Posted on Sep 3, 2007

The Mandeville Gallery’s alumni exhibit, “ReView: Five Union Alumni,” featuring works in a variety of media, runs through Oct. 14.

Artists include Alfred J. Nadel ’56 (drawings and mixed media); Stephen Pentak ’73 and Linda Fisher ’87 (paintings); Chester Urban ’93 (sculpture and drawings); and Nori Lupfer ’03 (photographs and prints).

“There are so many great alumni artists of the College. This is a chance to celebrate their work and bring them to the attention of our community,” said Rachel Seligman, Mandeville director and curator.

New York City-born Nadel,a practicing surgeon for more than 40 years, began to study painting in 1982 and has been a full-time artist since the late 1990s. He has had solo exhibitions at galleries in New York City and elsewhere, and his work has been included in group shows nationwide.

Pentak, professor emeritus of art and a past associate dean of the College of the Arts at Ohio State University, has co-authored two books: “Color Basics” and “Design Basics.” He has shown extensively across the United States and abroad. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Columbus Museum of Art.

Fisher also has displayed her work in solo and group shows nationwide. She has been an instructor at Snow Farm, in Williamsburg, Mass., since 1994, and is currently teaching at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

Urban, of Holyoke, Mass., has exhibited in group shows in Tribeca and the Bronx, and his work was recently reproduced in the New York Times.

Lupfer, who was a freestyle aerialist on the U.S. Ski Team and performed with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, was awarded a Watson Fellowship in 2003 to study “Circuses and Stunts: Photography of Entertainment in Motion.”She has exhibited her work in Barcelona, Schenectady and Connecticut. Her current works were taken over the last 18 months during an expedition to update the Garmin GPS marine database.

Posted on Sep 3, 2007

Ann Fleming Brown was named interim vice president for Admissions and Financial Aid. Brown joined the Admissions staff in 1986 as associate dean and became senior associate dean in 2004. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College in 1979 and an M.A. from Middlebury College in 1981. In 1995, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the New York State Association of College Admissions Counseling. During her 20 years at Union, Brown has worked closely on all aspects of admissions work. She is an interviewer and a featured speaker at junior college programs; oversees the publication of all admissions materials; and has been involved in many administrative programs. 

Audrey Sartiaux gave a presentation titled, “Directions in Language Center Management: Motivating Strategies, Enhanced Communication and Self-Training Modules with Blackboard” at the conference of the International Association for Language Learning Technology at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., in June. Sartiaux is the program chair and chair of the planning committee for the next conference of the New England Regional Association for Language Learning Technology, set for October at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt. The conference theme is “Web 2.0: Participatory Strategies for Language Learning.” In addition, Sartiaux was elected program coordinator at the last NERALLT business meeting and will be serving on the board of officers for the next two years.

Mary Parlett-Sweeney, who has been instrumental in the establishment and support of Union’s electronic classrooms, was named director of Academic Computing. Recently, she was chosen a 2005 Fellow of the Frye Leadership Institute, which recognizes the next generation of technology leaders in colleges and universities.

Dean of Studies Kimmo Rosenthal and Dean of First-Year Students Kate Schurick presented “Re-Imagining the First Year: Academic and Student Affairs Strategies and Collaboration for Improved Success and Retention” at a June conference at St. Lawrence University titled, “First-Year Programs and Liberal Arts: Best Practices and New Thinking.”

After debuting at the San Francisco Black Film Festival this summer, Daniel Mosquera's documentary, “Sanpachando,” won Best Documentary Feature at the AT&T St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. It was subsequently selected to participate at the 2007 Inaugural Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival in Norfolk, Va.  Mosquera is associate professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies.

Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences Twitty Styles reviewed Ash and Orichel’s 5th edition of the Atlas of Human Parasitology, published by The American Society for Clinical Pathology Press. The review appeared in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

Marcus Hotaling joins Union as the new director of the Counseling Center, following the retirement of Donald Spring. Hotaling holds a B.A. in psychology from Alfred University and a Ph.D. from the University at Albany. Previously, he worked as a psychologist in the RPI counseling center.

The Business Review (Albany, July 27) included several Union alumni in an article about a number of successful graduates from area institutions. Among those mentioned were Rich Templeton ’80, president and chief executive of Texas Instruments; John E. Kelly III ’76, senior vice president of research at IBM; Dylan Ratigan ’94, anchor and co-creator of CNBC’s Fast Money program; Robert Chartoff ’55, producer of films, including the “Rocky” movies and “Raging Bull”; and Alan Horn ’64, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment. The story also quoted Thomas Gutenberger, vice president for College Relations.