Posted on Dec 21, 2005

I've never met him,” says James W. Taylor '66 of that other James Taylor, the “Sweet Baby James” troubadour. “But I have a guitar signed by him. And at the New Orleans Heritage & Jazz Festival this spring, I stayed in the same hotel and got a love letter from one of his fans,” he relates with a laugh.

Union music students may soon be sending love letters to James W. (Jim) Taylor and his brother, John Taylor '74, for the $1.5 million they have given the College as the lead gift to renovate North Colonnade into a premier music facility. The total renovation is a $4 million project.

“Our father (the late Willard H. Taylor '42) played sousaphone and tuba in the school band,” Jim recalls. “His experience and his music made this gift appropriate.”

“We're both interested in supporting music and the arts at Union and feel that's a fitting place for our gift,” says John, who majored in computer science and also studied psychology. His son Bryan is a member of the Class of 2008.

Jim Taylor, who is Union's newest Trustee (please see story, page 8), majored in psychology and followed an unusual “encore” path to graduation.  “I went to Union twice,” he says, explaining that he left in his senior year, joined the U.S. Army for three years and then returned to finish.

The brothers own the Taylor Made Group in Gloversville, N.Y. Jim is the company's chairman and CEO, and John is vice president of administration, involved in corporate management and personnel administration. With factories in the United States, Ireland, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, the firm is a leader in the boating industry, manufacturing windshields and supplying after-market products.

The Taylor brothers are leaders in philanthropy as well, donating time and financial support through the Taylor Family Foundation.

Jim was one of the founders of the Saratoga Automobile Museum, and he is involved in a wide range of community arts, youth and health-related groups. John is vice president of the board of directors of the Glove Theater in Gloversville and a member of the board of directors of the Fulton Montgomery College Foundation. He also has been active with the local chamber of commerce, the YMCA and Cooperative Extension.

The two men say the importance of community involvement is a family signature, something handed down from their parents and grandparents.

“We learned it early on,” says Jim. “We just give back.” Giving to Union is a natural for the Taylors, who praise the College for creating and maintaining a living and learning environment that fosters creative, scientific and intellectual stimulation.

As for Jim's music education, he is more likely to play calliope than the acoustic guitar that other James Taylor favors.

“The calliope was our dad's,” he says of the huge vintage instrument often seen and heard on campus during the elder Taylor's time. “They would play it in alumni parades. My ReUnion is next year; maybe I'll bring it with me.”

MAKING MUSIC

The new North Colonnade music facility, located in the campus' historic Ramée section, will include a lecture/rehearsal/recital hall (added behind the Colonnade), classrooms, a music technology studio, an electronic piano room, faculty offices, an advanced music students' work station, practice rooms, a music library and instrument storage lockers.

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Charles Steckler looks back on 35 years of stage design at Union

When Charles Steckler, studio artist and theatrical designer, arrived at Union in 1971, it was for a “one-year, half-time” faculty position in the Department of Arts. But together with colleague Barry Smith, Steckler produced a very ambitious first year. Both had just graduated from the Yale School of Drama, “although we had never met before arriving at the Nott Memorial Theater, that last week of August, to begin work on a play for freshman orientation,” recalls Steckler.

During that first year, we were uncommonly compatible as artists. It was the beginning of a 28-year collaboration, during which we directed/designed 32 fully staged productions. Working with Barry inspired me to new levels of creative discovery. His originality and openness to my ideas were of central importance to my continuing development as a designer. I had not planned to remain at Union beyond that first year. But the College offered me a ‘3/4-time' contract the following year, and my work with Barry and our new theater program was reason enough to remain at least another year. The rest, as they say, is history. My students and colleagues throughout the years have been a source of great stimulation and encouragement. I consider myself most fortunate to have found my creative home so early in my career.”

Thirty-five years and nearly 100 shows after his arrival on campus, Steckler, now Professor of Theater and Designer-in-Residence, looks back on almost two generations of Union students and audiences, and close to a hundred productions that have been impacted by his stage wizardry. He will be honored for his work in a retrospective exhibit at the Mandeville Gallery in the Nott Memorial, opening January 12, 2006.

As you might expect, the retrospective features many of Steckler's stage designs, drawings, and construction models. There are also interesting artifacts-cloth from a curtain, painted tiles, moldings, puppets, masks, and other props from various productions, such as a large “rock” from the set of Waiting for Godot.

Over the years, Steckler has taken hundreds of photographs recording his sets for posterity and some unspecified future exhibit. “I practice an ephemeral art form; stage design is temporal and temporary. After the play is over, my work ceases to exist. In fact, it is literally destroyed. All that remains is a memory and these few images. It is an unusual occasion when a stage designer's art can have a second life in a gallery exhibition.”

Notes curator Rachel Seligman, stage design is both a rigorous and an unappreciated field. “The art of stage design is complex and multilayered,” she says, “bound as it is to its functional aspects. Exhibiting these artifacts, removed from their original function, emphasizes their visual artistry and strength as aesthetic objects.”

Steckler is dedicating the exhibit to the memory of Jarka Burian, who died earlier this year. “Jarka was a historian, author, director, and professor emeritus of theater at SUNY at Albany. He was always supportive, always interested in my latest projects. I believe we all need models in our lives of remarkable people who possess some virtue or special gift. Jarka, for his combination of intellect, generosity, and friendship, was that kind of example to me.”

It may seem obvious to say that theater is a collaborative art, the intersection of several disciplines and crafts. But it is a distinction that defines a community as well as an art form. At Union, that community is small, but made up of a core of talented people. “I feel lucky to work with such a stimulating group of artists like Bill Finlay, Joann Yarrow, Patsy Culbert, Lloyd Waiwaiole, Miryam Moutillet, and John Miller. But the backbone of this community, of course, is our students. They are smart, energetic, curious, and inventive. I learn from them every day.”

How much direction?

We asked Steckler how much direction on set design he gets from the playwright and from the director. “It depends,” he says. “Directions from the playwright are sometimes detailed, sometimes terse, sometimes nonexistent. All that Samuel Becket gives us for Waiting for Godot is ‘A country road. A tree. Evening.' That's it. The rest comes out of a close reading of the text, research, and discussions with the director. When I talked with Bill Finlay [Chair of Theater and Dance, and Associate Professor of Theater] about his take on our production of Godot, he offered me this: ‘whoosh,' he said, as he swept his arms through the air. From that I got what I needed. The play's essential action is waiting, but the quality of that ‘country road' where they wait is indeterminate. How literal must I be? I always wanted to do something with clouds and a great starry firmament. I thought the characters might inhabit a staged space enveloped by a ‘whoosh' of a sky with an oddly shaped tree. We built the tree from plywood, cut and sculpted it, and turned it into a tree. Kind of poetic, I think, returning wood back into a tree. In the sky we set a clock whose second hand rotated but whose minute and hour hands were frozen. Floating in that painted sky, the clock seemed like the moon. By this device we alluded to the theme of time passing and simultaneously standing still.”

Steckler is eager to talk about his current project-designing A Midsummer Night's Dream. This production is set in Hawaii. Why Hawaii? “Lloyd Waiwaiole [guest artist and native Hawaiin] is directing, and it was his conception to place Shakespeare's play about love's afflictions in an Hawaiian dreamscape, transposing the songs and dances into traditional Hawaiian chants and hula. It's a brilliant idea and it really works! It is my task to evolve a beautiful Polynesian isle as it might appear in a dream while providing an undulating stage space for 25 actors. We'll have palm trees, a spiraling bamboo ramp, and a volcano spewing lava, volcanic rocks, a waterfall, a popcorn moon, an undersea scene with fish puppets, and a gekko that climbs the proscenium. It's a very exciting project.”

The Question of Individual Style

Sets are designed to aid and illuminate, Steckler points out, and serve as an integral part of the storytelling.

“When I was a student,” he says, “there was this idea that designers don't have their own individual style. We were trained to work in many different styles, to design without inserting our own personalities. This was troubling to me; I envied the painter and sculptor who could work an idea over and over, experimenting and developing it over a long period of time. I rarely get to do that as a designer. Each show is unique with its own circumstances and demands that must be resolved by the deadline and within a budget.”

Nevertheless, Steckler's style comes through. “It is collage-like, layered and eclectic. His dioramas and collage art connect him to Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg,” says Rachel Seligman.

“I call it my ‘Accretion Style,' a penchant, a sensibility,” adds Steckler. “I like to layer and overlap materials to create densities, compressions, and subtle interactions of colors, lines, and shapes. I like to play with materials abstractly for a while. Not every play necessarily lends itself to that treatment, but when one does, I enjoy the opportunity to develop my style a little further.”

The Strike

What happens to his work after the play is over? “As soon as the last member of the audience has walked out of the theater, we strike the set: the work lights go on, the tools come out, and we begin dismantling the scenery. For the audience the show is done when the final curtain falls and they leave the theater; it's done for the actors after the final applause. But for me it's over only when the last piece of lumber is put back up on the shelf and the bare stage is swept clean. The strike is essential to completing the circle that began with the first reading of the play. I usually photograph the empty stage at the end as part of my own closing ritual.”

Memorable Projects

Tartuffe (2004), he says, was great fun to work on. “Strictly set in Moliere's time, we created an authentic-looking kitchen of a great house in Paris in 1671, complete with a double fireplace, masonry walls with cornice moldings, Delft wall tiles, marble floor tiles, a cantilevered balcony, and oculus window, and crystal chandeliers as well as smoked ham hocks, sausages, and cheeses made of papier-mache, pastries of Styrofoam, and all manner of period cooking and serving utensils. It was very rich in detail. Acting, directing, and design intersected successfully to create a convincing view into a 17th-century household.”

Another play that stands out is the Joann Yarrow (artist in residence) production of Metamorphoses (2004)-a fanciful retelling of myths and stories from Ovid on themes of change and transformation. “It was a beautiful production. I used the pool of water called for in the script but adapted it to the space of the Yulman Theater. The entire set was black with a shallow reflecting pool at the center, a wall frieze of classical figures in a nighttime constellation panorama surrounded by thousands (or so it seemed) of twinkling stars. Against that severe background, the actors in sumptuous costumes stood out in bright relief reflected in the water. We built an 800-gallon pool, with advice from former Engineering Dean Robert Balmer and members of the Facilities Department. It was beautiful, and the show was very moving.”

For their production of Shakespeare's The Tempest (1993), “we transformed the Nott into a postcolonial island strewn with the debris of technology and popular culture. We filled the theater with 11 tons of white beach sand and built a split-level beachcomber shack out of distressed barn wood, truck tires, Salvation Army furniture, a dozen or so old TVs, and the front end of a Volkswagen Beetle that served as Caliban's cave. On the surrounding walls, skeletons danced with glowing stars studding a lapis lazuli-colored sky. Under the moody lights, it was like being in some Surrealist planetarium.”

Other Courses, Other Influences

Over the years, Steckler has taught: Stage Design, Puppet Theater Design and Performance, Intermedia Design, Visual Books, Relief Printmaking, Play Grounds, Design Fundamentals, and Freshman Preceptorial. He has also led terms abroad to Italy and England, where he has taught courses in visual thinking through journal-writing, drawing, and photography.

Whose work has influenced him? “Buddha and Picasso. As I understand it, one examined the nature of existence and the other, the nature of perception-things that interest me. Cubism challenged centuries-old habits of rendering space-something I am aware of each time I design a stage set which is both an image and a space. Buddhist teaching and meditation give me a sense of perspective about myself and the workings of my own mind. Early in my life, as a young artist, I was excited by the Dadaist and Surrealist painters and sculptors (who isn't?): de Chirico, Man Ray, Schwitters, Miro, Yves Tanguy, Klee, Giacometti, Max Ernst. Salvador Dali infected my adolescent brain as did Joseph Cornell. I attended the High School of Music and Art, in Manhattan, and spent a lot of time at the Museum of Modern Art and the old Whitney Museum, junking out on art. At Queens College, I had professor Jay B. Keene for theater design, sets, costumes, color theory, scene painting, rendering, and model-making. He was an utterly engaging teacher and an inspired theater artist. Jay set the spark under my britches and recommended that I apply to the Design Program at the Yale School of Drama. I had many wonderful teachers at Yale, but the two notable standouts were Donald Oenslager and Ming Cho Lee, both of them brilliant designers. Once my professional training began in earnest, my influences became many, from contemporary American and European designers to the great masters of the past.”

What does Steckler still want to do? “I'd like some time for studio work. Theater is enormously time-consuming. Stage sets are large constructions. More and more, my personal interest leads me to want to work on my collages, drawings, dioramas, and small sculptures. The dioramas have the quality of stage sets but don't have any of the pragmatic constraints. I'm not beholden to the playwright, or the director, or a budget, or the limitations of a specific theater. Like dollhouses, model train sets, and toy theaters, these are large worlds fitted into small spaces. I can make up the story, the characters, everything.”

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Charting the next leg of the journey

A presidential transition is an exciting time for a college. Since joining Union in 1963, I have been privileged to witness-and at times participate in-the arrival of five presidents. Nothing has pleased me more greatly than the arrival of Stephen Ainlay.

During my six months as interim president, I have been invigorated by the possibilities for Union's future. To hand over the reins to someone of Stephen's caliber is gratifying indeed.

You can read more in this magazine about Stephen and his unique qualifications to lead Union College. I will submit here my personal observation that he is not only eager to begin; he has throughout his career been deeply committed to the liberal arts ideal and the kinds of endeavors we cherish here at Union-a strong collaboration between students and professors, and a commitment to internationalism and diversity in all its forms that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Over the past months, in anticipation of the arrival of a new president, we have been hard at work doing the preliminary work that is necessary to create a strategic plan under Stephen Ainlay's leadership. I am happy to report that Union has never been stronger, and our promise never greater. Our five “pillars”-Undergraduate Research, International Studies, Converging Technologies, the Minerva House System and Community Service-are distinctions that would be attractive to any new president.

Most of all, it is people who make Union special. We have a faculty of outstanding teachers and scholars who understand that students learn best in close collaboration with their professors and other students. We have students who rise readily to the challenges that they find both in and out of the classroom. We have tremendously talented and dedicated staff. And we have a close family of alumni who proudly carry the Union banner and give generously to ensure that Union remains strong.

The success of the “You Are Union” campaign, now at the halfway point of its $200 million goal, is important not just for bringing the College to the next level of excellence. It is a clear message that members of the Union community feel strongly that we are committed to the right path for the College.

The next president of Union-Stephen C. Ainlay-arrives at what may be the most exciting time in our history. I look forward to working closely with Stephen during the transition, and helping to chart the next leg of Union's journey. Both he and we are fortunate-he comes to an exceptional college and we get an exceptional leader who understands the special strengths and opportunities for Union.

Posted on Dec 20, 2005

Les Trachtman '77, an electrical engineer, is adding new spark to the Eliphalet Nott Society (ENS). Named after the Union president who was a noted businessman and inventor and whose 62-year tenure (1804-66) remains unsurpassed, ENS was launched more than a decade ago to foster entrepreneurship through the Union community.

As the new ENS chairman, Trachtman is spreading the word and injecting new energy.

“Energy is what we need and what we're getting,” enthuses Trachtman, an entrepreneur experienced in equity compensation, mergers and acquisitions. “We're growing. It's a terrific program that fosters entrepreneurship, and it's a great way to connect back with alumni.”

The 2% solution

ENS members, more than a dozen strong, subscribe to a simple, yet tremendously exciting, concept: they agree in advance to give the College at least 2 percent of their equity in enterprises they've built, directed or invested in, upon liquidation of their investment.

Trachtman, who has grown several high-tech firms, has already made such a contribution. In February 2004, his Connecticut software company, Transcentive, was acquired by an Australian firm.

“I gifted a contingent of stock and stock options,” he explains. “There's no way I would have been able to pledge as much as I did to the College except through my venture. ENS is an attractive option for alumni and entrepreneurs.”

Many happy returns

Besides offering direct financial support to Union, ENS members invest in and manage the Vash Venture Fund. Created through already-realized ENS commitments, the fund is named for the late Arthur M. Vash '51, an ENS founder and Trustee Emeritus of the College. He was a leader at several engineering and manufacturing companies and an independent consultant whose company, Gryphon Ventures, funded several national high-technology firms.

“Plenty of schools make investments, but I don't know any with a separate fund to which alumni and friends can contribute,” says Trachtman, who is president and CEO of a new software company, e-100 Group.

“The ENS Vash Fund has made four investments and has an accumulated worth of half a million dollars,” he notes. “Our investment committee regularly reviews opportunities for other entrepreneurial ventures. ENS is a new way to attract gifts to the College, and it invests those gifts to get a good return for the College's endowment.”

The leading edge

The advantages of participating in ENS are not exclusively monetary. Trachtman and his fellow ENS members share professional expertise, providing key contact points for students, faculty and graduates seeking support in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

In continuing to explore ways to give College students, alumni, friends and business leaders an entrepreneurial edge, ENS hosts forums, panel discussions and other programs that provide strong networking opportunities. Recent events in Boston and New York City focused on such topics as “When to Hold 'Em, When to Fold 'Em (growing a business to the next level) and “How to Position Your Company for Investment.”

“Colleges in general are at risk today for their value proposition. Entrepreneurial thinking is something that can add value and differentiate Union in the next century,” Trachtman says.

He cites a new campus academic initiative, the Center for the Analysis of Productivity and Entrepreneurship (CAPE), as part of the synergy with ENS. Through CAPE, faculty members are exploring all facets of entrepreneurship. Chair and Professor of Classics Hans-Friedrich Mueller, for example, taught the first class in the program, “Entrepreneurship in Ancient Times,” established through a gift for course development in entrepreneurship by Trachtman and Transcentive co-founder Michael Brody.

“ENS helps focus the College on entrepreneurial thinking,” Trachtman says, “and on opportunities and needs that are converging.”

Posted on Dec 20, 2005

Trustee David A. Viniar '76 – Union summa cum laude, Harvard M.B.A., philanthropist and father of four – is the man behind the gleaming new $3.2 million Viniar Athletic Center.

He is also the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest investment banking firms, with more than 20,000 employees – some 40 percent of whom work under him. He heads the firm's Operations, Technology and Finance Division, as well.

Back in 1976, though, he'd never heard of Goldman Sachs, nor could the former student-athlete (varsity, under Coach Bill Scanlon) dream he'd ever be point man for a new basketball pavilion some day. He was no MVP on the basketball court.

“I was no star; it's true. The nice word is substitute. The real word is ‘scrub,'” he says with an affectionate laugh, remembering his days as a lanky, 6-foot-1 Bronx boy dubbed “Bones” by the other players. “I loved the team and my teammates. I was one of the first ones to show up at practice, the last to leave.”

The passion and energy he invested in basketball, Viniar insists, helped him get to the top of his career game.

“It all started with Union, with playing basketball at Union,” he says, speaking by phone from his New York City offices. “The things I learned from the people there – teamwork, hard work, preparation, dedication, communication – are all things I've taken with me throughout my life. I'm thrilled to be able to give something back.”

The NET RESULT

In 1999, Viniar donated $1.2 million for the new athletic center to house the men's and women's NCAA Division III basketball teams and intramurals. This personal gift was followed, in 2003, by a grant of $2 million from the Viniar Family Foundation. The dream was realized.

The Viniar Athletic Center is the fourth home of Union basketball and the first built exclusively for the sport. In addition to a game court with seating for 1,000, this state-of-the-art building features two practice courts and the Joel Fisher '76 Hall of Fame Room. The room was a 50th birthday gift from Viniar to his former teammate.

“I still play basketball with Joel and Billy (Henson '76),” Viniar says. “My 10 best friends in the world are from Union, and half are from the basketball team.”

Viniar first learned about Union College from a neighbor whose son had gone there.

“I was interested in math but also wanted to attend a strong liberal arts school,” he says. “Union was geographically close enough so I could go home when I wanted to, but far enough away so that my parents couldn't show up unannounced.”

At Union, the big-city boy who'd graduated from the Bronx High School of Science savored the small size, academic excellence, bucolic campus and close personal relationships, all of which he still appreciates every time he visits.

He majored in economics (he still keeps in touch with Professor Jim Kenney), volunteered with Big Brothers and was a member of Omnicron Delta Epsilon. A self-described “very slow” forward, he was on the team when the Dutchmen captured the ECAC's Upstate New York championship during the 1974-75 season.

“We were 20 and 4 both my sophomore and junior years,” he recalls. “The old Memorial Field House would be packed for every game.”

SLAM DUNK

After Union, Viniar headed to Harvard Business School. In 1980, the newly minted M.B.A. grad joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and began his steady rise there: he became a partner in 1992, a managing director in 1996, executive vice president and CFO in 1999.

In February 2004, when he was 48, Institutional Investor magazine named him among the “best CFOs in America,” one of many accolades he's received that have praised his lack of pretense, geniality and straight-shooting communications style.
When asked about these various honors, he quickly rebounds with praise for others.

“There are many people I work with who are just as respected, and I am lucky to work with them. I understand that completely,” he says.

“I deal with the smartest, best group of people I could have in one place. I've been here for 25 years, and if I could replay my career, I wouldn't change a thing. Goldman Sachs is recognized worldwide for its teamwork. The whole culture entails working together with other people. You do what's best for the team. I can't think of better training for that than Union basketball.”

LESSON LEARNED

A Union Trustee since 1999, David Viniar says one lesson in economics that has really hit home lately is the rising cost of academia: “Colleges cost money. As expensive as tuition is, you can't run a school on tuition alone,” he says. “If you want to be one of the finest institutions, it's critical to have dedicated alumni who give back. The more they give, the better off the school will be. This gets more and more true all the time.”