Posted on Mar 2, 2006

Thursday, March 2, 7-9p.m. / Arts Building 215 / Israeli poet Rachel Tzvia Back on “Placing the Voice: The Personal and the Political, Israel 2006”

Thursday, March 2, 8 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Musicians from Marlboro

Friday, March 3, 12 p.m. / Beuth House / Economics discussions with Ellen Foster

Friday, March 3 – Monday, March 6, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Movie: “Rent”

Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, 8 p.m. / Yulman Theatre / Winter Dance Concert

Saturday, March 4, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Barry Scott's tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

Saturday, March 4, 7 p.m. / Observatory / Open house: View the night sky

Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Union College and Community Orchestra, Victor Klimash, director of performance studies, conductor

Monday, March 6, 1 p.m. / Becker Career Center 201 / Information session: Funded summer internships

Monday, March 6, 5 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Student recital

Tuesday, March 7, 5 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / The Harry Guttman Memporial Lecture in Classics: Raymond J. Starr of Wellesley College on “What Did Ancient Readers Learn from Studying Vergil's Aeneid?“

Wednesday, March 8, 3 p.m. / Becker Career Center 201 / Information session: Funded summer internships

Wednesday, March 8, 8 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Union College Jazz Ensemble, Tim Olsen, associate professor, director

Thursday, March 9, 12 p.m. / Becker Career Center / Information session: Funded summer internships

Thursday, March 9, 12:30 p.m. / F.W. Olin 106 / Chemistry seminar: ACS practice poster session

Thursday, March9, 12:30 p.m. / NWS&E 304 / Physics and astronomy: Senior thesis talks

Thursday, March 9, 12:40 p.m. / NWS&E 102 / Electrical & computer engineering seminar: Peter Hayden of Equallogic

Thursday, March 9, 2-5 p.m. / F.W. Olin Center / Information table: Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering – Master of Engineering Management

Thursday, March 9, 4:30 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Vocal chamber workshop, Dianne McMullen, associate professor, conductor

Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Environmental studies and ECOS seminar series: Mark Jaccard on “Fossil Fuels: Friend or Foe?”

Posted on Mar 2, 2006

The Union community is once again invited to join the Sorum House Book Club.

This spring's selection comes from Annie Proulx's acclaimed short story collection, “Close Range.” The group will read two stories, “Brokeback Mountain,” upon which the current movie is based, and “The Half-Skinned Steer.”

“We'll schedule two to three times that people can meet to talk about the stories in the second week of spring term,” said Suzanne Benack, Minerva Council faculty representative.

Proulx is universally acclaimed by critics for her concise prose and her talent for capturing the essence of a character's life with only a sentence. John Updike included “The Half-Skinned Steer” in the Best American Short Stories of the Century (Mariner Books, 2000), which he co-edited.

Last term, more than 70 students and staff who joined Sorum House Book Club were captivated by Phillip Roth's “The Plot Against America.” While books were distributed for free, this term participants are asked to contribute $2 to offset costs.

The club is open to family and friends.

“A few people have asked about their spouses participating. I wanted to clarify that spouses and family members are welcome not only at the book club,” Benack said, “but at all Minerva events. This is actually a policy of the Minerva.” 

Interested readers should contact Benack at benacks@union.edu by Friday to sign up.

Posted on Mar 2, 2006

Rachel Tzvia Back will read from her work at 7 p.m. today, March 2, in Arts Building Room 215 in a presentation titled, “Placing the Voice: The Personal and the Political, Israel 2006.”

The Buffalo-born poet, who lives in the Galilee, is the author of several collections. Her latest collection, Buffalo Poems, published by Duration Press in 2003, follows the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine over the past years and how it has defined the lives of the people there.

According to one review, “the personal and political merge in her lyrical poetry, as her framing remarks contextualize the complexities and demands of place, the role of the poet in Israeli society and the unrelenting bond to the land.”

Back's collection, Azimuth, was published in English in 2001 by Sheep Meadow Press and in Hebrew in 2000 by Kibbutz HaMeuchad Press. Last spring, Back's translations of pre-eminent Hebrew poet Lea Goldberg – published in Lea Goldberg: Selected Poetry and Drama (Toby Press) – were awarded a PEN translation grant.

In addition, Back's poetry and translations have appeared in numerous journals in America and abroad and in several anthologies, including The Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity to the Present and Dreaming the Actual: Contemporary Fiction and poetry by Israeli Women Writers. 

In 2002, Back took part in a reading series that brought Israeli poets to America to present their works. Titled “Poetry of a Punished Land,” the series was presented at  Wesleyan, Princeton and Harvard universities. Back also has served as a guest writer at numerous American universities.

Posted on Mar 2, 2006

Reappointment review committees have been formed for seven assistant professors: Kelly Black, mathematics; Aaron Cass, computer science; Palmyra Catravas, electrical and computer engineering; Zhilan Feng, Graduate College of Union University; Jennifer Matsue, music; Andrew Morris, history; and Andrew Rapoff, mechanical engineering.

Members of the campus community are invited to offer written or oral testimony to committee members. Committees (with chairs listed first), are:

Black: William Zwicker, mathematics (ext. 6160, zwickerw@union.edu); Brenda Johnson, mathematics; Alan Taylor, mathematics.

Cass: Valerie Barr, computer science (ext. 8361, barrv@union.edu); David Hemmendinger, computer science; Thomas Jewell, Division of Engineering and Computer Science.

Catravas: John Spinelli, electrical and computer engineering (ext. 6307, spinellj@union.edu); Yu Chang, electrical and computer engineering; Michael Rudko, electrical and computer engineering.

Feng: Presha Neidermeyer, GCUU (ext. 6598, neidermp@union.edu); Alan Bowman, GCUU; Martin Strosberg, GCUU.

Matsue:  Timothy Olsen, music (ext. 6563, olsent@union.edu); Sharon Gmelch, anthropology; Dianne McMullen, music.

Morris:  Steven Sargent, history (ext. 6360, sargents@union.edu); Andrew Feffer, history; Robert Wells, history.

Rapoff:  Richard Wilk, mechanical engineering (ext. 6268, wilkr@union.edu); Ann Anderson, mechanical engineering; William Keat, mechanical engineering.

Posted on Mar 2, 2006

Musical note:If you're going to be in New York City this weekend, consider checking out Music Professor Hilary Tann's “From the Song of Amergin.” The trio for flute, viola and harp will be presented at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95^th St., Saturday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. Performed by the Azure Ensemble, the piece is part of a concert titled, “A New Day: Music by Women Composers.”

Dance reminder: Step over to the Yulman Theatre for the Winter Dance Concert Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. A range of ballet, modern, jazz and tap pieces is featured. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $7 for Union faculty, staff and students. Call the Box Office at ext. 6545.