After 16 years of service to Union College, Dan Lundquist is stepping down as Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid. In his travels around the country, Dan has shared the virtues of a Union education with many people. He also has touched the lives of many students, families and other members of the Union community.
Ann Fleming Brown will serve as Interim Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid. Ann joined the Admissions Staff in 1986 as Associate Dean and in 2004 she became Senior Associate Dean of Admissions. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College in 1979 and an M.A. from Middlebury College in 1981. In 1995 Ann was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the New York State Association of College Admissions Counseling. A national search will begin shortly.
Untitled, Sacramento, CA 2-15-06, digital photograph by artist Nori Lupfer '03 will be on display July 19 through Oct. 14, 2007 as part of Review: Five Union Alumni at the Mandeville Gallery.
Union’s Mandeville Gallery is hosting its first general alumni art exhibit, “ReView: Five Union Alumni" through Oct. 14.
An artists' reception is scheduled for Oct. 4.
MM Captured, 2006, mixed media on paper by artist Alfred J. Nadel '56 will be on display July 19 through Oct. 14, 2007 as part of Review: Five Union Alumni at the Mandeville Gallery.
“ReView” represents alumni artists spanning more than 50 years and includes both men and women working in a variety of media. The only prior Gallery exhibit to feature Union alumni was a 2000 exhibition by women alumni artists in honor of the 30th anniversary of co-education at the College.
Rachel Seligman, director and curator of the Mandeville Gallery and curator of the Union College Permanent Collection, envisioned the exhibit after hearing numerous accounts of great alumni artists.
Green Pool, Lower Lake, 2006 oil on panel (private collection) by artist Linda Fisher '87 will be on display July 19 through Oct. 14, 2007 as part of Review: Five Union Alumni at the Mandeville Gallery.
“I wanted to make an exhibit where the art would all work nicely together; to inform and benefit from the juxtapositions,” said Seligman. “There are so many great alumni artists of the College and I wanted a chance to celebrate their work and bring them to the attention of our community.”
Artists to be featured include Alfred J. Nadel ’56 (drawings and mixed media), painters Stephen Pentak ’73 and Linda Fisher ’87, Chester Urban ’93 (sculpture and drawings) and Nori Lupfer ’03 (photographs and prints).
Pentak has co-authored two books: “Color Basics” and “Design Basics,” and Lupfer was awarded a Watson Fellowship in 2003 to study “Circuses and Stunts: Photography of Entertainment in Motion.” She will display photography taken over the last eighteen months during an expedition to update the Garmin GPS marine database.
For additional information, contact Seligman at (518) 388-6729 or visit the Mandeville Gallery.
Camp College '03 with Assemblymembers Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam) and Denny Farrell (D-Manhattan)
Dozens of ninth and 10th graders will visit Union this weekend for the annual “Camp College,’’ a three-day summer session designed to give first-generation college-bound students a taste of the collegiate experience.
During their stay, nearly 90 students from across New York State will live and eat in the College’s residence and dining halls, attend classes taught by Union professors and participate in workshops on topics such as admissions and financial aid. Students will also learn college interview and essay writing techniques.
There will also be several social activities, including a barbeque, a dance and a scavenger hunt. Nearly 20 educators will serve as volunteer mentors throughout the weekend.
“The goal is to reach students who wouldn’t normally pursue education beyond high school, and provide them with skills and the comfort level to consider college as an option,” said Teran R. Tadal '04, assistant dean of admissions and site coordinator of this year’s camp.
“By the time our students leave, they will be confident in their educational futures and will have mentors from the admissions and counseling fields to guide their path,” she said. “For many, this is truly a life-changing experience.”
The program is funded in part through a grant awarded to the New York State Association of College Admission Counseling.
Now in its seventh year, the camp was started by Kelly Herrington ’96, and the former associate dean of admissions at Union.
Students selected to participate were nominated through their high school; Liberty Partnership and Upward Bound programs; GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs); Boys and Girls Clubs; churches and community-based organizations.
For more information on the program, visit the NYSACAC website at http://www.nysacac.org/.
A second Camp College will be held from July 20-22 at SUNY Potsdam.
Professor of political science Byron A. Nichols introduced Karyn A. Amira, who will deliver the student address at the 2007 Commencement.
For about 30 alumni, college will begin again on Friday. And Professor Byron Nichols expects the group of his former students to be up-to-date on assigned reading and prepared for a spirited discussion on the moral and political issues surrounding illegal immigration.
The alumni will embark on the College’s first Alumni College Symposium, which continues through Sunday. The alumni – who range from the Classes of 1971 to 2006 – completed Nichols’ Moral Dilemmas of Governing course. The alumni were sent reading material, asked to write an essay and will break off into discussion groups during the three-day event, according to Nichols.
“The whole purpose of college is to have students become serious about the use of their mind and to reflect on important issues in society. That’s something that is an important challenge for the rest of their lives,” Nichols said.
The symposium begins with a Friday night dinner, followed by remarks from President Stephen C. Ainlay and Nichols and a group discussion in the Nott Memorial. Saturday’s events will include reports from alumni working in immigration-related fields and additional discussion periods and lectures.
The College hopes to stage similar symposiums for alumni each summer.
Thirteen-year-old Oneida Middle School students Tatiana Edmonson and Maya Williams disect double-injected giant bull frogs to compare their digestive and ciculatory systems to humans during the 2007 STEP Summer Camp.
Dozens of middle and high school students from around the region are spending their summer days getting a taste of the college life in two separate programs focusing on math, science and technology.
A record 40 students from Schenectady city public schools will spend the next three weeks exploring quantum physics, dissecting frogs and getting career advice as part of the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) summer camp. The program, now in its 11th year, is sponsored by the Kenney Community Center and funded by the New York State Department of Education.
Among those giving instruction are Deidre Hill Butler, assistant professor, sociology; Samuel Amanuel, visiting assistant professor of physics; Ashraf Ghaly, professor of engineering; James N. Hedrick, lecturer, electrical and computer engineering; Stephen G. Romero, assistant professor, psychology and Twitty Styles, professor emeritus of biology. Student mentors Dapo Akinleye ’02 and Elroy Tatem ’06 are also helping out.
Twitty Styles, professor emeritus of biology, shows students in the 2007 STEP Summer Camp the gull bladder of a giant bull frog.
In addition to classroom work, students take two field trips: the Rose Center in New York City and the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
"As professors we get as much back from the students as the students get from the program, in terms of their curiosity and enthusiasm," said Hedrick. "We are all enthusiastic about the whole thing.”
Meanwhile, 20 students are enrolled in the Summer Science Workshop, a two-week program for promising juniors and seniors interested in biomedical sciences.
Also in its 11th year, the workshop gives select students the opportunity to attend college-level classes, work in laboratories and receive college and career guidance to pursue science and health-related fields.
This year’s curriculum explores infectious diseases, tissue engineering and molecular biology, and includes field trips to Albany Medical Center and the New York State Crime Lab in Albany. The courses are taught by Quynh Chu-LaGraff, associate professor of biology and director of the workshop, Assistant Program Director of Biology Lisa Christenson and Professor Emeriti Twitty Styles. Biology teachers from Guilderland High School, along with Union students Sara Nash ’08, Gianella Sornoza ’09, Molly Merz ’10 and Steven Kassof ’10 also help out.
Steven Kassof '10 (standing) helps Alyssa Reyes, 16, from the N.J. Academy for Information Technology and Joe Gonzalez, 16, of Schenectady High School add trypsin enzyme to endothelial cells during the 2007 Summer Science Workshop.
“We've designed the curriculum using an interdisciplinary approach to biomedical sciences, making the Workshop an excellent recruiting tool for Union to attract a more diverse student body to pursue a career in science and engineering,” said Chu-LaGraff.
The workshop is funded with a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
For more information, contact Barbara Ann Pytel at (518) 388-6746.
For additional information on STEP offerings, contact STEP assistant director Angela Blair at (518) 388-6609 or blaira@union.edu or Gretchel Tyson, director of affirmative action, community outreach and STEP programs, Kenney Community Center.
