A record review by Assistant Professor of Music Jennifer Matsue, “Visionary Tones: Traditional and Contemporary Kinko Style Shakuhachi Music by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel,” was published in the Journal of Asian Music, Winter/Spring 2006. Matsue also has been invited by the Journal of Asian Music to serve as special guest editor for an issue devoted to Asian popular music, due out next year.
Read MoreLaredo, Fleisher in Brahms concert at Memorial Chapel
Violinist Jaime Laredo and pianist Leon Fleisher will perform the Three Violin Sonatas by Brahms at the acoustically-superb Memorial Chapel on Thursday, March 23 at 8 p.m.
The two legendary masters will explore these complete sonatas for violin and piano, composed between 1878 and 1888. They are: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78; Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100; and Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108.
Laredo has been called “a musician's musician” and “a violinist of profound musicianship,” while Fleisher has been cited for his “miraculous tone.” The New Yorker calls him “one of the incorruptible legends of his profession.”
Concert tickets, free for the Union community, $25 for the general public and $12 for area students, may be picked up at the Facilities Building. For more information, call 388-6080 or 372-3651.
Read MorePost-break(ing) news
As usual, there'll be a host of events sprouting at Union after winter wanes. A quick preview of what's in the works for the spring term:
* Sunday, April 2: Emerson String Quartet
* Tuesday, April 4: Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln scholar, Perspectives at the Nott
* Thursday through Saturday, April 6-8: National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR )
* Thursday, April 6: Pianist Yefim Bronfman in concert
* Monday, April 10 and<FONT strong 17: Monday, April 17: Admissions acceptance days
* Tuesday, April 11: Employee Recognition Day
* Friday, May 5: Steinmetz Symposium
* Saturday, May 6:<PRIZE p day Prize Day
* Monday, May 8: Pianist Mitsuko Uchida
* Tuesday through Sunday, May 16 -21: Spring play: “An Evening of Ionesco,” featuring “The Bald Soprano” and “The Lesson”
* Thursday through Sunday, May 18-21: ReUnion
* Sunday, June 11: Commencement
Read MoreIEF grants help students conduct research around the globe
With support from Internal Education Fund (IEF) grants, seven students conducted research abroad in December, enjoying the opportunity to delve into topics associated with their senior thesis.
Jessica Simmon '06 traveled to England and Scotland for two weeks, conducting research on King Henry VIII for her three-term, double major senior thesis in history and political science.
Simmon's work reexamines the king's political philosophy through an attempt to understand a crucial influence on his life – the humanist education he received as a youth.
Dec 2005
With the aid of thesis advisor John Cramsie, assistant professor of history, Simmon was afforded access to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she found manuscripts, rare books and correspondence dating to the king's reign. Soon, she found herself piecing together different sources and drawing conclusions about the influence scholars had on Henry VIII when he was a young prince.
“The whole researching experience was sort of like a treasure hunt,” says Simmon, who plans to present her work at the Steinmetz Symposium in May.
The senior scholar is quick to credit the IEF program as a key to her research success.
“I was given an opportunity to do research usually reserved only to graduate students, namely an introduction to archival work,” she said. “The IEF grant made my trip to Britain possible, and I hope future students take advantage of this rich resource so they can have an experience as impacting as mine.”
Seniors William Goldstein, Sarah Heitner, Raquefette Kilchevsky, Kelvin Martinez, Sona Shah and Michael Zaplin also received IEF funding for a range of projects that took them across the globe. Here, a brief look at their travels:
William Goldstein '06, history major
Research project: “Reconstruction in London after World War II”
Research advisor: David Baum, visiting assistant professor of history
Goldstein traveled to England to interview Nicholas Bullock, a professor at Cambridge University and meet with real estate professionals from Cushman & Wakefield/Healey & Baker. He also examined blueprints, town planning documents and newspaper articles in London archives.
Sarah Heitner '06, economics major, Japanese minor
Research project: “The Growing Participation of Women in the Workforce in India and Japan: A Comparative Study”
Research advisor: Eshragh Motahar, chair of economics
Heitner traveled to India (with Sona Shah; see below) to observe daily interactions of women in society, interview women working in medicine, academia and business, and interact with faculty involved in the Union-Mumbai exchange program.
Raquefette Kilchevsky '06, art history major
Research project: “Jewish Identity in Art, a Multi Cultural and Multi Generational Approach”
Research advisor: David Ogawa, assistant professor of visual arts.
Kilchevsky traveled to museums in Israel and New York City to study various ways in which Jewish identity is presented in works of art. She compared trends in modernism and post-modernism to see how styles and approaches have changed over the years and their impact on the expression of Jewish identity.
Kelvin Martinez '06, Latin American studies major and participant in Union's Future Professors Program
Research topic: “The Psychology of Garifuna Mobilization with Respect to Government and Transnational Influence”
Research advisor: Teresa Meade, professor of history
Martinez, an international student, conducted several interviews in Honduras with Garifuna people regarding the cultural effects of mass migration out of Garifuna villages. A Garifuna from Honduras himself, Martinez speaks both the Garifuna language and Spanish.
Sona Shah '06, anthropology major
Research topic: “A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Abortion in India and the United States”
Research advisor: Karen Brison, associate professor of anthropology
Shah traveled to India (with Sarah Heitner, see above) to establish contacts with academics, physicians, clinicians, NGOs and “common people” through family connections and help from Manju Nachani, a former visiting professor at Union.
Michael Zaplin '06
Research topic: “A Historical Analysis of Bendin, Poland, during the Inter-war and Second World War”
Research advisor: Stephen M. Berk, the Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies
On a trip to Poland, Zaplin visited the Jewish Holocaust Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, both in Warsaw; Auschwitz, the concentration camp where citizens of the Benden ghetto were sent in 1941; and his grandfather's native town, Bendin.
Read MoreRegional high school students exhibit at Union
Union College will host the 2006 High School Regional Juried Art Exhibition, highlighting works from students in Albany, Schenectady, and Rensselaer counties.
Students' artwork will be displayed at College Park Hall from March 19 through April 15. This exhibit is free and open to the public.
The exhibition will feature art that uses the full-spectrum of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, ceramics and textiles. Entries are selected from some of the most talented high school art students in the region.
“The High School Regional is a great opportunity for high school students to exhibit their work in a professional venue and to have it seen by a broad public. For aspiring artists it is a little taste of the future,” said Rachel Seligman, Director, Mandeville Gallery, and Curator, Union College Permanent Collection.
This marks the seventh year for the show, which is patterned after the High School Regional originated by the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, N.Y.
The 2006 jurors are: Sheldon Hurst, Dean of the Faculty, Adirondack Community College, Tara Fraccalosi, Instructor of Fine Arts, Hudson Valley Community College; and Renee Azenaro, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art, Sage College.
The purpose of the regional show is to fill a gap created from the cancellation of local access to the Annual Regional Scholastic Arts Competition and to give high school students the opportunity to experience participating in a juried exhibit, at a real local art gallery.
The show developed into an annual event that currently rotates among galleries at Union College, Sage College in Albany and the Emma Willard School in Troy. This is an important rotation because each community in the region is able to host the exhibit every three years, according to exhibit organizers. The galleries have exposure to new audiences, and the public has access to a respected resource near their local high school.
This year, an award will be dedicated to the memory of Lory Tansky, Visual Arts Teacher/Teacher Leader at The Sayles School of Fine Arts (at Schenectady High School), who died this fall. Tansky was a ceramicist, and the award will recognize excellence in the 3-D category. Tansky worked continuously and tirelessly since the Regional's conception nine years ago to provide high school students this collaborative and ambitious opportunity to show their work.
There will also be four to five additional Jurors' Choice Awards in the Regional. All award-winners receive a $25 gift certificate to Arlene's Artist Materials in Albany, N.Y.
The opening reception is Sunday, March 19, from 2 to 4 p.m. Guest speaker Sheldon Hurst will give a gallery talk at 3 p.m. followed by the Jurors' Awards Presentation.
College Park Hall is located at 450 Nott Street in Schenectady, N.Y., one block west of the main campus of Union College. Exhibit hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Monday through Sunday.
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