Posted on Jun 17, 2003

Union's student-athletes and coaches once again turned in a performance to be proud of during the recently concluded 2002-03 intercollegiate athletic season. The 25 Garnet teams combined for an overall record of 178-165-8, a winning percentage of .520. The Dutchmen and Dutchwomen combined for a record of 42-36-5 (.536) against Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association rivals. Individually, more than 75 student-athletes were recognized for their accomplishments in the classroom and on the fields of play, 60 of whom qualified for the UCAA's All-Academic team (which requires upperclassmen to maintain at least 3.2 cumulative grade point average).

The women's teams had an outstanding season, combining for an overall record of 115-77-2 (a winning percentage of .595).

On top of all that success, Union advanced its position in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) standings by moving from last year's finish of 60th to a program-record 57th place finish.

The Dutchwomen were represented at the NCAA's by the soccer, volleyball and softball teams while lacrosse won the New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association championship for the second time in the last three seasons. Basketball earned its second trip to the ECAC postseason tournament in the last three years.

“I am extremely excited by the accomp- lishments of our women's programs this year, especially considering the young teams that these coaches were working with,”said
Athletic Director Val Belmonte.

“We had two teams (volleyball and softball) qualify for their first NCAA tournament, women's soccer made it four straight years in the NCAAs and women's basketball posted the best record in the school's history. In addition, the women's lacrosse team won the New York State title. With the young talent that these teams have the future looks bright for all of these teams.”

Union had three of its student-athletes capture All-American awards. Sophomore Elliot Seguin (swimming),
junior Sean Washington (indoor track), and senior Justin Sievert (outdoor track) each earned the national honor. Meanwhile,
junior tennis star, Lauren Stellato, became the first Dutchwoman since 1983 to win the New York States No. 1 Singles Championship. Stellato, who finished at 19-3 this season, holds the program's all-time record at 56-11, all from the No. 1 position.

“To be honored as an All-American is the highest level of recognition possible at the collegiate level,” Belmonte explained. “Justin Sievert, Sean Washington and Elliot Seguin should be extremely proud of what they accomplished this year. Their hard work and dedication to their sport, teammates and coaches was rewarded with this very special honor and they have set the bar high for future Union student-athletes to strive for.”

The efforts of Union's coaches did not go unnoticed by their peers as women's basketball coach Mary Ellen Burt and
softball coach Peter Brown both were selected as the UCAA's “Coach of the Year” in their respective sports.

“What a great year,” said Belmonte. “Three NCAA teams, three All-Americans, our first state tennis champion in the last 20 years (from the No. 1 position), numerous all-conference award winners, two coaches of the year, the first Division I home playoff hockey series in the school's history…where do you start when telling the story of the 2002-2003 year of Union Athletics?”

Women's soccer, which won both the UCAA regular-season title as well as the conference's postseason tournament, qualified for its fourth consecutive NCAA championship while volleyball, which went to the ECAC tournament for the first time last year, earned its first-ever trip to the national event. Softball, which won its only state title two
two years ago and finished third in the NYSWCAA event last season, also made its first trip to the NCAA event, advancing to the championship game of the Eastern Regional against top-seeded, and home standing, Cortland State. The tennis team set a program standard by finishing third in the state event.

Basketball (22-5 and winners of its first 15 games) set a Union record for wins in a season while softball (26-7) tied the program record first set in 1999. Volleyball was the college's other 20-game winner, posting a standard of 23-11, just missing the single-season record of 25 established in 2001. Hockey, in just its fourth season as a varsity sport, established a program record with its 11 wins while lacrosse (11-5) and soccer (14-5-1) also turned in double digit winning seasons. Meanwhile, the varsity 4+ crew team captured second place in the New York State championships.

On the men's side of the ledger, basketball put together its fifth consecutive winning season for the first time in over 23 years. The Dutchmen (17-12) finished second in both the UCAA's regular-season and championship tournament despite losing four starters from last season's 21-8 team that qualified for the NCAA tournament. While missing out on the national party this year, the Dutchmen were invited to the ECAC event as they qualified for their fourth postseason tournament in the last five years.

The soccer team continued its resurgence as the Dutchmen put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1992 and 1993 season. The Garnet's 2002 record of 9-7-2 came on the heels of the 10-7 mark of the 2001 team. Union missed a chance to compete in the UCAA championship tournament when it suffered a 1-0 upset loss in the regular-season finale.

The swim team, meanwhile, finished 14th of 46 teams in the three-day NCAA meet by scoring 91 points. Union earned two All-American honors and came away with six honorable mention All-American awards. This marks the second consecutive year that the Dutchmen have improved their position at the NCAA meet. Last season Union finished 21st as the Dutchmen scored 45.6 points by capturing six honorable mention awards.

The hockey team, meanwhile, finished sixth in the ECAC and hosted the first league playoff games in the Dutchmen's 12-year history at the Division I level.

Individually, 60 student-athletes were named to the UCAA All-Academic team by maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or better (freshmen were not eligible). The men and women's hockey teams, which compete in the ECAC, combined to place 16 student-athletes on the All-Academic squad.

“Our coaches and student-athletes should take pride in the fact that so many of our “student-athletes” lived up to the expectations of that prestigious title,” said
Belmonte. “When you include All-UCAA and All-ECAC All-Academic selections, more than 75 of our student- athletes were honored, that is amazing considering the time commitment of playing competitive varsity sports and the academic challenges that face Union students each day.”

A total of 51 student-athletes were selected to the UCAA All-Conference teams with 27 of those athletes voted to the First Team. Highlighting those selections were:

• senior lacrosse player Nina Mandel (who was the UCAA's co-Player of the Year)
• senior
  Justin Sievert (MVP and event champion for both the indoor and outdoor track)

• senior swimmer
  Ridgley Harrison (Swimmer of the Meet)

• freshman basketball player John Cangianello (Rookie of the Year)
• freshman basketball player
  Erika Eisenhut (Rookie of the Year)

• softball pitcher/first base, freshman
  Abby Arceneaux (Rookie of the Year)

Several coaching milestones were reached this year as sixth-year softball coach Peter Brown picked up his 130th win. Meanwhile,
men's basketball coach Bob Montana (who completed his seventh season) and
women's soccer coach Brian Speck (who finished his eighth season) each posted their 101st career victory. Head
football coach John Audino, who has been at the helm the last 11 years, tied the college record for coaching victories with his 86th win while
volleyball head coach Sandy Collins, who has been at Union the last three years, surpassed 75 career wins and posted her 66th Union victory while leading the Dutchwomen to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time ever. Her Dutchwomen won 25 games in 2001 and 23 games last fall.

Read More

Posted on Jun 15, 2003

One senior planning to 'hit the trail' after graduation

Some
time after graduation, Andrew
McCabe is planning to
hit the trail.

The
Appalachian Trail.

“I
used to hike a lot when I was younger, but I got away from it during college,”
he said. “When you're doing [Student] Forum and admissions and school work,
every weekend is taken up.”

McCabe,
who won the Daggett Prize presented to the senior of best conduct and
character, has been busy indeed. After his class work for a major in computer
science and minors in math and economics and a full schedule as president of
Student Forum, a long walk in the woods may be just the break he needs, even if
it means carrying a heavy pack.

After
sophomore year, McCabe and Robyn Kurland '03 started Geisel House (a theme
house that promotes childhood literacy); he joined the Theme House Consortium;
and served as a theme house representative to Student Forum. Last year, he was
elected president of Student Forum. He also served on Student Affairs Committee,
the selection committee for the House System Implementation Committee, and as
an admissions interviewer and panelist.

The
Union Scholar also was a member of the winter and spring track teams,
specializing in the 400- and 800-meter.

“I've
enjoyed becoming very involved with the running of the College,” he said,
something he mentions often to prospective students and their families.
“At age 18 or 19, you can be on a committee or a group that affects the
way the College runs.” For example, Student Forum controls a budget of
about $500,000. “When I talk to parents and students, they listen when I
say that students plan the allocation of the activities funding,” he said.
“In Forum, you'll definitely get to know what's going on … whether you
like it or not.”

He
characterizes his time of leadership in the Forum as a quiet one without much
turmoil. Among his proudest achievements with Forum was the establishment of a
comprehensive web calendar of events.

As
for coming to Union, the choice was easy, he said. Besides a number of
relatives who attended (His sister, Gillian, is a sophomore.), he liked the
College's blend of disciplines. “Union offered
everything that I wanted,” he said. “I didn't want to be a computer
science student at a technical school. At Union,
you cannot escape the liberal arts. You'll have computer science in the morning
and ancient poetry in the evening.”

McCabe
said he plans to go to graduate school, perhaps to earn an MBA, but that he
would like to work for a while first. In the near future, however, he is
planning his adventure on the Appalachian
Trail. “I think it will
be fun to get outside and get a break while I can.”

Because
“through hikers” of the A.T. usually start the 2,160-mile trek from Georgia to Maine in March, McCabe will be looking for an eight-month
job in the computer field. “In a perfect world, I'll find a job that will
take me back after I'm done with the Trail [in the fall of 2004],” he
said.

Senior duo fights back
against cancer; raises $58,000

Seniors
Angela “Angie” DeSilva and Emily Sweeney shared a common bond in
shepherding the “Relay for Life” American Cancer Society fundraiser
for cancer research, which raised nearly $60,000 in the fight against cancer.

Both
experienced the disease's impact on their lives. Two years ago, DeSilva's
boyfriend, Ryan, died from cancer. Sweeney's mother is a cancer survivor.

Despite
her loss, DeSilva feels she is a better person for the experience. She said her
boyfriend's death changed her life. Her career path became clear: a dual major
(psychology and sociology), she plans on going to grad school to become a
counselor to terminally ill children and their parents.

Also
out of her grief grew a passion for her ACS fundraising, which she says may be
her most enduring tribute to Ryan's positive attitude and resilient spirit.

For
Sweeney, going through the fight has made her want to help others. “I
thank God that my mom is in remission and I know that she is where she is
because of all the people who have raised money for cancer research. So many
people will be touched by cancer, if not directly, somehow indirectly.

“I
think the participation of the Union campus speaks for itself,” Sweeney
said. “[It] indicates that a lot of the campus community (particularly the
students) have been touched by cancer or realize the threat that this disease
presents.

“Angie
and I are overwhelmed by the support we have received. We have surpassed any
goal that we set and are excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming
event.”

With
still more contributions coming in, the total raised represents the second
largest ever raised at this type of event. It eclipses by $10,000 the total
raised through a Relay at Syracuse University. Most colleges raise about $15,000, according to the
ACS.

Between
7 p.m. on May 30, and 7 a.m.
the next morning, teams walked the perimeter sidewalks around the Nott Memorial
and Library Field in the first Relay event at the College. The opening ceremony
drew hundreds who came to listen to cancer survivors and to cheer as they took
a lap around the walkways, which were marked with hundreds of candle luminaries
dedicated to cancer victims and survivors.

In Fiji project, student mixes technology
and culture

John Thompson went to Fiji last winter term for a wedding of sorts,
the unlikely marriage of high technology and Fijian village culture.

His project, an independent study titled “A Digital
Ethnography of Rakiraki, Fiji,” used digital cameras and recording
equipment to create what he calls “a web-based interactive cultural
learning environment.”

The website – at http://fiji.union.edu/
– explores the cultural identity of Fiji through the perspective of the local
Fijians and the Union students. The term abroad students and members of the
Rakiraki village were instructed in the use of digital cameras and camcorders
with the goal of recording their reactions and experiences. Through photos,
videos, audio interviews, and field notes, this site provides a unique
comparison between a native view and an American student view of Fijian
culture.

If, as the adage goes, “A picture is worth a thousand
words,” the question for Thompson was, “Who can best create those
pictures?”

So, on the three-month Fiji term, Thompson had Union's 10 student-ethnographers record Fijian
culture with photographs, videos, audio and field notes.

But he did something else: he empowered the research subjects to
portray their own culture. “I wanted to give them the means to show their
own culture, to show what is important to them, rather than just have our
students portray it with cultural relativism,” he said. “I wanted
[the Fijians] to establish a cultural identity through their own eyes.”

Under the direction of professors Steve Leavitt and Karen Brison,
10 Union students live with Fijian families in a small village, learning
effective research methods and conducting their own individual research
projects. The professors and students set up “FijiNet” during a 1999
trip to the Pacific island. Thompson's project builds off that earlier effort.

 'Just having fun,'
self-styled leader gets top service prize

Bailey
Prize winner Desirée Plata, a senior from Portland, Maine, says she didn't think she had the credentials for
the prize that recognizes the “greatest service to the College in any field.”

A
self-styled student leader who never sought campus-wide elected office, the
chemistry major says, “I've tried to add to the campus just by being myself.”

“Being
myself” includes secretary of U-MED, the student EMS organization; manager and
president of the Coffee House; general manager of WRUC; member of the U2K
steering committee; president of the Chemistry Club; chemistry tutor; and
teacher in Mad Science, an off-campus program that does science shows for
children.

Plata,
a research veteran who has presented at a number of conferences, says she can't
help noticing that when it comes to working in a lab or presenting research,
Union students seem to be more at ease than their counterparts at larger
institutions.

“Because
we're a smaller school, we have access to the faculty and we get our hands on
all the equipment,” she said. “That doesn't happen at other schools.
They can put us in a lab and we know our way around. And we present our
research all the time.”

A
chemistry major with minors in math and biology, Plata will enroll this year in
MIT's Ph.D. program in chemical oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute. She did research last summer at Woods Hole on diesel fuel
contamination during a summer student fellowship from the National Science
Foundation.

Among
her other honors, the Union Scholar received the George Catlin Prize for high
scholastic standing and promise in graduate study and college teaching; and the
Robert Fuller Prize for the chemistry senior with outstanding research work.
Plata also received an honorable mention as a finalist for the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship. She was recently elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Last
year (with Will Johnson '02), she was named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. The
prestigious award supports promising scientists, mathematicians and engineers
with a $7,500 stipend for each of their remaining years of undergraduate study.

Advised
by Prof. Mary Carroll, Plata is a member of the Aerogel Research Team, a
research collaboration of mechanical engineering and chemistry. She specialized
in developing aerogel oxygen sensors. She also did research on fresh water fish
communication and the effects of acid rain. She was co-author with Prof. James
Adrian and former Prof. Grant Brown of a paper on that project in the Journal
of Chemical Ecology & Behavior.

Plata
did terms aboard in Panama and Kenya, experiences that she says are the envy of her
counterparts at other institutions.

A
frequent panelist at admissions open houses, Plata advises prospective students
to take advantage of all the intellectual and social opportunities that await.
“I tell them, 'Just do what you think is fun.'”

From tiny Maine town, she takes armful of prizes

Julia
Maher '03 is another one of those prodigious achievers with a small-town New England background. She hails from Owls Head, Maine – population 1,600. Maybe it's the benefits of
growing up breathing sea air or living where the pace is a bit slower –
whatever it is, Julia has certainly left her imprimatur on Union.

Maher,
an English major, minored in East Asian Studies and was a tutor at the Writing Center. She also performed with Idol Minds improv group. She
wrote a commentary on Allen Ginsberg's Tear Gas Rag during a
“Deadheads” seminar and is a contributing writer for the Concordiensis.

At
Prize Day, Maher walked away with an armful. She is the 2003 recipient of the
William F. Allen Essay Prize; William H. Bloom, M.D., and Jonathan R. Bloom
Poetry Prize; the David Brind Memorial Prize in English; and the Phi Beta Kappa
Award.

Maher
said the most enduring impact of her four years at Union
will be the relationships she cultivated with her professors. She said that
since Union is a small college, she had opportunities to work
closely with her professors and get the personal attention she desired, unlike
her friends who attended large universities. “They [the faculty] are
amazing people,” she said.

Her
immediate post-graduation plans are on hold due to SARS – she hoped to teach
English in China and attend Nanjing Normal University to study Chinese. Ultimately, she plans to earn a
doctorate so she can teach English and comparative literature on the college
level.

Maher's
love of literature is rivaled only by her love of writing – critical writing
for the intellectual stimulation and challenge; and poetry, an outlet for her
creative energies.

Perhaps
most telling is her senior honors thesis, “The Overpassing Marriage of
Speaking and Hearing within William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Absalom!
Absalom!” In Faulkner's richly textured works, Maher explored dialect
and the basic need for communication – a concept she herself has mastered very
well indeed.

Following the circus, camera in hand

 Nori Lupfer, a senior visual arts major from West Lebanon, N.H., has been selected as a Watson Fellow to receive a
one-year grant for travel and study outside the U.S.

Her topic, “Circuses and Stunts: Photography of Entertainment
in Motion,” will take her to Brazil, Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic and Russia.

Lupfer, an accomplished freestyle aerial skier, last year
performed ski stunts with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
This time, it's her turn to do the watching … and photography.

Lupfer 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 45th Union student to earn a
Watson since the program began in 1969.

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

At intersection of
psychology and law, senior wins Cooke scholarship

For
as long as she can recall, Stephanie Block has been interested in the
intersection of psychology and law.

That
interest came into sharper focus last spring when she did an internship as a
victim's advocate for the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office.

And
it helped the senior psychology major and French minor win a scholarship from
the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to support her senior year at Union.
The award is based on overall excellence in academics, leadership and service.
She is one of 79 students nationwide to receive up to $30,000 annually toward
the remainder of their undergraduate education.

Block,
from River Edge, N.J., said she is considering Ph.D. programs in psychology,
and eventually law school.

“Therapy
works toward improving the welfare of a single individual,” she said.
“But only through the law can we ultimately change society in ways that
benefit large numbers of our fellow human beings.”

Block
was a founder and coordinator of the College's chapter of ROAR (Reach Out and
Read, through the Hillel chapter), a Big Sister since freshman year to a local
9-year-old girl, and a counselor at a sleep-away camp for children with AIDS (Camp Compass in Highlands, N.Y.).

She
is president of Psi Chi, the psychology honor society; captain of the Union
College Dance Team; philanthropy chair for the Delta Delta Delta sorority;
student representative at Union's Leadership conference; and an Ambassador and former
Gatekeeper with the Admissions Office.

She
did a two-term independent study on eating disorders with Prof. Thomas Rieg,
and presented the results at the Steinmetz Symposium and a meeting of the
Eastern Psychological Association in Boston.

The
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is receiving more than $500 million in assets from
the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, who built a media empire and also owned the Los
Angeles Lakers and Washington Redskins. Cooke, whose dream to go to college
ended when he had to leave school to find work during the Depression, died in
1997.

Read More

Posted on Jun 15, 2003

Remarks by President Roger H. Hull

Union College Commencement

June 15, 2003

Citation for Fred
Rogers

“The dictionary offers a half-dozen
definitions of the word 'neighborhood,' but to children of all ages, the word
neighborhood means Mister Rogers.  When he
invited us to be his neighbor, promising us a beautiful day, we happily left
our living rooms to join him in his.  His
compassion and commitment to all that is best in us led to an astonishing range
of honors, from the Presidential Medal of Freedom to being called a 'hero' by Esquire magazine.  We eagerly looked forward to having him to
our neighborhood, and we add our voice to the many who mourn his passing.  For his unceasing efforts to teach our
children to love themselves and each other, we are proud to make him an
honorary alumnus of this College.

“By the
authority vested by the Regents of the University of the State of New York in
the Trustees of Union College and delegated by the Trustees to me, I am happy
to confer on Fred M. Rogers, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, with all the rights,
privileges and obligations immemorially the due of the academic community.

Charge to the
graduates of the Class of 2003

“What a beautiful way to conclude
four years at New York's oldest and best college.   What a beautiful day on which to do so.

“Last month, at Prize Day, we
announced the list of honors and prizes that are printed on the back of the
Commencement program; today we recognize again all the winners and invite them,
the rest of you, and your family members to join together at the divisional
receptions immediately following the ceremony, for they are a wonderful way for
faculty and students to say goodbye.

“I want to thank once again the
Commencement Committee, the entire Facilities, Security, and Dining Services
staffs (and the weatherman) and the rest of you whose efforts over the past
weeks have contributed to the success of this program.  Your help in making today such a special one
is greatly appreciated.

“I would like now to invite, on this
Father's Day, the parents of today's graduates to stand for a well-deserved
round of applause from their daughters and sons.  I also would like you now to join with me in
applauding the members of the faculty and staff for their efforts over the past
four years in preparing the Class of 2003 for what lies ahead.  And I want to ask you in particular to join
me in thanking Professors Sigrid Kellenter, Carolyn Mitchell, James Underwood,
and George Williams, who will now be retiring, for their years of service to Union and to thousands upon thousands of
students.”

“For more than two centuries, Union's presidents have told your predecessors that, in effect, their best days lay ahead. I can't disagree with that advice, especially since I have given it often myself.

“During much of that time, we as a nation faced a variety of challenges from recessions to wars. However, I recognize that, since September 11, 2001, our world – – your world – – has changed. In talking to my sixteen year old son last week, I came to recognize – – better than ever before — the pressures that he — and you — face.

“The past four years provided a respite from some of those pressures. As you prepare to leave the most beautiful campus in America, I hope that you know that your Union home — your respite — will always be here for you.

“You entered Union as the twentieth century was drawing to a close and as the focus of the world was on Y2K; you leave the College at a time when the talk on campus is about U2K. Certainly there are different views about the benefits of U2K, but we are all in agreement that we seek the best for this historic college and that we want to do all we can to move it to an even more prominent position among this nation's elite colleges.

“While you were here we came together as a country better than we had in 60 years. However, that unity was all too fleeting. Some rightly focused on matters of national import; others were focused on themselves and taking unsavory shortcuts.

“Indeed, hardly a day goes by when one does not read of a scandal of some sort. Hardly a day goes by when I don't think that we should be handing out lanterns and, like Diogenes, looking for an honest man.

“Yes, the pressures upon you are great, and the temptations for shortcuts great, too. You want to be happy and successful, and I wish you happiness and success. More than that, though, I want you to live honestly and compassionately. Take a page, take several pages, from Fred Rogers. At the beginning and at the end of the day, and at any other time that you look in the mirror, you will then like what you see. Live your life so that, if Diogenes saw you, he could stop his search for an honest man. In that way, you will always feel that your best days lie ahead.

“Make a difference: Do well and do good — honestly. Good luck.”

Read More

Posted on Jun 15, 2003

One senior planning to 'hit the trail' after graduation

Some
time after graduation, Andrew
McCabe is planning to
hit the trail: the Appalachian Trail.

“I
used to hike a lot when I was younger, but I got away from it during college,”
he said. “When you're doing [Student] Forum and admissions and school work,
every weekend is taken up.”

McCabe,
who won the Daggett Prize presented to the senior of the best conduct and
character, has been busy indeed. After his class work for a major in computer
science and minors in math and economics and a full schedule as president of
Student Forum, a long walk in the woods may be just the break he needs, even if
it means carrying a heavy pack.

After
sophomore year, McCabe and Robyn Kurland '03 started Geisel House (a theme
house that promotes childhood literacy); he joined the Theme House Consortium and served as a theme house representative to Student Forum. Last year, he was
elected president of Student Forum. He also served on Student Affairs
Committee, Theme House Consortium, the selection committee for the House System
Implementation Committee and as an admissions interviewer and panelist.

The
Union Scholar also was a member of the winter and spring track teams, specializing
in the 400- and 800-meter.

“I've
enjoyed becoming very involved with the running of the College,” he said,
something he mentions often to prospective students and their families.
“At age 18 or 19, you can be on a committee or a group that affects the way
the College runs.” For example, Student Forum controls a budget of about
$500,000. “When I talk to parents and students, they listen when I say
that students plan the allocation of the activities funding,” he said.
“In Forum, you'll definitely get to know what's going on … whether you
like it or not.”

He
characterizes his time of leadership in the Forum as a quiet one without much
turmoil. Among his proudest achievements with Forum was the establishment of a
comprehensive web calendar of events.

As
for coming to Union, the choice was easy, he said. Besides a number of
relatives who attended (His sister, Gillian, is a sophomore.), he liked the
College's blend of disciplines. “Union offered
everything that I wanted,” he said. “I didn't want to be a computer
science student at a technical school. At Union,
you cannot escape the liberal arts. You'll have computer science in the morning
and ancient poetry in the evening.”

McCabe
said he plans to go to graduate school, perhaps to earn an MBA, but that he
would like to work for a while first. In the near future, however, he is
planning his adventure on the Appalachian
Trail. “I think it will
be fun to get outside and get a break while I can.”

Because
“through hikers” of the A.T. usually start the 2,160-mile trek from Georgia to Maine in March, McCabe will be looking for an eight-month
job in the computer field. “In a perfect world, I'll find a job that will
take me back after I'm done with the Trail [in the fall of 2004],” he
said.

Senior duo fights back
against cancer; raises $58,000

Seniors
Angela “Angie” DeSilva and Emily Sweeney shared a common bond in
shepherding the “Relay for Life” American Cancer Society fundraiser
for cancer research, which raised nearly $60,000 in the fight against cancer.

Both
experienced the disease's impact on their lives. Two years ago, DeSilva's
boyfriend, Ryan, died from cancer. Sweeney's mother is a cancer survivor.

Despite
her loss, DeSilva feels she is a better person for the experience. She said her
boyfriend's death changed her life. Her career path became clear: a dual major
(psychology and sociology), she plans on going to grad school to become a
counselor to terminally ill children and their parents.

Also
out of her grief grew a passion for her ACS fundraising, which she says may be
her most enduring tribute to Ryan's positive attitude and resilient spirit.

For
Sweeney, going through the fight has made her want to help others. “I
thank God that my mom is in remission and I know that she is where she is
because of all the people who have raised money for cancer research. So many
people will be touched by cancer, if not directly, somehow indirectly.

“I
think the participation of the Union campus speaks for itself,” Sweeney
said. “[It] indicates that a lot of the campus community (particularly the
students) have been touched by cancer or realize the threat that this disease
presents.

“Angie
and I are overwhelmed by the support we have received. We have surpassed any
goal that we set and are excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming
event.”

With
still more contributions coming in, the total raised represents the second
largest ever raised at this type of event. It eclipses by $10,000 the total
raised through a Relay at Syracuse University. Most college's raise about $15,000, according to the
ACS.

Between
7 p.m. on May 30, and 7 the next morning, teams walked the perimeter sidewalks around the Nott Memorial
and Library Field in the first Relay event at the College. The opening ceremony
drew hundreds who came to listen to cancer survivors and to cheer as they took
a lap around the walkways, which were marked with hundreds of candle luminaries
dedicated to cancer victims and survivors.

In Fiji project, student mixes technology
and culture

John Thompson went to Fiji last winter term for a wedding of sorts,
the unlikely marriage of high technology and Fijian village culture.

His project, an independent study titled, “A Digital
Ethnography of Rakiraki, Fiji,” used digital cameras and recording
equipment to create what he calls “a web-based interactive cultural
learning environment.”

The website – at http://fiji.union.edu/
— explores the cultural identity of Fiji through the perspective of both the local
Fijians and the Union students. The term abroad students and members of the
Rakiraki village were instructed in the use of digital cameras and camcorders
with the goal of recording their reactions and experiences. Through photos,
videos, audio interviews, and field notes, this site provides a unique
comparison between a native view and an American student view of Fijian
culture.

If, as the adage goes, “A picture is worth a thousand
words,” the question for Thompson was, “Who can best create those
pictures?”

So, on the three-month Fiji term, Thompson had Union's 10 student-ethnographers record Fijian
culture with photographs, videos, audio and field notes.

But he did something else: he empowered the research subjects to
portray their own culture. “I wanted to give them the means to show their
own culture, to show what is important to them, rather than just having our
students portray it with cultural relativism,” he said. “I wanted
[the Fijians] to establish a cultural identity through their own eyes.”

Under the direction of Professors Steve Leavitt and Karen Brison,
10 Union students live with Fijian families in a small village, learning
effective research methods and conducting their own individual research
projects. The professors and students set up “FijiNet” during a 1999
trip to the Pacific island. Thompson's project builds off that earlier effort.

 'Just having fun,'
self-styled leader gets top service prize

Bailey
Prize winner Desirée Plata, a senior from Portland, Maine, says she didn't think she had the credentials for
the prize that recognizes the “greatest service to the College in any field.”

A
self-styled student leader who never sought campus-wide elected office, the
chemistry major says, “I've tried to add to the campus just by being myself.”

“Being
myself” includes secretary of U-MED, the student EMS organization; manager and
president of the Coffee House; general manager of WRUC; member of the U2K
steering committee; president of the Chemistry Club; chemistry tutor; and
teacher in Mad Science, an off-campus program that does science shows for
children.

Plata,
a research veteran who has presented at a number of conferences, says she can't
help noticing that when it comes to working in a lab or presenting research,
Union students seem to be more at ease than their counterparts at larger institutions.

“Because
we're a smaller school, we have access to the faculty and we get our hands on
all the equipment,” she said. “That doesn't happen at other schools.
They can put us in a lab and we know our way around. And we present our
research all the time.”

A
chemistry major with minors in math and biology, Plata will enroll this year in
MIT's Ph.D. program in chemical oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute. She did research last summer at Woods Hole on diesel fuel
contamination during a summer student fellowship from the National Science
Foundation.

Among
her other honors, the Union Scholar received the George Catlin Prize for high
scholastic standing and promise in graduate study and college teaching; and the
Robert Fuller Prize for the chemistry senior with outstanding research work.
Plata also received an honorable mention as a finalist for the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship. She was recently elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Last
year (with Will Johnson '02), she was named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. The
prestigious award supports promising scientists, mathematicians and engineers
with a $7,500 stipend for each of their remaining years of undergraduate study.

Advised
by Prof. Mary Carroll, Plata is a member of the Aerogel Research Team, a research
collaboration of mechanical engineering and chemistry. She specialized in
developing aerogel oxygen sensors. She also did research on fresh water fish
communication and the effects of acid rain. She was co-author with Prof. James
Adrian and former Prof. Grant Brown of a paper on that project in the Journal
of Chemical Ecology & Behavior.

Plata did terms aboard in Panama and Kenya, experiences that she says are the envy of her
counterparts at other institutions.

A
frequent panelist at admissions open houses, Plata advises prospective students
to take advantage of all the intellectual and social opportunities that await.
“I tell them, 'Just do what you think is fun.'”

From tiny Maine town, she takes armful of prizes

Julia
Maher '03 is another one of those prodigious achievers with a small-town New England background. She hails from Owls Head, Maine – population 1,600. Maybe it's the benefits of
growing up breathing sea air or living where the pace is a bit slower – whatever
it is, Julia has certainly left her imprimatur on Union.

Maher,
an English major, minored in East Asian Studies and was a tutor at the Writing Center. She also performed with Idol Minds improv group. She
wrote a commentary on Allen Ginsberg's Tear Gas Rag during a
“Deadheads” seminar and is a contributing writer for the Concordiensis.

At
Prize Day, Maher walked away with an armful. She is the 2003 recipient of the
William F. Allen Essay Prize; William H. Bloom, M.D., and Jonathan R. Bloom
Poetry Prize; the David Brind Memorial Prize in English; and the Phi Beta Kappa
Award.

Maher
said the most enduring impact of her four years at Union
will be the relationships she cultivated with her professors. She said that
since Union is a small college, she had opportunities to work
closely with her professors and get the personal attention she desired, unlike
her friends who attended large universities. “They [the faculty] are
amazing people,” she said.

Her
immediate post-graduation plans are on hold due to SARS – she hoped to teach
English in China and attend Nanjing Normal University to study Chinese. Ultimately, she plans to earn a
doctorate so she can teach English and comparative literature on the college
level.

Maher's
love of literature is rivaled only by her love of writing – critical writing
for the intellectual stimulation and challenge; and poetry, an outlet for her
creative energies.

Perhaps
most telling is her senior honors thesis, “The Overpassing Marriage of
Speaking and Hearing within William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Absalom!
Absalom!” In Faulkner's richly textured works, Maher explored dialect
and the basic need for communication – a concept she herself has mastered very
well indeed.

Following the circus, camera in hand

 Nori Lupfer, a senior visual arts major from West Lebanon, N.H., has been selected as a Watson Fellow to receive a
one-year grant for travel and study outside the U.S.

Her topic, “Circuses and Stunts: Photography of Entertainment
in Motion,” will take her to Brazil, Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic and Russia.

Lupfer, an accomplished freestyle aerial skier, last year
performed ski stunts with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
This time, it's her turn to do the watching … and photography.

Lupfer 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 45th Union student to earn a
Watson since the program began in 1969.

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

At intersection of
psychology and law, senior wins Cooke scholarship

For
as long as she can recall, Stephanie Block has been interested in the
intersection of psychology and law.

That
interest came into sharper focus last spring when she did an internship as a
victim's advocate for the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office.

And
it helped the senior psychology major and French minor win a scholarship from
the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to support her senior year at Union.
The award is based on overall excellence in academics, leadership and service.
She is one of 79 students nationwide to receive up to $30,000 annually toward
the remainder of their undergraduate education.

Block,
from River Edge, N.J., said she is considering Ph.D. programs in psychology,
and eventually law school.

“Therapy
works toward improving the welfare of a single individual,” she said.
“But only through the law can we ultimately change society in ways that
benefit large numbers of our fellow human beings.”

Block
was a founder and coordinator of the College's chapter of ROAR (Reach Out and
Read, through the Hillel chapter), a Big Sister since freshman year to a local
9-year-old girl, and a counselor at a sleep-away camp for children with AIDS (Camp Compass in Highlands, N.Y.).

She
is president of Psi Chi, the psychology honor society; captain of the Union
College Dance Team; philanthropy chair for the Delta Delta Delta sorority;
student representative at Union's Leadership conference; and an Ambassador and former
Gatekeeper with the Admissions Office.

She
did a two-term independent study on eating disorders with Prof. Thomas Rieg,
and presented the results at the Steinmetz Symposium and a meeting of the
Eastern Psychological Association in Boston.

The
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation receives more than $500 million in assets from
the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, who built a media empire and also owned the Los
Angeles Lakers and Washington Redskins. Cooke, whose dream to go to college
ended when he had to leave school to find work during the Depression, died in
1997.

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Posted on Jun 15, 2003

Richard Misiaszek, a biochemistry major from Marcy, N.Y., was
co-salutatorian of Union College's Class of 2003.

The 1999 graduate of Holland Patent High School is the son of Richard and Carol Misiaszek of Marcy.

This fall, he will work on cancer research with the chemistry department
at New York University.

At Union, he was a member of the Chemistry Club, Pre-Health Professions Society,
and a participant in intramural ice and roller hockey. He also was a member of
the College's fly-fishing club.

He studied abroad on a Union program in Australia.

Also at Union, he conducted research with Prof. Peter Tobiessen on the grazing
patterns of zooplankton, and a project with Prof. Joanne Kehlbeck designing
molecules that mimic proteins in the human body.

This summer, Misiaszek will do research with a cardiologist and
geneticist as Masonic Medical Research Laboratories to investigate genetic
mutations that result in sudden cardiac death. He also did research last summer
at the laboratories.

He is considering medical school and a possible career in geriatrics or
cancer research.

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