Posted on Jan 9, 2008

Tony Award nominee Calvin Levels performs his solo play, “James Baldwin: Down from the Mountaintop,” Monday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. The play, part of the College’s Presidential Forum on Diversity, caps a daylong celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The performance, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a question- and-answer session and a reception at 8:30 p.m. in the Nott.

The two-act play traces the life of Baldwin, the esteemed playwright, novelist and civil rights activist from his early years as a fiery, young minister growing up in Harlem, to his involvement with the civil rights movement. The play opens with Baldwin descending to Earth from the “mountaintop” and culminates with his death of esophageal cancer in 1987 at his home in the South of France.

Levels’ theater highlights include nominations for the Tony Award, New York Drama Desk Award and New York Outer Critics Circle Award for “Best Actor in a Play.” In addition to capturing the Theatre World Award for “Outstanding New Talent,” Levels was honored by the National James Baldwin Literary Society for his contribution to the legacy of Baldwin. He has also appeared in numerous television network shows.

Prior to the play at 6 p.m. audio of some of King's speeches will play in the Nott. Performances by the College’s gospel choir and the Garnet Minstrels will follow. A student exhibit, “1000 Hands: Embracing all Cultures,” will be on display. The College’s Jazz Quartet will perform during intermission.

The acclaimed documentary, “Eyes on the Prize,” which depicts the American civil rights movement, will be shown in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, contact Gretchel Tyson at (518) 388-6609 or via e-mail at tysong@union.edu.

Posted on Jan 8, 2008

Through Jan. 27

The Mandeville Gallery

The Nott Memorial

Selections from the 7th Annual National Sunnyview Exhibition for Artists with Disabilities

Featuring 25 works by 18 artists in a variety of media, this show was curated by Mandeville Gallery Director Rachel Seligman and Kara Jefts, exhibitions assistant and "represents an impressive cross section of artists living with disabilities,” said Jefts. “In the face of physical and mental limitations, the artists describe their work as an inspiration and a relief to the challenges and pain they face on a daily basis.” The pieces were culled from more than 80 works of art recently shown at the Viewpoint Gallery at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady. A reception for “Selections” will be held at the Nott in conjunction with Art Night Schenectady, Friday, Jan. 18, 5-9 p.m.

Through Feb. 3

The Mandeville Gallery

The Nott Memorial

Hapa Project: Portraits by Kip Fulbeck

An exhibition of 30 color photographs of people whose mixed racial heritage includes Asian or Pacific Island descent. Each subject was also asked to write an answer to the question, “What are you?” 

Jan. 17-March 23

Wikoff Student Gallery

The Nott Memorial

Digital Art: 7 Union Students

An exhibition of two- and three-dimensional works created by Michael Bono ’09, Sarah Jacobson ’10, Steven Leung ’10, Rob Shirley ’09, Kathrin Burschyk ’11, Justin Blau ’08 and Emily Burgess ’10 in the fall Digital Art class taught by Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Fernando Orellana. A reception will be held in conjunction with Art Night Schenectady, Friday, Jan. 18, 5-9 p.m. At 6 p.m., there will be a discussion with faculty and students about the work; the campus community is encouraged to participate.   

Posted on Jan 8, 2008

The Sunday Gazette recently profiled John L. Tomlin ’08, who has joined hundreds of journalists on the presidential campaign trail. 

The Political Science major will spend time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he will post daily news clips through Feb. 5 at www.MeetThePrez.net.

To read the Gazette story, click here  (registration may be required).

Posted on Jan 8, 2008

The New York Times recently published an essay by Binyavanga Wainaina, Union's writer-in-residence. Wainaina has been in Kenya during the recent unrest.

The Kenyan-born Wainaina is teaching three classes in the Winter term.

To read Wainaina's essay, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Jan 8, 2008

Susan Haack, professor of philosophy and law and the Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami (Fla.), launches the winter term’s Philosophy Speaker Series Thursday, Jan. 24.

Her talk, “The Growth of Meaning and the Limits of Formalism: In Science, in Law,” begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Schaffer Library Phi Beta Kappa Room and is free and open to the public.

Haack received her doctorate from Cambridge where she was the Fellow of New Hall and later taught. She served as professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick, UK, before landing at the University of Miami in 1990 where she has received the Provost’s Award for Research and the Faculty Senate Distinguished Scholar Award.

Haack has authored numerous articles and several books on logic, science, formalism and epistemology including her latest, “Putting Philosophy to Work: Inquiry and Its Place in Culture” (Prometheus Books, 2007). Haack has been a visiting lecturer at institutions around the world, and her interdisciplinary work has been translated into 10 languages.

Known for her lively writing style, wry sense of humor and philosophical achievements, Haack was included in Peter J. King’s “100 Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World’s Greatest Thinkers” (Barron, 2004).

Following is a schedule of the remaining winter term offerings in the series, which is sponsored by the Philosophy Department. All talks will be held in the Schaffer Library Phi Beta Kappa Room at 4:30 p.m.

Feb. 7: Linda Martin-Alcoff, Syracuse University, “Social Identity, Rationality and Epistemic Agency”

Feb. 21: Sean Kelley, Harvard University, “The Normative Nature of Perceptual Experience”

March 6: Katalin Balog, Yale University, “Zombies, Conceivability Arguments and the Phenomenal Concept Strategy”

Funding for the Philosophy Speaker Series is provided by the Ichabod Spencer Foundation. For more information, contact Department Chair Raymond Martin at (518) 388-6376 or via e-mail at martinr@union.edu.