Posted on Jul 28, 2006

I have played many parts in almost 43 years at Union-25-year-old untenured and overwhelmed instructor, department chair, dean of the faculty, retired Chauncey Winters research chair teaching one course a year-all of which have allowed me to indulge part-time my obsession with the College and its well-being.

From day one in the President's seat, admissions forced itself onto my agenda. It became clear that we needed to focus on three goals-control financial aid costs, increase the pool of applicants and increase diversity. We have succeeded in controlling the rate of increase in financial aid. We have also taken important steps to increase diversity. As a new partner with the POSSE Foundation, starting this fall we will welcome 10 inner-city students into each class. Finally, we are putting more resources into admissions and will cast our net into areas with fast-growing numbers of high school graduates.

Budget questions also forced their way onto my agenda. Facing the same challenges as other colleges with similar-sized endowments, we have taken the first step in lowering our rate of tuition increases and our draw from our endowment. Despite this, I can report that with the hard work of our staff and members of the Planning and Priorities Committee, we were able to meet this year's substantial challenge of a $1.6 million spike in energy costs as well as cope with continuing high energy costs by committing more resources to conserving use.

It quickly became apparent to me that we needed to do more to build both satisfaction with, and pride in, Union among both students and alumni. As a representative of one of the most prestigious scholarship foundations in the nation said to me, “You at Union don't fully realize how good you are.” That sentiment is one reason I appointed two committees that have made a series of recommendations that could increase both satisfaction with, and pride in, the College. As my contribution to increasing pride in the College, I am working on developing a lecture series that will help all of us, especially students, better appreciate that history.

As President I have come to know far more about student life than I did as a faculty member. It is clear to me that we need to continue to enrich both intellectual and social life. The Minerva system is a good first step, but that system alone cannot carry the entire burden. As accomplished as our student body is, we still face some of the problems faced by all colleges in America, including the problem of excessive levels of alcohol consumption on the part of some students along with associated harmful acts. As a response, we are creating a President's Commission on Building a Better Community. Made up of representatives of all College constituencies, the commission has been charged with making recommendations that will enable Union to become what I have called “an oasis of civility in an uncivil world.” Stephen Ainlay is enthusiastic in his support of the Commission and I have the greatest confidence that the campaign that Steve Ciesinski, Steve Leavitt, student leaders and I have begun for a higher level of civility will be brought to fruition under our new president's leadership.

Finally, the Board of Trustees, Faculty Executive Committee, our new President, Stephen Ainlay, the President's staff and I all recognize the importance of developing a strategic plan. By next February, we will have a strategic plan that will identify ways to respond to challenges and opportunities, provide criteria for making budgetary and programmatic decisions, provide a clear direction for the future, and help energize and mobilize all members of the community in the task of moving Union forward.

About two months ago, a faculty colleague asked me whether Union could once again reach the heights in reputation that it reached in the first half of Nott's tenure and in the Richmond/Steinmetz era in the early 20th century. I answered that I would not have been sure of my answer, had he asked me before I stepped into the President's role, but that after about eight months in the job I had no doubts that Union would indeed reach the very loftiest heights in reputation and be seen as the best of the best. The fact is that being President has enabled me to see that our problems and challenges, while real, are indeed manageable. And being President has made very clear to me that we now have the resources in leadership, programs and people to take advantage of the opportunities we at Union have at this critical moment in the history of higher education. I am confident that the alumni body and other supporters will provide the generous support necessary for the College to move forward.

Posted on Jul 25, 2006

Union's Geology Department has been accepted to the Keck Geology Consortium, an elite multi-college collaboration which focuses on innovative undergraduate research.

The College was selected over a number of competitive applications from peer institutions.

Since it was created 20 years ago, the Consortium has sponsored 116 projects involving 970 undergraduate students from 90 schools across the country. In addition, over 115 faculty representing 50 colleges, universities, governmental agencies and businesses have participated in programs through the Consortium.

''This is a well-deserved honor for the College and for the Department,'' said Therese McCarty, interim dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs. ''This acceptance is largely in recognition of the Department's successful integration of research and teaching.''

Since 2004, the Consortium has been based at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.

Other schools in the Consortium include Amherst, Beloit, Carleton, Colgate, Colorado College, Franklin and Marshall, Macalester, Mt. Holyoke, Oberlin, Pomona, Smith, Trinity University, Washington and Lee, Wesleyan, Whitman and Williams. 

Posted on Jul 24, 2006

Stephen Ainlay says managing the finances of a nonprofit school like Union College is not unlike the successful businesses built by members of the Mennonite religious sect he is an authority on.

While private colleges do not frown on material success like the Mennonites, colleges have a deep social responsibility and an obligation to give back to the communities they call home, Ainlay said. One of the ways Union can do that is by helping to recruit new companies and economic activity to Schenectady, he said.

“Union is a cultural gem for the city of Schenectady and we do have an obligation to provide ways of making it known to potential businesses that we're here, we're going to work with them, we are going to create opportunities for their employees and that this is a good place to be, in part, because Union is located here,” Ainlay said.

Ainlay became Union's 18th president July 1. His formal inauguration will be Sept. 16.

Ainlay said he will continue the policies of former President Roger Hull (1990-2005) of building close ties between Union and the city of Schenectady. He said he would like to infuse the Union campus with more of a spirit of entrepreneurship and would be pleased to see more students create businesses and jobs in Schenectady after they get their diplomas.

Ainlay does not believe Union's obligation to give back to Schenectady extends to the payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, that Mayor Brian Stratton and some vocal property taxpayers have sought from the college.

Except for a few exceptions, Union does not pay property taxes for its 100-acre campus. It would face an estimated $6 million a year in payments if all of its property was taxed.

“PILOTs, I can see why people look at that as a way of trying to solve the community economic problems, but I don't think, in my mind, they are the most effective way,” he said. “At the end of the day, there are a lot more things that a college or a university can bring.”

Union is already a significant employer which generates more than $200 million a year for the local economy, he said.

“That's not just the direct money that comes from employees who have residences and pay taxes and so forth,” he said. “But it's also through all the indirect revenues that are brought into the city with people in hotels and restaurants, with parents visiting, the various conferences and so forth. Union is already a major economic player by way of the revenue that goes into Schenectady and into New York.”

Money matters
Ainlay, 54, is a Lutheran who attended the Mennonite Goshen College in Indiana as an undergraduate. He was a professor of anthropology and sociology and a vice president for academic affairs at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., when he was selected as Union's president.

He said he wants to maintain a high profile on the Schenectady campus, even though he also expects to spend considerable time raising money. The college is currently in the middle of a $200 million donation campaign.

“You can't simply be on the road raising money all the time,” he said.

He said he will probably have to set aside his own scholarly pursuits–he is working on a book on Mennonite seminary education–while he settles into his new job at Union.

An earlier Ainlay book did profile the successful Mennonite businessmen, despite the sect's emphasis on living a simple lifestyle unadorned by most of the conviences of modern life.

The founders of the Smucker's food company and the Sauder furniture company were Mennonites.

Milton S. Hershey, founder of the Hershey chocolate empire, was descended from Mennonites.

“I was interested in what it was like to be a businessperson in a community that disapproves of worldly success of that sort,” he said. “Not to keep you from reading the book, but the answer is what they do is they give a lot of money back to the church and to society at large. The church is able to tolerate worldly success as long as it's being used for the service of others.”

Posted on Jul 21, 2006

Union awarded annual Engineering Alumni Awards this spring to nine distinguished alumni. Faculty from the engineering and computer science departments choose alumni who are seen as dynamic leaders, display success in their field and show a commitment to their profession and community.

The 2006 award recipients are: Dean's Award: Robert G. Huntington '56 of Cooperstown, N.Y.; Gold Award: Thomas Goemaat '76 of Wellesley, Mass. – Civil Engineering; Charles Persico '85 of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – Electrical Engineering;   James Libous '81 of Endwell, N.Y. – Electrical Engineering; John Ciovacco '87 of Schenectady, N.Y. – Mechanical Engineering; Silver Award: Matthew Parlakian '97 of Towson, Md. – Civil Engineering; Thomas Proctor '98 of Ledyard, Conn. – Electrical Engineering; Kurt Kimball ‘02 of Albany, N.Y. – Mechanical Engineering; Computer Science Award: Kathleen Perras '75 of New Hampshire.

The Dean's Award, first given in 2002, goes to an outstanding engineering graduate who has advanced the college by providing recognition to Union in a national context.

These recipients are outstanding examples of Union alumni with eminent careers that provide resources through personal or corporate support and provide service to academic or administrative needs of the college. 

Two awards are given in each program every year, the Gold Award to an alumnus who graduated more than 10 years ago, and a Silver Award to an alumnus who graduated less than 10 years ago.

For more information visit: http://engineering.union.edu/

Posted on Jul 21, 2006

After three weeks of fierce heat and competition, Rachel Bennett '08 outlasted nine other local college students to win $10,000 in the “Last Student Standing Competition” sponsored by radio station WFLY (Fly 92).

“The last 36 hours were definitely the toughest. The hosts had us stand, blindfolded, and we couldn't talk,” Bennett said. “I really haven't had a chance to sleep in the last five days.”

“Rachel really deserved to win,” said fellow contestant Dan “The Man,” who bowed out of the competition just before 6 p.m. Thursday, leaving Bennett alone on the bus parked outside Crossgates Mall in Guilderland.

The 20-year-old Bennett, who lives in Schenectady, followed last summer's contest and applied to be a contestant this year. When she learned she had been selected, she was both determined to win the grand prize and excited to have a chance to be on a regional reality show.

“I always wanted to be on the ‘Real World,'” Bennett said before she boarded the bus July 21. “This is probably as close as I'll ever get.”

Contestants were stuck on the bus without air-conditioning for 24 hours a day, eating the same foods at every meal. If they lost challenges, the game's hosts could blindfold contestants, handcuff them together or take away basic privileges like talking. Winning a challenge meant better food or a pass to take a shower.

A psychology major and member of Union's cross country and track teams, Bennett got by with just a few basic items, including a blanket, a pillow, a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Bennett served as a tour guide in the Admissions office at Union earlier this summer, but had to leave her job to compete in the contest. She will use her winnings to help pay for her fall term, which she will spend abroad in Japan.

“It was nice that I got off the bus a winner in time to go to Japan as I'll be leaving Aug. 27,” said Bennett. “I was cutting it close.”