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Obenzinger Gift Funds Scholarships

Posted on Sep 25, 1998

The College has received an unusual and innovative gift of
a $1 million lead trust from Nathan and Romana Obenzinger in memory of their son, Ronald
'61.

Under terms of the trust, the Obenzingers invest $1
million for 24 years, giving Union the income of $85,000 each year. At the end of the
term, the family gets the money back with assumed appreciation. This type of trust gained
attention when it was included in the will of Jacqueline Onassis.

Ronald Obenzinger '61 was a pre-medical student who
became ill during his senior year at Union, and then died of Hodgkin's Disease in his
first term of medical school. Ronald's younger brother, Mark '65, helped to
organize the trust as part of his parent's estate planning.

The trust income will be split to provide annual gifts and
to build an endowment. Most will be used to fund scholarships for pre-medical students,
awarded on a competitive basis within the need pool. Funds also will be available for
academic enrichment programs for pre-medical students.

Other recent gifts to the College include a $291,000
bequest from William M. Wheeler '36 for an endowed scholarship fund in his name; a
$25,000 bequest from Harold L. Saxton '24 for a the general scholarship fund; and a
$15,000 gift from the Schering-Plough Research Institute of Kenilworth, N.J., for the
support of chemistry department instrumentation, the third such gift from the Institute.

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Homecoming ’98 is This Weekend

Posted on Sep 25, 1998

Homecoming '98 kicks off Friday morning with an
alumni volunteer leadership conference, and ends on Sunday with a crew race and boat
dedication at the new Union Boat House in the historic Stockade.

Events include a pep rally Friday at 7 p.m. at the Reamer
Campus Center patio; tours of the F.W. Olin Center and renovated Schaffer Library Saturday
at 9 and 10 a.m., respectively; and a rededication of Memorial Chapel and chimes concert
by Peter K. Smith '70 Saturday at 11 a.m.

For those interested in sports, volleyball plays Hamilton
and Clarkson starting Saturday at 11 a.m. in Memorial Field House; women's soccer
plays Vassar on Saturday at 11 a.m. on Garis Field; and football plays Hobart on Saturday
at 1 p.m. on Frank Bailey Field.

Union's new Boat House also is to be a stop on the
39th Annual Stockade Walkabout on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Calendar of Events

Posted on Sep 25, 1998

Friday, Sept. 25, through Monday, Sept.
28 – 8 and 10 p.m.

Reamer Campus Center Auditorium.
Six Days, Seven Nights presented by Film Committee.

Friday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.
Reamer Campus Center Patio.
Homecoming pep rally. (See story this issue for other Homecoming events.)

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 11 a.m.
Reamer Campus Center Auditorium.
Campus discussion on “Recruiting Diversity: Race and Admissions at Union
College.” (story this issue)

Through Oct. 11
Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.
Exhibit Into Focus: Art on Science. Show brings together 12 artists renowned for
their work in depicting the “culture of science.” Curated by Adrienne Klein.

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$500 AIRE Grant Seen as ‘Outstanding Validation’

Posted on Sep 25, 1998

Union was one of only 10 colleges
nationwide to receive National Science Foundation Awards for the Integration of Research
and Education (AIRE), the NSF announced this week.

The award is a $500,000 three-year grant to design and
implement programs that extend the College's vision to integrate research and
education.

“The NSF AIRE award is an outstanding validation of
the kind of inquiry-driven investigative learning that we value at Union College,”
said Dean of Faculty Linda Cool. “It demonstrates that our faculty are thinking in
exciting and innovative ways about involving our students in collaboration and
research.”

Other AIRE recipients are Colby College, Grinnell College,
Harvey Mudd College, Hope College, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Reed College,
Wellesley College and Coastal Carolina University.

Union was selected from a field of 56 applicants that
included most of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. The College was selected
over seven other institutions consistently ranked in the top 10 of national liberal arts
colleges.

“These institutions are strengthening the bonds
between research and education by designing and implementing new ways to involve
undergraduate students in the process of discovery,” said Joe Bordogna, NSF's
acting deputy director. “These new awards help create a discovery-rich environment
where institutions and their students can benefit from making research an essential
component of school curriculum,” he added.

Union has integrated investigative learning throughout its
science and engineering curricula with new programs that cross disciplines, pilot new
pedagogical models and incorporate international field experiences. Union proposes to
extend its vision with new courses that bridge the gap between engineering and the liberal
arts and that integrate research and international experiences.

A number of people were vital in preparing Union's
proposal, said Cool. They were John Garver, Joe Zolner, David Hayes, Mike Rudko, Brad
Lewis, Byron Nichols, Ron Bucinell, John Spinelli, Chris LaPlante, George Williams, Tom
Werner, Rob Olberg, Barbara Boyer, Kristin Fox, Jay Newman, Les Hull, Charlie Scaife,
Peter Tobiessen, Karen Brison, Hal Fried, Doug Klein, Jim McWhirter, Pat Allen, Christie
Sorum, Dave Hannay, Dwight Wolf, Pat Tappa, Jim Underwood and Terry Weiner.

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Tenure Panels Set for Eight Faculty

Posted on Sep 18, 1998

Ad-hoc committees have been formed to consider the tenurability of eight assistant
professors: Karen Brison, anthropology; Ronald Bucinell, mechanical engineering; Ashraf
Ghaly, civil engineering; Stephen Horton, biology; Yoshimitsu Khan, Japanese; Amanda
Leamon, French; Stephen Leavitt, anthropology; and Catherine Womack, philosophy.

Members of the campus community may offer written or oral testimony on the
candidates' teaching, scholarship or college service by contacting the appropriate
committee chair or other member.

Committees are:

For Brison, Bruce Reynolds, economics, chair (x6217, reynoldb@union.edu); Sharon
Gmelch, anthropology; Chris Duncan, visual arts; and Julius Barbanel, mathematics.

For Bucinell, Robert Wells, history, chair (x6223, wellsr@union.edu); Cherrice Traver,
electrical engineering/computer science; Richard Wilk, mechanical engineering; and Jill
Salvo, biology.

For Ghaly, Karl Zimmermann, mathematics, chair (x6192, zimmermk@union.edu); Mohammad
Mafi, civil engineering; Rudy Nydegger, GMI; and Yu Chang, electrical engineering/computer
science.

For Horton, Harold Fried, economics, chair (x6368, friedh@union.edu); Barbara Danowski,
biology; Tom Jewell, civil engineering; and Leslie Hull, chemistry.

For Khan, James Lambrinos, GMI, chair (x6253, lambrinj@union.edu); Scott Scullion,
classics; John Spinelli, electrical engineering/computer science; and Victoria Martinez,
modern languages.

For Leamon, Martin Strosberg, GMI, chair (x6299, strosbem@union.edu); Jordan Smith,
English; Michael Rudko, electrical engineering/computer science; and Pilar Moyano, modern
languages.

For Leavitt, George Butterstein, biology, chair (x6327, buttersg@union.edu); Andrew
Feffer, history; George Gmelch, anthropology; and Jan Ludwig, philosophy.

For Womack, Linda Stanhope, psychology, chair (x6543, stanhopl@union.edu); Felmon
Davis, philosophy; Walter Hatke, visual arts; and Mark Walker, history.

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