Posted on Oct 28, 2005

Shakespeare's comedy about love's trials and tribulations takes an island twist when Lloyd Waiwaiole stages a Hawaiian-themed “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”

Performances are Tuesday, Nov. 1 through Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Yulman Theatre.

“It's been a blessing to reconnect with my roots in this way and to share it with students,” said Waiwaiole, who is Hawaiian.  

To add to the play's authenticity, Waiwaiole, costumer at the Yulman, called upon his sister, choreographer Nalani Taylor of Kauai, to teach traditional hula dancing, chants and lei-making to the cast.

“All the songs are in Hawaiian, and we added 12 songs,” Waiwaole noted.

Midsummer involves more than 70 people, with 24 actors and a large technical crew. Set design, by Charles Steckler, also reflects an island sensibility (yes, there's a volcano, complete with spewing lava).

“It's a brilliant idea and it really works,” said Steckler of transporting the Bard's classic to a Hawaiian dreamscape.

William A. Finlay, associate professor of theater, is producer, and John Miller, the theater's technical director, is lighting designer. For tickets, call the box office, 388-6545.

Posted on Oct 28, 2005

The second concert of this year's Chamber Music Concert Series will feature Milana Chernyavska on piano, Julia Fisher on violin and Danjulo Ishizaka on cello, Friday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. in Union College's Memorial Chapel.

They will perform Beethoven's Trio in E flat, Op. 1 No. 1, Mendelssohn's Trio No. 1 in d, Op. 49 and Shostakovich's Trio in e, Op. 67 in their North American debut performance of this program.

Ishizaka has been lauded for his technical abilities combined with his sensitive intonation and intelligent phrasing. He was a first prize winner at the international cello competition in Zaragoza, Spain in 1999 and the International Lutoslawki cello competition in Warsaw, Poland in 2001. He is a recording artist for Sony Classical.

Fisher has been widely hailed as an exceptional musician. Before arriving in the Capital Region, she will perform three times with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; for the holiday season, she will appear with the New York Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel.

Chernyavska, who hails from the Ukraine, has been invited to numerous music festivals and played large concert halls on three continents. An EMI recording artist, she has won prizes at distinguished international piano competitions.

Tickets are $20 for general admission; $8 for students. The performance is open to the public. For more, call 388-6080 or 372-3651.  

Posted on Oct 28, 2005

The total is in.

The Union community has raised more than $10,000 for hurricane relief, to be donated to the American Red Cross Katrina Disaster Relief Fund. More than $7,000 of that is from student-run fundraisers, including raffles, dinners and club events. Leading the student efforts were Norman Nguyen '08 and Daniel Khasidy '06.

A check for $10,536 was presented to Barbara Leonard, Red Cross chapter chair, on Wednesday.

Pictured at the check presentation, in photo above, are (from left) Khasidy; Nguyen; Dan Detora, director of Dining Services; Leonard; Jim Underwood, interim College president; Gretchel Tyson, community outreach director; Eric Noll, director of Human Resources; and Matt Milless, director of Student Activities.

Posted on Oct 28, 2005

This week, 1,168 education kits and 286 health kits – that's thousands of pounds worth of notebooks and crayons, toothbrushes and soap – are on their way from the College's Kenney Community Center to Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, the result of weeks of work by Union students and others eager to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“Each of the Minervas pledged money to purchase supplies for the children,” said Golub House's Varun Shetty '08, who launched the initiative.

Thirty-one groups in all, including church groups from as far away as Syracuse, pitched in for the joint Union-community effort.

The kits were assembled in Minerva houses and packed up in the Kenney Center, where they engulfed the basement before being loaded onto a truck coordinated by Director of Campus Safety William Sickinger.

Next stop for the essential supplies: Church World Services in Baltimore, Md., which is handling final distribution.         

Posted on Oct 28, 2005

Among the highlights of Homecoming Weekend was a special ceremony Saturday, Oct. 22, in which H. Gil Harlow, professor emeritus of civil engineering, received the Founders Medal. One of Union's highest honors, the medal recognizes distinguished service to the College. The event was followed by a luncheon with members of the Alumni Council.

“H. Gilbert Harlow was a Renaissance man long before the term was coined. His diverse interests and wonderful teaching ability helped define what a liberal arts or engineering education should be and how the two could best be integrated,” said Thomas K. Jewell, professor of civil engineering, who presented the medal.

Harlow, 91, arrived at Union in 1940 and taught until 1993, well after his “retirement” in 1984. He spent 29 years as chair of civil engineering, making him what is believed to be the longest-serving department chair. In five decades, he missed only five days of classes.

Harlow was lauded by many for his dedication to the College, his department and his students. As one emeritus colleague reported, “Gil was always one of Union's pillars… a committed teacher and a fair, honorable colleague, always prepared to examine a proposal on its merits instead of on its political benefits. He was one of those who made the place a community.”

Harlow was a nationally known horticulturalist, the unofficial movie photographer for the football team and the person largely responsible for the initiative to replant the campus after Dutch Elm disease took its toll in the 1950s.

He was the first recipient of the Alumni Council Faculty Meritorious Service Award in 1958.