Posted on Jan 12, 2006

John Garver, professor of geology, and B.D. Locke have published a Geological Society of America special paper that details the geologic evolution of the faults and basin strata in the petroleum-rich province in eastern Venezuela. 

Michael F. Vineyard, professor of physics and astronomy, presented an invited paper, “Measurements of the Neutron Magnetic Form Factor with CLAS,” at the International Workshop on Nucleon Form Factors at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Italy.

Photographs by Martin Benjamin, professor of visual arts, were featured in the exhibit, “Cuba,” at the Chapel + Cultural Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Hilary Tann, professor of music, received an Encore Award from the American Composers Forum to attend performances of her chamber works by the Free Spirits Ensemble in Raleigh, N.C. As part of the residency, she lectured at Meredith College and attended a CD signing and performance at the local bookstore. The event was coordinated by the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra. Tann's latest CD is “The Gardens of Anna Maria Luisa de Medici.”  

Jill Suzanne Smith, visiting assistant professor of German, recently presented a paper, “Power to the Proper People: Prostitution, Respectability and Male Chauvinism in Turn-of-the-Century German Discourse,” and organized a panel on the popular 1920s writer Vicki Baum at the annual conference of the German Studies Association in Milwaukee, Wis.

Ed Pavlic, associate professor of English and director of Africana Studies, has written an essay, “Open the Unusual Door: The Dark Window in Yusef Komunyakaa's Early Poems,” that will appear in the fall Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters. The special edition is dedicated to Komunyakaa's work. Six of Pavlic's poems, called “One Word for Rachel Corrie,” are in the current issue of Crab Orchard Review. The poems are written in the voice of the American woman and International Solidarity Organization peace worker who was crushed by a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003.

In the fall issue of Cross-Cultural Poetics, Pavlic's piece, “Phoneme Death,” explores the implications of radical changes in human sensory capacity that occur in infancy.

Robert Hislope, associate professor of political science, recently presented his article, “When Being Bad is Good: Corrupt Exchange in Divided Societies,” at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University conference on “Postcommunist States and Societies: Transnational and National Politics.” He also had a book review in the summer issue of The Review of Politics. “The Rational Ethnic Voter” reviews Kanchan Chandra's Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Charlotte G. Borst, professor of history and dean of arts and sciences, has written an article, “As Patients and Healers: The History of Women and Medicine,” which appears in the September issue of OAH Magazine of History. Co-author is Kathleen W. Jones.

Aaron Cass, assistant professor of computer science, and Chris Fernandes, assistant professor of computer science, presented their paper, “Modeling Dependencies for Cascading Selective Undo” at the INTERACT 2005 Workshop on Integrating Software Engineering and Usability Engineering, in Rome, Italy.

Robert Sharlet, Chauncey Winters Research Professor of Political Science, recently published “In Search of the Rule of Law,” in Developments in Russian Politics, edited by S. White, Z. Gitelman and R. Sakwa (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2005). His discussion focuses on the passage, implementation and continuing problems of post-Soviet criminal procedural legislation during President Vladimir Putin's first administration.

Hans-Friedrich Mueller, professor and chair of classics, delivered two lectures in Italy in June. He spoke on “Alacritas: Valerius Maximus and the Emotions of Roman Religion” at the University of Rome (“La Sapienza”) and on “Recuperating Aspects of Night in Ancient Rome: Law, Religion, and Historiography” at the University of Cassino.

In addition, Mueller's article, “Orosius and the Spectacle of Roman Religious Defeat,” has been published in Cignifiliana: Essays in Classics, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy, presented to Professor Roy Arthur Swanson, edited by C.M. Schroeder (New York: Peter Lang, 2005).

Ashraf M. Ghaly, professor of civil engineering, authored the March 2005 cover story in Concrete Today, the monthly magazine of the Pre-Cast Concrete Association of America. His piece is titled, “Does Concrete Have an Expiration Date?”

Sculptures by Chris Duncan, professor of visual arts, were on view this fall at Gallery 100, 445 Broadway, in Saratoga Springs. Duncan works primarily in steel, concrete, plaster and bronze, creating works that are abstract expressionist in nature. One of the owners of the gallery is Jim Lowe '69.

Michele Angrist, assistant professor of political science, has received a grant of $3,000 from the Institute of Turkish Studies, Washington, D.C., toward the publication of her book, Party Building in the Modern Middle East: The Origins of Competitive and Coercive Rule. It is due out in 2006 from the University of Washington Press.

Andy Rapoff, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support his proposal, “Integrating Micro-Computed Tomography in Undergraduate Bioengineering Courses.” The award will be used to develop laboratory modules that incorporate the theory, use and application of a 3D radiographic imaging system capable of resolving features in bone on the order of hundredths of a millimeter. The funds also will be used to purchase a state-of-the-art micro-CT system and to hire student assistants.

Mark Toher, professor of classics, read papers at two conferences in England. In June, he was a speaker at a conference on Herod and Augustus organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies (University College London). His topic was “Herod, Augustus and Nicolaus of Damascus.” In July, he traveled to the Institute of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Wales, where he read “Divining the Text of Augustus' Autobiography” for a conference on Augustus' lost memoirs in historical and literary contexts. Each paper will be published in the proceedings of its conference.

Posted on Jan 12, 2006

“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.

Harlow was lauded by many for his dedication to the College, his department and his students. As one emeritus colleague reported, “Gil was 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.

Posted on Jan 12, 2006

Tongue joins the College in a new position that will identify, recruit, and mentor students who seek national awards, scholarships and fellowships. She also will direct internships for academic credit.

“Just preparing for one of the prestigious scholarships or fellowships is a great learning experience for students,” she said. “It's a chance for them to thoroughly explore their vision of themselves and their vision for the world. So win or lose, the process is a springboard to new opportunities.”

Tongue recently attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors, and she is shepherding two students through the Fulbright Scholarship application process.

A Niskayuna resident, she earned her bachelor's degree in physics with a fine arts concentration from Clarkson University and a master's in physics with an astronomy concentration from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She has extensive experience working at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as director of the College of Engineering Student Leadership Center and, more recently, at the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Union students have received a number of prestigious national awards, including 44 Watson Fellowships for a year of post-graduate international study and six Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships in support of outstanding students destined for doctoral study.

Among other recent appointments in Academic Affairs:

Melinda Lawson, visiting assistant professor of history, has been named assistant director of advising. For the past several years, she has been helping advise undeclared majors and transfer students. In her expanded role, she will assist with retention efforts, the organization of theme majors, special student support services and advising assessments.  

Christine Henseler, assistant professor of Spanish, has been appointed associate director of academic programs. She will work with Dean for Undergraduate Education Kimmo Rosenthal as the General Education Board implements the new GenEd program. She also will assist with recruitment of faculty, student pre-registration for the sophomore seminar and clusters, and advising.

Posted on Jan 12, 2006

A member of the Union faculty since 1998, Batson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and has published widely on Francophone literature and the French theater. “My teaching comes from my own excitement and joy in the challenge of engaged learning, and I thank those of you who feed that joy with your engagement,” Batson told those assembled in Memorial Chapel.

Michelle Elyse Koo '08 received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for general education. Soprano Sarah Bills '06 and mezzo-soprano Sarah Serbun '06 received the Hollander Prize for music, presented by Lawrence J. Hollander, dean of engineering emeritus. The two prize winners performed a musical interlude, “Quando non ho più core,” by Handel.

McCarty recognized Dean's List students, whose names will appear on a plaque in Reamer Campus Center. At a pre-convocation dinner at College Park Hall, she welcomed 90 employees who joined the College in the last year.

Posted on Jan 12, 2006

This fall, 1,168 education kits and 286 health kits-that's thousands of pounds of notebooks, crayons, toothbrushes and soap-were on their way 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 Community Center, where they filled the basement before being loaded onto a truck.

The Union community raised more than $10,000 for hurricane relief, to be donated to the American Red Cross Katrina Disaster Relief Fund. More than $7,000 came from student-run fundraisers led by Norman Nguyen '08 and Daniel Khasidy '06.