From left, Dr. Xiangrong Kong, GMI Prof. Martin Strosberg and Dr. Xiaocheng Liu listen during a recent tour at Ellis Hospital.
A team of Chinese doctors and
health care administrators from what will be the world's largest cardiovascular
hospital have been in residence the last two weeks with the Graduate Management
Institute to learn about the management and technology of western medicine.
The visitors, executives of the under-construction
Tianjin Economic Development Area's International
Cardiovascular Hospital,
have been attending lectures at Union and Albany
Medical College,
and visiting local hospitals and HMO's.
On a recent visit to Ellis
Hospital, for example, they paid
special attention to a hand-recognition time clock and a robotic pharmaceutical
dispenser. They also met at length with a number of physicians who were eager
to learn about the Chinese health care system.
Prof. Liu Xiaocheng, a cardiac
surgeon, is president of TEDA International
Cardiovascular Hospital.
The facility will provide teaching, research and rehabilitation. Plans call for
the treatment of 10,000 cases annually. The hospital will include 16 operating
rooms, six heart catheterization labs, and 600 beds.
In China,
about 13,000 people a day die as a result of heart disease. Another four
million are in need of cardiac surgeries. Treatment will be offered to patients
locally, nationally, and even internationally.
The hospital is under the
auspices of the Chinese government. However, in five years time it will make
the transition to a corporate model. Cardiac specialists and senior management
will be recruited from a worldwide pool, making it a truly international
cardiac facility.
TEDA is one of 14 areas in China
to be designated for economic development. Since 1985, nearly 3,500
international corporations, including Toyota,
Motorola, Nestle and Yamaha, have invested some $17 billion in the burgeoning
area.
Prof. Marty Strosberg has studied
and lectured in China,
and this visit represents something of an exchange. Prof. Valerie Manna is
coordinating the visit. The guests also have attended a variety of activities
ranging from hockey games to museum visits.
On May 23
and 24, 1865, Washington, D.C., witnessed a pageant the likes of which it neither had
seen before nor has seen since: marching 60 abreast, 150,000 victorious Union
troops paraded up Pennsylvania
Avenue, a throng
stretching 25 miles.
Writes Melinda
Lawson, visiting assistant professor of history, in her new book, Patriot
Fires: Forging a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North (University Press of Kansas): “The
symbolism was unmistakable: a far cry from the ragtag collection of local boys
who had presented themselves to their states for service in 1861, this
disciplined, orderly army, now marching in synchrony down the streets of the
country's capital represented the new American nation.”
Yet, she notes, not a single black regiment was included in this vast parade.
“The
marching white troops were occasionally accompanied by captured slaves or by
black pick-and-shovel brigades, but the nearly 180,000 black troops who saw
action in the war — men who might claim as much credit for the Union's victory
as the white soldiers present — were nowhere to be seen.”
In Lawson's
view, that absence was prophetic. The Civil War gave birth to a new nation —
but it did not produce the new birth of freedom envisioned in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Her book
explores the two distinct, even contrary, forces that joined together to
produce this new nation.
Dust jacket to “Patriot Fires” by Melinda Lawson
One
force was what Lawson calls “transcendent patriotism.” Resembling the European
variety that Alexis de Tocqueville had earlier found lacking in America, this was a highly emotional, even mystical, patriotism rooted
in tradition and history.
The other was a force that grew stronger over the course of the war but
ultimately proved much more fragile than transcendent patriotism. With
abolitionists its most prominent advocates, this was the force of ideas and
principles — freedom, equality, justice for all.
“American
nationalism is said to be rooted in an idea,” she writes. “The Civil War
exposed the fragility of the American idea as a basis of national unity. Thus,
agents of Civil War nation-building brought more European-style tools to their
task, depicting the nation in more traditional, historical, and cultural terms.”
Who were
these agents of Civil War nation-building? Lawson focuses principally on these:
— The
ladies who organized Sanitary Fairs in cities and town all across the country
to raise money for the Union's sick and wounded. The fairs were “a celebration of
nation unlike anything 19th-century Americans had ever seen.”
—
Financier Jay Cooke, whose agents blanketed the country selling war bonds —
and selling as well the notion of Washington as the people's banker, “a source of economic well-being.”
— The
Republican Party, which to a considerable extent succeeded in “conflat[ing]
Republicanism with loyalty and Democracy with treason.”
—
Metropolitan Union Leagues, the gentlemen's clubs in big Eastern cities that “brought
an embattled intellectual and professional elite together with powerful
business interests … to rally support for the Union and strengthen the
national state.”
—
Unitarian minister Edward Everett Hale, whose 1863 short story “The Man without
a Country” became an instant best seller with its message that life without
allegiance to a nation is empty and meaningless.
Contributing
to the new sense of nationhood as well were the abolitionists, but their
approach to patriotism and national allegiance was of a different stripe. As
Lawson puts it, “For the abolitionists, the United States was not a nation
worth saving — or even a nation at all — until it lived up to the ideals it
had set forth in the Declaration of Independence.”
As the
war progressed, Lincoln came to view the struggle more and more in such terms. “Lincoln set out to restore the notion of American identity as
rooted in an idea,” Lawson writes. “Yet one of his most lasting contributions
lay in his death,” which in the post-war decades, she makes clear, carried an
emotional power far exceeding national dedication to the idea that all men are
created equal.
Still,
fragile though ideas and principles proved to be in that era, they remain an
element in American wars to the present, Lawson believes.
“The
kind of transcendent patriotism that the Civil War created gives our leaders
considerable leeway in their conduct of wars,” she says. “But, as we
learned in Vietnam, that doesn't amount to a blank check. In World War II,
sacrifice was sustained not only because of people's patriotism but because the
war was widely seen as furthering our national ideals. In Vietnam that proved not to be the case.”
Such
issues could arise in the war against terrorism, she adds, if the going gets
more difficult than it proved to be in Afghanistan.
Early in Patriot Fires, Prof. Lawson
quotes an admonition of Judge Mellon of Pittsburgh to his newly enlisted son: “It is only greenhorns who
enlist. You can learn nothing in the army … In time you will come to
understand and believe that a man may be a patriot without risking his own life
or sacrificing his health.”
Comments
Lawson: “What an amazing statement at the outset of the bloodiest war in our
national history! What was it that made possible the tremendous sacrifice the
war came to entail? In large part it was the construction of transcendent
patriotism through the Sanitary Fairs, the Union Leagues, 'The Man without a
Country.' But in large part, too, it was the ideas promoted by the
abolitionists and their increasing importance to Lincoln. Although the new birth of freedom he envisioned was not
realized, that idea was embodied in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which
ultimately served as touchstones for egalitarian movements.
“Ideas
are fragile as a basis for nationhood,” she concludes. “But that doesn't mean
they don't count.”
Whether it is on the football field, on the track or in the classroom, senior Justin Sievert is going to give 100 percent in everything he is involved in. Sievert, who came to Union from New Paltz high school earned four varsity letters as a starter at defensive tackle for the football team. Now in his fourth season as a member of the track team, Sievert, who was an honorable mention All-American last year in the shot put, has already provisionally qualified for this season's national meet after only one outing. Expected to be a key factor during this spring's outdoor season, Sievert will look to improve upon the fourth-place finish in last year's NCAA championships that earned him All-American honors.
“Justin was a great leader for us and an outstanding talent,” said head football coach John Audino. “He was one of the better defensive tackles we've had in our program and could have played on any of the great Union teams. Justin consistently had 35 to 40 tackles a year and always has been unheralded because of his position played. Usually the defensive linemen in our scheme do not make the bulk of the tackles because their number one job is to keep the offensive linemen off of our linebackers.”
The 6'2, 265-pound Sievert finished his career with 131 total tackles, 10 quarterback sacks and five fumble recoveries. He was voted to the UCAA All-Conference team each of the last two years and was one of this year's captains.
“He is a hard worker and a solid leader,” said track coach Larry Cottrell. “Justin always sets his goals high and works extremely hard to achieve those goals. Others on the team see his work ethic, how he challenges himself, and that helps raise the bar for everyone.”
…and his All-American accomplishment during last spring's outdoor season are just two of the many memories Justin Sievert will take with him from his four years at Union.
Sievert was voted the Dutchmen's “Most Valuable Performer” for both the indoor and outdoor seasons after his sophomore and junior campaigns and was voted the MVP of the New York State and UCAA Championship Meets last year. The athletic department voted him the 2002 Pike Award winner as Union's “Outstanding Junior Male Athlete.”:
Justin is no slouch in the classroom either. A political science major who is going to attend law school for his JD and MBA, Sievert is applying at Tulane, Miami, Pepperdine, Northeastern, Villanova, and Albany/Union Law School. He has been on the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association's All-Academic team throughout his junior and senior years, keeping his cumulative grade point average above the required minimum of 3.2. His thesis is on the political ramifications of baseball on the relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Talented enough to have competed for a Division I college in track, Sievert is more than happy with his four-year experiences at Union.
“Although I could have competed at the Division I level in track and field, Union College has offered me everything I wanted in terms of athletics and, more importantly, afforded me the opportunity to gain a quality education,” he said.
Looking back at his athletic career, Sievert says that starting on one of the best defenses in the country during his freshman year, beating Springfield during his sophomore season, which sent the Dutchmen to the NCAA play-offs, and beating RPI this year in the 100th meeting between the two schools are among his favorite football memories. As for his track experiences, he points to winning his first state championship during his sophomore year by beating an NCAA finalist, and becoming an All- American in his junior year.
It has been quite a ride so far for Union women's basketball coaches Mary Ellen Burt and Jamie Seward and the 2002-03 Dutchwomen. Union heads into this weekend's UCAA showdowns with Hamilton (Friday at 8 p.m.) and William Smith (Saturday at 4 p.m.) with a perfect 12-0 record. The Garnet is one of just 12 Division III teams in the country with an unblemished record. Union is just one of two New York State teams (the University of Rochester (12-0) is the other) that has not suffered a loss. St. John Fisher fell out of that category after losing to Roberts Wesleyan last weekend.
The keys to Union's success thus far has been quality depth and defense. Burt, who is now in her eighth season and has led the Dutchwomen to a record of 58-33 over the last three seasons (including this year's 12-0 start), can call on any one of her 13 players at any point in the game. In fact, so balanced is the Garnet's roster that not one single player has started every game.
“It is a unique luxury to be able to rotate our starters game to game,” explained Burt. “This year the term “starter” means nothing more than who gets to be on the floor first. Every single one of our players could be a starter for a lot of teams. This year the focus really is on team and not who is starting.”
Jamie Seward
Five of Union's players are averaging over 20 minutes a game with junior point guard Taryn Scinto (Westwood, NJ/Immaculate Heart) leading the squad with an average of 26 minutes a game. Scinto, a three-year starter, leads the team in both assists (34) and steals (36) and is averaging 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds a game. Freshman Kate DeSorrento (Schaghticoke, NY/Catholic Central), who leads the Dutchwomen in scoring with her 12.7 average, and sophomore Katlyn Cunningham (Clarksburg, MA/Drury), who tops the rebounding chart with an average of 6.3 and is second on the team in scoring at 12.1, average 25.9 and 21.9
minutes a game, respectively. In fact, there have been many games when the two spell each other on the court.
Sophomore guard Melissa Marra (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville), third in scoring at 11.6 and second in three-point field goals with 10 (one behind Scinto's 11), averages 23 minutes of playing time. Kelly Baker (Cutchogue, NY/Mattituck) a junior forward who leads the squad with her 10 blocked shots and is second in rebounding at 4.5, is averaging 23.3 playing minutes. Five other Dutchwomen are averaging double-digit minutes, including freshman Courtney Shepard (Pittsfield, MA/Pittsfield), who got off to a slow start because of illness. Shepard, who is averaging 17.6 minutes, has scored in double digits in four of her last five outings and is averaging 8.7 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Union's consistent swarming style of pressure defense has produced 352 turnovers thus far while they have turned the ball over just 253 times. The Dutchwomen, who are averaging 74 points a game (while giving up an average of 53), are picking up an average of 28 points a game off of turnovers. Union's bench is outscoring the opposition by an average of 28.2 to 16.4 a game.
As the season progresses, the schedule gets more challenging for the Dutchwomen. Last Friday Union took a big step towards meeting those challenges as it beat Rensselaer in Troy, 79-72. Union led from start to finish to break a seven-game losing streak at RPI. Going into the contest, the Red Hawks had won 12 of the last 13 meeting and had captured 33 of the previous 41 meetings (including their 18-4 mark at home).
Hamilton comes into Memorial Field House with a series advantage of 20-9 while William Smith, which won the first 17 meetings against Union, enjoys a series advantage of 18-2. Things only get more difficult for the Dutchwomen as next weekend (January 31 and February 1) they make the dreaded North Country Trip to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence. While the Garnet has won the last six in a row from the Golden Knights and enjoys a series advantage of 12-6, the Saints have won 14 of the 16 meetings since the teams first met in 1994, including 14 of the last 15 games. While Union won at home in 2000, 67-61, St. Lawrence has outscored the Garnet, 1,080 to 922, or an average of 67.5 to 57.6.
The week after they return from the North Country, the Dutchwomen travel to meet Hamilton and William Smith before ending the regular-season with a six-game homestand.
Previous Union Teams with 12 or more victories in a single season:
1999-00 18-9
2000-01 15-11
1978-79 13-10
1991-92 12-11
The 1975-76 season was the first year that basketball had varsity status at Union.
The women's hockey team, which climbed to sixth in the ECAC East standings with last weekend's 4-1 and 5-4 overtime victory at New England College, had two of its players honored by the league. Sophomore forward Erin Vehec (Washingtonville, NY/Phillips Exeter Academy) was named the “Co-Player of the Week” while sophomore forward Liz Flanagan (Simsbury, CT/Loomis Chaffee) earned a place on the weekly honor roll after helping the Garnet improve its circuit record to 6-5-1 and its overall mark to 7-9-1.
Vehec, who began playing for the Dutchwomen in January after transferring from the University of New Hampshire, scored one goal in the Saturday victory and then contributed two goals and an assist as the Dutchwomen came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period.
Trailing 4-2 with 12:31 left to play, Vehec netted her fifth goal, and her third powerplay tally, in only six games to pull the Dutchwomen back to within 4-3. Then, with 3:31 remaining in regulation, she scored a shorthanded tally to send the game into the extra session.
If that wasn't enough for a day's work, Vehec picked up her third assist of the year on Molly Flanagan's (Simsbury, CT/Loomis Chaffee)–Liz's twin sister–game-winning tally at 1:52 of overtime.
Liz Flanagan
“Erin has been a welcome addition to our team after transferring in from UNH, said head coach Fred Quistgard. “Her speed and hands have added an offensive spark, and she has developed a great chemistry playing with Liz and Molly Flanagan.”
Liz Flanagan had a remarkable weekend as she picked up three assists in the 4-1 victory and assisted on both of Vehec's goals in the overtime win.
Flanagan not only leads the Dutchwomen in scoring with her 27 points (10 goals and 17 assists), she is tied for second in the conference with her 2.25 points per game and is the country's
18th-leading scorer. Her 17 assists puts her on top of the ECAC in that category and leaves her 14th in the nation.
Of her 10 goals, four have been of the shorthanded variety, making her the No. 1 player in the country in that category.
“Liz has been one of our “go-to” players this season,” said Quistgard. “Her teamwork with her sister Molly and Erin Vehec has made them one of the most productive lines in the ECAC. Her tenacious fore-checking and great scoring instincts set the tone for our offense.”
Liz, who along with Jamie Laubisch (Apalachin, NY/Vestal High) were two of eight players named to last season's ECAC All-Rookie Team, goes into this weekend's two-game series with top-ranked Manhattanville having scored 25 goals, 26 assists and 51 points in 42 career games.
Manhattanville, which is riding a 13-game win streak, is ranked No. 3 in the country. The Valiants, 12-0 in the league, have outscored their ECAC competition by a 116-4 margin.
Saturday's game is at Achilles Rink at 7 p.m. with Sunday's face-off scheduled for 3 p.m.
