For those who like variety, this year's Founders Day celebration was made to order.
The College's 208th birthday party included nanotechnology, Chopin, teaching, mentoring, and more.
Nanotechnology was the subject of remarks from the guest speaker, Philip Ball, a consulting editor of Nature magazine who has published seven books and a number of articles on popular science. Introduced as someone who encourages readers to look beyond traditional boundaries, he began by asking. “What is the scariest thing?”
His own answer: “All writers of thrillers and detective stories would agree-it's the thing we cannot see.”
Ball animatedly described the promise of structures and machines too small to be visible, and predicted that “nanobiology will be the hottest area within nanotechnology, dealing with damaged tissue and even with spinal column injuries. Since it operates on the scale of viruses, it offers all kinds of new possibilities,” he added.
Nanotechnology is still a fledgling science, he said, and, as such, it is almost a technological philosophy, requiring the same creativity of pioneers like an Edison. It brings with it an ethical dimension-and it “wouldn't be a bad thing if this were to become the focus on a debate on all technology,” he said. “The first step is a fully informed public-that's the gap we have to close.”
Ball received an honorary doctor of science degree at the ceremony, with reccognition for “a body of work that fascinates the layman and challenges the expert.” He also visited with a number of faculty and students and spoke to several classes during his two-day visit to campus.
Ball, who also is science writer in residence in the Chemistry Department of University College, London, received a first class honours degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford in 1983 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bristol in 1988.
His science books for the lay reader include Designing the Molecular World (1994), which surveyed the frontiers of modem chemistry;
Made to Measure (1997), which previewed the future of materials science; The Self-Made Tapestry (1998), which discussed pattern formation in the physical, biological, and geological sciences; Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water (1999), a cross-disciplinary exploration of this vital molecule; and Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color (2002), which argues that the development of artistic color is inseparable from the development of art.
Founders Day also included:
A tribute to teaching
Steve Sargent, professor and chair of Union's History Department, was awarded the Stillman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Sargent began his college studies in electrical engineering, went on for graduate work in operations research, and then started all over again, acquiring a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in history.
“I encourage my students to consider their education as a golden opportunity to seek out and adopt ideas that will aid them in constructing a meaningful life,” he said. “If they are to resist simply becoming products of their culture and to have real choices about how to live their lives, young people must have lots of ideas to choose from.
“In the end, the real joy of teaching comes from helping young people become successful human beings…Long after we retire, our efforts on their behalf will bear fruit in their lives and in those of the people they love. Given the opportunity to produce so much good, who could resist feeling joyful?”
The Stillman Prize was created by David I. Stillman '72, Abbott Stillman '69, and Allan Stillman in honor of Abraham Stillman, father and grandfather, and is awarded to a faculty member to encourage outstanding teaching.
An honor for
Jim Underwood
Professor Jim Underwood was installed as the Chauncey H. Winters Professor of Political Science. Underwood has been a Union faculty member since 1963, and has served as dean of the faculty, chair of the Political Science Department, chair of the social sciences division, director of the General Electric program, and adviser to many students in the College's internship program in Albany and Washington, D.C.
“Scholar, teacher, lover of this college,” said President Roger Hull of Underwood, “for 40 years, Jim has shaped what Union is. Political leadership is his academic field. More than a student of leadership, he has led. Feeling for his students is very evident in the classroom. He's been sought after and loved by generations of students. He has served as my mentor, and he knows every tree, every planting, every nook and cranny on this campus.”
Underwood, the longest-serving current faculty member, has had longstanding friendships with a number of alumni who have gone on to distinguished careers in law, politics, and diplomacy. Among his students over the years he counts a half-dozen parent-child pairs.
He is co-author of
Governor Rockefeller in
New York: The Apex of Pragmatic Liberalism in the United States, and in 1971 he co-authored “Science/Technology-Related Activities in the Government of the State of New York,” a study funded by the state Office of Science and Technology. He has written and lectured extensively on former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, and has served as an analyst of elections and campaigns and a critic and commentator on matters ranging from college curricula to drug testing to acid rain.
Recognition for a mentor
Herbert Taylor, chair of
the English Department
at Hamburg (N.Y.) High School, beamed as he received the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award. He was nominated by his former student, Heather Lockrow '05, a “soon-to-be-declared English major.”
In her nominating essay, Lockrow described Taylor as “the epitome of an educator, filled with knowledge, passion, and care, and perhaps more importantly, respect for his students.” She wrote that Taylor “enters the class each day with the willingness and desire to share the joys of English language and literature” and that he “pushed people to do their best…in and out of the classroom.”
The Gideon Hawley Award is named for the 1809 graduate of Union who was New York State's first superintendent of public instruction. It is awarded to secondary school teachers who have had a continuing influence on the academic life of Union students.
Music, maestro
The Hollander Convocation Musician Prize went to Tian Tian '05, who wowed the Founders Day audience with her playing of Chopin's
Fantaisie-Impromptu Op. 66. The award was established and presented by Lawrence J. Hollander, former dean of engineering at the College; the prize will be awarded annually to a musician or ensemble.