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Posted on Jun 2, 2000

William Murphy, Thomas Lamont
Research Professor of Ancient and Modern Literature, was quoted in an
article, “Has Gates' Combativeness Hurt Microsoft in Court
Case?” in the May 7 edition of the Seattle Times. Written by Paul
Andrews '71,
the piece quotes Murphy, “I suppose you could
characterize Gates' tragic flaw as righteousness. Early on, all Gates
had to do to preserve his pre-eminent position in the industry was to give
up one small thing – break apart the browser from Windows. But he wouldn't
do it. He wanted 100 percent.” Murphy compared the software mogul to
King Lear, who banished his faithful daughter Cordelia for the sin of
telling him the truth.

Seth Greenberg, Gilbert R.
Livingston Professor of Psychology, was a co-author (with A. Inhoff, M.
Starr, R. Radach) of a chapter, “Allocation of Visuo-spatial
Attention and Saccade Programming During Reading.” He published a
commentary in Behavioral and Brain Sciences titled “Words do
not stand alone: Do not ignore a word's role when examining patterns of
activation.” It examined whether investigations that report that
differential brain activation resulting from the processing of words
fitting different grammatical classes is reasonable evidence that classes
of words are stored in different locations in the brain. Theoretical
commentary was co-authored by M. Nisslein of the Max Plank Institute in
Germany. Joanna Tai '00, a student of Greenberg's presented a
paper, “Nursery Rhymes and Missing Letters,” at the 28th annual
Hunter College Psychology Convention on May 6. The paper reports on one of
several studies she did to investigate whether readers process different
grammatical categories of words differently in familiar as compared to
unfamiliar texts.

Teresa Meade, associate
professor of history, presented a paper, “Becoming Honorable:
Marriage and Identity on the Alta California Frontier, 1769-1850,” at
the Latin American Studies Association Congress in Miami this spring. She
presented a talk, “Reconfiguring the Frontier: Alta California in the
19th Century,” for the Latin American Studies Program at SUNY-Stony
Brook. Also, she spoke before the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
in Stockbridge, Mass., on “Perspectives on the Berks: The Next 40
Years.”

M. Estellie Smith, research
professor of anthropology, has published a book, Trade and Trade-offs:
Using Resources, Making Choices, and Taking Risks
(Waveland Press),
which deals with making choices and dealing with the sociocultural costs
and benefits of them. The book “casts aside the idea that economics
deals only with things that can be measured with money,” Smith
writes, and deals with the questions that arise from the necessity of
individuals and groups to deal with matters related to production,
distribution and consumption.

George Butterstein, Florence
B. Sherwood Professor of Life Sciences, authored a paper (with V. Daniel
Castracane of Texas Tech Health Sciences), “Effect of Particle Size
on the Prolonged Actum of Subcutaneous Danazol in Male and Female
Rats,” in Fertility and Sterility. Also, Butterstein, acting
dean of arts and sciences, was interviewed by a reporter from the Missoulian
during NCUR 2000 at the University of Montana recently. “What's
important about this conference is the diversity of topics,” said
Butterstein, who attended the conference with 47 Union students and five
other faculty. “It's not only science-oriented, it's across the
fields.”

Robert Sharlet, Chauncey
Winters Professor of Political Science, in November spoke on the
jurisprudence of the Russian Constitutional Court at the National Slavic
Conference (AAASS) in St. Louis. This spring, he made presentations on
post-Yeltsin constitutional issues at the American Enterprise Institute in
Washington, and at the Political Science Graduate Colloquium at the
University of California at Riverside. Of essays recently published in Americana
Annual 2000
(Grolier), a major one was on Russian political and
economic developments during 1999. He also evaluated applications of law
professors from post-Soviet states for research placements at U.S. law
schools.

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Drawing Einstein

Posted on Jun 2, 2000

Seyffie Maleki of physics got an e-mail earlier this
year from Charlotte Reischer Clark, mother of Blair Reischer '77, who
one day was amazed to see in the physics department a portrait of Albert
Einstein done by his late grandmother, Alice K. Reischer.

It seems that the portrait had been given to the
department by a Union professor of biology who as a high school boy did
odd jobs for the Reischers, his neighbors in Ann Arbor, Mich. Mrs.
Reischer encouraged the boy to pursue the sciences, and the portrait was
presented to him as part of that encouragement, writes Mrs. Clark, who was
writing to Maleki to ask for a reproduction of the work.

The picture may be rare, Mrs. Clark says, because
Einstein was not willing to let people make his likeness. Mrs. Reischer,
her mother-in-law, sketched it when Einstein was giving a lecture at
Princeton, Mrs. Clark says.

And the Union professor who got the portrait as payment
for cutting grass? None other than Carl George, professor emeritus of
biology, who thought the best home for the work would be in the physics
department. “I'm tickled pink that the Einstein portrait is
receiving a bit of attention,” he says.

– 

We reported last week that President Roger Hull is to
appear on Carmine's Table, a cooking show hosted by chef Carmine
Spiro.

The show is set to air Wednesday, June 14, at 11 a.m. on
Channel 13, WNYT.

Hull and Kevin O'Connor, president of Albany's
Center for Economic Growth, joined Spiro to prepare — and eat — food,
all the while discussing community revitalization programs.

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Last Chron of Year

Posted on Jun 2, 2000

This is the last issue of the Chronicle for
the academic year. Publication will resume in the fall.

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‘Indian Aesthetic’ on Exhibition

Posted on Jun 2, 2000

Students in Prof. Suchitra Nair's “Indian
Aesthetics” class have a final project unlike most others.

On Friday, June 2, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Reamer 409,
they will present an exhibition inspired by their class, which focused on
Indian philosophy and its representation in art, architecture, dance …
even cuisine.

“I am eager to see what they will come up
with,” said Prof. Nair, a faculty member at National College in
Mumbai who is visiting Union this term under the faculty exchange program.

Members of the campus community are invited.

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660 to March on June 11

Posted on Jun 2, 2000

About 660 students are to receive degrees with the
Class of 2000 at Union College's Commencement on Sunday, June 11, at 10
a.m. in Library Plaza.

The College will award 555 bachelor's degrees, 105
master's and two doctorates.

Kevin Klose, president and CEO of National Public Radio,
is honorary chancellor and will deliver the main address. He is to receive
an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

A former editor, and national and foreign correspondent
with The Washington Post, Klose is an award-winning author and
international broadcasting executive. Prior to joining NPR in 1998, Klose
served successively as director of U.S. International Broadcasting,
overseeing the U.S. Government's global radio and television news
services; and president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, broadcasting
to Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Jonathan Chung of Glenview, Ill., is valedictorian.
Henry Michtalik of Albany, N.Y., is salutatorian. Michelle Tham of New
City, N.Y., is to deliver the student address.

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