o Through Jan. 2, Arts
Atrium. “Natural History Illustrations: Union's Examples from the Past and
Present.” (Story this issue.)
o Nov. 7, 8 p.m., Reamer
Campus Center Auditorium. Journalist Tony Brown on “Integration: A Strategy Gone
Wrong.” Presented by Alpha Phi Alpha and ALAS.
o Nov. 8, 8pm, Memorial
Chapel. Union College Orchestra, Prof. Hilary Tann, director. The program includes the
world premiere of “Trumpet Concerto” by Prof. Tim Olsen, with trumpet soloist
Brian Gilman '97; and Beethoven's lively and popular “Seventh Symphony.
o Nov. 11, Admissions open
house for prospective students. Employees are asked to keep campus parking free for
visitors.
o Nov. 12, 3 to 5 p.m.,
Hale House. Health Services is offering a flu vaccine clinic. Fee for the vaccine is
$10. No appointment is necessary.
o Nov. 12, at 8 p.m. in
Yulman Theater. Poet Edward Sanders reads from his work. His new book, 1968, A
History in Verse, chronicles this tumultuous year from Sanders' point of view as
a key member of the counterculture. His other books include Hymn to the Rebel Café,
Chekhov, and his selected poems, Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century.
o Nov. 12, at 8 p.m.,
Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. Jazz Ensemble concert featuring student performers in
a program to include Bebop, Swing and Latin Jazz. To include compositions by Miles Davis
and John Coltrane.
The contributions of an often overlooked 19th-century scientist whose discoveries were instrumental in advancing the work of inventors like Edison, Bell and Morse will be featured in a unique exhibit in the Nott Memorial Nov. 6 through Jan. 8.
Albany native Joseph Henry, a scientist who eventually became the first
head of the Smithsonian Institution, never sought the fame or fortune that so drove the
careers of some of his contemporaries. Instead, he was content to revel in pure science
while others used his discoveries – and his encouragement – to develop and
commercialize inventions like the telephone, telegraph and electric motor.
The exhibit will include, among many other artifacts, the world's
first commercial telephone, invented and built by Alexander Graham Bell, on loan from the
Smithsonian. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Hours are noon to 10 p.m., Sunday
through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday. (Between Nov. 22 and Jan. 3,
hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily, except holidays.)
There will be an opening reception and gallery talk on Nov. 13, at 4
p.m. in the Nott Memorial. Frank Wicks, professor of mechanical engineering and curator of
the exhibit, will give a talk titled “Joseph Henry: An Enduring Legacy.”
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Henry's birth.
Actress Jane Marla Robbins will perform “Reminiscences of Mozart by his Sister” on Tuesday, November 4, in Union College's Nott Memorial at 7:30 p.m.
The one-woman play is an elegant, moving, and thought-provoking portrait of Marianne Mozart and her complicated and profound relationship with her genius brother. Marianne Mozart was an intelligent, educated, and passionate woman who, like her brother, was a pianist and composer, but none of her music has survived.
Commissioned by the Mozart Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the play premiered with Robbins playing the role of Marianne Mozart in June, 1995. It was so well received that Robbins was invited to perform it at Lincoln Center as part of its Mostly Mozart Festival later that year. “Affecting,” said Martin Verdrager, of the Kennedy Center. “Powerful,” said John Noonan of Lincoln Center. The play is directed by Robert Gardinier.
Jane Marla Robbins is an accomplished actress whose other performances have included the one-woman play Dear Nobody and her own play Jane Avril as well as starring roles in Broadway's Morning, Noon and Night and Richard III. Her film credits include Rocky I, II, V; Arachnophobia; True Identity and One Night Stand and television credits include one year on “Falcon Crest,” six months on “Knots Landing,” and roles on “Murder She Wrote” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” She is also completing a book for Simon and Schuster titled Being Yourself: The Role of a Lifetime: Acting Techniques for Everyday Life, and is a published poet.
The performance is free and open to the public. The sixteen-sided Nott Memorial is located at the center of campus and parking is available on campus and on nearby sidestreets.
The contributions of an uncelebrated 19th-century scientist whose discoveries were instrumental in advancing the work of inventors like Edison, Bell and Morse will be featured in a unique exhibit at Union College's Nott Memorial Nov. 6 through Jan. 18.
Albany native Joseph Henry, a scientist who eventually became the first head of the Smithsonian Institution, never sought the fame or fortune that so drove the careers of some of his contemporaries. Instead, he was content to revel in pure science while others used his discoveries – and his encouragement – to develop and commercialize inventions like the telephone, telegraph and electric motor.
The exhibit will include, among many other artifacts, the world's first commercial telephone, invented and built by Alexander Graham Bell, on loan from the Smithsonian. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Hours are noon to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday. (Between Nov. 22 and Jan. 3, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily except holidays.)
There will be an opening reception and gallery talk on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. Frank Wicks, Union professor of mechanical engineering and curator of the exhibit, will give a talk titled “Joseph Henry: An Enduring Legacy.” The exhibit is on display in the Nott Memorial's second-floor Mandeville Gallery.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Henry's birth.
The University at Albany and the Albany Academy also have planned events to commemorate the occasion. On Dec. 2, the University at Albany will host a daylong conference on Henry, featuring Mark Rothenberg from the Smithsonian and Frank A. J. L. James from the Royal Institute. (For information, call 442-4500 or http://www.albany.edu/physics/jhenry.html On Dec. 17 (Henry's birthday), at 7:30 p.m., Albany Academy will hold an evening program at the Joseph Henry Memorial at the old Albany Academy building in Albany. (For more information, call 766-3875.)
Henry, who grew up in Galway, taught physics at Albany Academy and Princeton University, helped found the Dudley Observatory in Schenectady, and became the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
He was the inventor of the electric magnet, the electric transformer, and many other electrical devices. He was the first person to send a message over an electric wire (nearly 20 years before Samuel F. B. Morse), and he mentored both Morse on his telegraph and Alexander Graham Bell on the telephone. In fact, without Henry's encouragement, Bell might have halted his research. The later work of such giants as Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla, and Steinmetz owed much to Henry.
Union College, the nation's first institution to recognize Henry's genius in a formal way, granted him an honorary degree in 1829. The Union College exhibit marks the first time these Henry artifacts have been on exhibit together.
The scientific community has recognized Henry by naming the international unit of electric induction after him. Along with the watt, the volt, and the amp is the henry, an integral component of the modern conceptual apparatus of electricity.
The exhibit at Union on Henry's life and scientific contributions will include:
The world's first telephone developed for commercial use invented and produced by Alexander Graham Bell, on loan from the Smithsonian;
The world's first device for sending a message over an electric wire, the forerunner of the telegraph, on loan from the New York State Museum.
A working 1888 Edison electric motor, whose design was based on the discoveries of Joseph Henry;
The relay device based on Henry's design which made Samuel F. B. Morse's telegraph a practical commercial possibility, on loan from the Smithsonian;
A working replica of the world's first electric magnet used for commercial purposes, designed by Joseph Henry, on loan from the Penfield Museum in Ironville, N.Y. This magnet inspired Thomas Davenport to invent the first patentable electric motor. (This replica was made by General Electric engineers in 1959 in recognition of the world's first industrial use of electricity, which took place in the Adirondack community of Ironville in 1830.)
Additional important Henry inventions and artifacts from the Smithsonian and other museums will be displayed, together with documents, photographs, and other archival materials.
The Union Bookshelf regularly calls special
attention to books written by alumni and other members of
the Union community. If you're an author and would
like to be featured, please send us a copy of the book or
the jacket as well as your publisher's news release.
Our address is Public Relations Office, Union College,
Schenectady, N.Y. 12308-3169.
Leslie H. Sobin
'55, M.D.
The Last Examination: The
Prosecutor's Guide to the Autopsy is the third
book of verse by Leslie Sobin, chief of gastrointestinal
pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in
Washington, D.C. His previous books were Tales of the
Ampulla of Vater and A Pathology Primer in Verse.
Robert Sherwin
'63, M.D.
The fifth edition of the textbook, Ellenberg and Rifkin's Diabetes Mellitus
(coedited with Daniel Porte, Jr.), is reviewed in the
Journal of the American Medical Association's June
11, 1997, issue.Robert Sherwin is professor of
medicine at Yale University.
Michele Paludi
'76, Ph.D.
An expert in academic and workplace
sexual harassment issues, Michele Paludi, an adjunct
professor of psychology at Union,is the author of
several recent books, including:
— Workplace Sexual
Harassment (with Anne C. Levy of Michigan State
University), a text addressing the legal issues,
incidence, psychological dimensions and explanatory
models of sexual harassment in the workplace. The book
offers ways to assist organizations confront and prevent
harassment as well as psychotherapeutic techniques for
families and friends of sexually-harassed individuals.
— Sexual Harassment on
College Campuses, Abusing the Ivory Power, edited
by Paludi. This new edition takes into account new laws
and work published since the first edition concerning
training of personnel at colleges and universities in
sexual harassment issues.
— Academic and Workplace
Sexual Harassment: A Resource Manual (with
Richard B. Barickman), the first comprehensive resource
manual for understanding and preventing sexual harassment
in the community and workplace. The book includes
workshop techniques for training programs as well as
audiovisual and teaching techniques.
— Ivory Power: Sexual
Harassment on Campus, edited by Paludi, discusses
the interrelationship between racism and sexism on campus
and the legal issues involved in harassment cases, as
well as suggestions on how to handle complaints.
— Sex & Gender: The
Human Experience (with James A. Doyle) includes
guidelines for conducting sex-fair studies and discusses
several social institutions that play a role in
understanding sex and gender — language, education and
work, religion and politics, and health fields.
Janet Sasson
Edgette '78
Heads Up! gives
advice to equestrian athletes on how to maximize their
potential in competing, riding, training, and dealing
with horses in general. Edgette, a clinical and sports
psychologist in private practice in Chester County, Pa.,
has a monthly column in Practical Horseman
magazine, gives frequent seminars on equestrian sports
psychology, and regularly contributes to professional
journals. Among her clients are some of the nation's most
successful competitive riders. She also co-directs the
Milton H. Erickson Institute of Philadelphia.
