Posted on Feb 20, 2004

Todd Clark, who joins the College
as director of residential life, was looking for a selective, prestigious,
liberal arts college with a strong sense of community. With the College's new
Minerva House System, he found Union a natural fit.

“I view residence halls as
learning environments,” he said. “If they are not, they shouldn't be at a
college. We might as well be landlords. We are educators. We should provide a
quality, safe environment to deliver educational programs that allow students
to learn from each other and the faculty.”

Besides working with colleagues to
establish the seven Minerva Houses, Clark said he is looking forward to the
opening this fall of the Inn at College Park (the renovated Ramada Inn) and
hiring of residential life staff for the facility.

Clark
earned his bachelor's degree in finance and management from Virginia Tech, and
his master's in college student personnel from Western
Illinois University.

A native of New Jersey, Clark held
positions in the residential life programs at Kansas State University; Virginia
Tech, where he was involved with the development of theme housing communities;
and at Louisiana State University, where he worked closely with faculty in
their Residential College program — living units that provide the strong community
of a liberal arts college within the university setting.

Posted on Feb 20, 2004

Novelist, essayist and poet Julia
Alvarez will give the main address at the Founders Day convocation on Thursday,
Feb. 26, at 11:30 a.m. in Memorial
Chapel.

Alvarez, whose address is titled
“In Celebration of Founders Day,” will receive an honorary doctor of letters
degree from the College.

Alvarez's writing incorporates her
vivid memories of childhood in the Dominican
Republic, which her family fled in 1960, and
the subsequent adjustment to a new life in New York City.

She first made her mark as a poet
but is best known for her novels. Her first novel, How the García Girls Lost
Their Accents, received the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, was listed
by Americas
magazine as 1993's No. 1 bestseller in Latin America,
and was named by both the ALA and
The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of 1991. Her second
novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, was nominated for the 1995
National Book Critics Circle Award.

She received her bachelor's
degree, summa cum laude, from Middlebury
College; and her MFA from Syracuse
University. She was a fellow at the
Bread Loaf School of English.

From 1975 until 1978, she served
as poet-in-the-schools in Kentucky,
Delaware, and North
Carolina. She has held positions as a professor of
creative writing and English at Phillips
Andover Academy
in Massachusetts, University
of Vermont, and the University
of Illinois. In 1984, she was the
Jenny McKean Moore Visiting Writer at George
Washington University.
Since 1988, she has been a professor of English at Middlebury
College.

Posted on Feb 20, 2004

Head swim coach Scott Felix and his Dutchwomen have one goal and that is, “improve on our sixth-place finish from last season.”

Felix will take his team to Webster High School in Rochester to compete in this weekend's New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association championships. Last year the Dutchwomen finished sixth among the 15 participating teams by scoring 607.5 points. Ithaca won the title with 1,483 points.

Seniors Seana Phillips (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Catherine Cahill (Stony Creek, N.Y.) and freshman Sydnie Wells (Bolton Landing, N.Y.) will lead the Dutchwomen.

Last year Phillips finished among the top eight in all three of her freestyle events (placing fifth in the 50, sixth in the 200, and eighth in the 100), while Cahill helped the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay teams to seventh-place finishes.

As for Wells, she already has a pair of NCAA “B” cut qualifying times in the 200 butterfly (2:09.39) and the 400 IM (4:40.43).

“I expect Seana and Catherine to have a great meet and end their collegiate careers on top of their game,” said Felix. “As for Sydnie,” continued Felix, “she should have a big impact in her first state championship.”

“I am excited to see how our eight freshmen [who make up the majority of the 11-member roster] step up during the state championship,” said Felix. “This is what we shoot for as a team and individually. I really think that we are going to show the competition that we may be small [in numbers] but we can take on a lot.”

For results throughout the weekend click below
www.naz.edu/dept/athletics/swimming/nyswcaa/

Posted on Feb 18, 2004

As the final weekend of the regular-season basketball schedule approaches, the key words for both the men and women's teams are: “just win”.

The Dutchmen are among six teams battling for the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association's four-team postseason tournament, which will be held next Friday and Saturday at the site of the regular-season champion. The winner of that event earns the UCAA's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

The formula is very simple for the Dutchwomen. A Garnet road sweep over Vassar (Friday at 6 p.m.) and Rensselaer (Saturday at 2 p.m.) gives Union its first UCAA regular-season title and the opportunity to host next weekend's tournament. A weekend sweep by Rensselaer, which plays 3-9 Skidmore on Friday night, gives the Red Hawks the crown.

(click here for the Dutchwomen's weekend outlook)

The only thing for sure going into the weekend is that Hamilton (8-4) owns the first tie-breaker over the Dutchmen (head-to-head) with its season sweep while Union owns the first-tie breaker over Skidmore (6-6). The Garnet (7-5) split with Clarkson (8-4) and St. Lawrence (7-5) and won the first meeting with Rensselaer (7-5).

Because all the contenders are pretty much playing each other this weekend, nothing past the first tie-breaker is known for any of the teams. The conference's second tie-breaker, record against conference opponents in descending order, won't be finalized until after all of Saturday's 4 p.m. games are decided.

While Saturday's game in Troy sets up a HUGE contest against two of the Capital District's biggest rivals, the Dutchmen CAN NOT afford to look past Vassar. The Brewers (1-11 in the UCAA and 5-18 overall) handed the Red Hawks a potential crippling 50-46 loss in Poughkeepsie Tuesday night. It is certain that eighth-year head coach Bob Montana will keep that score fresh in his Dutchmen's minds, especially since Union won this year's first game against the Brewers, 78-48.

Sophomore guard John Cagianello (17.9), classmate forward Brian Scordato (13.0) and junior forward Devon Bruce (10.6) lead the Dutchmen in scoring while Bruce's 7.3 rebounding average tops the squad and is followed by Scordato's 6.5 average. Sophomore point guard Chris Murphy is averaging 4.3 assists, which is second among UCAA players in the overall statistics. He is also second in the conference with his 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio. Senior forwards Ryan Freundlich and Imbrie Packard are both averaging six points and four rebounds.

Men's Standings (as of 2/18)

This Weekend's Games:

• Friday, February 20–Union at Vassar; Skidmore at Rensselaer; Hamilton at St. Lawrence, Hobart at Clarkson (all games start at 8:00)
• Saturday, February 21–Union at Rensselaer; Skidmore at Vassar; Hobart at St. Lawrence, Hamilton at Clarkson (all games start at 4:00)

If the Dutchwomen lose either of their final two games and Rensselaer wins both, the Red Hawks would win the title and host the tournament by virtue of the conference's third tie-breaker…record versus non-conference opponent over .500 within the region. Union lost at Williams, 65-59, in the season's second game while Rensselaer defeated Williams, 72-57, in Troy in the third game of the year. If Rensselaer and Union finish with 12-2 conference records, they would have split their two-game season series, and each team would have split with No. 3 St. Lawrence (while sweeping the rest of the conference opponents), thus setting up the third tie-breaker.

But like the men, the Dutchwomen cannot afford to look past 1-11 Vassar, ESPECIALLY after what happened last weekend in the North Country. On Friday, St. Lawrence snapped the Dutchwomen's 13-game win streak, 56-45, while handing the Garnet its first UCAA loss. On Saturday, the Dutchwomen barely escaped the upset bid of Clarkson (2-10) as three Golden Knight layup attempts failed to fall in the final five seconds leaving Union with a 46-45 victory.

The Dutchwomen's first meeting against the Brewers resulted in a 59-33 triumph. Freshman forward Krystal Hammond earned “Rookie of the Week” honors with her 20-point, nine-rebound performance that helped Union to a 32-18 halftime advantage.

Against Rensselaer, Union shot an incredible 58.3% from the field in the first half (14 of 24) to race to a 32-19 halftime advantage. The Dutchwomen finished the game shooting 54% (27 of 50) to capture a 63-53 victory. The Red Hawks (18-4 overall) have won six-straight since, including a 60-41 victory over St. Lawrence at Robison Gym.

Junior forward Katyln Cunningham and sophomore guard Eika Eisenhut lead Union's offense with scoring averages of 10.5 and 10.1, respectively. Junior forward Emily Scott leads the team's rebounding with her 4.6 average and is closely followed by Cunningham and sophomore Nicole Cerneglia, both of whom are averaging 4.5. Junior guard Melissa Marra is averaging 3.35 assists to go along with her 8.6 scoring average while Eisenhut's 3.05 steal average tops the Dutchwomen and is third in the conference. Marra's 1.22 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the UCAA.

While the Dutchwomen appear to have a deeper bench than the Red Hawks, based on the fact that 11 of Union's players are averaging double-digit minutes of court time, Union will have to come up with a way to stop Rensselaer on the backboards. The Cherry and White's starting trio of senior Jackie Ferrari (6'0″), senior Catlyn Vestal (6'0″) and junior Kaitlyn Saunders (5'9″) are among the UCAA's rebounding leaders. Ferrari's 6.9 average places her eighth, Vestal is 10th at 6.6, and Saunders 14th with her average of 5.6. Rensselaer is second to St. Lawrence with its conference rebounding margin of plus-6.7 while Union is third at plus-5.8. The Red Hawks top the circuit with their overall rebounding average of 45.1 while the Dutchwomen are fifth at 39.5.

The Dutchwomen go into the weekend leading eight of 19 UCAA team categories including: scoring defense (49.2), steals (12.82), turnover margin (5.05), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.87).

Women's Standings (as of 2/18)

This Weekend's Games:

• Friday, February 20–Union at Vassar; Skidmore at Rensselaer; Hamilton at St. Lawrence, William Smith at Clarkson (all games start at 6:00)
• Saturday, February 21-Union at Rensselaer; Skidmore at Vassar; William Smith at St. Lawrence, Hamilton at Clarkson (all games start at 2:00)

Please click below for the UCAA web site:

www.ucaasports.org

Posted on Feb 18, 2004

The Union College Dutchwomen will play a two game series at
Brown (12-7-2) this weekend, with Friday's 7:00pm contest being
broadcasted over the internet. To listen in on the game, visit
www.brownbears.com and follow the links to
Women's Ice Hockey. Saturdays contest is a 4:00pm start.

The Dutchwomen, (3-24-1) continue to look for their first
ECAC win. “Against Vermont this past weekend, we had our chances in
playing our best game of the year.” Said head coach Fred Quistgard. “We
played so well and did everything we were supposed to, expect scoring
goals.”

Union is the youngest team in the ECAC, and is playing in
its first year of D-I hockey. “We are only going to get better”,
Quistgard went on to say. The Dutchwomen will look to finish solid in
their final six games which include the #10 ranked Brown Bears, and the
#3 ranked St. Lawrence Saints, who they will play on the road March 6th
& 7th. Union will close out its regular season at home against Cornell
next weekend, February 27th & 28th, with those games at 7:00pm on
Friday, and 4:00pm on Saturday.

Freshman point leader Elise Nichols (12-7-19) has cooled off
as of late, but still continues to be among the rookie national leaders,
being ranked 19th, averaging .68 points per game.