Posted on May 18, 2001

Events

Friday, May 18, through Monday, May 21, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film committee presents Traffic.

Friday, May 18, and Saturday, May 19, 8 p.m.and Sunday, May 20, 2 p.m.
Yulman Theater
“The Fantasticks.”
Admission $7; students/seniors $5. Info: 388-6545.

Tuesday, May 22, 12:30 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
General faculty meeting.

Tuesday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.
Old Chapel
Concert by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, with opening act Adrian Legg.
Free to members of the Union community, $10 for general public.
Bar and pub menu available.

Wednesday, May 23, 7 p.m.
Nott Memorial
Solo performance by actor Jane Curry in “Just Say Know,” a satire in which Curry portrays several women to explore the impact on women in higher education of the use of science, the recurring nature of biological arguments, and the back-to-the-classics movement. Discussion to follow performance.

Thursday, May 24,7:30 p.m.
Old Chapel
60^th Birthday Concert for Bob Dylan with more than 15 acts performing their versions of Dylan songs. Free admission.

Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.
Nott Memorial
Ethicist Heinrich von Staden of the Institute for Advanced Study School of Historical Studies at Princeton University on “Hippocratic Ethics.” The Harry Guttman Memorial Lecture sponsored by the Classics and Philosophy Departments. For details, contact snowdenm@union.edu.

Friday, May 25, through Monday, May 28, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film committee presents Snatch.

Posted on May 18, 2001

The College has received deposits from 543 students for the Class of 2005, which after “summer melt” should put the new class on its target for 520, reports Dan Lundquist, vice president for admissions and financial aid.

“Our goals this year were to maximize academic quality and admissions selectivity,” Lundquist said. “To attain those goals, we admitted 350 fewer students from the lower end of the academic scale and provided some merit money to the top-end admits. Our selectivity dropped from 47 to 40 percent and the yield increased on the top academic bands.”

The Union Scholars program, for example, has grown from 38 to 51 students in the past year, he noted.

At the same time, the College was able to contain the overall financial aid expenditure for the class. “A better-qualified and more affluent applicant pool has presented itself the past two years and we have been able to capitalize on that,” Lundquist said.

The only disappointment in an “otherwise splendid year” is that applications, admission, and matriculation of minority students are down from 14 percent last year to 12 percent this year, Lundquist said.

Posted on May 18, 2001

Seniors Kathryn Stefanik and Noah Trueger shared the Frank Bailey Prize for service to the College at Prize Day on Saturday. They were cited for, among other things, their work as student-members of the U2K Committee that developed the College's new House System.

Jon Tower received the Josephine Daggett Prize, presented to the senior of the best character and conduct.

Thirty-five students were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in a ceremony last Sunday.

Seniors elected to membership in the national academic honor society were Aakash Agarwala, Cristina Baldassari, Anne Blankman, Kristie Centi, Jonathan Collins, Alexandre Dieudonne, Jeffrey Ferraro, Erin Fitzpatrick, Kemoy Foster, Annette Grajny, Allison Graziadei, Mark Kostuk, Mara Ladd, Carin Litani, Danielle Marquis, Sofia Mazo, Michelle McKinlay, David Ott, Michael Panayotou, Michael Parisi, Risheet Patel, Nidby Paulose, Elizabeth Perry, Anastasie Prokhorova, Katherine Reis, Olabosipo Sawyerr, Kaelyn South, Louisa Stephens, Jennifer Tobin, Preeti Upadhya, and Jessica Zuehlke.

Juniors elected were Jessica Cook, Mariya Gueorguieva, Kathleen Meloney, and Rachel Strader.

Posted on May 18, 2001

Dr. David Kessler, dean of the Yale University School of Medicine and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is to be the honorary chancellor at the College's Commencement on June 17.

He will deliver the main address and receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

During his tenure at the FDA from 1990 to 1997, Kessler developed a number of regulatory policies, particularly those affecting the tobacco industry. Under his leadership, the FDA placed new restrictions on tobacco vending machines and advertisements in an effort to stop children and teens from smoking. The FDA also fought to regulate nicotine as a drug.

Kessler also led the way to other FDA regulations, such as improved standards for mammography, improved nutritional labels on products, and speeding up the drug approval process.

Kessler's leadership “transformed the beleaguered agency and U.S. public health policy,” according to an article in the Washington Post.

Posted on May 18, 2001

A sub-committee of the AAC has been formed to review the proposed elimination of civil engineering.

The Faculty Executive Committee has asked that the trustees not take action at their June meeting, and the FEC is willing to assist the AAC in their review, said Thomas Werner, chair of the FEC.

In a recent letter to colleagues, Werner said the formation of the sub-council would assure the CE issue is addressed according to the faculty governance system. Members of the FEC also felt that the proposed elimination of CE and reallocation of faculty lines should be considered by the AAC and its sub-councils, Werner said.

Civil engineering is to be discussed at a general faculty meeting on Tuesday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m. in Reamer Auditorium.