Posted on May 15, 2008

Computer Science major Hazen Woolson ’08 of Keene, N.H., got a camera his senior year in high school and has been shooting films ever since.

“I like being behind the camera,” Woolson said. “The storytelling aspects, showing something visually without words, are really interesting.”

Woolson is one of 16 students in “Documentary Filmmaking: Filtering your World,” taught by Troy native and visiting filmmaker Jim de Sève.

De Sève’s contacts in the industry have provided a steady stream of filmmakers to the College, including Academy Award-winning documentary Director and Cinematographer Cynthia Wade. Wade will present her Oscar-winning short documentary, “Freeheld,” Friday, May 16 at 3:15 p.m. in Sorum House.

The 38-minute film chronicles New Jersey Police Lt. Laurel Hester’s struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner. The film also received the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and screened in 45 film festivals, 26 states and seven countries, garnering 11 additional film awards.

Sponsored by Spectrum, the Minerva Program and Film Studies, this screening is a special preview before the film debuts on Cinemax Reel Life in June.

Union introduced its new Film Studies minor last fall. Program directors are Associate Professors Michelle Chilcoat (Modern Languages and Literatures) and Andrew Feffer (History).

“It would be great to have a campus that becomes more film literate each year,” said Feffer, “not just in the sense of being able to appreciate classic films or art film, but to understand the world better through film.”

De Sève’s class is less about the technical side of filmmaking and more about learning to tell a story visually.

“The biggest mistake documentary filmmakers make,” de Sève said, “is telling all your facts up front. You need to hook the audience and reveal the facts a little bit at a time.”

With a background in still photography and a passion for real-life stories, de Sève said “the filmmaker should not be ‘removed’ from the story. It’s more intimate and personal if he becomes a character.”

By term’s end, students will have developed synopses for their final project, a short documentary that will have a public screening on campus. Woolson’s project highlights two local immigrants who have owned and run Pizza King in downtown Schenectady for 20 years.

The course will be offered again in the fall.

Posted on May 15, 2008

Friday, May 16, 12:15 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Room 204 / Jill Salvo, professor of Biology, hosts informal grants lunch for faculty who have any questions about applying for a grant; focus on Division 3 faculty

Friday, May 16, 1 p.m. / Steinmetz Hall Room 106 / Learning and Teaching with Technology

Friday, May 16, 3:15 p.m. / Sorum House / Cynthia Wade, Academy Award-winning documentary director and cinematographer, will screen her Oscar-winning short documentary, “Freeheld”

Friday, May 16, 3:30 p.m. / SSCI Room 105E / Economics Department Seminar Series presents Stacey Chen of the University at Albany

Friday, May 16, 4:30 p.m. / Milano Lounge / Third anniversary tribute to Christie Sorum, the late dean of faculty

Friday, May 16, 5 p.m. / Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial / Opening reception for the Union College Senior Invitational; coincides with Art Night Schenectady

Friday, May 16, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Relay for Life

Saturday, May 17, 3 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “Silence of the Lambs”

Sunday, May 18, noon / Memorial Field House / U-CARE Day, hosted by the Kenney Community Center

Tuesday, May 20, 5:30 p.m. / Golub House / Dan Tatar ’08 speaks about his experiences with Rolling for Autism; catered by Bangkok Thai

Tuesday, May 20, 6 p.m. / Beuth House / Arabic Prof. May Saffar on “The Current Refugee Crisis in Iraq”; fund-raising event for the Iraqi Student Project. Middle Eastern dinner will be served.

Tuesday, May 20, 7 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, will talk on “Race and the 2008 Election”; sponsored by The Presidential Forum on Diversity. Harris-Lacewell is the author of the award-winning book, “Barbershops, Bible, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought.” Her latest project is “For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn’t Enough.” 

Wednesday, May 21, 12:15 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Room 204 / Jill Salvo, professor of Biology, hosts informal grants lunch for faculty who have any questions about applying for a grant; focus on Division 4 faculty

Wednesday, May 21, 4 p.m. / Nott Memorial / Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton speaks on Democratic Power Progress in Schenectady; reception in Everest Lounge to follow

Wednesday, May 21, 4:30 p.m. / F.W. Olin Foundation Auditorium / Computing Science pioneer Frances Allen will give a talk titled “High Performance Computers and Compilers: A Personal Perspective”; reception 3:45 p.m.

Thursday, May 22, 12:40 p.m. / Science and Engineering Building Room N304 / Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Kevin Cavicchi of University of Akron

Thursday, May 22, 12:45 p.m. / F.W. Olin Center Room 115 / Biology Department Seminar Series presents Mechanical Engineering Prof. Jennifer Currey on “Characterization of the Mechanical Environment of a Healing Bone Implant Interface”

Thursday, May 22, 7 p.m. / Old Chapel / 10^th Annual Bob Dylan tribute, “The Gospel According to Bob: An Evening of Hootenanny, Harmony and A Cappella”

Friday, May 23 – Monday, May 26, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead”

Saturday, May 24, 3 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center / Film: “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”

Saturday, May 24, 6 p.m. / Location TBA / Shakti Spring Show

Monday, May 26 – Saturday, May 31 / Greek Week

Posted on May 15, 2008

Computer Science major Hazen Woolson ’08 of Keene, N.H., got a camera his senior year in high school and has been shooting films ever since.

“I like being behind the camera,” said Woolson. “The storytelling aspects, showing something visually without words, are really interesting.”

Woodson is one of 16 students in “Documentary filmmaking: Filtering your World,” taught by Troy native and visiting filmmaker Jim de Sève.

De Sève’s contacts in the industry have provided a steady stream of filmmakers to the College, including Academy Award-winning documentary Director and Cinematographer Cynthia Wade. Wade will present her Oscar-winning short documentary “Freeheld” Friday, May 16, at 3:15 p.m. in Sorum House.

The 38-minute film chronicles New Jersey Police Lieutenant Laurel Hester's struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner. The film also received the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and screened in 45 film festivals, 26 states and seven countries, garnering 11 additional film awards.

Sponsored by Spectrum, the Minerva Program and Film Studies, this screening is a special preview before the film debuts on Cinemax Reel Life in June.

The burgeoning interest in filmmaking and the Film Studies minor, which launched last fall, is heartening to Associate Professors Michelle Chilcoat (Modern Languages and Literatures) and Andrew Feffer (History).

“It would be great to have a campus that becomes more film literate each year,” said Feffer, “not just in the sense of being able to appreciate classic films or art film, but to understand the world better through film.”

De Sève’s class is less about the technical side of filmmaking and more about learning to tell a story visually.

 “The biggest mistake documentary filmmakers make,” de Sève explained, “is telling all your facts up front. You need to hook the audience, but then reveal the facts a little bit at a time.”

With a background in still photography and a passion for real-life stories, de Sève said “the filmmaker should not be ‘removed’ from the story. "It’s more intimate and personal if he becomes a character.”

By term’s end, students will have developed elevator pitches and synopses for their final project, a six-to-12-minute documentary that will have a public screening on campus. Woolson’s project highlights two local immigrants who have owned and run Pizza King in Schenectady for the past 20 years.

“It’s about surviving as a business in Schenectady,” said Woolson. “It’s very character-based. They know their customers and joke around with them all the time.”

The course will be offered again in the fall. For more information on the Film Studies minor, contact Chilcoat at chilcoam@union.edu or (518) 388-7103.

Posted on May 15, 2008

For the 12^th straight year, the Kenney Community Center will host U-Care Day, a carnival featuring face painting, games and other crafts, Sunday, May 18, noon-3 p.m. in the Memorial Field House.

The event celebrates the success of the Union Community Action Reaching Everyone Program, which helps connect undergraduates with community organizations and volunteer services in the area. .

“We’re trying to make the event even better this year by inviting more schools to attend,” said Cybil Tribie '11, one of the carnival’s coordinators. “More clubs and Minervas are participating. Everyone is really motivated to interact with the children in the community.”

Working with Tribie are Shabana Hoosein ‘11 and Donald Austin, a 2005 Kutztown University graduate who is assigned to the Kenney Community Center through the Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA).

U-Care Day is sponsored by the President’s Office. Stewart’s Shop will donate ice cream for the third year; Wal-Mart and Price Chopper are providing paper products.

The event is free and open to the community. Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information, or to volunteer, contact U-Care 388-6777 or ucare@union.edu.

Posted on May 15, 2008

Union’s own Chester A. Arthur, the country’s 21^st president, is featured in a documentary that debuts Thursday, May 15, at 9 p.m. on WMHT.

“Presidents in Our Backyard” examines the life of eight U.S. presidents with close ties to New York state.

Arthur, Class of 1848, is prominently featured in the one-hour program hosted by Matt Ryan of WMHT. Ryan visited the campus in March, examining artifacts and other memorabilia from Arthur’s days as a student, along with items acquired by the College, including a walnut and leather writing desk (rumored to have a secret liquor cabinet) currently used by President Stephen C. Ainlay.

Rachel Seligman, director of the Mandeville Gallery and curator of the Permanent Collection, and James Underwood, the Chauncey H. Winters Research Professor of Political Science, are interviewed in the program, which also includes scenes of campus and the Chester Arthur statue, which stands outside the gate of Jackson’s Garden.

Local politicians were enlisted to read from letters or speeches of the presidents, with State Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Schenectady, providing the voice of Arthur.

For a preview of the Arthur segment, click here.

The son of a Baptist minister, Arthur grew up in Union Village, N.Y. (Greenwich, N.Y.) In 1845 he entered Union College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon and the Delphian Institute debating society. He was elected into Phi Beta Kappa his senior year.

A Republican, Arthur held several positions in New York state government and was nominated to be James Garfield’s vice president in 1880. He was sworn in as president on Sept. 20, 1881, a day after Garfield died from a gunshot wound.

Known as the “The Gentleman Boss” and the “Dude President” for his sense of style, Arthur died from a kidney ailment on Nov. 18, 1886, a year-and-a-half after leaving office, at his home in New York City. He is buried near his wife in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, N.Y., some 20 miles from his alma mater.

Besides Arthur, other U.S. presidents featured in the WMHT special are Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Millard Fillmore, Martin Van Buren, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley.

The documentary will be rebroadcast Saturday, May 17, at midnight and Sunday, May 18, at 7 p.m.