Posted on Mar 12, 2008

 Greetings Union Parents –

            March is certainly entering in like a lion! We’ve had snow, sleet and rain here on campus. It’s hard to believe that winter term has ended and students will be taking their exams in just a few short days. They’ll have a short (but well deserved) break before spring term classes begin on the 31^st.

            We want to take this time to address some “hot topics” and provide some information and insight on their processes.

International Programs: The term abroad program continues to be a very competitive and popular program. Many programs have limited number of available slots because of the agreement between Union and the partnering institution. Rather than increasing the number of students in a program, which would diminish the cultural immersion aspect of the program, the Committee on Study Abroad has announced three new opportunities for study abroad which will begin in the 2008-09 academic year.

Non Union Programs (Winter/Spring Terms only)

We will increase the number of opportunities for students to study on a non-Union program. A student wishing to study at an institution overseas (host institution) must be certain that that institution offers a spring semester program and must participate in it. The student will be away from Union during winter and spring terms. Most semester programs give credit for four courses. There are a number of ways to complete the additional two winter-spring courses at no cost to the student.

1. If the host institution will allow a fifth course for an additional fee, Union will pay that fee.
2. If a student is credits ahead, then he/she may count one or two of these credits toward graduation at no cost.
3. The student may take one or two fourth courses without charge upon returning to Union.
4. Students may take one or two summer school courses, whether at Union or another institution. Union will pay tuition, but not room and board. Students who have completed the sophomore year are reminded that these courses may not be taken at a community college unless approved by the Dean of Studies.
5. A Union mini-term, with the usual fee (currently $3000) being waived.
6. If a student believes that there is yet another way to obtain a free fourth course, he/she should discuss it with Dean Rosenthal, Dean of Studies.

Successful applications for non-Union programs are likely to be ones that complement the student’s major or major area of interest in a way that no Union program can do.   Normally, there must be compelling academic reasons to allow a student to go on a non-Union program to a country where Union already has a program.

Independent Study Abroad Program (Winter or Spring term)

The Independent Study Abroad (ISA) program is designed primarily for students in the junior year who develop a passion for going where Union does not have an international program and/or who want an autonomous experience in a foreign culture. The program is consistent with the strategic vision of the College for its students—a vision that includes increased global and interdisciplinary experiences, innovative research and creative scholarship, the integration of academic and personal development, and continuous engagement in a process of self-discovery. The program reinforces the College’s renewed commitment to encourage students to “find their own path toward a world of many cultures.” Placing the emphasis on independent study and responsibility for program design on the student will likely foster much greater cultural immersion during the time abroad.

The principal criteria of evaluation are the relation of the proposal to previous academic experience (e.g., language study or research project) and its contribution to the applicant’s overall academic program. [Note: Union Scholars can tie their sophomore research project on campus to field work that they will subsequently do abroad.] Other criteria include: enhancement of personal development; evidence of cultural immersion; reason that traditional (faculty-led) group programs cannot meet the need; institutional arrangements and provisions for oversight of project at the site(s) abroad; extent of deliverables—blog/journal, paper, on-campus presentation; and, letter of support from faculty mentor.

Academic credit for the research project per se will normally consist of 1-2 courses, depending on the project’s scope. Students will typically arrange to take a course or two at a host institution in order to obtain the three credits equivalent to a full trimester at Union. COSA must give prior approval of the academic credit to be granted for the research/independent study. Other course work for credit will be approved by the Dean of Studies in consultation with the ISA director.

Reinstatement of Sicily Term Abroad (Spring 2009)

Union International Programs will offer a term abroad in Palermo, Italy, in the spring term of 2009 for science and engineering students. Professor Jay Newman will be the faculty member in residence. Since this program involves science research, the GPA and science background will be relevant, and applications will be competitive. 

For all three new opportunities, a 2.5 GPA and certification by the Dean of Students are required.

 Campus Safety

A budget of $217,000 to update campus security and improvements was approved for 07/08 and additional security measures have been put in place. Seven (7) new security cameras have been installed, campus lighting has been improved, added and is monitored daily for repair/replacement and additional areas of need are continually identified.

Union has implemented an emergency notification system, fully functional and consists of alerts via; text messaging, voice mail, email and siren. Students, Faculty and Administrators were asked to select their preferred notification via an email this past Fall. The installation of a public address system in 22 campus buildings was completed in January.

The college is working in partnership with the City of Schenectady, its Mayor, elected officials and the police department for three (3) additional security cameras installed on the peripheral and monitored by the Schenectady Police to insure safe access to the Schenectady Community for students.

Registration

PRESCHEDULING INSTRUCTIONS – Course selections must be made in consultation with faculty advisors. The 2007-08 Academic Register contains full descriptions of courses as well as information on prerequisites. Additional course descriptions may be found within this document.

COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM: Courses numbered 0-49 carry no credit. Courses numbered 50-99 are designated for General Education or do not count for the major. Courses numbered 100-199 are all introductory level offerings. Courses numbered 200-299 are those at the sophomore/junior level that may also be taken by non-majors. Courses numbered 300-399 are upper-level that are primarily intended for majors, i.e., which represent the depth component of the major. Courses numbered 400-499 are all advanced level courses for seniors, including those used to fulfill the Senior Writing Experience (WS), seminars, research, thesis and independent studies.

In order to preschedule for spring term classes, each student must follow these steps:

                        1) Create a conflict-free schedule including lab, lecture sections, and alternative choices in the event one of your first three selections is filled. This schedule must be approved as indicated by your Faculty Advisor’s signature on your “Prescheduling Course Request Form”

                         

                        2) Petition Course Signup on Web Advising. If a course is a “petition” course (indicated by a “Y” in the Petition column on the course listing), interested students must request a petition, online. To make your requests:

PLEASE NOTE: For science courses that count towards the GenEd SCLB/SCIE requirement (AST 50, AST 52, BIO 50, BIO 89, BIO 94, CHM 50, ENS 100, GEO 106 & GEO 107) be sure to rate your preference among this group if you ask for more than one. In the area marked “Why do you need or want this course”, please indicate if you need it for GenEd credit (SCIE or SCLB), or for your major or minor.

                        3) Petition Acceptance

If you run into any problems with signup for petition courses please contact the department secretary within the specific department.

                        4) Prescheduling:

                        a. Prescheduling will be conducted by appointment via the web in Hale House Dining Room. Please refer to your prescheduling sheet available in the Registrar’s office starting, for your specific appointment day and time.

                        b. Your prescheduling sheet must be relinquished to a member of the Registrar’s staff before leaving Hale House. Students wishing to add or change courses after this date will need to wait until the first day of spring term, Monday, March.31st.

Students who do not plan to return to Union for the Spring Term, except for seniors who are completing their requirements early, should immediately NOTIFY the Dean of Students Office. Students who will be on a Union College term abroad for the Spring Term DO NOT need to preschedule their courses.

Parents Fund

The Parents Fund Corner: Fund Year Update 

The Parents Fund is an important component of The Union Fund, which provides support for scholarships, academics, term abroad programs, library materials, athletics, student organizations, and many other college programs each year.

I would like to thank the many parents whom have participated with a gift to The Parent Fund. I am happy to report our donor numbers are up from last year in both Current Parents and Former Parent/Grandparent categories. The dollars raised this year are down from the previous fund year. Compare the figures below.

2007-2008
Current Parent Donors                             586
Former Parent/Grandparent Donors          394
                        vs.
2006-2007
Current Parent Donors                             488
Former Parent/Grandparent Donors          355 

The dollars raised this year are down from the previous fund year. Compare the figures below.

2007-2008                   Year to Date               $330,581 
                        vs.
2006-2007                   Year to Date               $336,692 

With a few months left in the fund year, it's not too late to participate. The fund year continues until June 30, 2008. You may always give online. For more information, please visit the Parents Webpage at www.union.edu/parents/parentsfund

Thank you for your support and your consideration of a gift this year. Every gesture, no matter how great or small, supports our students and faculty at Union and has an immediate impact. Vivian Falco, Peter '09, Parents Fund Chairperson

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at Parents_Association@union.edu. I hope that all of your students do well on their finals and enjoy their breaks!

                                                            Take care,

                                                            Karen Dumonet, Vanessa ’07 and Sebastian ‘09

                                                            Chairperson, Parents Association

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Posted on Mar 12, 2008

The Florestan Piano Trio will perform a classical program featuring Haydn, Brahms and Ives Saturday, March 15 at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.

This marks the fourth Chamber Concert Series appearance by the trio, which has been performing together for more than 12 years.

The first piano trio to win the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2000, the Florestan Piano Trio features Susan Tomes, piano; Anthony Marwood, violin; and Richard Lester, cello. Their program will include Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in D Major, Hob. XV:24; Johannes Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8; and Charles Ives’ Piano Trio.

The trio has performed at major European venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Brussels Conservatoire and the Società del Quartetto in Milan. Last season they toured the United States and Italy, and performed the complete Beethoven Trios in Düsseldorf.

The trio has received multiple nominations for Gramophone Awards, winning an award in 1999 for their Schumann disc. Their CD of French piano trios is one of Hyperion’s best-sellers in the chamber music field, and their complete recording of Mozart trios has been welcomed as the new benchmark recording of these works.

The trio has also established a charitable company, The Florestan Trust, which aims to develop public awareness and knowledge of music through the presentation of concerts, educational work and commissioning new works.

The concert is free for the Union College community, $20 for general admission and $8 for area students. For more information on the Series, or for ticket information, visit: http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries.

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Posted on Mar 12, 2008

 

Union’s writer-in-residence, Binyavanga Wainaina, wrote an op-ed about tribal violence in Kenya that appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, Jan. 6. In it, Wainaina wrote, “This thing called Kenya is a strange animal. In the 1960s, the bright young nationalists who took over the country when we got independence from the British believed that their first job was to eradicate ‘tribalism.’ What they really meant, in a way, was that they wanted to eradicate the nations that made up Kenya. It was assumed that the process would end with the birth of a brand-new being: the Kenyan. Compared with other African nations, Kenya has had significant success with this experiment. But it has not been without its contradictions, though they had never really turned lethal until now.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named Wainaina to its list of people worth watching in 2008, along with U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, Spanish actor Javier Bardem, and Fidel and Raul Castro. Associate Professor Frank E. Wicks was elected a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the highest elected grade of the society. The College honored Wicks during a ceremony on Oct. 5. Less than 3 percent of the 120,000 members of the society are elected by the board of directors as fellows. Selection is based on significant engineering achievements and contributions to the mechanical engineering profession. Wicks was nominated by Nancy Deloye Fitzroy, a former president of the engineers society who has served as an advisor to Union’s student chapter.

Ann Andersen, the Agnes S. MacDonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Mary Carroll, professor of chemistry and director of undergraduate research, recently presented four papers at the XIVth International Sol-Gel Conference in Montpellier, France. Union students and recent alumni co-authored the papers. Anderson was the only faculty member from an undergraduate institution to give an oral presentation at the conference. She spoke on “Understanding and Modeling the Relationship Between Pressure and Temperature in the Rapid Supercritical Extraction Aerogel Fabrication Process.” Co-authors are Carroll and former mechanical engineering students Tim Roth ’06 and Matthew Ernst ’07, now engineering graduate students at, respectively, UCLA and the University of Vermont. Anderson and Carroll, directors of Union’s Aerogel Lab, co-presented three poster papers at the conference. Their student co-authors included Shazia Baig ’09, Amanda Barrow ’08, John Ferrarone ’07, Sadie Gorman ’08, Emily Green ’08, Jason Melville ’07, Aaron Philips ’06, Adam Reeve ’07 and Caleb Wattley ’08.

Laurie Tyler, assistant professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a prestigious Jerome A. Schiff Charitable Trust grant of $30,000 for the academic year 2007-08 in support of her project, “Structure Determination and Dynamics of Transition Metal Complexes Using Isotopically Labeled Ligands: Through Metal Coupling of NMR Active Nuclei.” Tyler will use her award to purchase chemicals and equipment, and to provide stipends for students who will be conducting research. She is interested in developing new, innovative methods for determining chemical structure using NMR spectroscopy. Her initial NMR studies have yielded promising and exciting findings that have not been reported previously. Tyler holds a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Schiff grant is designed to assist a faculty member whose research has been difficult to fund because it is too interdisciplinary or esoteric for traditional funding agencies.

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 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 will 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.

Brenda Wineapple, the Doris Samurai Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies, has won this year’s SCMLA Kirby Prize for Best Article, “The Politics of Politics; or, How the Atomic Bomb Didn’t Interest Gertrude Stein and Emily Dickinson,” published in the South Central Review, Vol. 23, No. 3, Fall 2006.

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Posted on Mar 12, 2008

 

The College has announced plans for a new building, made possible by a lead gift from John Wold ’38 and his wife, Jane, that will be a focal point for the intersection of disciplines.

“It is my pleasure to announce that, thanks to the Wolds, Union will embark on a project that will solidify the College’s role as a national leader in the integration of science, engineering and the liberal arts,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay. “The Wolds have long been steadfast and loyal supporters of Union, in particular those initiatives that allow the College to bridge the traditional disciplinary boundaries as only Union can.”

“Jane and I are pleased that we can help Union to further its unique mission as a leader in the liberal arts, sciences and engineering,” said John Wold, one of the American West's leaders in the development of minerals and conservation of natural resources. “We look forward to joining with others who share our conviction that Union is especially well suited among America’s colleges and universities to offer the kind of broad and diverse education that is essential to leaders of this century.”

Wold, of Casper, Wyoming, is a geologist and president of Wold Minerals Company. He is a former U.S. Congressman and Wyoming State Representative.  The American Heritage Foundation of the University of Wyoming in 1999 elected him as the “Wyoming Oil/Gas and Mineral Man of the 20th Century.”

The Wolds have directed more than $13 million of their original $20 million You are Union Campaign commitment as a catalyst for a teaching and research center that will unify the College’s existing facilities with the central campus. The College plans to solicit corporations, state and government agencies, alumni, parents and friends to complete the funding for the building.

The new building, informed by a campus master plan but still in the planning stages, will likely be located adjacent to the Science and Engineering building and the F.W. Olin Center, just north of Schaffer Library. A campus committee is soliciting architectural designs and construction proposals.

The center will address the College’s Strategic Plan by developing and broadening programs in emerging interdisciplinary fields. It will contain state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, computer facilities, small group study areas and public spaces that will attract students and faculty from across the College. The main atrium, an academic “town square,” will become a focus of Union’s intellectual life and provide a setting to host campus-wide events. Flexible and functional spaces will naturally draw the liberal arts into collaboration with science and engineering and greatly enhance both teaching and research.

Wold’s father, Peter, was professor of physics at Union from 1920 to 1945. Wold refers to himself as a “campus kid” who grew up at Union, developing an interest in geology after discovering a pile of discarded mineral samples outside Union’s geology department.

He earned a bachelor’s in geology from Union, and was Union’s second exchange scholar at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He earned a master’s degree in geology from Cornell University, and an honorary degree from the University of Wyoming.

As a Union alumnus, he is a trustee emeritus, having served as a trustee from 1981 to 1990. He is honorary chairman of the You are Union Campaign. In 1999, he received the College’s Eliphalet Nott Medal, given to alumni who have attained distinction in their field.

He and his wife, the former Jane A. Pearson, a graduate of Wheelock College, were married in 1946 in their native Schenectady. They have three children and eight grandchildren. Their grandson, Joseph, is a member of Union’s class of 2010.

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Posted on Mar 11, 2008

 

Helping Habitat for Humanity

The College donated a house near campus and pitched in hundreds of volunteer labor hours to help Habitat for Humanity to renovate the house for a family in need.

The two-family home on Barrett Street near the lower athletic fields was among 13 purchased by faculty and staff under the Union-Schenectady Initiative, an ambitious plan to revitalize the neighborhood west of the campus unveiled in October 1999. The College assumed ownership of the home in February 2004, after the former employee moved, and transferred the house to with the Schenectady chapter of Habitat for Humanity in late 2007, said President Stephen C. Ainlay.

The College kicked off the campaign to renovate the house during a press conference in mid October. Ainlay addressed a crowd of supporters and a work crew from Psi Upsilon. Roughly 15 members of the fraternity helped gut the house, said Chip Miller ’09, of Rye, N.Y.

“We are going to be working on this house all year round. We are going to be able to see the changes that it goes through. We are going to see it rebuilt and when Habitat finds a family to live here, we are going to be able to meet them and talk to them and get a personal connection,” Miller said.

Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, nondenominational housing organization. Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1 million people in some 3,000 communities with safe, decent, and affordable shelter.

Ainlay, calling Habitat “a remarkable organization,” said donating the house presents the campus with an extraordinary opportunity. Shortly after he became president last year, Ainlay challenged the campus community to re-cultivate its sense of social connectedness and civic commitment.

He envisions the Union community—students, faculty, staff and alumni—taking the lead in restoring the house, which was built in 1910.

“My hope is that all of us can work alongside others from Schenectady and the family that will occupy the house to complete the project,” he said. “It will make a material difference, and it should pull us together as a community working for the common good."

 

Investing in Schenectady

General Electric will add 500 jobs as part of a $39 million plan to renovate buildings on the company’s Erie Boulevard campus and leaders of Price Chopper grocery stores plan to build a $22 million headquarters across the street from Union’s College Park Hall. Both GE and Price Chopper’s Golub Corp. originated in Schenectady and have strong ties to Union.

“Schenectady’s renaissance is a key reason why GE chose the city for its emerging alternative energy operations. Downtown revitalization has already added over 2,000 new jobs and now businesses are locating here,” said Jayme Lahut ’83, the executive director of Schenectady Metroplex.

GE’s expansion stems from its power generation business and will create jobs ranging from managers to engineers. Those jobs are in addition to 150 new positions at GE’s wind turbine service center, also on the Erie Boulevard campus, located near Union’s campus.

The Golub headquarters will be built on a 9.5-acre parcel that was formerly home to the Big N Plaza. An estimated 850 to 1,000 people will work in the building, which is set to be built next to a new YMCA. Price Chopper grocery stores are scattered throughout New England, New York and Pennsylvania and the company employs about 24,000.

 

Enhancing Greek life at Union 

Timothy Dunn, Union’s new director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, began his career with Greek groups as a result of talking with a fraternity brother.

“Fraternities and sororities are about having lifelong relationships, building real bonds among brothers and sisters,” he said.

Dunn earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communications at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, where he “was exposed to my first real large dyed-in-the-wool Greek system.” He went on to get a law degree from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He was working in social services in California when his KAPsi brother hired him as an assistant director of residential life at the University of Hartford. In that position, he began co-advising for Greek organizations.

“Greek advising gave me a great understanding of the challenges faced on the academic side when dealing with problems created by an unhealthy Greek system, which is why I worked so hard to make it healthy and an asset to the university,” Dunn said.

He also was an adjunct professor of ethics, teaching an applied ethics course, “a great way to evaluate the students’ moral behavior and codes.”

A native of Abilene, Texas, Dunn had a brief stint as an advisor to fraternities at the University of Georgia before settling into the close-knit Union community this fall. Dunn’s training and experience seem well suited to a job that is one part counselor, one part liaison, and many parts champion for the 12 fraternities and five sororities at Union.

Speaking recently from his office on the fourth floor of Reamer Campus Center, Dunn reflected that he faces “a lot of the same challenges I’ve seen before. One is to broadcast the positive aspects of the Greek experience to the campus. The only thing people see is the quite visible social life, but there are lots of good things going on.”

Greek life at Union dates to 1825, with the founding of the nation’s first fraternity, Kappa Alpha. Over the next few years, two more fraternities were founded at Union, Sigma Phi, which is still active, and Delta Phi. They comprised the well-known Union triad.

Currently, about a third of all Union students belong to fraternities and sororities, which are governed by the Inter-Fraternity Council, Pan-Hellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council. Forty-seven percent of eligible students (sophomore, juniors and seniors) are members.

“I want them to be one unified Greek community,” Dunn said. Recently, members of the three governing bodies volunteered together on the Habitat for Humanity house on Barrett Street, and “to my knowledge, it was the first joint community council endeavor,” he said.

Another goal of Dunn’s is to formalize the Greek system. “For a system to be valid and healthy, certain elements have to be in place,” he said. These include formalization of accreditation process, annual awards and recognition ceremonies for chapter accomplishments, and academic success and rehabilitation programs.

He also would like to work on new member education and membership recruitment and retention.

“Lifelong relationships are among the core values that the organization builds,” Dunn said. “Society today isn’t founded on too much. A colleague and I were talking about how genuine relationships don’t happen much. People text, they IM, they seek friends on Facebook. At their core, the Greek organizations stand for the very principles that our country was founded on—brotherhood, service to the community and living lives of integrity.”

While Greek numbers at Union have remained steady over the last decade, fraternities and sororities exist today as one choice among many for social, recreational and community service activities, along with Minerva houses and theme houses.

“It all works together,” said Dunn, noting that some of the most dynamic students on campus are leaders in all realms.

 

Angelou's message of hope

Maya Angelou, the award-winning poet, civil rights activist and playwright, captivated an overflow crowd of more than 900 in Memorial Chapel during a talk given in late October. People began lining up at least an hour before the event, hoping to get inside to hear the 79-year-old literary icon. For the people who packed the Chapel, Angelou did not disappoint.

Displaying her wide range of talents, Angelou sang, recited poetry, told jokes and offered words of wisdom to the audience, who responded with two standing ovations during the night.

She also recounted her difficult childhood growing up black and poor in Arkansas, which included being molested at age 7 by her mother’s boyfriend. Traumatized by the incident and the subsequent news that an uncle had killed her attacker, Angelou lost the ability to speak for five years.

Instead, she turned to reading for salvation. She was especially attracted to the words of Shakespeare, who seemed to understand her troubles.

“At one point I was sure that Shakespeare was probably a black girl,” she told the crowd.

Angelou is the recipient of dozens of honorary degrees, and she became one of only two poets to read an original work at a presidential inauguration when she was invited by President Bill Clinton to speak in 1993. Her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning,” earned Angelou a Grammy award. Her best known book is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first of six volumes of her memoirs. The 1970 autobiography was nominated for a National Book Award.

Angelou’s visit was part of the College’s President’s Forum on Diversity.

 

Notables at Schaffer Library

A writer, a physician and a politician—Andrea Barrett ’74, Baruch Samuel Blumberg ’46 and William Henry Seward, Class of 1820—were the first to be featured in Union Notables, a new exhibit in the atrium of Schaffer Library.

The rotating exhibit features three outstanding alumni every six months.

Barrett graduated from Union with a degree in biology and pursued zoology and medieval history before writing fiction in earnest. In 1996, she received a National Book Award for Ship Fever, a collection of short stories. Her other top writing prizes include a Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and two O. Henry awards.

Blumberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1976 for his pioneering work in studying the origin and dissemination of Hepatitis A and B.

During his career, Seward served as New York State governor, U.S. senator and secretary of state under President Abraham Lincoln. Seward helped write and sign the Emancipation Proclamation and is perhaps best known for engineering the $7.2 million United States purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.

When each new group of Union Notables is installed, the preceding alumni will be relocated to a permanent home elsewhere on campus.

The initial group was on display through Feb. 29. The next group will feature Phil Alden Robinson ’71, screenwriter and director of Field of Dreams, Sneakers and Sum of All Fears; Gordon Gould ’41, inventor of the laser; and Lewis Henry Morgan, class of 1840, who is considered by many to be the father of modern American anthropology. That group will be on display from March 1 through Aug. 31. www.union.edu/notables.

 

Grants advance educational opportunities across disciplines

NSF grant boosts computer science

Union is among about 50 U.S. schools working to rejuvenate computing education using a major grant unveiled last fall by the National Science Foundation.

The foundation awarded $1.15 million to Union and Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa., for a joint five-year initiative to improve computing education and attract more students. That grant was part of $13 million awarded to the roughly 50 schools by the foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.

With a steep decline—60 percent—in undergraduate computing enrollments in recent years, “it’s important to figure out how to get these kids back in as majors, or at least to learn about computing,” said Computer Science Chair Valerie Barr.

Barr prepared the grant application in 2006 and is leading the project with Lafayette’s department chair, Chun Wai Liew. Their work, along with the work of other grant recipients, is aimed at ensuring the talent needed to address computing challenges of the 21st century workplace.

The grant dovetails with other changes already under way in Union’s Computer Science Department. There are now five introductory courses that focus on a range of areas, including computational science, artificial intelligence, robotics, game development and media computation.

“Our goal is to get more students involved by creating a curriculum that works across disciplines. Students in various fields, from biology to psychology, would take a computation course and go back to their home departments prepared to do discipline-specific, computationally intensive work,” Barr said.

Barr noted that Union has interdisciplinary majors who are pairing computer science with visual arts, music, philosophy, psychology, economics, biology and math. This focus on making connections between and across disciplinary boundaries corresponds with key academic components of the College’s Strategic Plan.

Barr, who came to Union in 2004 after nine years at Hofstra University, holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. She helps coordinate Union’s Digital Arts Program, which includes a new introductory computer science course, several visual arts courses, and classes in gaming and Web programming.

The grant will also help support faculty travel to conferences and supervision of summer research. Other schools that received grants include Trinity College, Ohio State, Wake Forest, Penn State, Washington and Purdue universities, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Social robotics grant

The Union-Lafayette collaboration follows on the heels of another National Science Foundation grant aimed at studying and revitalizing undergraduate computer science education.

The College has joined with researchers from the University at Albany, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Schenectady County Community College and the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium to study the field using interactive social robots. A social robotics curriculum typically incorporates elements of design, psychology, cognitive science, communication and philosophy in addition teaching to key computer science and engineering principles.

Through workshops for academics, students, industry leaders and others, the group will create a multi-disciplinary program in social robotics that would appeal to nontraditional computer science and engineering majors.

Union’s share of the two-year $330,000 grant is $40,000.

“We are going to lay the foundation for social robotics to help bring more students into the computer science field,” Barr said.

Seminar for entrepreneurs

Hal Fried, the David L. and Beverly B. Yunich Professor of Business Ethics, along with the Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Emma Watson Day Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Ron Bucinell, received a $32,000 grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. The grant will support a seminar, taught by both professors, that will bring to together teams of engineering, performing arts, economics and humanities students to pursue socially productive entrepreneurial ideas that can become operating and marketable concepts. The grant was the only one given to a small liberal arts college.

 

Tutu discusses South Africa

Naomi Tutu, the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, of South Africa, visited a sociology class and spoke at the Nott Memorial in mid-October on behalf of the Diana Legacy Fund, an international campaign to bring hospice care and other services to sub-Saharan Africa. Phil Di Sorbo ’71 helped launch the Diana Legacy Fund and helped bring Tutu to campus. Di Sorbo manages a hospice care organization that serves AIDS-ravaged Africa.

 

'A lving society'

About 115 alumni ranging from the Class of 1936 to 2007 gathered in early October for a Terrace Council reception at The Ritz-Carlton near Central Park in New York City. The reception was hosted by President Stephen C. Ainlay and his wife, Judith. Similar events are held each year to thank leadership donors.

Terrace Council members give $2,000 or more to Union each year, though membership for young alumni is set at reduced levels. The council, made up of nearly 700 members, accounted for $2.4 million, or half of all gifts, to the Union Fund during the 2006-2007 academic year.

“The event made me feel that we are part of something that is more than just giving money. It’s a living society with values and a common identity shared across the years,” said Nick Salvatoriello ’07.

 

Ainlay joins with state panel

A state commission charged with improving higher education in New York issued a series of sweeping recommendations in December designed to make college more affordable for families, spur economic development by investing billions for research in fields like bioscience and engineering, and transform New York into one of the “idea capitals” of the 21st century.

“As I stated in my convocation address, no institution of higher education today can afford to operate without a clear understanding of need, without a clear sense of educational mission, or without a plan to move ahead,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay.

Ainlay is among 30 experts culled from public and private colleges and universities, as well as the business community, who were named to the state Commission on Higher Education last May. The panel was created by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who received the commission’s preliminary report in mid December. A final report is due by June 1, 2008.

Among the proposals recommended by the commission, which was chaired by Hunter Rawlings III, the former president of Cornell University:

• Create a low-interest loan program financed by tax-exempt bonds so New Yorkers gain access to lower-cost capital to meet college expenses.

• Increase financial aid and program support for students enrolled in the state’s opportunity programs.

• Establish a $3 billion, peer-review Empire State Innovation Fund to spur research and foster economic development.

• Support innovative education partnerships between colleges and universities and school districts to address the comprehensive needs of students.

• Promote New York’s colleges and universities in nations abroad.

“It has been an honor to serve on a commission that has identified several significant steps that should be considered if we are to meet the challenges and embrace the opportunities before us,’’ Ainlay said.

Founded in 1795, the first college chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York, Union has historically played a key role in shaping higher education in the state.

The series of recommendations outlined in the commission’s preliminary report are “but one step in our collective effort to reshape higher education in New York by preparing well-rounded citizens who understand the demands of our technological and scientific society,” Ainlay said.

 

Commencement speaker

Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons, a prominent national leader in higher education and the first African-American president of an Ivy League institution, will be the featured speaker and honorary chancellor at the June 15. Commencement. Simmons, who will receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters, is noted for her commitment to diversity and engineering, two key initiatives that are also integral to the Union campus.

 

Turner tells of Ramée’s plan

Paul V. Turner ’62, professor of architectural history at Stanford University, gave a lecture in late October dealing with Joseph Ramée and his design of Union’s campus. Turner, a native of Schenectady, is the author of the 1996 book, Joseph Ramée, International Architect of the Revolutionary Era. He holds a master’s degree in architecture and a doctorate in art history from Harvard University.

In conjunction with his visit, Schaffer Library created an exhibit of Ramée’s plans and drawings for Union, which are preserved in the College archives.

Ramée, a French architect and landscape designer, trained in Paris in the 1780s and came to the United States in 1812. He produced his design for the Union campus in 1813. He was considered one of the two or three most experienced and talented architects in this country at the time.

According to Turner, “Ramée’s design for Union created new standards of collegiate and university planning, which have helped shape American campuses ever since.”

A film crew from DoubleJay Creative recorded Turner giving a walking tour of campus. That film will be made available to the College community later this year.

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