Posted on Sep 26, 2007

Linda E. Patrik, professor of Philosophy, has been awarded a Contemplative Practice Fellowship to develop a new philosophy course, “Contemplative Social Ethics,” from the American Council of Learned Societies in its 2006-2007 fellowships competition. The course will be offered in spring term 2008, and the grant will support three class field trips to non-profit organizations in New York state that base their social work on contemplation. Students in the course will also learn and practice the contemplative methods used by the social workers, who administer these non-profit organizations related to job opportunities in urban areas, prison reform and anti-violence strategies for teenagers. The Contemplative Practice fellowship program seeks to restore and renew the critical contribution that contemplative practices can make to the life of teaching and scholarship. The fellowships support individual or collaborative research leading to the development of courses and teaching materials that integrate contemplative practices into courses.

Rudy Nydegger, professor of Psychology and of Management and Psychology at Union Graduate College, has received an award for best paper in the Management Section of the Southwest Academy of Management Annual Meeting in San Diego for his paper, “A Theoretical Approach for Dealing With Organizational Conflict.” 

Lori Marso, professor and chair of Women’s and Gender Studies, and co-editor Michaele Ferguson of the University of Colorado discussed their new book, “W Stands for Women: How The George W. Bush Presidency Shaped a New Politics of Gender” (Duke University Press) on The State of Things on WUNC, an NPR member station. Joining them was David S. Gutterman, assistant professor of politics at Willamette University and author of one of the articles in the book. Listen to the audio at http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0830a.mp3/mediafile_view. Marso's article for the book is titled "Feminism and the Complications of Freeing the Women of Afghanistan and Iraq." Also included is a piece by Andrew Feffer, associate professor of History, titled "W's Masculine Pseudo-Democracy."

Posted on Sep 25, 2007

Several Union faculty and students participated in the Diversity and Social Justice Project Student Conference on Social Justice at Hamilton College earlier this month. Philosophy Professor Linda Patrik accompanied the six Union presenters to the full conference. Each gave a short talk or participated in a panel discussion.

Presenters and their topics included:

Hilary Handin ’08

Faculty sponsor: Thomas Lobe, Political Science
“Women’s Reproductive Health Care Struggles in Afghanistan”

Jasmine Maldonado ’09

Faculty sponsor: Linda Patrik, Philosophy
“The Death Penalty and Its Social Ramifications”

Sara Nash ’08

Faculty sponsor: Thomas Lobe, Political Science
“Iranian Women and Their Quest for Gender Equality”

David Shulman ’08

Faculty sponsor: Kenji Tierney, Anthropology

“Access to Antiretroviral Medicine and the Social and Economic Well-being of Sub-Saharan Africa”

Ariel Sincoff-Yedid ’09

Faculty sponsor: Thomas Lobe, Political Science
“Effective Programming for Voter Education and Mobilization”

Lauren Youngman ’08

Faculty sponsor: Thomas Lobe, Political Science
“The Current Administration’s Detainee Policy Compromises National Security”

In addition, English Professor anupama jain brought students from her first-year preceptorial class on Utopias to the Saturday portion of the conference.  

“We were delighted to be able to involve these students, who had just arrived at Union, in conference attendance,” said Mary Carroll, director of undergraduate research. “They seized the opportunity to see their peers present and to attend plenary lectures by nationally prominent scholars.”

A goal of the conference, Carroll said, is to bring together individuals from the four colleges in the Mellon Consortium (Colgate, Hamilton, Skidmore and Union) who are intellectually and/or practically engaged with issues that involve inequity and injustice. 

The conference began with a performance by noted author, playwright and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith. Leslie Thiele of the University of Florida presented the opening plenary lecture, “You Can Never do Just One Thing; What Ecology Teaches us About Social Justice.” 

“All in all," said Patrik, “it was a great opportunity for our students to present their research and to network with students from other colleges who are interested in issues of social justice.”

Posted on Sep 25, 2007

The Union College Chemistry Club has been recognized as a Commendable Student Affiliates Chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS), based on its 2006-07 activities.

This is the second highest recognition level. It marks the 14^th straight year that the club has received an ACS award. The award will be presented in April at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans.

Last year’s advisor was Mary Carroll, with co-advisor  Michael Hagerman. Student officers included:
– President: Rachael Peters ’07 (now in dental school at University of Pittsburgh)
– Vice presidents: Jessica Reichbind ’07 and Olga Davydenko ’08 (2007-08 Chemistry Club president)   
– Secretaries: Lauren Carlson ’07 (now a chemistry graduate student at University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Laura Castellano ’09 (continuing as secretary this year)
– Treasurer: Aaron Goldman ’08  
– Mentoring Program coordinators: Jenna Welby ’07 (now a chemistry graduate student at University of Michigan) and Monica Tse ’08 (this year’s outreach coordinator)
– Outreach coordinators: Amanda Barrow ’08 (co-vice president this year and Emily Green ’08 (now fundraising coordinator)

– Fundraising coordinator: Alexander Carrese (co-vice president for 2007-08).

Posted on Sep 25, 2007

Union is among nearly 600 private colleges and universities participating in a new Web-based project that gives prospective students and their families more accurate comparative data about colleges.

The University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) debuted Sept. 26. The site was created by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, of which Union is a member.

Each participating college has created a two-page profile that displays in a common format important information on admissions, the student body, cost and tuition, student aid, graduation rates and campus life. There are also links to relevant areas on each college’s own Web site.

To view Union’s profile, click here.

 “We understand the importance of supporting families’ need for information as they consider colleges," said President Stephen C. Ainlay. "We are committed to providing them with useful and accurate data, and the U-CAN initiative is one way of accomplishing this.”

Posted on Sep 25, 2007

• Charitable gift annuities established before the end of October may result in higher charitable tax deductions than gifts made after October due to a recent IRS rate change. Gift annuities are a wonderful gift option that provide secure fixed income, realized significant tax breaks and offer competitive rates of income. For a personalized illustration and more information please contact the Gift Planning Office at: 518 388-6156 or email cavaliej@union.edu.
• The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included legislation allowing individuals to make charitable gifts utilizing their IRAs. Unless new legislation is passed, this opportunity expires on December 31, 2007. Many Union alumni have taken advantage of this ruling to make annual and increased gifts to the College; this may be the best way for you to support Union.

  To qualify:

  • Donors must be 70 ½ years of age or older;
  • Transfers must go directly from IRAs to Union;
  • Gifts cannot exceed $100,000 per taxpayer per year; and
  • Gifts must be outright and not for a plan that would provide income to the donor.

For additional information please contact the Gift Planning Office at 518 388-6156 or email cavaliej@union.edu.