Posted on May 6, 2008

Union is bringing together academic leaders from more than a dozen top colleges and universities for a national symposium, “Engineering and Liberal Education,” this weekend.

The idea of integrating engineering into the liberal arts is attracting considerable buzz on college campuses. Recent developments that highlight this growing interest include a white paper issued in December by James J. Duderstadt, a president emeritus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, urging universities to better prepare all undergraduates to understand and solve technical problems. Last month, Princeton University announced a $25 million gift to help integrate the two disciplines.

In 1845, Union became the first liberal arts college to offer engineering.

The symposium will explore different models for integrating engineering, technology and the traditional liberal arts.

Among the participants are Princeton, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, Lafayette, Smith, Trinity, Villanova, U.S. Military Academy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sweet Briar College, Tufts, University of Vermont, University of Georgia and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Speakers include Union President Stephen C. Ainlay; President Carol Christ of Smith College; Lance Schachterle, associate provost of WPI, and Domenico Grasso, dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematics, University of Vermont.

Most sessions will be held in the Nott Memorial and the F.W. Olin Center.

“There is real urgency to educate students who are great scientists and engineers and who can see the big picture,” says Cherrice A. Traver, dean of Engineering, citing concerns of the National Academies of Science and the National Academy of Engineering. “We understand that narrowly educated graduates are not prepared to address either the threats or the opportunities presented by the technological world.”

Noting Union’s pioneering status as the first liberal arts college to offer engineering, Traver said participants in this weekend’s conference “are in a position to help reshape higher education to produce graduates with the skills to think broadly and holistically about the challenges of our diverse, global, and technologically complex society."

The symposium is funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City.

For more information, go to http://www.union.edu/integration/.

Posted on May 6, 2008

Union will bring together academic leaders from more than a dozen top colleges and universities for a national symposium, “Engineering and Liberal Education”, May 9-10.

The idea of integrating engineering into the liberal arts is attracting considerable buzz on college campuses. Recent developments that highlight this growing interest include a white paper issued in December by James J. Duderstadt, a president emeritus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, urging universities to better prepare all undergraduates to understand and solve technical problems. Last month, Princeton University announced a $25 million gift to help integrate the two disciplines.

In 1845, Union became the first liberal arts college to offer engineering. The symposium will explore different models for integrating engineering, technology and the traditional liberal arts.

Among the participants are Princeton, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, Lafayette, Smith, Trinity, Villanova, U.S. Military Academy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,  Sweet Briar College, Tufts, University of Vermont, University of Georgia and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Speakers include Union President Stephen C. Ainlay; President Carol Christ of Smith College; Lance Schachterle, associate provost of WPI and Domenico Grasso, dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematics, University of Vermont.

Most of the sessions will be held in the Nott Memorial and the F.W. Olin Center.

“There is real urgency to educate students who are great scientists and engineers and who can see the big picture,” says Cherrice A. Traver, dean of Engineering, citing concerns of the National Academies of Science and the National Academy of Engineering. “We understand that narrowly educated graduates are not prepared to address either the threats or the opportunities presented by the technological world.”

Noting Union’s pioneering status as the first liberal arts college to offer engineering, Traver noted that participants in this weekend’s conference “are in a position to help reshape higher education to produce graduates with the skills to think broadly and holistically about the challenges of our diverse, global, and technologically complex society."

The symposium is funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City.

For more information, go to http://www.union.edu/integration/.

Posted on May 5, 2008

"Feminists are Funny," a 70-minute play featuring the Guerrilla Girls On Tour will be presented Thursday, May 15 at 7 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium.

The performance is free and open to the public; seating is limited. Advance tickets may be picked up in Visual Arts room 101.

Guerrilla Girls on Tour is a 26-member company of theatre artists and comediennes that creates and performs plays, street actions, visual work and residency programs that dramatizes women’s history and advocates on behalf of women and artists of color. Each performer takes the name of a dead woman artist, and wears a gorilla mask to focus on the issue, not the performer.

“Feminists are Funny,” is an energetic romp through some of the troupe’s street theatre protests; explores some of the funniest female activists and their accomplishments and recaps the current events in politics, the performing arts and media.

The ensemble has toured through 30 states and six countries and has been featured in The London Times, Village Voice and The New York Times.

The group's appearance at Union has numerous sponsors, including the Department of Visual Arts Walter C. Baker & William B. Jaffe Fund; Michael S. Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative; and the Women’s and Gender Studies Saddock Fund for Women and the Arts.

For more information, contact the Department of Visual Arts at (518) 388-6714.

Posted on May 5, 2008

Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist and author of the best seller, “Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army” (Nation Books, 2007), will speak Monday, May 12, 7-8 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing and reception.

Considered an expert on privatized warfare Scahill has testified before Congress on the administration’s use of mercenary forces in U.S. war zones. He has reported extensively from Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, and his investigation into the use of private military contractors after Katrina sparked a Congressional probe.

In 1998, he and colleague Amy Goodman shared a George Polk Award, one of journalism’s top prizes, for their work in exposing the role of the Chevron oil corporation in the killing of protesting villagers in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

A regular contributor to The Nation magazine and frequent commentator on television news programs, Scahill was a senior producer and correspondent for the nationally syndicated radio and television show, “Democracy Now!”  He is a featured guest on the HBO show, "Real Time with Bill Maher." 

Before his lecture, Scahill will meet with students at Golub House as part of the Langer Dinner, Dessert and Discussion series.

Scahill’s visit to campus is sponsored by the President’s Office and the Political Science Department, among others.

Posted on May 5, 2008

Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist and author of the best seller, “Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” will speak Monday, May 12, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing and reception.

Scahill, considered an expert on privatized warfare, has testified before Congress on the administration’s use of mercenary forces in U.S. war zones. He has reported extensively from Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, and his investigation into the use of private military contractors after Katrina sparked a Congressional probe.

In 1998, Scahill and colleague Amy Goodman shared a George Polk Award, one of journalism’s top prizes, for their work in exposing the role of the Chevron oil corporation in the killing of protesting villagers in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

A regular contributor to The Nation magazine, Scahill was a senior producer and correspondent for the nationally syndicated radio and television show, “Democracy Now!”

Scahill is a frequent commentator on television news programs. He has also been a guest on “The Daily Show” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Before his public lecture, Scahill will meet with students at Golub House as part of the Langer Dinner, Dessert and Discussion series.

Scahill’s visit to campus is sponsored by the President’s Office and the Political Science Department, among others.