Posted on May 30, 2003

It's a balancing act, this dean of students gig. Fred Alford
spends half his time explaining the College to the students, and the other half
explaining the students to the College.

Consider the Naked Nott Run. Alford must implore the offending
students to use discretion in what has become something of a rite of spring. At
the same time, though, he must feign shock and outrage to the employee who
witnesses the tradition during an early-morning stroll.

“I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people who lead better regulated lives that this kind of thing happens on campus,” he says.

Alford will soon be doing the explaining at Trinity
College in Hartford,
where he has accepted the dean of students job and where his daughter, Hascy,
will be a senior. Alford joined Union in 1987 as
assistant dean of students. He was promoted to dean of students in 1993.

“I
will miss Union tremendously,” he wrote in his resignation letter, “especially
the people who make working here so enjoyable – from Anna in Dutch Hollow, who
struggles to teach me Italian, to the charming but disheveled third-term senior
who prays for intervention from the Credit Fairy that he might graduate with
his class in three weeks. I will be lucky if Trinity is half as friendly or
interesting.”

“In
hundreds of ways, he has worked to improve student life here,” said President Roger
Hull in a campus e-mail. “I know he has always felt that the future of the
College rests, to a great extent, in the hands of students, and his encouragement
of their efforts has been influential in making this community stronger. In Union's
creation of a new social and residential life system, Fred also has been a
leading force. The advent of the House System is an exciting and important
initiative, and it will add a new dimension to campus life while retaining the
College's traditions.”

Of his time at Union, Alford says he
is especially proud of the changes that have happened in the residential
culture. An evaluation system for residence groups has transformed student
housing from a permanent entitlement to an earned privilege in which students
get housing at the pleasure of their peers. Among the milestones, Alford counts
the emergence of theme houses in the early 90s, the institution of sophomore
rush in 1998 and the House System in 2001. A range of students who are looking
for housing alternatives have “stepped up to take a stake in the place,” he
says.

Work and play

“Part of being dean is to cross the boundary between what we
do for work and what we do for play,” says Alford, a participant in intramurals
and the annual Student Forum dodge ball game. An accomplished guitarist and
singer, he has often performed folk music solo and with faculty and students at
coffeehouses and assemblies.

“It is like the difference between being captain and coach of a sports
team,” he says. “There are times when [the students] need to know that you
are the alpha dog.”

Alford and his wife, Jocelyn, have been frequent hosts of
students at their College-owned home on Lenox Road.
When a group of Chinese visitors joined the Alford family for Thanksgiving
dinner, the language barrier put a crimp in the exchange. Finally, Alford's
mother announced, “I'm going outside for a cigarette. Would anyone care to join
me?” A flurry of hands shot into the air, and “they spent the rest of the
evening with my mother in nicotine bliss,” he recalls.

He recalls participating in an event that took place when
the Idol was moved to Achilles Rink to make room for the F.W.
Olin Center.
During a ceremony that was part pagan ritual and part pep rally, Prof. Scott
Scullion read a speech, in Latin, that praised the “painted trollop” as the
protector of Union. The students chanted back, in Latin.
“All the reporters seemed impressed that we all spoke Latin,” Alford recalls.

Alford himself admits to breaking the rules only once, while
teaching his son, Sam, now 15, to ride his bike. A newspaper photographer
captured the father-son moment on the artificial turf at Frank Bailey Field and
the image appeared in the next day's paper. Dick Sakala, then the director of
athletics, wrote a note to Alford advising that he would be facing conduct
charges for breaking the rules at the field, where signs clearly prohibit bike
riding.

Alford says a lot of people think he has the worst job on
campus, charged with worrying about the welfare of the entire student body. He
disagrees, and explains that he has learned to put it in perspective. “People ask, 'How do you put your head down on a Saturday
night knowing there are 2,000 students on campus?' You don't think about it,”
he says. “You assume that everything will be alright and you act calmly when it's not.”

 'Very approachable'

Alford, well known for using obscure metaphors and
references to movies and music, estimates that he has had more than 13,000 student meetings, nearly all under good circumstances.

“I think he's done a great job,” says Katrina Tentor '03,
editor emeritus of Concordiensis. “He's
very approachable, which is why so many students like him. It takes a special
someone to sit with random students and find out what they think about things.
He's truly interested in what people have to say.”

And from Andrew McCabe '03,
president of Student Forum, who had weekly meetings with the dean, “I learned a
lot, and yes, it often came in the form of a metaphor. It was a tremendous help to
get his take on things.”

McCabe and a number of other students remarked that
the House System will be Alford's legacy.

“He has the best interest of all the students at heart –
Greeks, independents, athletes – and he makes the campus enjoyable for everyone,”
says Angie DeSilva '03 who (with Emily Sweeney '03)  has recruited Alford's support and
participation on the Relay for Life charity event. “He is really devoted to
what he does.”

Believing in mistakes

Of the times when he had to meet with students under
unpleasant circumstances, he says, “It is impossible to be dean of students and
not believe that people can learn from their mistakes.”

Several years ago, a student whom Alford had earlier
dismissed wrote, “One might think that being thrown out of school for a second
time would be somewhat devastating … but it is also strangely liberating.” The
student went on to describe how the experience had caused him to pursue his
passion for acting. He ended the letter, “May you never have to deal with
another student like me.”

Alford responded, “While yours was not the kind of education
we describe in our admissions brochures … it is apparent that you learned
much.” And he objected to the student's final phrase: “If I don't come across
more students like you, I don't want to be a dean.”

Posted on May 27, 2003

The Union Bookshelf regularly features new books written
by (or about) alumni and
other members of the Union community. If you're an author and would like to be included in a future issue, please send
us a copy of the book as well as your publisher's news release. Our address is Office of Communications, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. 12308.

Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., M.D. '44

Some institutions are so well-loved that their histories have more of a biographical timbre to them, as though the very building had a soul and a breathing, viable presence. Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., practiced medicine and taught at Mount Sinai Hospital for more than forty-five years. He and hospital archivist Barbara J. Niss have created a lively and moving portrait of this venerable medical institution,
The House of Noble Deeds, The Mount Sinai Hospital, 1952-2002. Founded in early 1852 as the Jews' Hospital in New York, Mount Sinai Hospital's humble start began with a grand vision: to provide free medical care to indigent Hebrews in the city. Today Mount Sinai is a 1,200-bed medical center with an international reputation for its scientific and medical achievements. Mount Sinai also includes a medical school and a research center with a faculty of nearly 3,000. The book is arranged in “mini-portraits” of the departments, drawing on a rich tapestry of biographies, anecdotes, and photographs. The story traces the growth and development of the hospital to heights and successes its founders could never have imagined. But it also goes beyond the hospital's history to its place in the scheme of Jewish and medical history in New York.

Robert M. Diamond '51

Robert M. Diamond, president of The National Academy for Academic Leadership, is the editor of the
Field Guide to Academic Leadership, a publication under the auspices of the NAAL. A range of experts has contributed, offering their insight and recommendations on how to apply and implement the skills and knowledge required to improve the quality and effectiveness of academic programs. Diamond, former assistant vice chancellor for instructional development at Syracuse University and former director of the National Project on Institutional Priorities and Faculty Rewards, is the author or co-author of numerous publications focusing on curricula design, tenure, and faculty reward/promotion systems. The guide is designed to be a “how-to” manual for academics as well as those in the public or private sectors. One reviewer wrote, “It is a very helpful addition to the growing body of literature which demonstrates that administration is somewhere between an art form and a set of acquired skills.”

Diamond provides a generous list of resources, including bibliographies, URLs, and references. The publisher is Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Imprint. (www.josseybass.com)

Benjamin Sadock '55

Benjamin Sadock, a professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, and his wife, Virginia Alcott Sadock, M.D., are co-authors of
Synopsis of Psychiatry, a textbook now in its ninth edition and translated into thirteen languages. First published more than thirty years ago, the book has become the “bible” of psychiatry and is the most widely used text in the country. The ninth edition has improved and expanded, including new sections on clinical cases, the most recent psychotropic drugs in use, and discussions of the psychological impact of the 9/11 attacks on adults and children.

Frederick Stilson Frank '57

A self-described Goth, Frank, professor emeritus of English at Allegheny College, is editor of
The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother. Here he presents Horace Walpole's two genre-setting works.
The Castle of Otranto is Walpole's translation from the Italian, which garnered immediate success. Walpole's use of now-stock devices such as tormented characters, supernatural elements, and menacing physical settings established the gothic novel's literary standards for the next 200 years. Likewise, but in a simpler vein,
The Mysterious Mother is more akin to classic Greek drama with its brooding, angst-ridden protagonist and the debut of the evil monk prototype.

Frank also includes Walpole's correspondence, a representative sampler of contemporary works that reflect the intellectual and cultural climate, and Sir Walter Scott's introduction to the 1811 edition of
The Castle of Otranto. A list of gothic-related internet and online resources is offered as well. Frank's other books with gothic subjects or themes include collections of criticism, bibliographies, essays on Mary Shelley, and a Poe encyclopedia. The publisher is Broadview Literary Texts.

Martin Benjamin '62

How does philosophy connect with twenty-first century life? What can the philosophers, hunkered down in their academic bunkers, impart to those in the work-a-day world? In his fourth book,
Philosophy and This Actual World, Martin Benjamin takes these questions head-on and provides some compelling insight for the practical application of philosophy in the “real world.” He explores the “big questions,” such as the nature of reality, knowledge, death, and morality. He also delves into specific, hotly debated social and political issues including assisted suicide and abortion. Benjamin's style is accommodating and highly readable for the intellectually inquisitive “amateur” who seeks broader insight into his own life and the world at-large.

Philosophy and This Actual World clearly demonstrates the philosopher's still-vital role as a thorn that pricks contemporary society's conscience or perhaps even a compass that provides steady guiding direction for a society where moral absolutes rarely exist. The book is available from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Charles M. Segal '74
Charles M. Segal has edited a collection of more than 100
interviews with Abraham Lincoln when he was president-elect and president between 1860 and 1865.
Conversations with Lincoln is arranged chronologically, and Segal introduces each interview, varying in length from snippets to extended remarks, with the circumstances and personalities involved. Segal has expertly chosen observations of Lincoln by his contemporaries by gleaning primary sources, including diaries and letters, as well as the more obscure accounts from the inside pages of contemporary newspapers. Along with the usual political figures, hangers-on, and office-seekers, the writings of Lincoln's inner circle, family members, friends, and his wife round out the collection and provide a deeply personal and revealing portrait of the man.

Hershel Raff '75

Hershel Raff is co-author (with Eric Widmaier and Kevin Strang) of the most popular physiology textbook for undergrads,
Vander, Sherman, Luciano's Human Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function, 9th Edition. Physiology is the foundation of medicine, and as the human genome project nears completion, knowledge of organ systems physiology is even more vital to undergraduates pursuing careers in biological or medical sciences. Raff and his colleagues have revised the textbook to include a complete update of basic information and an increased number of examples in physiological phenomena from clinical medicine.

Raff is a professor of medicine (endocrine) and physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and director of the Endocrine Research Laboratory at St. Luke's Medical Center. He is a recent recipient of the Beckman Basic Science Teaching Award from the senior class and the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Graduate Student Association. Raff is also an adjunct professor at Marquette University and a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Raff's clinical interest focuses on the development of new methods to diagnose pituitary and adrenal diseases, especially Cushing's syndrome.

Nancy Frankel Gerber '78

Nancy Gerber holds a Ph.D. in English from Rutgers University, where she teaches in the Women's Studies Department. In her book,
Portrait of the Mother-Artist: Class and Creativity in Contemporary American Fiction, she explores the connections between art and motherhood and examines how literature portrays mothers' artistic creativity. Gerber aligns the interplay of social class, gender, race, and ethnicity into the mix to study the figure she calls the “mother/artist.” She accomplishes this by citing selected works by Gwendolyn Brooks, Tillie Olsen, Cynthia Ozick, and Edwidge Danticat. She traces the development of black and working-class mother/artists as they transform their seemingly mundane domestic spheres into places
of their own personal artistic expression–what she terms “the aesthetic of the ordinary.” One critic wrote that Gerber has refuted Virginia Woolf's famous requisite that a woman must have a
“Room of One's Own” in order to be creative
and productive. Gerber has shown how the mother/artist can discover and “[produce] art in everyday life” and that maternal creativity is not limited to her child-bearing capacity. The publisher is Lexington Books.

Marnie Ezra '91

From CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly, Marni Ezra '91 has co-written
Congressional Election Simulation, one of a four-part Government in Action series. The book can be used for reference or in classrooms. It is designed to stimulate learning about government processes, promote discussion on the various roles of those involved in congressional campaigns, and encourage critical thinking.

Ezra is an assistant professor of history and political science at Hood College in Maryland.
Her areas of specialization are U.S. institutions and elections, in particular, primary elections. In this latest publication, she and co-author Julie Dolan offer students role-playing scenarios as campaign team members. By “participating” in the campaign, students gain a greater understanding of what it takes to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The role-playing offers students a unique “insider's” perspective on the day-to-day events of a campaign. The book also supplies supporting materials for students to research their roles as well as online suggestions for classroom simulations.

Posted on May 27, 2003

Kelly Herrington, now an associate dean of admissions at the College, was Greg Midland's freshman roommate, and remembers thinking, “When I was assigned Greg
as one of my roommates, I assumed he would be a hockey player, never a golf fanatic. I find it funny that a boy from Buffalo fell in love with golf.”

Golf fanatic is right, and today Midland '96 is an editor at GOLF Magazine, happily visiting far-flung places and writing everything from tournament reports to instructional articles on the art of golf.

Midland always loved golf (every winter break during college, he and his father played in a father-son tournament in California), but he never thought about it in terms of a career until the end of his college experience. His academic interests at Union lay mainly in economics, but he reached a turning point during his junior year, when he embarked on a term abroad to York, England. Upon his return, Midland squeezed in an English minor in his last year and a half.

He used a couple of paths to get into the world of golf writing. He landed a 1995 summer internship at the United States Golf Association, which helped him understand and become familiar with the golfing industry. And, at one of those father-son tournaments, he approached the editor-in-chief of
GOLF Magazine and spoke with him about his interests in writing for the magazine some day. Soon after, Midland sent in his resume, and he was offered a job with the magazine's online division. His first title was associate editor of
GOLF Online. From
1997 to 2000, he traveled the United States and beyond, writing “travel articles” about exotic places such as Hawaii and New Zealand, reporting on tournaments and golfing events. Most recently, Midland has been working with top teachers and players to create instructional articles on the art of golf, the largest section of the magazine.

His work has also allowed him to meet the best of the best in the world of golf, including Jim Flick and Davis Love III. One of his most memorable moments was the once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing thirty-six holes with Jack Nicklaus. “Working with the best is pretty remarkable,” he says. “I like to catch them in their casual moments, when they let their guard down.”

In the future, Midland would like to see himself play a larger role in the production of the magazine. “It is so cool to see our magazine in an airport newsstand and know that I contributed to it.”

-Alina Samuels '03

Posted on May 27, 2003

As a Union student, Roger Noyes '00 was the editor of a short-lived alternative newspaper. He recently began collaborating with classmate
Duncan Crary '00 and five other friends on a publishing venture, Salvage Magazine, a literary and art publication in New York's Capital Region.

Noyes, an English major, began work
as a reporter for The Spotlight Newspapers in Delmar, N.Y., shortly after graduation while his wife,
Kim Noyes '00, attended Albany Medical School. It was there that he got together with the five masterminds of
Salvage.”Many of us had had the idea of a literary arts magazine in the back of our heads, but we just needed to get together,” says Noyes.
“No one can really claim the idea for the magazine; it just kind of happened.”

The group began meeting weekly in August of 2001, discussing business and bouncing ideas off each other. “There's a lot of great art out there, and we wanted to tie it together in one place,” Noyes says.

One of the most challenging decisions was finding an appropriate name for the magazine. “We had thrown a number of names around before we came to
Salvage,” Noyes says. The word-and magazine-represent a “salvage yard” showcasing of local talent, and also invokes a sense of reclaiming artistic and literary heritage. “Salvage has a noble purpose, but it is also
a humble,” Noyes says. “It may be a little ragged around the edges.”

The result is a free quarterly black-and-white magazine with an artistic edge unlike any other in the Capital Region. The first and second issues were a success. “We publish
literature of all genres, fiction, poetry, photography, creative nonfiction,” Noyes says.

Salvage accepts submissions from any talent in the Capital Region and beyond.
In the second issue, Salvage received sixty writing submissions alone. The group discusses and votes on each submission at the weekly meetings, and artists appear based on talent, not professional expertise.

Union English Professor Ed Pavlic was the featured artist in the first issue, which published three of his previously unpublished poems. The first issue's cover displays a photograph by
Calvert Crary '00, and the second issue featured a short story by Gary Dryfoos '74.

“There has been an overwhelming response,” Noyes says. “It's certainly going to last with the support of the community.” The board prints approximately 3,000 copies and distributes them around the Capital Region.
Salvage depends on fundraising and donations to support the $800 publication cost for each issue. All proceeds go toward publication expenses.
Salvage can also be found on the web at
www.salvagemagazine.com.

Noyes finished graduate school for English
in May at the University of Albany and plans to move ahead in his career, although he would like to continue to be involved with
Salvage in some way. He recognizes, as do all the editors, that longevity ultimately depends on the enthusiasm of future volunteers.

-By Alina Samuels '03

Posted on May 27, 2003

Jack Shroder '61, a Regents Professor of Geology and Geography at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, was one of the most sought-after specialists in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. An expert on Afghanistan's caves, he was inundated by media inquiries.

A reporter asked Shroder if he could deduce Osama bin Laden's whereabouts from the geological clues in a CNN-aired video. Shroder zeroed in on the Tora Bora region, but he didn't want to divulge too much before briefing government officials. Not an hour after his media appearance, he was contacted by federal agents, and soon he was advising FBI and high-ranking government officials.

Although the media frenzy has abated, Shroder still gets appearance requests. In mid-February, he was interviewed by Dutch radio, and in May he will lecture on Afghanistan at the Los Angeles County Museum.

Shroder was a young boy in Vermont when he first developed an interest in rocks. When time came to choose a college, he decided on Union because of renowned geologist Edward Staples Cousins Smith. “Union gave me a classic geological education and developed an appetite for travel in me,” he says, since budding geologists soon learn that what they want to know is “out there somewhere in the world.”

Shroder wanted to be a petroleum exploration geologist, but after learning that such well-paid specialists are often traded mid-career for younger geologists, he became a geomorphologist–
a geologist who studies landforms
and can “read” the surface to tell what lies beneath.

Shroder and Afghanistan came together in the early 1970s, when he was helping a doctoral student conduct grant work in the country. When the student unexpectedly died, Shroder felt compelled to continue the project. The result was the National Atlas of Afghanistan–a geological survey of vast, untapped natural resources.

Later in the 1970s Shroder became head of Kabul University's Seismic Station. Calling himself a “naive” scholar, he says he did not realize that the U.S. was using the site to “[detect] Soviet and Chinese nuclear explosions north of the border.” In 1978, the Afghan Communists captured, then deported him. With his cook's help, he smuggled out all the maps he had made.

Today Shroder leads the Afghanistan Studies Center (ASC) at the University of Nebraska-Omaha–the only institution of its kind in the West. During the 1980s, when Afghanistan was fighting the Soviet Union, the ASC had some 500 employees in the country. Now the center has Shroder as its chief researcher and about ten adjunct researchers at other universities. Additional employees in Kabul are involved primarily in printing new school textbooks for children.

It is not uncommon for inhabitants of Afghanistan and surrounding countries to view with suspicion every Westerner. But Shroder says that until 9/11 he got along very well. He used to speak a little “kitchen and bazaar” (as he characterized his fluency) Dari, an Afghan-
Persian dialect, and very little Urdu. He moved about freely for the most part because, he says, “I was very open, friendly, and talked about everything in what I think is perceived as a rather naïve way. I have been called a spy, though, and now it has gotten very dangerous for me.”

After the Soviets' departure, Shroder and his ASC colleagues warned U.S. officials, “We need to look after Afghanistan. We're going to have trouble with this place.”

Now, Shroder feels that “it is up to us to help the Afghans develop their country by exploiting their own resources. Things in Afghanistan are going to be good if we can just figure out when and how to get it done right. The United States just has to get through the bureaucracy and work with people of good will. The future of the U.S. depends on this type of development.”

By and large, Afghans, especially the pre-Taliban generations, want American help in developing their country. “The Afghans could have a very good country in the middle of a very difficult place,” Shroder says. “The destruction of terrorism is key right there, and Afghanistan could be a model for what the U.S. does best, like what it did in Germany and Japan after World War II.”

But, in light of the deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Iraq, Shroder envisions a worsening of circumstances in Afghanistan. He thinks the struggling country will be left out in the cold, which, he says, would be a major failure for the U.S. and a victory for al Qaeda. “Iraq must be subdued, but with more subtlety, by showing success in rebuilding and nation-building in Afghanistan, where we are seen as the good guys again and not as the cowboy empire-builders that I fear we are in the process of becoming.”

-By Monica Finch