Posted on Sep 1, 1997

May 6, 1997, is a day that Denise
Kitsock Gutstein '86 will certainly remember. It's
not only the day that she and her husband, Adam, founder
of nationally-recognized Diamond Technology Partners,
experienced the birth of their son, Grant. It's also the
day that Frontier Telephone (formerly Rochester [N.Y.]
Telephone) — the company she leads — and the
Communications Workers of America signed a contract after
eighteen months of labor strife.

Gutstein started with Rochester
Telephone as an assistant engineer just ten years before
her technical skills and experiences, business acumen,
and leadership propelled her to the presidency.
Established in 1899, the company serves some 400,000
customers, selling local phone, long distance, cellular,
and Internet-access service. It accounts for about
fifteen percent of the $2.6 billion in revenues each year
of its parent company, Frontier Corp., which focuses on
providing long-distance service.

An electrical engineering major at
Union, Gutstein chose Rochester Tel for two reasons: the
company's standing in a dramatically changing industry
and the terrific people. “I didn't want to go into
pure engineering, and Rochester Telephone offered a
program in which I could use my technical abilities
within a management track,” she says.

She entered a management program that
allowed her to gain experience in many areas of the
company and, over nine years, worked in engineering,
operations, and strategic planning.

It was Gutstein's technical expertise
— and her strong interpersonal skills — that made her
the top candidate for job as president in March of 1996.
Now, she oversees a major technical project as Rochester
Tel consolidates switching centers. She has also
assembled a management team and has put together a plan
for 1998 and beyond that incorporates significant change
into the very basis of how Rochester Tel does business.
“We are changing the business, making it easier for
customers to do business with us while strategically
differentiating ourselves,” she says.

Many attribute Gutstein's success to
her ability to work with others so well. She regularly
spends several mornings each week with workers on site,
listening to their concerns and suggestions. Gutstein
explains that her parents taught her that you can always
learn something from everyone, and she's always looking
to learn from her fellow employees.

At Union, Gutstein says she learned
problem solving and critical thinking skills that have
allowed her to excel. “I learned how to attack
problems logically and work through issues based on fact,
not emotion,” she says.

Even as one of only a handful of women
in her electrical engineering classes, Gutstein says that
she was never intimidated. When she began at Rochester
Tel and people told her that many men might be hesitant
to accept a woman in a leadership role, she was not
worried. “I went into each position not trying to be
the superstar, but rather comfortable that I was going to
learn from them while hopefully providing some critical
thinking,” she says.

Gutstein says her first year leading
the company was full of challenges. “It was a time
of learning, of building a team, and of understanding
priorities,” she says.

And how does she deal with the stress
of running a $320 million a year company? She doesn't
actually feel much stress, she says, explaining that her
confidence in her own experience and in her management
team and the potential of all employees minimizes the
stress. Still, she enjoys taking time out for tennis,
golf, volleyball, skiing, and, most importantly, her son.

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Posted on Sep 1, 1997

Growing up in Washington, D.C., during the
Vietnam War era, Sonia Rosen '82 went to civil
rights demonstrations, not ball games (although she says
she is now an avid Baltimore Orioles fan).

Since then, her concern for human
rights has propelled her into positions with such groups
as Amnesty International and the Minnesota Advocates for
Human Rights.

Now, as director of the International
Child Labor Study Program in the U.S. Department of
Labor, she oversees research and investigation of child
labor worldwide at the request of Congress. Recent
studies have focused on child labor in manufacturing and
mining imports, child labor in agricultural imports,
forced and bonded (or slave) child labor, codes of
conduct relating to child labor among U.S. companies
importing apparel and cohesion to those codes, private
sector efforts to create a labeling program identifying
goods not produced by child labor, and child
prostitution.

Rosen, a political science major,
received her law degree from the University of Minnesota.
She worked for the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
and then directed the U.S. Midwest Region of Amnesty
International before taking the job at the Department of
Labor.

Child labor issues have increasingly
appeared in the press, and Rosen and her staffers have
felt the impact of this media outbreak. “We were the
only office within the U.S. Government that had been
publishing in this area,” she explains. “By the
time the Kathie Lee Gifford case came about, we had been
working on the issue and had the information
available.”

Rosen says that more groups are
becoming interested in child labor issues. “I think
we've played a good role in making the American public
aware,” she says. “I've been in the human
rights field a long time and I've seen more movement on
this issue in a short period of time than in any other
issue.”

Rosen says the best part of her job is
the opportunity to make a difference.

“I really feel like I am making a
difference — that in the long run, our work can make a
positive contribution to somebody's life,” she says.
“I feel lucky to be able to be a part of creating
institutional change and being a fundamental part of
making society better, even if it sometimes is on a lower
level.”

She is responsible for administering a
$5 million grant from Congress to the International Labor
Organization, which has led to programs getting children
out of the factories and into schools. She cites one
program for displaced workers in Nepal as a success.
“Children who typically work twelve hour days are
suddenly given a chance to have a childhood and be happy,
playing, and going to school,” she says.

Her trips abroad — to Thailand,
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Central America, and throughout Europe — are often
memorable as she reaches out to people who are surprised
that there are agencies willing to help. “Once, a
few years back, I was touring the slums of the
Philippines and the people there were so honored that
somebody cared about them,” she explains. “It
was a high point — but it's also a lot of
responsibility. To work in this field, you have to learn
to laugh at yourself so that you don't get depressed. You
learn to take wins when they come and to recognize the
small wins.”

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Posted on Sep 1, 1997

To Emily Dickinson, “there is no frigate
like a book to take us lands away.” Perhaps.
However, for me it is even more pleasurable to take a
frigate — or a bike, bus, car, train, or walk — to
places afar.

After declining invitations for six
years from Nanjing Normal University in China, I finally
accepted this summer. Why? Because I wanted to see again
former President Tan Feng Liang, whom we honored in 1996
and who is seriously ill. Because I felt I could time the
visit to the Handover of Hong Kong (which, thanks to the
hospitality of Sandy Dawson '74, I got to enjoy aboard a
boat in Hong Kong harbor). And because I would have the
time following the visit to fulfill a thirty-year dream
of taking the Trans-Siberian Railway for six days from
Beijing to Moscow.

The trip was everything that I had
hoped for — and more, far more. From interesting
fellow-travelers from around the world to surprisingly
good food, from endless miles of corn, rice, wheat,
forests, and barren Siberian space to endless time to
think and plan, the trip was wonderful. For me, travel is
an addiction, an addiction that requires more and more of
you, and, in exchange, it gives you much, including the
time to think about what you want to do.

Although others who have taken the
trip, and who have written about it, suggest taking a
stack of books, I rejected that advice. After all, I
wanted to see the countryside and talk to whomever I
could — and I wanted to think.

I used the 146 hours in part to think
about Union — about a splendid past year and the
challenges ahead. In George Bush's not-so-immortal words,
I focussed on the “vision thing.”

Rice paddies. Corn
fields. Wheat fields.

For the past seven years, with a broad
mission statement that was the result of a faculty
drafting committee and a strategic plan that has been
updated twice, we have maintained a very clear idea about
what we are trying to accomplish. What we have done, we
have done by plan, not accident.

We have had a full enrollment, seven
new or renovated buildings, a successful $150 million
campaign, balanced budgets, an increase in the College's
endowment from $80 to $200 million, exciting student
efforts to diversify the College through theme housing,
and strong initiatives to revitalize Schenectady that are
beginning to bear fruit. By themselves, these efforts
are, in my view, not enough, although most colleges in
America would be more than happy with them.

Oil fields. More
corn fields.

We have begun to separate ourselves
from the crowd. It will be the successful
“completion” of those efforts in the academic
arena, combined with a much stronger attempt “to get
the word out,” that will bring us to our next level
of excellence.

Endless plains.
Endless forests. Chinese faces, Russian faces.

Union was founded as a union of
religions. Quickly, though, it became a union of theory
and practice, and it is this continuing and enhanced
emphasis that will truly distinguish our college in the
coming years. In short, Union has been, is, and will be a
college that teaches theory and practices its
applications.

With our sustained effort to foster
terms abroad and exchanges, we have reached the point
where well in excess of fifty percent of each class now
studies abroad. Not only does our success in this arena
place us among the top dozen colleges in America, but,
more importantly, our students are learning to be at home
in the world — from Costa Rica to China, from Kenya to
Korea, from Puerto Rico to Poland.

Lake Baikal. The
Angara and Volga.

They are also at home in the world of
research. Whether through our own Charles Steinmetz
Symposium and the National Conference on Undergraduate
Research, Union students are, year-in and year-out, among
the largest presenters of work that they have developed
with our faculty. In the process, they are writing more
and learning to express themselves better orally.

Borscht and
Stroganoff. Pirogi and Piroghki.

A third area where our students and
graduates must feel at home is in their community. While
Union students have long been involved in a range of
activities in Schenectady, we initiated last fall
community service as part of our orientation. We are not
the first school to require service, but we are among the
leaders, and our students are learning important lessons
which will aid them at Union and beyond.

Irkutsk.
Novosibirsk. Omsk. Ekaterinburg.

Taken together, our efforts in
international study, student research, and community
service make us stand apart — from everyone. However,
our capstone effort must be to bridge the liberal arts
and technology so that, in fact and not only word, all of
our students will be broadly educated and technologically
aware.

More plains and
forests. More cities and rivers. And the beauty of the
Urals.

Ultimately, however, we need one other
ingredient to bring us to our next level of excellence —
more passion and pride. There are only 28,029 of us in
the Union family: 640 of us who work at the College,
2,044 who study at Union, and 25,345 who are members of
the alumni body. Until everyone associated with Union
recognizes just how good we are and champions the
College, we cannot get even stronger, especially when one
realizes that, in the aggregate, members of the Union
family — employees, students, and alumni — constitute
less than half the student population at Miami-Dade
Junior College.

When, not if, we succeed in these final
efforts, and when, not if, we promote our efforts
nationally and internationally, our students and our
college will be the beneficiaries. After 9,001 kilometers
across Manchuria and Siberia, after 5,625 miles across
plains and through mountains and forests, nothing could
be more obvious, at least to me, than that we have our
“vision thing” and that Emily Dickinson was
wrong.

Roger H. Hull

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Posted on Sep 1, 1997

Beginning Oct. 1, Union and the State of New York will
offer a special Union College license plate.The plate has
a Block U logo in garnet and is available for both
passenger and commercial vehicles. Passenger vehicle
plates have the words “Union College,” also
printed in garnet.

The initial cost for the plate is $54.50, with an
annual $25 renewal fee; this standard plate will have a
combination of three numbers and the letters UCL
(commercial plates will have four numbers and two
letters). If you want to personalize your license plate
— with special letters and numbers up to six spaces —
the initial cost is $83 and the annual renewal is $50.

Further information and application forms are
available from George Cuttita, the College's sports
information director, at 518-388-6170.

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Posted on Sep 1, 1997

The College has successfully
concluded its $150 million Bicentennial Campaign, one of
the largest fundraising efforts ever undertaken by a
liberal arts college.

The campaign, announced publicly in
April, 1991, received gifts and commitments totaling
$151,135,150.

The successful conclusion of the
campaign was announced by President Roger H. Hull at a
convocation opening the College's 203rd year.

“The promise of Union's future is
to build upon its past achievements,” Hull said.
“To do that, we must have the resources that make a
college great — superb faculty, innovative academic
programs, motivated students, and first-rate facilities.
The success of this campaign helps us in each area and
gives enormous impetus as we enter our third century of
service. To the many alumni and friends who took part in
this effort, I want to express, on behalf of the entire
Union family, our heartfelt thanks.”

During the campaign, the College's
endowment increased from $80 million to $200 million.

The president said the true value of
the campaign is measured in more than just dollars and
cents. “We are delighted by the numerical
accomplishments, but the real success story is how they
are translated into improvements for our students, our
faculty, and our campus,” he said.
“Fortunately, the list of improvements is a long
one.”

Added Norton H. Reamer '58, national
chairman of the campaign, “The amount of support is
great, but the projects and programs accomplished are of
even greater import.”

The president cited a number of
examples of how the campaign has helped Union:

— The number of endowed chairs has
increased to twenty-seven, with the following established
during the campaign:

* the Horace E. Dodge III '46
Professorship in Electrical Engineering. Dodge, a former
engineer with the General Electric Co., was a
philanthropist in California.

* the R. Gordon Gould '41 Professorship
in Physics. Gould, the inventor of the laser, established
his professorship to honor Frank Studer, his former
professor.

* the Robert B. Howe '58 Professorship
in Developmental Biology. Howe is associate dean for
faculty and clinical affairs at the University of
Minnesota Medical School, and his chair honors Raymond
Rappaport, professor emeritus of developmental biology.

* the Carl B. Jansen '22 Professorship
in Civil Engineering. Jansen was the chairman of the
board of the Dravo Corp. and a lead project engineer of
the Golden Gate Bridge.

* the Kenneth B. Sharpe '43
Professorship in Management. Sharpe was chairman of the
board of Sharpe Manufacturing Co., the country's leading
manufacturer of paint spray guns.

— International study programs have
been added in Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, the Czech
Republic, India, Kenya, Korea, Poland, Puerto Rico,
Wales, and Zimbabwe. Union is among the top dozen
colleges in the country in the percentage of students who
study abroad.

— The College's engineering curriculum
has been redesigned, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the
General Electric Foundation.

— The College's research facilities
were enhanced through a number of gifts ranging from an
advanced multipurpose laboratory for optical spectroscopy
to a new greenhouse and two electronic classrooms.

— Schaffer Library is undergoing an
$18 million renovation and expansion that will increase
its size from 65,000 to 98,000 square feet. The new
library is designed and equipped to provide faculty and
students with the swiftest possible access to information
from around the world. Support included a $2 million
grant from the Schaffer Foundation of Schenectady.

— An $11 million restoration of the
Nott Memorial has transformed it into a spectacular
center for meetings, exhibitions, and study. At the
building's rededication in 1995, historian David
McCullough said, “There's nothing like it anywhere
else in the world.”

— The F.W. Olin Center, a
high-technology classroom and laboratory building, is
under construction, thanks to a $9 million gift from the
F.W. Olin Foundation, of New York City.

— The Morton and Helen Yulman Theater
opened, adding not only a theater but an actors' lab, a
scene shop, a design and drafting lab, and a costume
shop. The lead gift of $3 million was made by Morton '36
and Helen Yulman.

— Improvements were made to such
important buildings as:

* the Murray and Ruth Reamer Campus
Center, thanks to Norton H. Reamer '58, whose support
also aided the College in a number of other ways;

* Feigenbaum Hall, thanks to Armand V.
'42 and Donald S. '46 Feigenbaum;

* Memorial Chapel, where projects
totalling more than $1 million ranged from repairing the
roof and cupola to restoring the interior.

— An endowment to provide for the
upkeep and preservation of Jackson's Garden, the
College's eight acres of formal gardens and woodland, was
established by a gift from Doug '57 and Barbara Seholm,
of Galway, N.Y., and Houston, Texas.

— Endowed scholarships funds
dramatically increased. Union now has 320 endowed
scholarships, of which 128 were added during the
campaign; they make up 13.8 percent of the College's
institutional financial aid program. The number of
scholarships created during the campaign represents forty
percent of all endowed scholarships established at Union
(since the first one in 1874).

— The Chester Arthur Undergraduate
Support of Excellence (CAUSE) Program was introduced.
Named after the twenty-first president of the United
States and the founder of the Civil Service Commission,
CAUSE provides loans to students that are canceled at a
rate of twenty percent for each year graduates engage in
public service, broadly defined.

Wide support shown
for campaign

The Bicentennial Campaign received
23,362 gifts from individuals, including 370 of $25,000
or more. There were twenty-eight gifts of $1 million or
more. In addition to those already mentioned, they
include:

— $5 million from Margaret M. Dyson
for the restoration of the Nott Memorial. Under the terms
of the bequest, the College had to raise $10 million for
capital or endowment purposes on a challenge basis; the
total reached was $10,342,884.

— $5 million from David C. Mandeville
'45, with $1 million going to the restoration of the Nott
Memorial and the remainder to establish a scholarship
fund.

— $3.5 million from Ben Brown '35.

— $3.5 million from Franklin L. Fero
'17 for scholarships.

— $3 million from S. Wellford Corbin
'30.

— $2.1 million from Agnes Macdonald
and her sister, Laura Auer, of Niskayuna, N.Y.

— $2 million from Stanley Peschel '52.

— $1.6 million from Elizabeth Rue, the
widow of Ralph Rue '23.

— $1.4 million from Neil B. Reynolds
'24, to be used for the library and for endowment.

— $1.25 million from Frederick C.
Wikoff, Jr., '43 for the Nott Memorial restoration.

— $1.2 million from John Deegan '23.

— $1.1 million from Dwane Crichton
'33.

— $1 million from Philip R. Beuth '54
to support the renovation and expansion of the library.

— $1 million from Raymond V. Gilmartin
'63 to be used for the library and to meet a challenge
from the Kresge Foundation.

— $1 million from William R. Grant
'49, LL.D. '83.

— $1 million from Kenneth T. and
Thelma P. Lally, of Niskayuna, N.Y., to establish a
reading room in Schaffer Library.

— $1 million given anonymously for
scholarships.

Corporate and foundation challenges
met

Major gifts from corporations and
foundations included several challenge grants, in which
foundation gifts had to be matched by alumni and friends.
In every case, the challenge was met. Included were:

— Three challenges from the Kresge
Foundation, of Troy, Mich. One, for $500,000, was to add
scientific equipment and to establish an endowment fund
for the repair, upkeep, and replacement of the College's
$5 million inventory of scientific equipment. The second
challenge grant, for $750,000, was for the restoration of
the Nott Memorial and the completion of the Yulman
Theater. The third grant, for $800,000, was for the
renovation and expansion of Schaffer Library.

— Challenges from the William and
Flora Hewitt Foundation, totalling $350,000, and the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, totalling $300,000, used to
strengthen Union's Terms Abroad programs and to support
CAUSE;

— A National Endowment for the
Humanities challenge grant of $575,000 to provide
equipment and library materials in the renovated library.

— Three matching grants totalling
nearly $450,000 from the National Science Foundation's
Academic Research Infrastructure program for laboratories
and research equipment.

— A $250,000 challenge grant from the
Louis Calder Foundation, of New York City, to establish a
scholarship endowment for low-income students from New
York.

— A $250,000 challenge from the Fred
L. Emerson Foundation, of Auburn, N.Y., for library
technology endowment and another $250,000 grant for the
Yulman Theater.

— A $175,000 grant from the W.M. Keck
Foundation, of Los Angeles, to renovate two chemistry
laboratories and equip them with sophisticated
spectroscopic instrumentation.

Other grants included:

— Two grants totalling $350,000 from
the Schenectady Foundation to support the Nott Memorial
and library projects.

— A $191,000 grant from the General
Electric Fund to establish the Union College Teaching and
Learning Center, designed to provide new skills to
teachers in the fifth through ninth grades.

The campaign also saw the addition of
twenty-three constituency groups to assist and advise the
College on a variety of matters, from academic programs
to alumni leadership. During the campaign, 575 volunteers
worked for the Annual Fund, which reached $3,487,200 in
1997 and contributed important annual support to the
College.

Dan West, vice president for college
relations, said the campaign lifted Union to a new level
of fundraising effectiveness. “In the last year of
the campaign, more than $18.6 million in receipts came
in,” he said.

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