Robert Baker, professor of philosophy, was one of four American scholars convening with British and German experts on medical ethics for a month-long conference in Freiberg, Germany. The scholars are producing a tri-lingual volume on the Nuremberg Code (the basis for regulating experiments involving humans) and organizing an international conference to be held in Freiberg next year. Baker explored questions about the validity of moral standards across times and cultures.
Martin Benjamin, professor of visual arts, had an exhibit on display at the Albany Center Galleries celebrating his twenty-five year career in photography. His work is in collections ranging from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to the Center for Contemporary Photography in Chicago.
Tom Werner, the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Chemistry, has been elected chair of the Board of Governors of the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research. The board determines the overall policy for NCUR, which this year attracted 2,000 students from 300 colleges and universities. Union was host to NCUR in 1990 and again in 1995.
Brenda Wineapple, the Washington Irving Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies, is the author of a dual biography about Gertrude and Leo Stein called Sister Brother Gertrude and Leo Stein. The brother-sister team collaborated on many art and literary adventures of the early twentieth century. During her six years of research, Wineapple discovered a wealth of new and rare material-an early Gertrude Stein manuscript, reports of her medical career, and never-before-examined papers of Leo's. Wineapple's previous book, Genet: A Biography of Janet Flanner about the Paris correspondent for The New Yorker, appeared in 1989 and has been reprinted twice.
Blending a fascination with bridges and a personal background as a Vietnamese immigrant of Chinese ancestry, Trinh Thai '96 will spend next year studying the social, political, and economic effects of historic bridges in England, Italy, China, and Japan.
Thai's plans recently won her a Watson Fellowship, a one-year grant of $16,000 from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation to travel and study abroad. Only sixty students from fifty American colleges and universities received the fellowship.
“To me a bridge symbolizes an obstacle overcome, man triumphing over nature, and even the passageway to other worlds,” Thai says. “I think we can learn a lot from ancient bridges. With all of our modern technology, we often lose sight of simplicity.”
Thai will photograph bridges in the several countries, explore why they were built, and examine any myths and stories that surround them.
In England, she will spend a month exploring slab or “clapper” bridges. She then will move to Italy, where she will spend a month studying the bridges built by the Romans. Most of her year will be spent in Asia, where she hopes to learn more about her cultural identity. “I feel that not enough emphasis is put upon what can be learned from Asia, in particular China and Japan.”
Corinne DeVoe '96, a mechanical engineering major, won a fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.
The Donald A. Stark Fellowship will provide $10,000 for advanced study. DeVoe plans to continue her work in mechanical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.
In addition to being a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers, she has served as an officer of Union's chapter of Tau Beta Pi; of Pi Tau Sigma, the mechanical engineering honor society; and of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Mr. and Mrs Ciaranello accept the Medal, awarded to their son, the late Roland Ciaranello.
At the annual Prize Day ceremony in May, the College paid special tribute to the late Roland D. Ciaranello '65 with an Eliphalet Nott Medal for outstanding achievement in his career.
Ciaranello died on Dec. 15, 1994, and his parents accepted the medal from President Roger Hull.
Mrs. Ciaranello said her son “always found time to act as a mentor for students. Were he here today, he would encourage you to work very hard, always do your very best, and always help and encourage others along life's none-too-easy path.”
Ciaranello was internationally recognized for his work on the genetic bases for inherited forms of autism and for his work in child psychiatry, which blended molecular biology, biochemistry, and neuroscience to understand the disorders of the nervous system. At the time of his death he was the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and chief of the Division of Child Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was the leading candidate for the directorship of the National Institute of Mental Health.
“Roland cared deeply for troubled children and their families,” Mrs. Ciaranello said. “We know his work will be carried on by his colleagues and young people like you. We know he would be proud and pleased to
accept the Nott Medal from Union College, his alma mater.”
A number of students received recognition at Prize Day for their academic achievement, community and college service, and athletics. Altogether, more than 100 prizes were awarded. Some who received multiple awards were:
Amelia A. Audette '96, an English major from Ballston Lake, N.Y., received the Daniel F. Pullman Prize to a senior of high scholastic standing in humanities and the Women Senior Scholarly Activity Award.
Rebecca L. Barry '96, a history major from Andover, Mass., received the Women Senior Thesis Prize and the Freling H. Smith Prize for the best thesis in the Department of History.
Nicole A. Beland '96, an English major from Dracut, Mass., won the George H. Catlin Prize as the liberal arts senior with the highest scholastic record who is deemed most promising for graduate study and an eventual career in college teaching and shared the David Brind Memorial Prize as an outstanding student in English.
Erica M. DeCarlo '96, a mathematics major from Endwell, N.Y., won the Frank Bailey Prize for outstanding service to the College, the Martin Terry Resch Prize to the senior showing the greatest promise in the study of pure mathematics, and the Eugene W. Hellmich Mathematics Prize, given to students preparing for a career in teaching mathematics.
Margaret Furman '96, a history/biology major from South Orange, N.J., received the Hans Hainebach Memorial Prize in Judaica and the Dr. Reuben Sorkin Award for proficiency in premedical studies.
Jason T. Katz '96, a chemistry major from Reno, Nev., won the Robert M. Fuller Prize for outstanding work in chemistry with an unusual ability in original experimental work, and the Charles B. Hurd Prize, to a student in physical chemistry.
Monique G. Lin '97, a biology/ philosophy major from DeKalb, Ill., was awarded the Harold A. Larrabee Prize for the best work in philosophy and the Robert L. Royal Award to a student accepted by Albany Medical College.
Kevin Makarowski '97, a psychology major from Washington Mills, N.Y., received the Edward Everett Hale, Jr., Prize for the best essay written by a sophomore or junior and the William A. Pike Memorial Trophy for attitude, participation, and achievement in intercollegiate sports.
Brandon T. Press '96, a law and public policy major from West Nyack, N.Y., won the Horatio G. Warner Prize, given to a senior of high personal character with the highest scholastic standing in the B.A. program, and the Frank S. Higgins Prize to a senior planning to study law.
Jeffrey Weinstein '96, a chemistry major from Belle Harbor, N.Y., received the Stephen F. Leo, M.D., Prize, to the premedical student on scholarship with the highest grades, and the Esther Wisoff Prize, to a senior entering medical school who shows great promise.
Union's Class of 2000while not yet on campus-already is making quite an impression.
A week after the May 1 reply deadline, the Admissions Office had received more than 620 deposits from accepted seniors for a class targeted at 520.
The yield was a fifteen percent increase-eighty students-over last year at the same point. The usual “summer
melt” – students who send in deposits but do not arrive on campus in September for whatever
reason could mean a class as large as 580.
Dan Lundquist, vice president of admissions and financial aid, said his office did everything
predicated on getting a class of 520 students and admitted the same number of students as it has in other recent years.
“We can safely infer that we are really getting
out there in the market,” he said.
The largest class to actually arrive on campus was the Class of 1991, which showed up 550 strong in September, 1987.
Two weekends before Commencement the College welcomed back several hundred alumni and their families.
In addition to the traditional Reunion parade and an assortment of class dinners and other activities, the Alumni Council presented several awards.
Receiving Alumni Gold Medals for service to the College were Ernest Gardow'56, Cindy Wolfson Sipkin'76, and Joseph P. Zolner'76.
Gardow has been an Alumni Council member since 1975 and a leader of alumni events in the Hartford (Conn.) area. Sipkin has organized a number of alumni events in the New York City area, including the popular cruises aboard the Clearwater sloop, and is a member of the
College's Trustee Board of Advisors. Zolner, a past president of the Alumni Council, is a tireless admissions recruiter in the Boston area.
The Faculty Meritorious Service Award went to Donald Thurston, who is retiring as professor of history and political science. Thurston was the first director of the College's East Asian Studies program and was a frequent faculty member in residence for terms abroad in China and Japan.
As for the parade, the Anable Cup for the greatest number marching went to the Class of 1986, the McClellan Cup for highest class percentage went to the Class of 1936, and the Van Voast/Class of 1941 Cup for best costume went to the Class of 1946.
The following officers were elected by their classes over Reunion Weekend:
1936
President, Joseph E. Milano; Vice President, Gerard A. Neumann; Secretary, Burton B. Delack; Treasurer, Morton H. Yulman; Alumni Council Representatives, Milano and Thomas N. Palmatier
1946
President, James W. Fry; Vice President, Albert K. Hill; Alumni Council
Representatives, William W. Beck and August E. Cerrito; Reunion 2001 Chair, Craig F. Mitchell
1951
President, Richard J. Killeen; Vice President, Sigmund C. Giambruno; Secretary and Correspondent, Richard A. Sitts; Treasurer, Alfred H. McKinlay; Alumni Council Representatives, Killeen, Giambruno, and Wolfgang J. Riemer; Reunion 2001 CoChairs, Van Der Bogert Shanklin and Arthur C. Glover
1956
President, Ernest B. Gardow; Vice President, Roy H. Nordstrand; Secretary, Alan G. Greene; Alumni Council Representatives, Gardow and Donald P. Hirshorn; Reunion 2001 Chair, Howard Levy
1961
President, James Reisman; Vice President, Howard G. Carpenter; Secretary, Jerry Thurston; Alumni Council Representatives, Stuart E. Cohen and Mark Wilson; Reunion 2001 Chairs, Cohen and William J. Condon
1966
President, Lawrence E. Fabian; Vice President, Howard Clark; Secretary, Robert H. Rice, Jr.; Alumni Council Representatives, G. Anders Carlson and Douglas V. Fox; Reunion 2001
Co-Chairs, Donald Lehmann and Richard G. Powell
1971
President, Allan A. Rose; Vice President, Jonathan Conly; Secretary, Henry Fein; Alumni Council Representatives, Victor Lerish and C. Michael Reger; Reunion 2001 Chair, Paul K. Male
1976
Co-Presidents, Meredith August and Jeanne Neumann O'Neill; Vice President, Cindy Wolfson Sipkin; Secretary, Lou-Anne M. Beauregard; Alumni Council Representatives, Lewis Insler and Louise Dunn; Reunion 2001 Co-Chairs, Charlotte Hawkins Burrell and Joan Lundstrom Jantz
1981
President, Samuel Post; Vice President, Susan Farley Gullotti; Secretary, Laurel Mastrogiovianni; Alumni Council Representative, Kathleen Donohue; Reunion 2001 Co-Chairs, Lisa Lessard and Post
1986
President, Jacqueline Dunbar; Vice President, John Seebold; Secretary, Eric Lipman; Alumni Council Representatives, Marianne Hladik Limoges; Reunion 2001 Chair, Jacqueline Dunbar
1991
Alumni Council Representatives, Ellen M. Nichols, Hans R. Schwarz, and Nina C. Smilari; Reunion 2001 Chair, Ellen M. Nichols, Hans R. Schwarz, and Nina C. Smilari
