Posted on Jul 1, 1996

Thanks to support from the Dean's Engineering Council and leading engineering alumni, the College has renovated a laboratory for electrical engineering and computer science students to study complex design systems.

The project began when the National Science Foundation awarded the College a $148,750 grant in 1994, pending matching contributions of $122,075. Alumni came through with gifts and pledges totaling $122,368 to meet the challenge.

The lab has been outfitted with twelve Sun Spark “LX+” workstations, a Sparcserver 1000 file server, software, and peripherals. The lab will support research and training in the high-level design of concurrent systems; examples of student projects that will benefit include several autonomous walking robots, VLSI custom chip fabrications, and a video tracking system.

Donors who contributed to the NSF challenge include:

$10,000 or more
Malcolm D. Horton '45
Frederick D. Hay '66
Roland W. Schmitt '85H
Walter V. Dixon, Jr. '69
Donald C. Loughry '52
Allan R. Page '69
Robert C. Sprong '50

$5,000
Robert G. Huntington '56
Hannay Reels
Richard M. Tyndall '44

$1,000 to $4,999
Robert Herbst '51
Donald Marshall '66
Dana W. Moore '59
Sun Microsystems
Dennis L. Deeb '82
Robert O'Hara '79G
Jerrier B. Halstead '84
Richard Kenyon, dean of engineering

$500 to $999
David G. Hannay, professor of computer science
Theodore A. Bick '58, professor of mathematics
Fred B. Brand '42

$100 to $499
J. Michael Smiles, director, capital gifts
John Spinelli, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science
Cherrice Traver, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science
George H. Williams '64, co-chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
David Hemmendinger, associate professor of computer science

$25 to $99
Keith F. Donahue '87
John J. Kaehler '82
Kitty M. Kaehler '83
Richard E. Palmer '61
Craig Petreikis '89
Julian R. Potts '54

Posted on Jul 1, 1996

The 125-year-old administration building is going to be named Armand V and Donald S. Feigenbaum Hall.

President Roger H. Hull announced that the formal dedication of the building will take place Oct. 25 during Homecoming Weekend.

“We are very pleased to place the Feigenbaum names on this building to recognize not only their outstanding professional achievements but also their support and generosity to Union,” the president said. “Their recent major gift provides continued momentum to our $150 million capital campaign, which is now nearing completion.

“The Feigenbaum name is known worldwide and is synonymous with quality management. It is appropriate that the building that houses Union's administration will now bear their name, which will forever be tied to the College. I couldn't be more delighted.”

The Feigenbaum brothers, of Pittsfield, Mass., both received undergraduate degrees at Union, Donald in 1946 (celebrating his 50th reunion this year) and Armand in 1942.

Armand Feigenbaum was worldwide manager of manufacturing operations and quality control for General Electric and Donald Feigenbaum was a top manager in GE's jet engine business when they founded General Systems Co. thirty years ago. The Pittsfield-based international engineering firm designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations throughout the world; in a recent article, Business Week said about the Feigenbaums that “Management isn't an art to them; it's a science.”

Armand Feigenbaum, president and chief executive officer
of General Systems Co., is the originator of Total Quality Control, and his 1951 book on the subject has been published in more than a score of languages and is widely used throughout the world as a foundation for quality control practice. He has received an honorary doctorate from Union and was awarded the College's Founders Medal for his “distinguished career in management and engineering.”

Donald Feigenbaum, chief operating officer and executive vice president of General Systems Co., is one of the acknowledged world leaders in systems management and systems engineering. He was one of Union's youngest graduates to be elected to Tau Beta Pi, the national
engineering honorary, after his entrance into engineering practice, for his outstanding technology contributions. He was for eight years founding chairman of the systems engineering committee of the American Society for Quality Control.

The administration building was constructed in 1871 as a residence for President Eliphalet Nott Potter. When Potter left the College in 1884, the building became a home for two faculty families. After a fire, the structure was remodeled in 1919 to become the administration building; up to that time, administrative offices had been scattered across campus.

Posted on Jul 1, 1996

Stan Moore, an assistant coach at Colgate University for the past four years, is Union's new head hockey coach and director of Achilles Rink.

The announcement was made in mid-June by Athletic Director Richard Sakala after a nine-person search committee had interviewed seven candidates.

“Stan has an excellent background in both coaching and recruiting at highly selective academic institutions,” Sakala said. “I'm confident he will be able to continue to strengthen our program as we enter our sixth season in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.”

Moore said the Union team “already has established itself around the ECAC as one that has a great amount of determination and a tremendous work ethic.

“Union offers a great opportunity to recruit quality players,” he continued. “The College's academic reputation, the beauty of the campus, and the enthusiastic support of the students and community-all will more than attract the interest of qualified and talented recruits to join what I see as a solid nucleus of players.”

Moore, a graduate of Oswego (N.Y.) State University, began his coaching career at the Division I level at Brown University,
where he served as junior varsity coach and then assistant coach. He also was an assistant at Providence College before joining Colgate in 1992. Colgate Coach Don Vaughan said Moore's recruiting and coaching expertise played a large part in his program's “steady progress on
the ice and in the classroom the past four years.”

Moore's reputation is one of a “player's coach,” and the four team members on the search committee were unanimous in their support of him.

Moore is the fifth head coach since hockey was revived at the College in 1975. He succeeds Bruce Delventhal, who resigned in April.

Posted on Jul 1, 1996

Mechanical engineering majors Jill Hahl '97 and Brian Smallwood '97 will join forces this fall with two students from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey,-via the
Internet for a “trial run” of Union's Virtual Term Abroad.

The term is a real-time, computer-based design experience that allows Union students to work interactively on a design project with students in another country.

The Union team, advised by Ron Bucinell, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has started setting up a design studio equipped for international communication. Other challenges, Bucinell says, include the time difference and cultural biases.

Richard Kenyon, dean of engineering, who has led efforts to begin the project, says that this program is likely to become a part of the new engineering curriculum. A major goal of the curriculum is to provide all engineering students with international experience.

Posted on Jul 1, 1996

In this age of corporate downsizing and an increasingly competitive job market, relevant work experience-such as internships or co-ops-is rapidly becoming a required section on a student's resume.

Finding the opportunities for an internship and full-time employment often means networking-creating a web of
contacts and information. Realizing the importance of networking, the Career Development Center (CDC) has been developing resources to assist students.

One such service is the Union*Career Advisory Network -U*CAN, which includes more than 600 alumni in sixteen major fields who volunteer their time and talents as career advisors. These alumni help students learn more about the job market, locate available opportunities, and provide additional assistance such as internships, recruiting, career observation visits, career panels, and employer resource materials.

“U*CAN has a very important and necessary mission,” says Guye A. Willison '90, of Maplnfo, in Troy, N.Y. “The program appears to be very comprehensive and thoughtfully designed.”

Andrew Lipman '93 agrees. “I have used the U* CAN with great success. Many of the alumni I contacted have called me back and have been extremely forthcoming with advice. I have found alumni to be deeply loyal to the College and excited to hear about what young graduates are doing. The system is a great resource, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have used it.”

A major goal of the CDC is to have the names of 2,000 alumni in the U*CAN by the year 2000.

Thomas Denham, assistant director of the CDC, says the
goal is “large, but reachable. The CDC relies on the support of alumni to advise students about the realities of the working world. That `real world' career advice can make a great difference.”

The CDC cites several alumni as examples of how to help:

Dan Emmi '73, a partner at Andersen Consulting, has led recruiting efforts at Union, resulting in nineteen hires this spring;

Jennifer Lawton '85 has been hiring students for full-time and summer positions at Net Daemons, a computer consulting firm in Boston;

Peter de Boer '93, of I.P. Morgan, sponsored the New York City reception for students and alumni prior to a recruiting day last January, and came to campus with Marie Wheeler '93 to conduct an information session;

Laura Iacoviello '89 arranged for the Bank of Boston to recruit for analysts;

Ben Levitan '83, of Cambridge Technology Partners in Massachusetts, interviewed on campus and hired three seniors.

Alumni who would like to share their enthusiasm and knowledge can do so by filling out the form in “The Classes” section of this issue of Union College or call the Career Development Center at (518) 388-6176. Each summer the CDC will update listings and inform alumni participants of how graduates are doing.

Another valuable resource is the Jobs Page, which can be found on the Career Development Center's home page on the World Wide Web (The address is
http://apollo.union.edu/cdc/cdc.html). Alumni can help students and fellow alumni by posting a job opening. The home page also has information about recruiting, events, internships, dozens of job links, and career services for both students and alumni.

The CDC also provides a handout describing more than 100 sites
for job seeking on the Web. Joyce Lain Kennedy, a syndicated columnist for The Los Angeles Times, wrote that this list is “very helpful.” The Career Center's home page has had more than 2,500 visitors in the few months it has existed.