Posted on Feb 13, 2004

Many admire his
photos, nostalgic reminders of days on campus. But few know who made them.

A reception
titled “Union College:
A Celebration in Photographs and Words” on Thursday, Feb. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m.
in the Humanities Lounge will open an exhibition of photographs by Peter
Blankman.

The director of
communications and publications has been taking photographs of the College and
its people for nearly three decades. Though hundreds of his photos have
appeared in College publications for which he serves as editor – the magazine,
calendars, brochures and books – they almost never appear with a credit line.

His photographs
capture the everyday life of campus (classroom discussions and sports
practices) and the uncommon events (Bicentennial celebrations and VIP visits).
But his trademark works show the beauty of the campus in a variety of
conditions from summer swelter to winter whiteout.

 “It's
always been a treat to walk around the campus with a camera and capture some of
what makes Union so special,” he says.

The show, which
features 22 photos, runs through April 16.

Also at the
reception will be Wayne Somers '61, editor of the “Encyclopedia of Union
College History,” who will be available to talk and sign copies of his book.
Published last fall after more than 12 years of research, the book is
considered one of the most informed histories of the College.

Posted on Feb 13, 2004

M. Fuat Sener, assistant professor of economics,
presented a paper, “Intellectual Property Rights and Rent Protection in a
North-South Product Cycle Model,” at the Southern Economic Association
Meetings, San Antonio, Texas, in November 2003. Sener also has written a
chapter (with Elias Dinopoulos), “New Directions in Schumpeterian Growth Theory,”
for an upcoming book Elgar Companion to
Neo-Schumpeterian Economics (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2004) edited by Horst
Hanusch and Andreas Pyka.

Posted on Feb 13, 2004

Mohammad Mafi, associate professor of civil engineering, is host of
a radio show, “From Another Angle,” which airs weekly
Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to noon on WRPI, 91.5 FM. The show, which
considers issues from a perspective different from that of the mainstream
media, has covered topics including Afghanistan,
the CIA, Native American issues, racism, bigotry and poverty.

Posted on Feb 13, 2004

John Garver, professor of geology, is coauthor (with M. Bernet,
M.T. Brandon and B. Molitor) of a paper, “Downstream changes of Alpine zircon
fission-track ages in the Rhône and Rhine rivers,” in Journal of Sedimentary Research (v. 74, n. 1, 2003, p. 82-94.) With
former Union student Brandi Molitor of Averill
Park, the paper details a new
methodology of understanding how mountains grow and erode with time. The
team took small zircon crystals, the size of sand grains, and was able to date
them individually by the fission track method. Dates correspond
to cooling ages, and the cooling ages are a function of how fast the
mountains rise and erode. This paper included Molitor's thesis
results and was part of a thesis by Bernet at Yale
University. Fission-track (FT) dating is a powerful method of
radiometric dating that has made a significant impact on scientists' understanding of the
thermal history of the upper crust.

Garver also is part of an
NSF-funded project – “Testing the stress/heat-flow paradox of the San
Andreas Fault with fission-track and U+Th/He data from zircon from
the SAFOD drill hole.” SAFOD is a new initiative aimed at understanding the
Earth's crust along the San Andreas Fault. Part 
of the new NSF-Funded “Earthscope Initiative,” this drill hole will
be a “borehole observatory” in which scientists can directly measure
the physical conditions of plate boundary earthquakes. Garver will work with David
Kirschner at St. Louis University
to date the thermal effects of the fault zone, which will help constrain models
of how hot faults become and the role of water in fault zone movement.

Garver and A.V. Soloviev of the Institute of the Lithosphere, Moscow (Russia)
have received a grant from the U.S. Civilian Research and Development
Foundation for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (CRDF) to
develop a fission track dating lab at the Institute of the Lithosphere of
Marginal Seas (ILMS) in Moscow, and then to embark on several projects with
scientific collaborators, including continuing their ongoing work on Russia's
Kamchatka Peninsula.

Posted on Feb 13, 2004

Actor and playwright Mark Cryer will present his show, “99,”
on Friday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. in Yulman Theater.

Cryer's work (fully titled “99 Questions You've Always
Wanted to Ask an African American But Were Too Afraid for Fear They'd Break
Their Foot Off in Your A**”) explores the stereotypes that some hold about
African Americans and seeks to eliminate the line between insult and ignorance.

Cryer created the play in response to a racial incident at Hamilton College, where he is a professor, by asking
students, “What is the one question you've always wanted to ask an African
American but were too afraid to ask?”

“The campus was in an uproar so I asked them, 'How long is
our anger?,'” Cryer said after the incident. “So, as soon as I got enough
questions, I thought let's not just stand around complaining but be pro-active,”
he said.

“On any given day we all will ask or answer a hundred
questions or more,” Cryer writes about his play. “Rarely are they about race,
the 'great American secret.'  [This] play
is intended to be the beginning of a conversation, of a dialogue four hundred
years in the making. It is a dialogue that requires courage on all sides of the
race question, the courage to not only ask a question, but also the courage to
answer the questions: who are you, how should I interact with you, what are
your hopes and dreams?”

The show is being staged as part of Black History Month.

Admission is free, but tickets must be picked up at the
Yulman box office before the show.

For more about Mark Cryer and “99” visit his Web site at http://www.markcryersactthree.com/index.html