Posted on Sep 24, 1999

The College welcomes 20 new faculty members this fall.

They are:

Ranja Roy, visiting assistant

professor of mathematics, holds a doctorate from the State University of

New York at Binghamton, where she has held various teaching and research

positions. She also has taught at Millersville (Pa.) University. Her

research interests include algebraic topology, differential topology,

group actions in manifolds, and K-theory

Marie-Vee Santana, instructor

of psychology, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, where

she has done research including haptic and visual perception, control and

coordination of action, psycholinguistics and visual psychophysics.

Abhijit Som, visiting

assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is interested in the

thermo-fluids physics to address issues in the chemical, power and space

industries. He earned his doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

where he held a variety of teaching and research positions.

John Tanke, visiting assistant

professor of English, holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, and has

taught most recently at the University of Michigan. His teaching and

research interests include Old English poetry, Middle English literature,

structuralism, deconstruction and psychoanalytic theory.

Mary Jo Kahley-Wolf, visiting

assistant professor of chemistry, earned her Ph.D. from Miami (Ohio)

University. She has taught organic chemistry at a number of institutions

including Albany College of Pharmacy, Hudson Valley Community College,

Oberlin College, Bloomsburg University and the University of Toronto.

Kelli Wondra, visiting

assistant professor of performing arts, has studied at Indiana University

and Kansas State University. She has taught at the University at Albany,

Indiana and Kansas State, and directed productions at Albany, Indiana and

Kansas State.

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

The Career Development Center has a record number of

recruiters (85) lined up for the 21st annual Career Festival on Thursday,

Sept. 30, in Memorial Fieldhouse. About 500 students are expected to

visit.

What the CDC wants now is faculty.

Recruiters, like the students who will be visiting them,

are looking to do some networking of their own, explains Shelly

Shinebarger, assistant director of the CDC. “The recruiters want to

talk to faculty to get the inside loop,” she says. “They want to

learn about the students, their classes, their projects.

“At the same time, faculty can talk to the

recruiters and learn what they are looking for in students,” she

says.

While fall is usually the busiest recruiting time for

tech employers, who want to get early commitments from students, the CDC

has reserved tables for non-profits, government and publishing, which

usually don't hire until the spring, Shinebarger says.

As in the past, the buzzword is internships, she adds.

Employers are looking for students who have had professional experience

within their field.

And as if the lure of a potential career isn't enough,

the Marines are offering helicopter rides over campus. But only to those

who have visited the Career Festival. “That was my stipulation,”

says Shinebarger.

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Recent major grants will have an impact on the College's

science and engineering equipment, International Studies, Chinese language

and building renovation.

— The Kresge Foundation of

Michigan has awarded the College a $500,000 Kresge Science Initiative

grant for science and engineering equipment and for the establishment of

an endowment to maintain, upgrade and replace equipment. The grant

includes a challenge; the College must raise $1 million by December 2000,

for a total equipment endowment of $1.25 million.

Equipment to be acquired includes an open circuit wind

tunnel, fog generator and processor for use in civil and mechanical

engineering programs.

— The Andrew W. Mellon

Foundation of New York City has awarded a $400,000 grant to Union and

Hobart and William Smith Colleges to support a cooperative international

studies program.

The award will enable the colleges to achieve

administrative efficiencies, enhance students' access to off-campus

programs, and increase professional development, research and

collaborative teaching.

The four-year grant will support 15 to 20 collaborative

off-campus programs. Possible joint programs include terms in Latin

America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

— The Sherman Fairchild

Foundation of Maryland has awarded a grant of $500,000 to support

first-level science course laboratory equipment. Administered over five

years, the grant will enable the College to replace, upgrade and add

equipment in its four laboratory-based science departments: biology,

chemistry, geology and physics. Purchases will include dissecting and

compound microscopes, telescopes and an ion chromatograph (which provides

detailed analysis of water quality).

— The Henry Luce

Foundation of New York City has awarded a four-year grant of $271,104 in

support of East Asian Studies. The grant provides funds for the creation

of a tenure-track position in Chinese language, literature and culture as

well as $10,000 per year in program support. Megan Ferry has been hired as

the Luce assistant professor of Asian Studies.

— The Fred L. Emerson

Foundation of Auburn, N.Y., has awarded $500,000 to support the

Union-Schenectady Initiative (USI), the College's plan to revitalize the

College Park neighborhood west of campus. The grant will support the

purchase, renovation and furnishing of a building in the USI area; network

communications and wiring; and an endowment for maintenance and upgrades.

Union will raise $1.5 million by November 2001.

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Joseph Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History

at Mount Holyoke College, speaks on “Why Jefferson Lives: A

Meditation on the Man and the Myth” on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7:30

p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

His talk is the first of four this fall in the

Perspectives at the Nott lecture series.

A nationally-recognized scholar of American history from

colonial times through the early decades of the republic, he is the author

of six books including American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas

Jefferson, winner of the 1997 National Book Award in Nonfiction.

The book has been the subject of great critical and

public interest as it explores the complexities of Jefferson's character

and the central role of his political philosophy in the American

experience.

Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Nott Memorial.

Joseph Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke

College, on “Why Jefferson Lives: A Meditation on the Man and the

Myth.” His talk is the first of four this fall in the Perspectives at

the Nott lecture series.

Reamer Auditorium.

Film committee presents The General's Daughter.

Memorial Chapel.

Pianist Boris Berezovsky returns with cellist Dmitry Yablonsky for pieces

by Bach, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov in the Schenectady Musuem-College

chamber series.

Reamer Auditorium.

Poet Sandra Maria Esteves, a founder of the Nuyorican poetry movement,

speaks on “Empowering Latin American Women.” Sponsored by

Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc.

Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.

Opening for An Exact Spectacular, drawings by Ed Rogers and sculpture

by Henry Turner with curator David Greenberger, writer, publisher,

performer, NPR commentator. Runs through Oct. 17.

Memorial Fieldhouse.

21st annual Career Festival.

Reamer Auditorium.

General faculty meeting.

Arts 215.

Opening for “The Time Between Dogs and Wolves: Paintings and Field

Studies by Keith Jacobshagen and Harry Orlyk.” Through Oct. 15.

Social Sciences Lounge.

Exhibit of 17 abstract paintings by German artist Gerlinde Grossmann.