A committee has been formed to evaluate the tenurability of Eshragh Motahar, assistant professor of economics. Members of the Union community are invited to submit
testimony on his teaching, scholarship or service to the committee chair, Steven Sargent, history. Other members are Felmon Davis, philosophy; William Fairchild, mathematics; and James Kenney, economics.
Coming Events
Tea Time in the Nott Memorial continues every Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m.
The weekly social event is intended to provide a quiet and elegant atmosphere for
interaction among students, faculty and staff.
Schaffer Library will have a book sale on Oct. 22 from noon to 4:30 p.m. in the
lower level of the library. Hardcovers are $1, paperbacks 50 cents. For more information,
call ext. 6632.
William Hogan, a specialist on the restructuring of the electric industry, will deliver
the 64th Steinmetz Memorial Lecture, titled “The Revolution in the Electric
Industry” on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. Hogan, the
Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government, has long been exploring the issues involved in the transition to a more
competitive electricity market.
The Wihan String Quartet will perform a program of music by Haydn, Janacek and Dvorak on
Friday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. The concert, part of the Schenectady
Museum-Union College chamber series, is $12 ($6 for students).
Homecoming and Parents' Weekend will be celebrated jointly on Oct. 25 through 27.
Events are detailed in a brochure from Annual Giving and Alumni Programs and the Dean of
Students Office. For more information, call ext. 6168 or ext. 6116.
John Garver, associate professor of geology, will deliver a faculty colloquium on
“The Geology of Kamchatka, Russia, and the Status of the Geosciences in Russia”
on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. (The
talk had been scheduled for an earlier date.)
Realignment Announced
President Roger Hull has announced a staff realignment.
— Diane Blake, vice president for finance, will be responsible for Campus Operations and Capital Projects in addition to the Finance Office.
— Joseph Mammola will become Vice President for Public Affairs, responsible for the Public Relations Office.
The President said the changes are designed to facilitate coordination of such major
projects as the F.W. Olin Center and the renovation and expansion of Schaffer Library
while enhancing the College's promotional effort.
Happy Birthday, George Westinghouse
It was a birthday party of sorts for George Westinghouse on Sunday in the Nott Memorial.
Charles A. Ruch, historian for the Westinghouse Museum in Pittsburgh, played the part
of the man (born 150 years ago to the day) who invented the train air brake and a.c. power
in a one-man show titled “George Westinghouse Returns” to open this fall's
exhibit in Mandeville Gallery.
“George Westinghouse: Inventor, Entrepreneur and Humanitarian” runs through
Dec. 1.
Born in Central Bridge and raised in Schenectady, Westinghouse got his start as an
engineer at his father's threshing machine factory, located on the site of the current
General Electric complex. Westinghouse also studied engineering at Union College — albeit
for one semester — while pursuing his invention of an improved rotary steam engine.
Westinghouse received some 360 patents and started 60 companies that had a total of
50,000 employees. At his peak, he was the largest employer in industrial history. He was
also the first industrialist to introduce a shortened workweek.
Susan Staffa is curator. Also contributing was Frank Wicks, author of an article on
Westinghouse in this month's Mechanical Engineering. Sandra Ericson is director of the
Mandeville Gallery.
17 Enter As Union Scholars
The pilot project for the Union Scholars program has begun, it was reported by Dean of Faculty Linda Cool at the recent Board of Trustees meeting.
Seventeen entering freshmen have accepted the College's invitation to participate in the four-year honors program.
Union Scholars enroll in four courses during the fall term (one more than usual), participate in a special two-term freshmen preceptorial, and begin planning for an independent project to be conducted with a faculty mentor during the sophomore year.
“Several of these talented students already have let us know that a major reason for their selecting Union was the Union Scholars program,” Cool said.
Cool also reported that the new freshman engineering curriculum will serve more
freshmen than anticipated; about 70 freshmen engineers were expected, but after course
registration at summer orientation that number was nearly 100.
Faculty from mathematics and physics have developed new freshmen engineering courses
being taught this term: a two-term combined calculus/physics sequence and the year-long
introductory engineering design course. The courses require two sophisticated electronic
studio labs — designed by faculty — that will serve as pilots for classrooms in the F.W.
Olin Center, Cool said.
Also at the Trustees meeting, it was reported that the Career Development Center has
introduced a new Media Center which will enable students to research careers, graduate
schools and employers as well as look up alumni on a newly-created database of the Union
Career Advisory Network.
The trustees also learned that five were promoted to professor. They are Barbara Boyer,
biology; Clifford Brown, political science; Vuk Fatic, electrical engineering; Byron
Nichols, political science; and Robert Olberg, biology.
Also, new department head appointments are: John Boyer and Robert Olberg (co-chairs)
biology; Felmon Davis, philosophy; David Hayes, chemistry; J. Douglass Klein, economics'
Bonney MacDonald, English; Jay Newman, physics; Michael Rudko, electrical engineering;
George Williams, computer science; and Robert Wells, history.