Posted on Feb 22, 2007

Union College juniors Kaitlin A. Canty and Stephen D. Po-Chedley are finalists for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which honors students who embody the leadership traits of the 33rd president.

Canty and Po-Chedley are competing with 199 other students from 130 colleges from the United States and its terroritories. A panel made up of leaders from the government, non-profit and other public service fields will interview the finalists and up to 75 winners will be announced March 27. An awards ceremony is scheduled for May 20 in Liberty, Mo.

Canty, who is from Cheshire, Conn., is active in community service and organizations that support women's issues.

“Injustices are a pervasive feature of our society,” Canty explained. “The Truman Scholarship will help me pursue my desire to work in the public service area addressing women's rights and concerns and assist with funding my pursuits of a law degree.”

Canty is a leader of the campus group “Safe Space,” a support group for survivors of rape and sexual assault. She is also a member campus committees on Sexual Assault and Harassment and Bias Crimes. Canty coordinated a student pledge drive for Planned Parenthood and helped bring to campus, “The Vagina Monologues,”  which she produced. She is pursuing a double major in political science and women's and gender studies.

Po-Chedley, who is from Buffalo, has focused on campus environmental issues, including running URecycle, the student recycling program. He also worked with student David Shulman and campus groups to create an environmental awareness campaign, “Do it in the Dark,” that challenges students to reduce electricity, water and natural consumption while decreasing trash flow. 

He was a key participant in the College's recently-announced Strategic Plan and worked with Campus Action to bring many progressive and environmental speakers to campus. In 2006, he won the Udall Scholarship, worth $5,000, for his environmental leadership.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation has been awarding scholarships since 1978. The Foundation provides financial support for graduate study, leadership training and fellowship opportunities.

For more information, visit http://www.truman.gov.

Posted on Feb 22, 2007

U-Sustain co-chairs Stephen Po-Chedley '08 and Dave Shulman '08 are turning out the lights and dropping the temperature on their thermostats as part of this winter's “Do it in the Dark” environmental competition.

The term-long event is intended to raise campus awareness about sustainability and is co-sponsored by Ozone House, Environmental Club, U Recycle, Facilities and Residential Life.

All residential spaces on campus compete. The apartment, fraternity, Minerva, residence hall, sorority or theme house that reduces its electricity, gas, water and resource consumption the most, according to records kept by Facilities, will receive the Ozone Cup along with to-be-determined prizes.

In the meantime, here are some tips from U-Sustain leaders that will help keep your energy bill low and could reduce the College's ecological footprint:

– Turn out the lights, even if you're leaving a room for a few minutes.

– Take shorter showers or brush your teeth with the water off.

– Unplug your laptop, iPod and cell phone when not using or charging it, and turn off your PC at night.

– Recycle.

For more tips, visit http://www.vu.union.edu/recycle/sustain.

Posted on Feb 22, 2007

Michelle Chilcoat, associate professor of French and Francophone Studies and Women's and Gender Studies, has been invited to teach a graduate course in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University at Albany this semester. The course, “Legacies of French Colonialism,” focuses on how authors situated throughout France's former colonial empire confront questions of inheritance, genealogy and influence, while simultaneously resisting and reconfiguring the notion of what it means to be French.

Lewis Davis, assistant professor of Economics, has had two papers published this year.  “Explaining the Evidence on Inequality and Growth: Informality and Redistribution” was published in the Berkeley Electronic Journal, Contributions to Macroeconomics, http://www.bepress.com/bejm/contributions/. “Market Transaction Costs in Industrialization and Demographic Transition” was published in the Pacific Economic Review by invitation as part of a special issue on the economics of endogenous specialization. 

Robert Baker, professor of Philosophy and chair of the Alden March Bioethics Institute, and professor of Bioethics at  Union Graduate College, will discuss “Brave New World: The Bioethical Issues Raised in ‘My Sister's Keeper,' on Monday, March 5, at noon in the McChesney Room, Schenectady County Public Library, corner of Clinton and Liberty Streets. The program will be preceded by a brief review of award-winning author, Jodi Picoult's “My Sister's Keeper” by Sue Lehrman, president and dean of the faculty of Union Graduate College. The free program is offered as part of a March Science Series in cooperation with Schenectady County's “One County One Book.” 

Posted on Feb 22, 2007

The Committee on Teaching is sponsoring a panel presentation and moderated discussion on evaluations of courses. “The Numbers Game: (De)Constructing Course Evaluations,” will be held Tuesday, Feb. 27, 12:50-1:50 p.m. in Old Chapel.

Panelists John Cramsie, associate professor of History, and David Cotter, associate professor of Sociology, will be joined by Michelle Théroux, assistant professor of Educational Administration & Policy Studies at the University at Albany.

The new COT Web site is http://cot.union.edu.

Posted on Feb 22, 2007

The third and final lecture in the “Abrupt Climate Change” series will feature Ohio State University's Lonnie G. Thompson Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. He will address the topic, “Abrupt Climate Change: Past, Present and Future.” The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program.

Thompson is a Distinguished University Professor in Geological Sciences and research scientist in the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University. The recipient of the 2005 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, he has received more than 50 grants and published nearly 200 scientific articles.

Thompson maintains an active field research program, in which he drills ice cores from Earth's most daunting peaks. He was the first to show that it was possible to get deep cores from high mountain peaks; then he extracted paleoclimate records showing how temperatures on our planet have changed during recent geologic times.

Three years ago, Thompson demonstrated that the famous snows on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa, have been there for more than 11,000 years, but may be gone in 2015. His research lab is trying to collect ice cores from endangered tropical glaciers, such as Mt. Kilimanjaro, before warming destroys them.