Posted on May 16, 2007

Rebecca Torstrick, an anthropologist from Indiana University, South Bend, will present “Speaking Across the Divide: Narrating Life in the Mixed City of Acre, Israel,” Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. Her talk is the culmination of a three-part series on "Beyond Defensiveness: What is Going on in Palestine and Israel."

Torstrick, the choice of a select group of students to “put a face” on the conflict in Israel and Palestine, has done work for many years in Acre, an Arab Israeli city in Northern Israel. She studied relationships between Palestinians and Jews there from 1987 to 1989, at the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising, and again in 1990 and 1998. Her book on the tensions and relationships, The Limits of Coexistence: Identity Politics in Israel (University of Michigan Press, 2000), offers her insights into this microcosm of the Middle East.

Acre’s citizens include veteran Jewish settlers and newer Jewish immigrants from both western and Arab backgrounds; indigenous Palestinian residents and newer internal Palestinian refugees; large Jewish and Palestinian working-class populations; and a smaller Jewish and Palestinian elite – groups that hold competing interests and visions of what it means to be a resident of Acre and how Acre fits into a broader Israeli national identity.

During the 2003-04 academic year, Torstick traveled to Israel as a Fulbright Scholar to lecture and do research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva.  

Tuesday’s event is free and open to the public.

Posted on May 16, 2007

Thursday, May 17, 7 p.m. / Green House / Philosophical Café presents Willajeanne McLean, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, speaking on “Reasoning in the Law: The Case of Barbie," an unusual trademark violation

Thursday, May 17, 8 p.m. / Beuth House / Israeli television documentary: Tkuma: The First 50 Years, on the historical development of Israel

Friday, May 18, noon / Old Chapel / Café Ozone

Friday, May 18, 5 p.m. / Mandeville Gallery and various downtown Schenectady establishments / Art Night Schenectady, monthly celebration of the arts and arts venues; shuttle provided by the Union Trolley

Friday, May 18, 5:30 p.m. / Kosher Kitchen / Hillel services followed by Shabbat dinner

Friday, May 18, 7 p.m. – Saturday, May 19, 7 a.m. / Nott Memorial area / Relay for Life fundraiser for American Cancer Society

Friday, May 18 – Monday, May 21, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Movie: Music and Lyrics

Monday, May 21, 5:30 p.m. / Kosher Kitchen / Hillel meeting

Tuesday, May 22, 5 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: The Final Solution

Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 p.m. / F. W. Olin Center / Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative presents: Walt Pavlo, former MCI business executive

Tuesday, May 22, 7 p.m. / Davidson North Lounge / “Muslims and America,” part of Union RAs’ “30 Days of Tolerance”

Wednesday, May 23, 6 p.m. / Arts 215 / Feminist Film Series presents Ten (2002), directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Thursday, May 24, 12:45 p.m. / Humanities 019 / Lisa Warenski, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Assistant Professor of Philosophy, will speak on “Genuine Possibility or Just Epistemic Possibility”

Thursday, May 24, 12:45 p.m. / Science & Engineering N304 / The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosts science writer Jennifer Ouellette 

Thursday, May 24, 4:30 p.m. / Schaffer Library, Phi Beta Kappa Room / Philosophy Speaker Series presents “Ticking Bombs and Interrogations”

Thursday, May 24, 4:30 p.m. / Visual Arts Building 215 / Slide lecture and talk by Michael Arcega, Filipino-American sculptor and installation artist

Thursday, May 24, 7 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative presents Bruce B. Svare on “What Everyone Should Know about the Anabolic Steroid Abuse Crisis”

Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p.m. / F.W. Olin Auditorium / Science writer Jennifer Ouellette speaks on "Rules of the Game: Finding the Physics in the Buffyverse,” followed by a reception in the Olin Rotunda

Friday, May 25, noon / Old Chapel / Café Ozone

Friday, May 25, 5:30 p.m. / Kosher Kitchen / Weekly Hillel Services followed by Shabbat dinner

Posted on May 16, 2007

The Mandeville Gallery at the Nott Memorial will be one of the stops during Art Night Schenectady, a monthly celebration that premieres Friday, May 18, 5-9 p.m.

“Our aim is to introduce a wider audience to the unique vitality of arts, restaurants and businesses Schenectady has to offer,” says Mitch Messmore, director of the Capital Region Initiative Supporting the Arts (CRISTA), which organized the event. “Arts Night promotes interest in the arts by making it accessible, which helps to strengthen the arts and business communities in Schenectady.”

On the third Friday of each month, downtown shops, cafes, restaurants, galleries and vacant spaces will be open to showcase the work of local artists in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, fiber art and printmaking. There will also be musicians, dancers and performance artists.

More than 12 simultaneous art shows are planned for the event’s debut, with live music at various venues. Downtown merchants and restaurants will offer one-night-only discounts and specials.

The Union College Trolley will ferry visitors from venue to venue.

Among the arts on view are two group shows, including “1 x Fourteen,” the senior exhibition at the Mandeville, and a show by the Oakroom Artists, a membership-by-invitation association that celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year.

Other arts, demonstrations, performance and music are planned at the Suits-Bueche Planetarium, Proctor’s, Jay Street Studio, 440 Arts Center, the Parker Inn, Cottage Sweet Cottage, The Katbird Shop, the Open Door Bookstore, the Moon & River Café and the Stockade Inn.

Maps and information are available at www.artnightschenectady.com.

Posted on May 16, 2007

Union College will honor four alumni and one faculty member at the Alumni Convocation on Saturday, June 2, during ReUnion Weekend.

The Alumni Council will present the Alumni Gold Medal to Lee Davenport, Class of 1937, former chief scientist and vice president for GTE Corp.; Joseph Hinchey ’47, an executive with General Dynamics and Texas Instruments; and John Temple ’67, an executive with Deloitte and Touche consulting firm. All three are former Trustees of the College.

New York City Attorney Mark Zauderer ’67 will receive the Eliphalet Nott Medal, which recognizes the perseverance of alumni who have attained distinction in their field. A prominent litigator, Zauderer has been an advocate for cameras in the courtrooms and also chaired a panel that led a reform of the state’s jury system.

Hilary Tann, the John Howard Payne Professor of Music, is to receive the Faculty Meritorious Service Award. A native of Wales, Tann has been recognized internationally as a composer.

More than 1,500 alumni are expected for ReUnion 2007, which runs May 31-June 3. The weekend also includes an alumni parade; a lecture and conversation with mystery crime writer Kerrie Ticknor Droban ’87; performances of Aristophanes’ The Birds in the Yulman Theatre; and fireworks on Saturday night at the center of campus.

Visit http://www.union.edu/ReUnion  for more information.

Posted on May 16, 2007

Political science major Karyn Amira ’07 was on a Vietnam term abroad her junior year when she and several friends visited the legendary Angkor Temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The driver they hired for the day added an unexpected stop: a landmine ‘museum.’

“It was more or less a shack nestled in the outskirts of the city. That’s where I learned about the horrific nature of landmines that continue to litter the Cambodian countryside,” Amira said.

After discovering that the United States was the only NATO country that has not signed the Treaty to Ban Landmines, “I was shocked and a bit embarrassed,” Amira said.

She also was inspired.

Back on campus, she started a campaign aimed at college students to encourage the U.S. government to sign the international treaty. The campaign, which became her senior project, garnered the attention of a philanthropist who is giving 100 awards of $10,000 each – $1 million in all – to students from 66 American colleges and universities who are motivated to build world peace in the 21st century.

Amira and the other winners of the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace awards will complete their projects this summer. Davis, who recently turned 100, created the program to mark her milestone birthday.

Amira’s proposal is titled “Students for a Mine-Free World.”

Speaking of her experience in Cambodia, she wrote, “I learned that land mines kill innocent civilians every 22 minutes… Unlike armies, they do not abide by peace treaties since they are left in the ground, waiting for local men, women and children to step on them.”

Last year, Amira organized two demonstrations at Union about the dangers of landmines. She is now focused on getting college students from other schools to view her Web site, www.minefreeworld.com, which includes everything from sample advocacy letters to links to politicians’ Web sites.

The funds from her recent award will bolster her outreach efforts. “It is time to show that a new generation has taken notice of this international landmine crisis,” Amira said.

Fore more information about 100 Projects for Peace, visit www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org.