Posted on Jul 18, 2001

Schenectady, N.Y. (July 18, 2001) – From culture-growing chambers used on NASA's Space Shuttle to some of the earliest telephones, Capital Region businesses have a rich history of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. In recognition of area business' success and generosity, Union College is sponsoring a local business history exhibition through July 30 in the College's Arts Atrium. The exhibit, which features 11 local enterprises, opens Tuesday, July 17 with a reception and donor recognition event from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in the exhibition space. A special donor recognition event will take place at 5:30, with remarks by Union College officials and presentation of awards.

“This exhibition serves to both showcase local business success as well as recognize their commitment to supporting higher education,” Brad Lewis, director of corporate relations at Union said. ” These firms provide much-needed funds that support Union scholarships for local students.”

Businesses featured in the exhibit are: Clough, Harbour & Associates, LLP, Clover Capital Management, Inc., Feuz Manufacturing, Inc., Howe Caverns, Inc. Marty's True Value Hardware, Stewart's Shops, Synthesis Architects, LLP, Trevi Travel, Ltd., Villa Italia Bakery of New York, Inc., Wells Communication, Inc., and Woodward Connor Gillies & Seleman Architects, P.C. In all, more than 100 businesses participated in the 2000-2001 Annual Business Campaign.

The exhibition includes, for each business spotlighted, a panel detailing the firm's history, growth, and specialization; artifacts and examples of each business's products and services — original brochures announcing a grand opening, early motors and machine tools, unique designs for space travel and engineering devices – will also be on display.

For more than 25 years, area businesses have supported Union College through annual gifts; since 1992,the support has come through the Annual Business Campaign, which provides annual scholarship assistance to local students from Albany, Columbia, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schoharie, and Schenectady counties.

For more information, call 388-6089.

Posted on Jul 3, 2001

Schenectady, N.Y. (July 3, 2001) – He is an aspiring teacher who enjoys “sitting around talking about calculus.” She is a double major in bio-chem and math who somehow has
time for two radio shows, several research projects and programming for the
Coffeehouse.

They are William Johnson
'02 and Desirée Plata '03, the Union College's Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. The prestigious award supports promising scientists, mathematicians and engineers with a $7,500 stipend for each of their remaining years of undergraduate study.

Johnson, who is a tutor at the Calculus Crisis Center, says he has always known he wanted to be a teacher. “I just want to be in front of a classroom,” he says. “It's one of my
favorite things to do. I like to be in a position where people are asking me to
explain things.”

Johnson was one of 20 graduates in the Class of 1998 at tiny Romulus (N.Y.) High School in central New York. With a classmate also on this year's list, he jokes that a full 10 percent of his high school class earned Goldwater Scholarships.

With both parents high school teachers, Johnson spends his breaks from Union as a substitute teacher at his alma mater.

A Union Scholar, Johnson also is a member of the Rugby Club, Sigma Phi and a Gatekeeper. He has done research with Prof. Brenda Johnson in the field of graph theory and plans to continue that work this summer at Oregon State University. Last fall, he studied math on a term abroad in Budapest.

He may teach at the high school level at first, he says, but eventually he would like to earn his Ph.D. and teach at the college level.