Posted on Apr 15, 2008

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee entertained a crowd of more than 900 people who filled Memorial Chapel Monday night.

Huckabee spoke for nearly an hour, touching on his childhood, the social issues facing America and his failed bid to win the GOP presidential nomination. He also addressed the possibility of being named Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the fall election.

After his speech, titled "The Pursuit of the Presidency and the Perfectly Insane American Process," Huckabee stuck around for another hour, fielding questions from the audience and greeting dozens of well-wishers who crowded around him at the foot of the stage.

Before his talk, Huckabee joined President Stephen C. Ainlay and his wife, Judith, several students and faculty for dinner at the President’s House. The former Arkansas governor also met with a dozen members of the media in Old Chapel.

Huckabee’s appearance was sponsored by the Speakers Forum. For a photo gallery, click here.

Posted on Apr 15, 2008

Pianist Tim Olsen, associate professor of Music, will lead a quartet of local musicians in "Jazz Vespers" at the First Reformed Church in Schenectady’s Stockade Sunday, April 20 at 5 p.m. Admission is free, but a goodwill offering will be received.

An oboe concerto, “Shakkei,” by the John Howard Payne Professor of Music Hilary Tann, will be performed at the Concert Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, by the China National Symphony Orchestra Sunday, April 20, as part of the 2008 Beijing International Congress on Women in Music. Tann will be in attendance.

A book chapter by Scott D. Kirkton, assistant professor of Biology, was recently published in “Hypoxia and Circulation” from the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology series (Volume 618; 2007). The chapter, “Effects of Insect Body Size on Tracheal Structure and Function,” emerged from an invited symposium talk at the International Hypoxia meeting last February.

Hans-Friedrich Mueller, professor and chair of Classics, was invited to participate in a seminar on Roman religion at the University of Pisa in Italy. He contributed a paper, titled “Aspects of Nocturnal Religion in Ancient Rome,” in which he discussed the extent to which scholars may hope to recover the relationship ancient Roman women strove to maintain with deceased relatives. While in residence in Pisa, he also presented a public lecture on Edward Gibbon’s place in Roman historiography. He returned to the Schenectady by way of Liverpool, England, where he presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Classical Association. “The Lex Poetelia Papiria: Same Sex Desire and Debt-Bondage,” explores how ancient Roman attitudes towards sexual morality may have contributed to limiting the rights of creditors to exact labor from debtors in archaic Roman law.

Eric McDowell, director of Sports Information, was invited to speak at the NCAA Gender Equity and Issues Forum, set for Monday, April 28 in Boston. He will be on a panel titled “Media Strategies.” His session and handout is “Equitable Gender Sports Publicity and Promotion.” 

Rebecca Koopmann, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy, visited South Plains College in Levelland, Texas earlier this month as a Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer for the American Astronomical Society. She spoke with students and faculty and gave two public talks about astronomy. “So You Want to be an Astronomer: Adventures in the Life of an Extragalactic Astronomer” described astronomy as a career and emphasized the importance of scientific and technological careers. She spoke on “The Dark Side of the Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Invisible Universe” to an audience of about 200 at the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program, brings professional astronomers to college campuses to spread excitement about modern astronomy and astrophysics. The program is named in honor of Harlow Shapley (1885-1972), one of the foremost American astronomers of the first half of the 20th century.

Posted on Apr 15, 2008

Union College has been awarded a five-year $800,000 grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City to support four faculty “bridge” appointments in Anthropology, English and Philosophy. 

The grant will allow the College to hire new tenure-track faculty members before individuals who have made key contributions to these departments retire. The overlap of incoming and retiring faculty will permit new faculty to benefit from the experience of senior faculty. 

“We are very pleased to have received this generous grant from the Mellon Foundation,” noted Therese McCarty, vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the Faculty. “These hires will allow us to strengthen our academic course offerings in these disciplines as well as in interdisciplinary programs, a key part of our vision for the future of the College.”

The grant will help support the appointment of a new chair of the Philosophy Department. The current chair, Raymond F. Martin, the Dwayne W. Crichton Professor of Philosophy, is credited with revitalizing the department in the last five years through increased student enrollments and majors, a distinguished annual speakers series and his work on major faculty committees.

McCarty said Martin’s replacement, a senior faculty member, most likely would be “an analytical philosopher with interdisciplinary interests that support our plan to further integrate engineering and science with the social sciences and humanities.” Possible fields include philosophy of neuroscience, cognitive science, technology or the environment.

The Mellon grant also will allow Union to develop new Field Research Study Abroad programs on the model of those developed in Anthropology by George and Sharon Gmelch, who were instrumental in creating and leading Union programs in Tasmania and Barbados. External reviewers have called these programs, along with Professor Karen Brison’s program in Fiji, “remarkable” because they combine home stays with original field research conducted under the guidance of Union professors.

The bridge hire in Anthropology will help the College further its strategic goal of fostering and supporting innovative research and scholarship by students and faculty, a Union strength.

In the English Department, several senior faculty members are expected to retire in the next few years, including Harry Marten, the Edward E. Hale, Jr. Professor of English, and Ruth Stevenson, the Thomas B. Lamont Professor of Literature. Their retirements are associated with the bridge hires facilitated by this grant. New faculty members hired with the Mellon funding will support Film Studies and Irish Studies.

For many decades beginning in the 1960s, Union Professor William Murphy, now emeritus, and former Union Professor Adrian Frazier acquired international prominence for their scholarship in Irish literature. In recent years, the subject has been taught by visiting professors. The new tenure-track position will reinvigorate Irish Studies, emphasizing Irish literature, arts and culture.

Film Studies is an emerging program in which students will be able to integrate hands-on design and production work with film history, criticism and theory.

In announcing the Mellon funding, Union President Stephen C. Ainlay underscored the foundation’s “enormous influence on higher education. In particular, it has supported institutions committed to liberal education. This latest award will ensure continuity in important academic areas at Union.”

Posted on Apr 15, 2008

The opening reception for “LGBT: A Union Perspective” will be held in the Wikoff Student Gallery in the Nott Memorial Friday, April 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. Jury prizes will be awarded for “Honorable Mention” and “Best of Show.”

The reception, which is open to the public, coincides with April’s Art Night Schenectady; both the Wikoff and Mandeville galleries will be open until 9 p.m. for viewing.

“LGBT: A Union Perspective” is a juried exhibition of photographs, linoprints, sculptures, an oil painting and a poem that explores issues surrounding the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at Union.

Artists include Bui Duy Thanh Mai ’11, Emily Burgess ’10, Rivka Fidel ’10, Robbie Flick ’08, Brandon McArdle ’09, Rachel Start ’08, Hilary Zelson ’11 and Associate Professor and Chair of Studio Arts David Ogawa.

The exhibition runs through May 18 and coincides with the April 25 National Day of Silence, a student-led event to promote tolerance.

Posted on Apr 11, 2008

The Boston Camerata will celebrate love in the Middle Ages Sunday, April 20 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Chapel with a program titled “Abbey of Love: Songs of the Troubadours and Trouvères (1200-1400)” as part of Union’s Chamber Concert Series.

Winter weather forced the ensemble to cancel its scheduled Dec. 16 performance of “A Renaissance Christmas.” All subscription and advance-ticket purchases for that event will be honored Sunday.

The program features Music Director Joel Cohen on lutes and baritone; Anne Azéma, soprano; and Jesse Lepkoff, flute and recorder. In addition to songs of the troubadours and trouvères (the Northern French form of troubadours), the concert will highlight works by the great 14th-century musician/poet Guillaume de Machaut. Excerpts from the legend of Tristan and Iseult – from the group’s 1989 recording, which received the coveted “Grand Prix du Disque” and was re-released in February – will also be included.

Founded in 1954, the Boston Camerata preserves and reawakens history through its performances of European and American music from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras.

Cohen, who has directed the group since 1968, is a leading authority in the field of medieval and Renaissance musical performance. Azéma has been a key member of the Camerata since the early 1990s; she assumes the role of artistic director in September. Lepkoff, a member of Arcadia Players, performs, records and tours regularly with the Boston Camerata.

This concert is free for the Union College community, $25 for general admission and $10 for area students. Those who purchased advance tickets and are unable to attend should contact Union’s Event Office at 388-6080 to request a refund.

For more information, call 372-3651; for ticket information, visit http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries.