At a time when a new Carnegie Foundation report is criticizing research universities for not promoting research-based learning for undergraduates, Union College is preparing to celebrate faculty-mentored research that has been a feature of the College for nearly 70 years.
On May 8, more than 200 students – about 10 percent of Union's enrollment – will present their research and creative work at the eighth annual Steinmetz Symposium. (Nearly 50 of the students involved have just returned from presenting their work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.)
Charles Hurd, a chemistry professor at Union from the 1920's to 1956, gained a national reputation not only for his contributions to silicon chemistry, but for collaborating with Union undergraduates on most of the papers he published. This was at a time when the predominant view was that of Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, who believed it inappropriate even for undergraduate faculty to do research.
Union's undergraduate research has been going strong ever since. Union has been a charter member of NCUR, has twice hosted the conference, and continues to have one of the largest contingents.
The Steinmetz Syposium, named for Charles P. Steinmetz, a Union professor and the “electrical wizard of General Electric,” began eight years ago as a way for students to showcase their faculty-mentored achievements to the campus community. Each year, a number of parents and alumni attend.
New this year to Steinmetz is a program that will contain the abstracts of most of the student presentations. They will be available at locations throughout campus.
Steinmetz Symposium Schedule
Classes will be canceled during Steinmetz Symposium, Friday, May 8, starting at 1 p.m.
The Steinmetz Symposium is divided into four sessions:
Session I, 1 to 2:20 p.m., concurrent oral presentations in Humanities, Social Sciences, Science & Engineering and Steinmetz Hall.
Session II, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., poster sessions and Jazz Ensemble performance in Reamer Campus Center; art exhibitions in arts atrium; dance performances in dance studio, and choir performance in performing arts studio.
Session III, 3:30 to 4:50 p.m., and Session IV, 5 to 6:20 p.m., concurrent oral presentations in Humanities, Social Sciences, Science and Engineering and Steinmetz Hall.
The Steinmetz Banquet in Upperclass Dining will follow Session IV.
The Union College Orchestra, directed by Prof. Hilary Tann, will present “The Russians Are Coming,” a “Pops” Concert featuring works by Russian composers at 8:30 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. The program are Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, known to many from Walt Disney's film, Fantasia.
The Steinmetz Symposium is the first part of “Recognition Weekend,” the second being Prize Day on Saturday, May 9 at 11 a.m. in Memorial Chapel.