping-off point for those wanting to examine the roots of Western civilization.
Wroclaw will present students with a very different opportunity. Formerly Breslau, Germany, Wroclaw is a splendid city that has been completely restored. Situated in western Poland, Wroclaw was ceded to Poland by Germany at the end of World War II. In addition to providing Union students with a beautiful and historic setting in which to learn, it will give them also an opportunity to delve into twentieth-century history firsthand.
Four weeks later, I traveled again, this time to Wyoming for six picture-perfect days. No exchange programs, just great Union friends-and wonderful fishing and hiking! Among the joys of this job is the opportunity to meet interesting people. When they are
also interested in Union, our visits are all the more enjoyable for me. In the case of the Wolds John '38 and Jane-and Sy Thickman '44, Union has wonderful friends.
The Wolds, who have established a chair in geology, are among Union's most supportive friends. Each year since I have been at Union, we have managed to get together, sometimes to ski, but mostly to fly-fish. John, a great fly fisherman, and I were able to walk down to Outlaw Cave, the reputed hideout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and to fish the waters of the middle fork of the Powder River. Yet it was on his Hole in the Wall Ranch, where the Powder River flows, that we had our greatest success.
Success for a fly fisherman is for many measured by the number of fish and by others by the size of those fish. Although we did pretty well on both scores, real success is simply being in great country with wonderful people.
Following those productive days on the Powder River, Sy Thickman picked me up to “go for a walk in the park”-Grand Teton National Park. Having read about the Schenectady to New York City canoe trip last fall, Sy wrote to say that he had a great adventure in Wyoming if I wanted to take him up on it. Never being one to turn down an offer like that, I quickly accepted. The walk, scheduled to be a twenty-mile hike that went from 7,000 to 13,000 feet, was altered somewhat by the fact that a three-mile stretch of the Consolation Loop was still under deep snowpack. Instead, therefore, we simply went for a fifteen-mile stroll in the park.
Along the way, we encountered, among other things, half a dozen moose. Since Newt Gingrich had raised some eyebrows by saying that the reason he went to New Hampshire during the weekend that President Clinton was there to see a moose, we couldn't help remarking on the fact that the Speaker should have gone west to Wyoming, rather than north to New Hampshire. Besides, Wyoming also has a primary, although not the first in the nation.
Sy, who has made a major commitment to Union for an endowed scholarship, and John and Jane Wold certainly refute the argument that those who are not located close to the College lose interest in it. Last I looked, Casper and Sheridan, Wyoming were more than a stone's throw from Schenectady. Yet, the Wolds and Sy Thickman are great supporters of Union in every sense of the word.
Exchange programs in Eastern Europe, and fishing and hiking in Wyoming are hardly everyday occurrences. For me, though, the change of pace of summer in Schenectady gives us a chance to do much-needed planning-and me an opportunity to set up important programs and see good friends.
