Posted on Dec 21, 2005

“Better Than Both: The Case for Pessimism” by Peter Heinegg, professor of English, has been published by Hamilton Books. The collection's 20 essays in popular philosophy cover a broad range of social, cultural and intellectual issues, from environmental degradation to the breakdown of religion.

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

The Finance Office, including accounts payable, payroll, purchasing and student loans, has moved to McKean House following renovations. Located on Union Avenue near the tennis courts, the house was built in 1927 as a private residence for Professor Horace McKean and his wife. Since 1981, the house has been occupied by several fraternities, including, most recently, Alpha Epsilon Pi. Eleven finance employees who were temporarily housed in North Colonnade are enjoying their new home.

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Proposals for courses offered in fall 2006 are due Monday, Jan. 9. They must be approved through the Academic Affairs Committee on Courses and Programs. To obtain a proposal form, log on to http://www.advising.union.edu/forms-other/proposal.doc. 

Send all proposals to Dean of Arts and Sciences, S&E, S100. If GenEd approval is also required, submit a copy to the Dean for Undergraduate Education at the same time. 

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

JAMES MANN '86, CEO and co-president, 3N2, Schenectady (B.A., political science)

3N2 designs, manufactures and sells baseball and softball cleats and other athletic products that are manufactured overseas and imported, with distributors in eight states, Asia and Europe. A former Nike executive, Stride Rite shoe engineer and competitive race walker, Capital Region native Mann formed 3N2 (a full count in baseball) in 2001 with several teammates from the Asian Softball Circuit and several Union College classmates. The company had gross sales of between $350,000 and $500,000 in 2004. Its goal is to capture 2 percent of the $5 billion sports apparel market.

“I joined ENS last year, when my partner, Jamey Storvick, the head scout in Asia for the Seattle Mariners, and I brought 3N2 back to Schenectady from Newton, Mass. Ours is a hot field. When people watch sports on TV, they don't realize that the game itself is only 5 percent of what's involved in the business, that there's so much more.

“ENS is perfect – it's about entrepreneurs, it's about Union, it's about people doing great things.”

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Union once again is in the cinematic spotlight.

This time, it's an independent film, “The Skeptic,” a supernatural thriller written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell and featuring actors Tim Daly, Mary-Beth Taylor, Edward Herrmann, Robert Prosky, Tom Arnold, Aida Turturro and Zoe Saldana — and Communications' very own Caroline Boardman, who has a walk-on in a classroom scene shot in the Reamer Campus Center.

“Movie-making is a miraculous process, more so, even than communications,” quips Boardman, communications specialist since 2004.

The film featuers a lawyer, played by Daly, who inherits a house, which leads to a variety of unsettling flashbacks, memories and spectral experiences. Most of the scenes were shot in and around Saratoga Springs over an eight-week period at the end of the year.

Taylor and Bardwell's first movie, “Dorian Blues,” also shot locally, was a coming-of-age story about a gay teen. It is now showing in major cities nationwide.

The movie's producers hope to submit “The Skeptic” to the January 2007 Sundance film festival. Cast and crew for “The Skeptic” totaled 60.

Union College has appeared in several films over the years, most prominently in the 1973 hit, “The Way We Were,” featuring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.