Posted on May 13, 2002

Schenectady, N.Y. (May 13, 2002) –
Donald T. Rodbell, associate professor of geology at Union College, will speak
on “Global Climate Change: The View from the Tropical Andes” on Tuesday, May
21, at 11:30 a.m. in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium at Union College.

The talk, a Union College faculty
colloquium, is free and open to the public.

Rodbell specializes in the geology
of the Andes Mountains in Peru and Ecuador, and his research centers on what the region can tell about long-term changes in global climate.

He was the lead author of a 1999
article in Science that suggested that during the past 5,000 years, El Niño occurred every two to eight years, the same frequency we see in modern times. The study also suggested that the phenomenon was weak or non-existent between 5,000 and 12,000 years ago.

Rodbell also is a co-author of a
paper to be published his month in Science about a study suggesting that the tropics may drive the global climate system. “The results of this study really fly in the face of conventional wisdom about climate change on glacial-interglacial time scales,” he said. “For years we have been led to believe that the high latitudes — particularly in the Northern Hemisphere — hold the key to globally synchronous climate change.”

Rodbell's research has been
supported  by a number of grants from
the National Science Foundation.

At Union since 1993, he holds a
bachelor's from St. Lawrence University, and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Colorado.

For calendar listings:

Speaker: Donald T. Rodbell, associate professor of geology at
Union College

Topic: “Global Climate Change: The View from the Tropical
Andes”

Date: Tuesday, May 21

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Place: F.W. Olin Center Auditorium

Cost: free and open to the public

Information: 388-6131

Posted on May 10, 2002

Alan Taylor, Marie Louise Bailey Professor of Mathematics, delivered the annual Harry M. Gehman Lecture at the meeting of the Seaway Section of the Mathematical Association of America. Taylor was chosen as the 35th lecturer to receive the honor. Taylor's lecture, delivered to an audience of 200, was partially based on his paper “The Manipulability of Voting Systems,” which appeared as the lead article in the most recent issue of the American Mathematical Monthly, the most widely-read mathematics journal in the world. Manipulability is also the subject of Taylor's upcoming book, due to be published by Cambridge University Press early next year. His last book, The Win-Win Solution (co-authored by Steven J. Brams and published by Norton), has just been translated into Korean. Previous translations have appeared in Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese, with Chinese and Russian translations under way. Taylor is also serving as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, with talks this year in New Jersey, Connecticut, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Posted on May 10, 2002

Josef Schmee, the Kenneth B. Sharpe Professor, and Don Arnold, professor, Graduate Management Institute, are presenting two papers at the Irish Accounting and Finance Association's annual national conference in Galway, Ireland, this month. They are “The effect of the `team' versus `group' audit formats on audit risk assessment decisions of audit partners” (co-authored with D. Donald Kent, State University of New York at Brockport), and “Between-country variations in the application of the principle of auditor confidentiality” (co-authored with Presha Neidermeyer, assistant professor, GMI, and R. Bernardi, Roger Williams University).

Posted on May 10, 2002

Victoria Martinez, associate professor of Spanish, has published her translation of plays by Argentine playwright Diana Raznovich in a bilingual edition: Defiant Acts: Four Plays by Diana Raznovich (edited by Diana Taylor and Martinez, Bucknell University Press). She also presented a paper , “Quixotic Elements in the film Nurse Betty” at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference recently.

Posted on May 10, 2002

Events

Friday, May 10, 8:30 p.m.
Memorial Chapel
“Steinmetz Concert 2002” by Union College Orchestra

Friday, May 10, through Monday, May 13, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film: Orange County

Saturday, May 11, 8:30 a.m.
Old Chapel
Parents Welcome Breakfast

Saturday, May 11, 9:30 to 11 a.m.
Hale House
Steinmetz Symposium Poster Session

Saturday, May 11, 11 a.m.
Memorial Chapel
Prize Day

Saturday, May 11, 12:30 p.m.
Hale House
Prize Day Reception

Saturday, May 11, 1 p.m.
Chet's, Reamer Campus Center
Concert by Union College Jazz Ensemble

Saturday, May 11, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
F.W. Olin Center Auditorium
Panel discussion on “Union Housing in the New Millennium”

Saturday, May 11, 3:30 p.m.
Jackson's Garden
Senior Class Duck Race to sponsor class gift

Saturday, May 11, 4 to 6 p.m.
Nott Memorial
President's reception for parents

Saturday, May 11, 9 p.m.
Old Chapel
Performance by “Idol Minds,” Union's improvisational comedy team

Sunday, May 12, 9 a.m. to noon
Upperclass Dining
Mother's Day brunch

Tuesday, May 14, 7 p.m.
Nott Memorial
Artist Mary Ann Strandell on “Painterly Transitions from New Mexico Landscapes to Pop Baroque” in the inaugural Katharine Van Meter Sadock Lecture sponsored by the Women's Studies.

Wednesday, May 15, 4:45 p.m.
Humanities 019
Prof. Martin Strosberg, professor, Graduate Management Institute, on “Rationing Organs: The Public Administration of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.” Final talk in the “Wednesday Works in Progress” series sponsored by the Center for Bioethics and Clinical Leadership.” For more, call ext. 8045.

Wednesday, May 15, 7:30 p.m.
Nott Memorial
Astronomer Alex Filippenko on “Einstein's Biggest Blunder?”

Thursday, May 16, 7 p.m.
Arts 215
Poet Kevin Young reads from his works.

Friday, May 17, 12:30 p.m.
Olin 115
Amos B. Smith, the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, on “The Design and Synthesis of Non-peptide Peptidomimetics: From Neuropeptide Hormone Agonists and Antagonists to HIV Protease Inhibitors.” Sponsored by the chemistry department.

Friday, May 17, through Monday, May 20, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium
Film: Mothman Prophecies

Exhibits

Friday, May 10, through Saturday, May 11

Arts Atrium Gallery

Steinmetz Symposium Arts Exhibition

May 13 through May 18

Arts Atrium Gallery

Senior art shows by Julia Cantor (paintings and prints based on
the work of Spanish painter Juan Miró) and Melanie
Thornton (photographs comparing cultural impacts on children in
Barbados and Schenectady). Reception is Thursday, May 16, at 4 p.m.

Through May 19

Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial

“Orchestrated Objects” a joint exhibition of works by
photographers Jed Devine and Abelardo Morell.

Through June 3

Fourth Floor Gallery, Reamer

Juried exhibition of art and photography by women at
Union. Prizes from the Katharine Van Meter Sadock fund will be
awarded on Tuesday, May 14, at 3:30 p.m. in the Sadock Lounge
(formerly Women's Studies Lounge).

Through June 7

Social Sciences Faculty Lounge Art Gallery

Exhibit of baseball memorabilia collected by Union faculty and staff

Gallery hours are weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.