Posted on Sep 14, 2001

Events

Friday, Sept. 14, 4 p.m.
Garis Field
Men's soccer vs. St. Lawrence

Friday, Sept. 14, 4:30 p.m.
Humanities 213
“Terrorism, Violence and Non-Violence ” with Robert Holmes, University of Rochester. First in the Fall 2001
Philosophy Colloquia sponsored by the Philosophy Department. For more information, call ext. 6376.

Friday, Sept. 14, through Monday, Sept. 17, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film: The Animal

Saturday Sept. 15, 1 p.m.
Bailey Field
Football vs. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Saturday Sept. 15, 1 p.m.
Garis Field
Men's Soccer vs. Clarkson

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 3 p.m.
Tennis courts
Women's tennis vs. Oneonta

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 5 to 7 p.m.
Nott Memorial
Reception for and gallery talk (at 6 p.m.) for “Jon Schueler's About the Sky ” with Magda
Salvesen, the artist's widow and co-editor of his writings. For information, call ext. 6004 or visit
www.union.edu/links/gallery.

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m.
Memorial Fieldhouse
Volleyball vs. Oneonta

Friday, September 21, 4:30 p.m.
Humanities 213
Philosophical Fridays @ Union presents “Skepticism and Foundations ” with Gilbert Harman, Princeton
University. For more information, call ext. 6376. Sponsored by the Union College Department of Philosophy.

Friday, Sept. 21, through Monday, Sept. 24, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film: Crazy/Beautiful

Exhibits

Through Sept. 30
Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial
“About the Sky, ” a show of 30 paintings from the 1950s through the 1980s by abstract expressionist Jon
Schueler. A reception featuring Magda Salvesen, Schueler's widow and co-editor of his autobiographical
writings The Sound of Sleat: Autobiographical Writings, will be Wednesday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the
Gallery. She will give a gallery talk at 6 p.m.

Through Oct. 12
Atrium Gallery, Arts Building
“Louise Hamlin: Recent Paintings, Pastels and Prints, ” an exhibit of paintings and densely-layered pastels
from the artist's extended visits to Italy. The exhibit also includes “Bringing Up Baby, ” a boxed set of 15 hand
printed poems by various poets including Jordan Smith, professor of English at Union. Each poem is accompanied by a Hamlin etching.

Posted on Sep 14, 2001

The College's MBA program is reaping the benefits of its recent accreditation by AACSB – the International Association for Management Education, according to its director, Susan Lehrman.

“We have seen a significant increase in a number of vital indicators – overall incoming class size, full-time student enrollment, and foreign student yield, ” she said. “While AACSB is not the sole reason for the increases, it is a very significant factor. ”

The accreditation has also served the MBA program well in the important area of establishing networks with firms in the region. “Many more businesses and organizations are in the fold, from offering graduates jobs to establishing professional internships and co-ops. This is directly a result of the accreditation; AACSB is an accurate, objective assessment of the program 's quality, which is very important for business buy-in. ”

The program welcomes a full-time starting class for the 2001-02 academic year of 50 students, a 35 percent increase over the average for the last five years; 38 students comprised the 2000-2001 class.

Accreditation is particularly valued among foreign students, according to Lehrman. “We are recruiting overseas with impressive results, ” she said. “Fifteen full-time foreign students are starting this fall, compared to an average of seven over the past five years. ”

Posted on Sep 14, 2001

Robert Holmes of the University of Rochester will open “Philosophical Fridays @ Union College ” on Friday, Sept. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in Humanities 213 at Union College.

He will speak on “Terror, Violence and Non-Violence, ” a talk directed at recent acts of terrorism in the U.S.

His talk is the first in the Union College Philosophy Colloquia, four-part series of talks by noted philosophers, all of which are Fridays at 4:30 p.m. in Humanities 213. The talks are free and open to the public.

Holmes, professor of philosophy at the University of Rochester, specializes in ethics, social philosophy and philosophy of war. He was former editor of Public Affairs Quarterly, a scholarly journal on current issues in social and political philosophy.

Others in the series are:

• Sept. 21, Gilbert Harman, Princeton University, “Skepticism and Foundations; ”
• Oct. 19, Georges Dreyfus, Williams College, “The Sounds of Two Hands Clapping: Philosophical Debate in the Tibetan Scholastic Education; ” and
• Delia Graff, Cornell University, “Ascriptions of Desires, and Descriptions of Desires. “

For more information, call the Department of Philosophy at ext. 6376.

Posted on Sep 14, 2001

A faculty panel – the Resource Allocation Sub-Council (RASC) – appointed to review the proposed elimination of the Civil Engineering department, is to issue its report of options Friday to the College 's Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), Faculty Executive Council, academic departments, and President Roger Hull.

RASC members included Prof. Byron Nichols, political science; Prof. Chris Duncan, visual arts; Prof. Tom Jewell, civil engineering; Prof. David Hayes, chemistry; and Prof. Kimmo Rosenthal, mathematics, and associate dean for undergraduate education.

The proposal to phase out Civil Engineering is an effort to reallocate resources within the division focusing on electrical, mechanical and computer systems engineering as well as computer science. RASC was formed, according to FEC Chair Prof. Tom Werner, to “Assure that the issue is addressed according to the faculty governance system. ”

The report, according to Nichols, RASC chair, “Presents a range of options to be considered as the College weighs this important decision. ” The committee did not take a position on any one option, he said. “The report offers a framework for continued discussion of the proposal. ”

Werner added that the report would be discussed at the Oct. 3 meeting of Union faculty. “A faculty vote will not be binding, but will give the administration a sense of the group, ” he said.

The Union board of trustees is to consider the proposal at its Oct.12 meeting.
“The College is committed to a strong engineering program, ” Hull said. “As one of our distinguishing characteristics, engineering at Union will remain, and will, in fact, become stronger. The important work of this committee is in concert with the Plan for Union, which enhances the College 's longstanding commitment to technology and engineering within a liberal arts environment. ”

Under the Plan for Union, the organizing theme of the engineering division is Converging Technologies. Engineering students will continue to receive degrees in mechanical, computer science, and electrical engineering, and will also be introduced to such state-of-the-art concepts as bioengineering, nanotechnology, mechatronics, and pervasive computing. The division has already developed new classes – some offered this fall – that support this theme, including “Introduction To Nanotechnology, ” “Digital Systems & Interface Electronics, ” and “Fundamentals of Wireless Electronics. ”

Posted on Sep 14, 2001

Tuesday morning in Library Plaza looked like most other idyllic fall days on campus – students chatting, a few catching a last look at their readings before classes, staffers tending some plantings and mowing the grass.

But as news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon quickly spread, members of the campus community walked about in stunned silence, stopping occasionally to whisper in small groups as the campus fell into an eerie silence.

In just moments, the focus shifted from upcoming classes and daily errands to the realization that Tuesday 's events would reshape individuals, families, the campus, the country.

As classes were canceled for the day, students, faculty and staff went to the nearest television. The Humanities lounge, packed with shaken students and faculty, was quiet except for a TV tuned to CNN, an occasional sob or a sigh of disbelief the only other sounds. The scene was repeated in perhaps dozens of venues across campus.

A number of students hurried across campus talking on their cell phones. Some were just learning of the day 's tragedies. Others, apparently, were frantically checking on loved ones.

An all-day meeting in the athletic department was called off, participants being “too distracted to focus ” in the words of one coach.

Bill Thomas, director of international programs, awaited news on travel restrictions, wondering how nearly 70 students would get to terms abroad that are about to start in the Czech Republic, England and France. Another 90 are already in their host countries, he said.

The Rev. Viki Brooks-McDonald, the Protestant chaplain, officiated at an impromptu 20-minute service of prayer in Memorial Chapel that drew about 150 students, faculty and staff. Prof. Brad Lewis read from Anne Weems ' Psalms of Lament. Prof. Seth Greenberg offered prayers in both Hebrew and English. Sobs were audible during moments of silence, and a number of those in attendance made use of tissues and ice water placed at the back of the chapel.

Afterward, groups of administrators convened in a corner of the Chapel to review notification procedures, and to ensure that students knew where to find counseling.

At 1:42 p.m., members of Facilities Services lowered the American flag to half staff.

'We had the Cold War and Vietnam … for this generation of students this is the moment they lost their political innocence. '

“We had the Cold War and Vietnam, ” said one faculty member after Tuesday 's gathering in Memorial Chapel. “But for this generation of students, this is the moment they lost their political innocence. ”

The day after

On Wednesday morning, a day after the attacks in New York City and Washington, most morning classes devoted at least a few minutes to discussion, with faculty urging students to feel free to talk among themselves, with faculty and with counselors.

Within 24 hours of the blasts, International Programs had received about 20 calls from parents of students abroad, Prof. Thomas reported. Hosts in York, England, were accommodating early arrivals by Union students who had been traveling in Europe, he noted.

Campus offices that deal with graduates – the Career Development Center and Alumni Relations – were beginning to make lists of those who might have been in harm 's way, though it was much too early on Wednesday to know for certain the extent of the tragedy.

A number of sports contests were postponed on Tuesday and Wednesday, for times to be determined. The fate of weekend contests was not known.

Also on Tuesday, a second prayer vigil drew about 100 members of the campus community. President Roger Hull, who had been traveling on Tuesday, told the audience, “We lost much yesterday, but most important of all, we lost our innocence. It was our darkest hour, but it can be our brightest. As we give our blood, our hands, our hearts, we come together to embrace freedom. ”

Hull also recited John Donne 's For Whom the Bell Tolls, which reads, in part: “Any man 's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never sent to know for whom the bell tolls … it tolls for me. ”