Posted on Mar 22, 1996

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan, a former republic of the USSR, found itself without the family it had known for seventy years.

Like a young person leaving home, the new nation faced the process of self-discovery without the support of the family. And, just as a young adult might ask for advice and a little help, so does a young nation.

Enter Eshragh Motahar, assistant professor of economics
at the College, who spent a portion of his sabbatical last fall helping to “invent” a new Tajikistan.

Motahar was invited to conduct a series of meetings and seminars with economists and government officials in Dunshabe, the capital of Tajikistan. The Aid Coordination Unit in Tajikistan, which is sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the government
of Tajikistan, chose him from a pool of invited applicants.

Motahar says that the small, landlocked nation of Tajikistan, north of Afghanistan, is in a state of disarray, not only turned upside down by the dissolution of the Soviet Union but torn apart by a civil war that began in 1991 and has been in a stalemate (with negotiations ongoing) since 1993. The result, he says, is “all sorts of political problems.”

The civil war involves a coalition of Islamic fundamentalists and secularist democrats fighting against the old Communist regime. With the stalemate, the “old types” remain in power. Currently, there is a formal sense of democracy, with a president, a prime minister, and a parliament (similar to the French government), but problems remain. A major complaint-one that plagues most of the former Soviet republics-is lack of press freedom.

Tajikistan is faced with serious economic hardship as well, especially in the remote areas of the mostly mountainous nation. There is tremendous unemployment (although there is no way to know exact figures since government bureaus, formerly run by the Soviet Union, are merely “skeleton” operations), and public employees, such as teachers, have not been getting paid.

Tajikistan has the fourth largest aluminum plant in the world, but because of lack of spare parts it is operating only at approximately ten percent of capacity. And lack of fertilizer, once provided-like so much else-by the Soviet Union, has brought Tajikistan's cotton production way down. (It once was the tenth largest producer of cotton in the world.)

Other problems, such as poor communications systems, infect the country as well.
Mail, for example, takes weeks, and phone lines are a mess, says Motahar. He sent a postcard from Tajikistan and it took six weeks to arrive in the United States.

Currently, Tajikistan is a total cash economy; no credit cards or checks are accepted anywhere. Since only dollar bills printed in 1991 or later are accepted, fairly routine
tasks such as buying an airline ticket are difficult. Motahar had to go directly to the airport the day before his flight to purchase his ticket-with cash, of
course and then return the next day to catch his flight.

Motahar says Tajikistan officials were eager to learn, but that was combined with some suspicion and
resentment probably to be expected in a country that was once part of a “superpower” but which is now on its knees economically. Some officials, for example, thought Motahar was a U.S. government agent or a member of the CIA.

Motahar says that Tajikistan needs to develop its own set of priorities. “They are a bit passive, in that they expect foreign aid and investment just to flow in, and they assume that it will all be to the good.”

Motahar advised his hosts to be cautious, pointing out that foreign investment requires a large investment by the host country as well, and that multinational corporations have shareholder interests as their primary goal. He also discussed the problems associated with foreign aid, citing the example of Kenya, which had plenty
of foreign aid from eighteen countries for a water project but very little coordination. The result was a water system that used eighteen different technologies and was impossible to maintain.

The people Motahar worked with were educated and intelligent, but there were some “holes in their knowledge.” They often had difficulty grasping the
workings of a market economy and understanding that the priorities of multinational corporations might be different from the priorities of the World Bank or the United Nations.

Since leaving in October, Motahar has been in fairly regular contact with Tajikistan officials through e-mail and Tajikistan's home page on the Web (http://www.soros.org/ tjikistan.html). He says that the country is attempting to put some of his suggestions into effect; in the works, for example, is a two-part foreign investment bill that will streamline the process for foreign corporations wishing to invest in Tajikistan and specify the economic priorities of Tajikistan.

For Motahar, whose main area of research interest is investment economics, his visit was a fascinating opportunity to be involved with the inventing of a new nation. It allowed him to see theories put to work, the consequences of policies, and what the conditions of success and failure might be.

“Economics is not a lab science,” he says, “but this is as close as you can get to experimentation.”

During the winter term, he was able to draw on his experiences for his course in international economics. After students grasped the theories, they began to apply them to real-world situations, especially Tajikistan's.

Motahar says that it would be nice to return to Tajikistan to see what has happened and to gather more data. He says that for other social
scientists, anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists the country of six million holds treasures for those interested in the emergence of a nation and of an independent people.

Posted on Mar 22, 1996

Milestones Two long-time members of the Board of Trustees have died.

Arthur M. Vash '51, a trustee emeritus of the College, died Nov. 13, 1995. He was seventy and lived in Westwood, Mass.

One of the first Union students invited for summer work at Brookhaven National Laboratory, he earned his M.S. from MIT.

An entrepreneur, he was a leader at several engineering and manufacturing companies, including the Phillips Screw Co., the Damon Corp., and Epco Packaging Products. For many years he was an independent consultant whose company, Gryphon Ventures, funded a number of high-technology firms nationally.

Elected to the Board of Trustees by his fellow alumni in 1971, he served as an alumnus trustee for four years, a term trustee for eight years, and a trustee emeritus since 1990. His service to the College included the Terrace Council, the Alumni Council, admissions interviewer, associate class agent, and the ReUnion gift committee.

Survivors include his wife, Carol, and daughter, Ellen '78.

Louis D. Miltimore '29, who began his service on the Board of Trustees in 1957, died Feb. 2 at his home in Hanover, N.H. He was eighty-six.

After earning his bachelor's degree in economics, Mr. Miltimore began his career at the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1935, he joined Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc., where he rose to become a partner, vice president, and director. He trained a generation of investment bankers who formed the core of the corporate department. His career included numerous corporate board memberships.

Mr. Miltimore was an alumnus trustee from 1953 to 1957 and served since then as a trustee emeritus. He was treasurer of the College from 1959 to 1970 and was elected chairman of the board's Finance Committee in 1965.

He received a distinguished service award from the New York Alumni Club in 1970 and the Alumni Gold Medal for service in 1974.

Survivors include his wife, Frances, and a son, L. Dean Miltimore '74.

Helping Teachers The College's Educational Studies Program will use three grants totaling $313,000 to support several professional development programs.

The programs, which include summer training, are primarily for local mathematics, science,
and technology teachers. The grants came from Goals 2000, a federal program, and the NYNEX Foundation. Educational Studies is in the final year of a $195,000, two-year grant from the General Electric Fund for professional development for science, math, and technology teachers in grades five through nine.

Calling all ruggers Plans for the men's and women's rugby clubs include a trip to Ireland to “try” their skills internationally and a tournament on the home pitch this spring.

Another highlight will be an alumni match during ReUnion Weekend. Alumni interested in taking part should contact Matthew Lux at (518) 388-5529. His address is Box 1190 at the College; his e-mail address is luxm@unvax.union.edu.

Posted on Mar 22, 1996

If anything could be called a “whirlwind” visit, it was Donna Shalala's day at Union.

From her arrival on campus at noon until her departure at 3:30 p.m., the dynamic secretary of health and human services discussed dozens of issues with hundreds of students and faculty members while managing to squeeze in a number of interviews with the press locally and, by phone, nationally.

Shalala's visit came the day after President Clinton's State of the Union address. She and other members of the cabinet fanned out across the country to “amplify” Clinton's message. Her trip originated at a White House dinner last fall, when President Hull invited her to come to campus. “I had Roger on one side of me and Anne (Dyson) on the other,” she said at her talk. “I really couldn't say no,” she said, laughing.

She began with a luncheon attended with about eighty premed students and students from American politics courses taught by Professors Jim Underwood and Terry Weiner. Keeping her formal remarks brief, she highlighted the main points of Clinton's address and spent the rest of the time answering students' questions. Her background and skills as a former college professor and administrator came shining through as she talked easily and openly.

She asked if students noticed that she was the only cabinet member not at the State of the Union address. As students nodded their heads, she explained
that she was called by President Clinton a few days before the address and asked to be the “designated hitter.”

A Secret Service precaution, the “designated hitter” is a cabinet member in line for the presidency who is asked to sit out from the address in case the Capitol Building is bombed. Twelfth in line for the presidency, she watched the address from the White House, just a few feet
from the Oval Office. “I walked by and peeked in every couple of minutes,” she said.

She reiterated Clinton's message of finding common ground between the Democratic administration and the
Republican-controlled Congress. “We need to get them to the table and make those checks and balances work,” she said.

Students raised questions about topics such as welfare reform. “The current welfare system should be changed,” Shalala said. “Welfare should be transitional. Recipients should be moving from welfare to work as quickly as possible.”

“But for that to be accomplished,” she continued, “there has to be child support enforcement, training, health care, and child care available to people.” She added that President Clinton often invites welfare recipients to his office to talk with him.

Shalala said that President Clinton didn't fit into any real labels, like liberal or conservative. “He is in the center. He was born in the center. He thinks in the center,” she explained.

Shalala stayed after the lunch to speak with students and answer questions before moving to the Nott Memorial, where she was greeted by about 500 faculty, staff, students, and community members as well as reporters, television cameras, and photographers.

Again, she stressed the need to find common ground and bipartisanship and added some thoughts about college education. “I went to a college similar to Union, and I strongly believe in the smaller institutions. And you are all at one of the best,” she said.

She addressed the much larger audience with the same ease and openness as she did at the lunch, walking around and often standing face-to-face with audience members as they asked questions. Issues raised included the president's tax plan, welfare being dehumanizing, uniforms in public schools, child support, and the economic situation for college graduates.

When asked about advice for young people considering a career in public service, Shalala quipped, “Think about medical school.” As the audience broke into laughter, she added that
students should think about public service, even with cutbacks, because changing ideas about the relationship between the private and the public sector make this an exciting time.

Responding to a question about inequalities, she said that it was the most important question she had heard in months. It is, she said, the issue of “basic opportunity. Should justice depend on geography? Is the kind of opportunity you have going to be determined by what state you happen to be born in and what family you happen to be born into?”

She said that a strong national government is still needed to set standards to even out these differences. “Being American means something,” she said.

At the end of the session, Shalala accepted a small gift-a glass box with an image of the Nott Memorial-from President Hull as a thank you. She stayed once again to chat with students and answer more questions before leaving on a 4 p.m. flight back to Washington, D.C. Both before and after her sessions with students, she talked with television, radio, and newspaper reporters.

Her agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for the major health, welfare, food and drug safety, medical research, and income security programs serving the American people. Before her current appointment, she served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first woman to head a Big Ten university. Previously, she was the youngest woman to lead a major U.S. college when she became president of Hunter College in New York in 1980.

Posted on Mar 22, 1996

As the College celebrated its 201st anniversary this February, it also celebrated its commitment to international education.

In his Founders Day address, President Roger Hull noted that the College has valued exposure to other cultures and beliefs since its founding, and that our tradition of sending students to other lands is growing rapidly.

“Twenty years ago, twenty percent of Union students studied abroad,” he said. “Five years ago, forty percent did so; today, the percentage is fifty-five. Given the fact that less than one-half of one percent of the twelve million college students in America study abroad, our numbers are truly impressive.”

He also noted that the College has broadened the range of possibilities.

“Again, twenty years ago, students could study in ten countries,” he said. “In 1990, they did so in seventeen lands; today, they have twenty-six programs to choose from.”

The president said that America's “melting pot/mixing bowl” character has made it a remarkable force, but cautioned that our unwillingness to learn to speak languages other than English could undermine our role on the world's stage.

“If we are to find success in a wide variety of areas against competitors from around the world, we have to understand other people better, and we have to begin to speak their languages,” he said. “And we in the academic world must assume the lead in attacking this difficult problem.

“Experimental language techniques, intensive language efforts, and the use of technology are some of the things we might well look into,” he continued. “Perhaps more important, though, we continuously need to expose students to other cultures and people. …It is up to us to insure that our students are truly at home in the world.”

In celebrating the importance of international education, the College honored the leaders of
three institutions with which it has student exchange programs.

Receiving honorary degrees were:

Gordon P. McGregor, the former principal of the University College of Ripon and York St. John in England and emeritus professor of education at the University of Leeds;

Tan Feng Liang, president of Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China, and a professor and scholar of ancient Chinese literature;

Sadato Tanimoto, president of Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan.

Several other individuals received awards at the convocation ceremony.

Mary Carroll '86, assistant professor of chemistry, received
the Stillman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Created by Union trustee Abbott L. Stillman '69, David Stillman '72, and Allan Stillman in honor of Abraham Stillman, father and grandfather, the award is given to a faculty member to encourage outstanding teaching.

Also honored for excellence in teaching were Rita Livingston, who taught mathematics and science for twenty-eight years at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper, Wyo., and Michael Zulauf, a history teacher at Gilford Middle High School in Gilford, N.H. Each received the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award, named for the 1809 Union graduate who was New York State's first superintendent of public instruction.

Livingston was nominated by
Graham Bryce '98, a math major and a graduate of Kelly Walsh High School. Catherine Bosiak '98, a history major and a graduate of Gilford Middle High School, nominated Zulauf, her former history teacher.

Professor Alfred T. (Ted) Goble, professor of physics emeritus and research professor of physics, was honored for his fifty continuous years of service and contributions to the College. Goble joined the Union faculty in 1945 and became research professor in 1974.

Posted on Mar 22, 1996

Remarks from the Founders Day Convocation

Founders Day is the day when we look back to our roots. Established as a Union of all faiths, we recognized from 1795 that exposure to peoples of different beliefs was important in an academic setting. Hence, the establishment of Union as America's first nondenominational college.

We also recognized from the start that exposure to different languages was important. An obvious form of this exposure-a form to which we pay tribute today-is through our exchanges and terms abroad. We have had a long tradition of sending students to study in other
lands and that tradition is growing annually.

Twenty years ago, twenty percent of Union students studied abroad; five years ago, forty percent did so; today, the percentage is fifty-five. Given the fact that less than one-half of one percent of the twelve million students in America study abroad, our numbers-which I expect to continue to grow-are truly impressive.

Equally important, we have broadened the range of opportunities available to our students. In 1975, students could study in ten countries; in 1990, they did so in seventeen lands; today, they have twenty-six programs to choose from. And, whereas the overwhelming number of programs were in western European countries until 1990, we have added Barbados, Brazil, Costa Rica, Kenya, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Korea and are examining a range of additional possibilities.

We believe in international education, and we are doing what we can to make it possible for all of our students to have an international experience. Until this year, engineering students were largely stymied in their efforts to go abroad; now, thanks to the dean and the faculty in the engineering division, the opportunity that all should have will be readily available to all.

We can even create innovative alternatives for students to be directly involved with their peers at foreign universities without having to travel farther than their personal computer. One such idea has been suggested by Professor Bruce Reynolds of the Economics Department, who proposed the creation of a “virtual term abroad” during which Union students could, in the context of an interdisciplinary course, interact via e-mail with peers at partner institutions overseas, exploring different cultures and critiquing papers and research projects.

As a nation, the United States has been a world leader almost from its inception. From arts to arms, from education to exploration, from industry to inquiry, Americans have taken the lead. Imagination and innovation are clearly not indigenous to American soil, but they have been part and parcel of the American character. And that character, blended together in a melting pot/mixing bowl with ingredients from throughout the world, has forged a strength that has been made the United States a remarkable force.

Yet, ironically, one element of the American character may have the potential of undermining the U.S. role on the world stage-our unwillingness to learn to speak languages other then English and to make an effort to understand other people. Perhaps it is because
we have tried for so long to blend various nationalities that we have
assumed that English should be spoken by all; perhaps it is because, having dealt with people from around the world on our own shores, we have believed that everyone would always want to speak English and to be an American.

Whatever the reason, our unwillingness to learn other languages and understand other cultures can seriously affect the U.S. role on the world stage. Take, for instance, the cases of the lands from which those we honor today come-China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

For China, its position in the world is, in part, attributable to the ability of its people to understand others and, increasingly, to speak other languages, including, of course, English-and our disagreements with China are partially attributable to our failure to understand Chinese culture and history.

As for Japan, although we are quick to place the blame for our trade imbalances on barriers erected by the Japanese (and there are barriers), we are kidding ourselves when we conclude that barriers are the only reason for a constantly-growing deficit between out two countries. A far more logical explanation is the fact that, while there are tens of thousands of Japanese in the United States speaking English, we have tens of thousands of Americans in Japan speaking English almost exclusively.

As for the United Kingdom, long the dominant world power, its decline can be attributed in part to the same linguistic and cultural chauvinism that the United States is displaying today.

If we are to find success in a wide variety of areas against competitors from around the world, we have to understand other people better, and we have to begin to speak their languages. And we in the academic world must assume the lead in attacking this difficult problem.

In the past, colleges like Union used to require a year or two of a language, but they gave up the useless exercise during the 1960s and 1970s when students were saying “no” to all requirements; today, many colleges are once again bringing back the same foolish requirements. Why “foolish?” Because telling an eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old that he or she
must take a year or two of a language often results in nothing more than the grudging memorization of a few nouns and the conjugation of a few more verbs. If we cannot get children to start learning language as toddlers-the way people around the world do-we should develop fresh approaches and new programs in college. New programs-not the discarded programs of the past.

Experimental language techniques, intensive language efforts, and the use of technology are some of the things that we might well look into. Perhaps more important, though, we continuously need to expose students to other cultures and people, knowing full well that by sending students abroad we will be exposing them to the joy of speaking other languages and encouraging them to become more linguistically adept.

It is up to us to insure that our students are truly at home in the world, through, for example, programs such
as our five-year BA/MBA, which requires our
students to select a double major in a modern language and social science and to participate in a term abroad and an international internship.

We have much to feel proud of today as we celebrate our 201 st birthday. At the same time, we all recognize that there is still so very much to do. In this particular area, as we honor the heads of three institutions from around the globe with whom we have had long-standing relationships, we should strive to make our students citizens of the world in every sense of the word.

ROGER H. HULL