Daniel Mosquera, assistant
professor of Spanish, presented a paper titled “El San Pacho quibdoceño: la crónica como espectáculo y el espectáculo
como crónica” at the
2004 Latin American Studies Association Congreso at Las Vegas. Presented as part of a panel dealing with displaced peoples, this paper explores how an afro-descendent
religious festival re-appropriates portions of regional history. It analyzes
particularly the representation of a massacre of 119 members of the Chocoan community of Bojaya that
took place in 2002 at the hands of guerrillas and paramilitary groups in order
to problematize official histories of the event and
to draw attention to realities of destitution and territorial loss in Colombia.
Prof. Wilms presents at German Studies Association
Wilfried Wilms,
assistant professor of German, presented “Hausschlussel brauchen wir nich' mehr':
The Trouble with Rubble” at the annual convention of the German Studies
Association in Washington. The paper explored how German postwar rubble films
situated the ruins of Germany in the 1940s as a critique of Allied war conduct. Wilms also
moderated a panel, “Spectres of Violence,” on the Red
Army Faction, a German leftist terrorist movement prominent in the 1970s.
‘Insane’ and ‘ridiculous’, more praise for College Park Hall
Students have praised their new
home as “insane” and “ridiculous.”
Parents and city leaders who have
toured the building say they want to go back to college.
And last week, the Chamber of
Schenectady County chimed in on the newly renovated College Park Hall by
presenting the College with the Outstanding Appearance Award.
The College was cited at the
Chamber's 16th annual Business Awards Dinner on Oct. 14 for the redevelopment
of the former Ramada Inn and the environmental cleanup of the former American
Locomotive site on lower Nott Street.
Union President Roger Hull has led
a number of tours through the building, including one on Oct. 4 with local
government and business leaders. He thanked contractors and their employees at
a reception on Oct. 11, acknowledging their fast work in one of Union's
largest construction projects.
Hull
has acknowledged the contributions of Diane Blake, vice president for finance;
Loren Rucinski, director of facilities; Fred Puliafico, assistant director; and
Paul Matarazzo, capital projects administrator. Blake accepted the Chamber
award on behalf of the College.
MLB Industries was the general contractor.
Architects were Jim McKinney and Geoff MacDonald of Sacco McKinney Architects.
The seven-floor building, with
stylish furnishings and matching paint and carpet schemes, was fully renovated
at a cost of $15 million.
Among the renovations were the
replacement and reconstruction of the roof, repairing and repainting the
building's exterior, new heating and air conditioning, increased fire
protection, a security camera system, and a new entry. The building also houses
the College's Campus Safety Office.
Some of the views from the
building are stunning, to the northwest a sweeping vista down the Mohawk
Valley, to the southeast a look at
campus and the Nott Memorial. But most of the raves from students are about two
things: climate control in each room and a bathroom in every room, 110 singles
and 60 doubles.
The conversion to athletic fields
of the former American Locomotive property south of College Park Hall was made
possible by a federal grant to support environmental remediation of the site,
removing some petroleum residue and replacing it with 18 inches of new soil on
which the field was built.
The project brings Union's
investment in the College Park
neighborhood west of campus to $26 million. In 1998, Union
launched the Union-Schenectady Initiative, a redevelopment project that
featured renovated student apartments and incentives to promote home ownership.
Prof. Gilman accepts post at Harvard
Ted Gilman, associate professor of political science and
former director of the East Asian Studies, is leaving Union
to become associate director of the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies
(RIJS) at Harvard University.
Gilman will continue part-time at Union
through the end of the academic year.
The RIJS, a resource for post-graduate and professional
research on Japan
and Japanese culture, is one of the oldest and most prestigious Japanese
studies centers in the world. Gilman will be responsible for the daily
administration of the institute and for maintaining contact with Harvard's
alumni and friends in Japan.
The RIJS hosts post-doctoral researchers from around the
world, welcomes visiting scholars from Japan,
runs conferences and events, and serves as a major funding source for
Japan-related activities and research across Harvard. Long a resource for
graduate- and professional-level Japanese studies, the RIJS is responding to a
call from Harvard's president for greater focus on undergraduate education,
Gilman said.
“I have spent much of my time at Union
bringing Japanese studies into the undergraduate curriculum,” Gilman said.
“That is what Harvard wants me to do there. It seems like a good match of needs on their
part and experience on mine.”
Gilman said he also plans to teach periodically and will
continue to do research in Japanese politics.
He is to start part-time at Harvard in late January, and
move to full time there in June. Until then, he will teach one course at Union
in each of the winter and spring terms, and be on campus Monday through
Wednesday. He will work Thursday and Friday each week at Harvard.
“It was not an easy decision to leave Union
College,” he wrote this week
via email from Vietnam,
where he is leading a term abroad. “I love it here, and it is the ideal
teaching environment for me. However, three years as director of Union's
East Asian Studies Program showed me how much I enjoy working in academic
administration.”
Gilman said the move was also appealing because his wife's
family lives in the Boston area.
Gilman, who joined Union in 1995,
holds a master's and Ph.D. from the University
of Michigan. While at Union,
he was instrumental in securing and administering a grant of $1.25 million from
the Freeman Foundation to allow East Asian Studies to draw more students and to
strengthen ties between students abroad and their classmates on campus. The grant also added two new tenured faculty
lines in East Asian Studies and started an annual Asian cultural series.
“I will miss Union College very much,” he said.
“It is a wonderful place to work. I have great colleagues and super
students. The emphasis on undergraduate research is unique, and I will miss it
most of all. I hope students at Union realize what a
special institution they attend.”
Geologist Jack Shroder ’61 to talk on geology, tracking terrorists
Jack Shroder '61, the geologist who tracked Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, will talk about his adventures in a free public lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
One of the most sought-after
specialists in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Shroder deduced bin
Laden's whereabouts in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan
from geological clues in a CNN video.
Shroder has since advised FBI and
high-ranking government officials, and given many lectures and interviews. With
a specialty in geomorphology, studying landforms and “reading” surfaces to tell
what lies beneath, he leads the Afghanistan
Studies Center
at the University of Nebraska-Omaha
– the only institution of its kind in the West.
Shroder, the Regents Professor of Geology and Geography at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, will speak on “Geoscience Adventures
in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya:
Terrorist Terrains to Tectonic Aneurysms.”
The talk is part of the College's Perspectives at the Nott
lecture series.