Posted on Mar 27, 2003

The men's swim team finished 14th
of 46 teams in the three-day NCAA Championship meet by scoring 91 points. Union
earned two All-American honors, both by sophomore Elliot Seguin, and came away
with six honorable mention All-American awards.

Seguin earned
All-American honors during the first day of the national meet, finishing third
in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.03 seconds. Meanwhile, senior Ridgley
Harrison captured honorable mention A-A honors with a ninth place finish in the
event. The 200 Freestyle Relay team also earned honorable mention A-A honors
with a ninth place finish.

Day two saw Union capture four honorable mention awards as Harrison
and Seguin finished 11th and 12th,
respectively, in the 200 freestyle. The 800 freestyle relay team placed 13th.

Day three saw Seguin
pick up his second All-American award as he finished fourth in the 100
freestyle with a time of 45.7l.  The 800 freestyle relay team earned
honorable mention All-American honors with a 10th-place finish.

This marks the second consecutive
year that the Dutchmen have improved their position in the NCAA meet.  In
2001, Union finished 38th by scoring 16 points. The
2001-02 campaign saw first-year head coach Scott Felix guide his team to the
21st position as his Dutchmen scored 45.6 points by capturing six honorable
mention awards.  Seguin's two All-American
trophies are the first under Coach Felix's two-year tenure.

Washington gets A-A honors at indoor track champs

Meanwhile, at the NCAA indoor
track championships at DePauw University,
junior Sean Washington earned All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in
the 55-meter dash.

Senior Justin Sievert finished seventh in the shot put in the
first-heat qualifier with a throw of 15.9 meters. He missed the finals cut by
.004 meter.

Posted on Mar 21, 2003

Bill Schwarz, the College's director of corporate and
government relations, has been selected as one of “40 Under 40,” a program that
recognizes the Capital Region's young area business leaders.

Schwarz, who joined the College in 1998 as director of media
and government relations, will be recognized with the others at a May 1 luncheon
at Albany's Crowne Plaza Hotel.

At Union, Schwarz has been a key player in the development and oversight of a number of community outreach programs, including the Union-Schenectady Initiative. The broad-based community revitalization program for the neighborhood west of campus has become a national model for college-city partnerships.

Also representing the Union
College community in “40 under 40” is
John Ciovacco '87, president of Cyclics Corp.

The program is sponsored by the Business Review of Albany,
Fox 23 News and Keybank.

For more on the program, and a list of honorees, visit: http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/networking/events/10095

Posted on Mar 20, 2003

Friends call him “youngish looking,” “youthful” even “well preserved.”

But for Eric Noll, director of Human Resources, the day of reckoning has arrived. He turns 40 today, making official what many have suspected all along: he's … well, experienced.

Noll began his distinguished Union career some years ago, working for what was then called the Office of Personnel. His first task was to solve the parking crisis, imposing a regulation that required all buggies and horse teams to park in lots on the periphery of the campus. He also was a key player in President Nott's committee to examine the College's pay scale, a group that instituted the “sheep for every employee” policy that held for a number of years. More recently, Noll headed a panel that oversaw the installation of manual typewriters in a number of college offices.

So, if you see Eric today, wish him a “Happy Birthday” … in his good ear, of course.

Posted on Mar 17, 2003

“My life takes me in directions I never expected,” said Nori Lupfer '03. “Every time I try to make plans, I'm just thrown for a 180.”

Which is fitting, considering that Lupfer is an accomplished aerial freestyle skier and no stranger to twists and turns. In fact, the visual arts major did the aerial stunts for years at the international level and more recently on three tours with the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus.

She'll be running away to join the circus again, this time with a Watson Fellowship to study “Circuses and Stunts: Photography
of Entertainment in Motion,” an adventure that will take her to Brazil,
Switzerland, France,
Slovenia, Italy,
Netherlands, Germany,
Denmark, Czech
Republic and Russia.

Lupfer, of West Lebanon, N.H., is one of 60 graduating
seniors from 50 colleges and universities who will receive $22,000 from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation for a one-year wanderjahr outside of the U.S.
She is the 43rd Union student to earn a Watson since the program
began in 1969.

She says she'll be doing more than simply photographing circus stunt performers, a passion she developed while performing with Ringling Brothers. “I think what I'm more interested in are the things that arise from the circus and entertainment field,” she said, adding that she is trying to capture in photographs the culture of the entertainment industry.

Lupfer, who plans a career as an artist, just completed an internship with Saturday Night Live, where she also found herself doing photography on set of the Conan O'Brien show and MSNBC.

The European and South American circuses, much smaller and more intimate than the U.S. version, produce many of the performers that appear with the Ringling Brothers shows, Lupfer said. She expects to use up to four “home bases” to do her study: Rio, Brazil; Geneva, Switzerland; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and St. Petersburg, Russia.

“The circus world is pretty small and I expect to meet people who have common acquaintances,” she said of getting access to the shows and performers. “I also know a lot of people from ski jumping.”

Besides her photography, Lupfer said she will keep a journal and do some drawing. “All along the way, I'll pick up projects, even painting.”

And in her downtime? “I would love to jump again.”

Besides Lupfer, other Union
finalists were: Jeff Fairfield, psychology,
Arundel, Maine — “Running in their Footsteps: A Study of Distance Running
Communities” (Finland, Kenya, New Zealand, Scotland, and
Greece); Brian Kern, biology, Voorheesville, N.Y. — “Life from Death: The
Marine Impacts of Submerged Wrecks” (Bermuda, Bahamas,
Micronesia, Scotland); and Eric Meissner, biology and political science, Troy,
N.Y. — “The Relationship Between Culture and 'Emergency' Medicine” (Honduras, Nicaragua, Netherlands, England).

Nineteen students submitted
preliminary proposals to the campus Watson committee: Profs. Ann Anderson,
Joyce Madancy, Byron Nichols, Ed Pavlic, and former Watson Fellow Eugene Kokot
'70.

One of Lupfer's circus photos appears on the Watson Fellowship web site. Visit: http://www.watsonfellowship.org

To read more about Lupfer's circus experience, visit our news
site at: http://www.union.edu/N/DS/s.php?s=2143

Or, to read a Times Union account of her
experience, visit: http://www.union.edu/N/DS/s.php?s=2739

Posted on Mar 14, 2003

The Mandeville Gallery at Nott Memorial presents “Luo
Brothers: Welcome the World Famous Brand” from March 27 through May 18.

The trio of brothers from Beijing, China, combine Cultural
Revolution imagery with world-wide consumer culture icons in lacquer paintings
of extraordinary color-intensity and saturation.

Closing reception is Thursday, May 15, from 4:30 to 6:30
p.m.
in the Nott Memorial.

For more information, visit http://www.union.edu/gallery/Upcoming.htm
or call ext. 6729.