Posted on Jan 25, 2007

Suzie Benack, professor of Psychology and a faculty rep of Sorum House, said on a panel at the recent “Bridging the Gap” symposium [see story on p. 13] that one of Union's goals in establishing the Minerva Houses was to blur the lines between inside and outside the classroom, creating a space where students, faculty and staff can put aside their traditional roles and learn from each other in more informal ways.

This “informal intellectual community” offers students an experience that complements their work in the classroom or lab, where they actually spend relatively little time. Increasingly, many colleges like Union are looking for ways to work with the whole student, and to allow for Education (capital E intentional) to extend beyond the walls of the classroom or lab. Sounds good. But, what does it look like?

At Union, it's taking many forms. One of the newest and most innovative is the Marketplace of Ideas, a “virtual learning community,” which will bring informal education into cyberspace. The Marketplace is a Web site where members of the campus community register what they have to teach and what they want to learn, and then link with others to pursue shared interests ranging from stem cell research to the intersection of art and science to the history of baseball. Interest groups can form for discussions, cooking lessons, knitting circles or skiing trips. Imagine a group of professors and students discussing politics while cooking Yakitori or considering thesis topics while taking a chairlift ride up a southern Vermont mountain.

Another example: on Friday afternoons, the Sigma Phi Society invites a professor or staff member to its House for discussion that extends beyond the class, through a program cleverly called “Converging Tea-ologies.” After a 25-minute delivery focused on a topic, there is plenty of time for chat and getting to know students in a more informal way.

One of my own fondest memories of informal learning at Union is of a trip to the Narrows of Lake George with a group of 12 incoming first-year students. We took a two-mile paddle in large canoes and camped for two days on an empty island in nearly perfect weather. We cooked awful food, swam, talked about the Adirondacks and the environment, had canoe races, and just got to know one another better. A couple of students taught us a card game most of us didn't know. We laughed together with a southern California student who was in shock to learn there was no running water on the island. Most of us sat transfixed to learn about one student's life at a remote school in Montana. I became less of a dean and more of a fellow camper. We enjoyed each other as people for two pretty glorious days. Afterward, back at Union, we were bound by the trip. The shedding of our roles allowed for some good, trusting relationships to develop.

As Tim Spears, Dean of the College at Middlebury said at the symposium: “At Middlebury we think in terms of the student as a complete organism.” Well put. The same student I camped with at Lake George might later remember our connection and seek me out for advice with a problem or for a letter of recommendation. Or I might remember that student as a perfect fit for a committee we are forming to tackle a campus life problem.

By blurring the lines and creating campus cultures that promote the development of “the whole organism,” schools like Middlebury, Union, Franklin and Marshall and Holy Cross are making it that much easier for that organism to work its magic in that great, big ecosystem known as The World.

Posted on Jan 25, 2007

Much has happened since the last magazine including the inauguration of Stephen C. Ainlay and Homecoming and Family Weekend.

Homecoming and Family Weekend, despite being a bit cold, had a record turnout of parents. Hopefully, many of you came to campus to sample the offerings. Many parents had their opportunity to meet our new president at a special parents reception.

For me, another highlight-besides seeing my daughter and son, Vanessa and Sebastian, play in their rugby games-was the Parents Association Meeting. I was pleased that so many parents turned out to join me in my first meeting as chair. We heard from a terrific group of administrators on important topics including campus safety, first-year programs, career planning, the new General Education curriculum and residential life.

Finally, I am pleased to announce the new chair of the Parents Fund: Vivian Falco whose son, Peter, is in the Class of 2009. She looks forward to encouraging parents to show their support for Union through the Parents Fund. As always, the goal is participation. Parents may give to anything including unrestricted funds, academic departments, clubs, athletic teams, faculty support and student activities. She will be in touch with all families and thanks you in advance for your support of Union.

I hope you and your student had a great fall term. I look forward to meeting you in the months ahead. Until then, feel free to email me with any concerns at kmdumonet@hotmail.com or parents_association@union.edu. You may also contact Lis Bischoff-Ormsbee, Parents Program director, at parents_program@union.edu.

Take care,
Karen Dumonet (Vanessa ’07 and Sebastian ’09)
Parents Association Chairperson

Posted on Jan 25, 2007

Joining a growing list of top schools nationwide, Union College announced this fall that it will make the SAT and the ACT optional for high school seniors who apply for admission.

The decision, effective starting with the Class of 2011, comes after months of discussions between campus administrators, faculty and high school guidance counselors, who urged the College to maintain its high standards by emphasizing academic achievement.

“We have learned that the best predictor of academic success is a past record of academic achievement in a demanding, rigorous class roster,” noted Admissions Dean Dan Lundquist. “While always preferring more data rather than less, we are more concerned that many attractive, success-bound students might not be looking at Union.

“By deciding to make SATs optional we hope to continue to broaden our reach, and we will certainly not lower our standards,” he continued. “We want to send the message that admission will still be merit-based and driven by years of academic success, as reflected on the transcript. Union seeks students with excellent academic credentials. That credential is, primarily, the transcript.”

Lundquist said that as the College's recruitment outreach extended to a broader and more diverse audience, it became clear that requiring standardized test scores was sending the wrong message.

Union received a record 4,373 applications for this year's freshman class, with 1,841 accepted. Sixty-four percent of this year's freshman class of 560 students graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. The average SAT score for the class was 1240.

“Many of the most important lessons to be learned in college occur outside of the traditional academic settings,” Lundquist said. “We believe that in all learning environments, the richness of the educational experience is enhanced by breadth, depth and diversity; we seek a talented student body with individuals who will have an educational impact on each other in and out of class. With that in mind, it is our hope that this move encourages more high-achieving students to apply to Union.”

The College will continue to accept standardized test scores from students who believe they strengthen their academic record. The new policy does not affect students who apply for admittance into the College's Leadership in Medicine program.

Union, which has ranked consistently in the top half of U.S. News and World Report's 100 best liberal arts colleges, is the 27th school on that magazine's list to become SAT-optional. Other schools include Middlebury, Hamilton and the College of the Holy Cross.

“Union College's decision to drop its testing requirements for all applicants confirms that highly selective admissions decisions can be made without the distortions from coachable, biased and poorly predictive SAT or ACT scores,” said Bob Schaeffer, public education director, National Center for Fair & Open Testing.

Union has long been a leader in the debate over the value of standardized test scores for prospective students. In 1987, the College was one of the first in the country to no longer require the SAT for admission. Instead, students could submit scores from the College Board's achievement tests or the score on the American College Testing exam.

Posted on Jan 25, 2007

Several dozen members of the Union College community met at the 11th Annual Armand and Donald Feigenbaum Forum this fall to discuss “The Global Imperative: Approaches to Internationalizing the Union Experience.”

“This forum could not have come at a better time, given we are in the middle of a strategic planning process,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay, speaking to those gathered at Feigenbaum Hall. “We want to emphasize how important it is in a liberal arts institution today to take seriously the global concept.”

Each year, the Feigenbaum Forum stimulates dialogue about integrating corporate management principles with higher education administration. Brothers Armand V. '42 and Donald S. '46 Feigenbaum are the founders of the General Systems Company, a Pittsfield, Mass., international systems engineering firm that designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations.

Donald, a world leader in systems management and systems engineering and founding chairman of the systems engineering committee of the American Society for Quality Control, acknowledged the importance of flexibility and change as part of the global perspective.

“One problem a lot of Americans have is thinking that what's good for us is good for everyone else. Nobody in the world is like us,” he said. “The important thing is to recognize this and get as much information and interaction with other cultures as possible. It is an ever-changing world out there.”

Economics Chair Eshragh Motahar spoke on Union's success in bringing different cultures to the College through faculty and student exchange programs. For the future, “I'd like to focus on post-term abroad, or reentry programs,” he said, citing the importance of harnessing students' enthusiasm for their travels after they return.

Other speakers at the event included Dean of Students Stephen C. Leavitt, who highlighted Union's successful term abroad program in Fiji; Campus Minister Viki J. Brooks-McDonald, who spoke on “The Value of Intercultural Understanding;” Nancy Borowick '07, who talked about teaching in Barbados during a term abroad; and Alessandro Carini '07, a Union exchange student from Colombia who shared his campus experiences.

Armand Feigenbaum gave closing remarks. He is the originator of Total Quality Control, the basic text on quality systems and improvement, first published in 1951 and reissued in a 50th anniversary edition. Most recently, the Feigenbaums co-authored The Power of Management Capital (McGraw-Hill, 2003).

“The Feigenbaums have made an enormous contribution to the world of ideas,” Ainlay said. “It is an honor to Union that we can count them among our own.”

Posted on Jan 25, 2007

Three years after the debut of the Minerva Houses, and on the eve of a new presidency, the College took a moment to recap the initiative and to hear perspectives from other institutions that have embarked on similar paths.

The symposium “Bridging the Academic-Social Gap,” in the Nott Memorial, kicked off inauguration weekend.

Panelists included Tim Spears, dean and professor of American Studies, Middlebury College; Victoria Swigert, professor of Sociology and assistant dean, College of the Holy Cross; Kent Trachte, dean of Franklin and Marshall College; and Suzanne Benack, professor of Psychology and Minerva faculty representative from Sorum House at Union College. The moderator was Byron Nichols, professor of Political Science at Union.

Richard Light, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and director of the Harvard Seminar on Assessment at Harvard University, gave the keynote address. Light's book, Making the Most of College, won the Stone Award for best book on education and society.

Light told the audience about a conversation he had years ago with longtime Harvard University President Derek Bok, who asked him to examine the quality of student life on campus. The mission, Light said, was to figure out “how do we strengthen the quality of life on campus for our undergraduates who spend fewer than 20 hours a week in class?”

In interviewing more than 2,000 students over a period of years, Light found the overarching theme was “they longed for, wished for, hoped for the opportunity to make a connection between their personal lives and the topics discussed in the classroom.”

Each panelists talked about what their schools have done to improve that connection. Swigert said there is an “inseparable barrier between living and learning,” and that students “come to our campus with one foot in adolescence and one foot in adulthood.''

Faculty, she said, “have a special responsibility to offer a hand across the divide. We need to anchor students more firmly in the academic world. We need to bridge the disconnect between their intellectual and social worlds.”

Benack told the audience that while everything hasn't been smooth with the Minervas, the system is thriving and attracts leaders from other schools interested in making changes on their campus. The Minervas, Benack said, offer opportunities to “let go of our roles as students, faculty and administrators and to know each other on equal footing.” Achieving this sense of intimacy, she said, can be “invigorating and offer a lot of fun and a lot of joy.”