A family of seven will celebrate its new home Sunday, May 18, when Union College and Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County help dedicate the latest Habitat project.
President Stephen C. Ainlay will join Jeffrey W. Clark, executive director of the local Habitat chapter, at the 1 p.m. dedication by Michael and Kelly Harris, and their children – Sujea, 12, Sabrina, 9, Michael, Jr., 8, Isaiah, 8, and Samone, 3.
The College donated the house at 1124 Barrett St. in Schenectady to the local Habitat chapter two years ago, and the campus community has worked since last fall to help refurbish it. Hundreds of volunteers, including student, faculty and staff groups, pitched in on the renovations.
“You have all confirmed my conviction that we have a keen understanding of our sense of social-connectedness and civic commitment,” said Ainlay, in a note to the campus community.
The Union volunteers “can be proud of their participation in this project,” Clark said.
The Harris family, which currently lives in the Woodlawn section of the city, completed 400 hours of “sweat equity” and a financial background check to qualify for the Habitat home.
“The Gospel According to Bob: An Evening of Hootenanny, Harmony and A Cappella,” is set for Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m. in Old Chapel.
An outdoor barbecue featuring music by the local Celtic rock group, the McKrells, begins at 4 p.m.
The Bob bash, the 10th annual Dylan tribute at Union, is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by The Sanctuary at Old Chapel and Mystery Tramp Productions, in association with the Office of the Dean of Students and Green House, Sorum House and Music House.
“Bob turns 67 on May 24, but we’ll all sing Happy Birthday a few days early — not only to Bob, but to ourselves, too,” said the Sanctuary’s Dale Metzger. “After 10 years of singing his praises, we think we deserve a hoorah as well, or at least some harmony and hootenanny.”
Among the Dylan devotees scheduled to appear this year: Co-producer and emcee Michael Eck, the Ramblin’ Jug Stompers, the Gospel Train, Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys, Sgt. Dunbar and The Hobo Banned, Frank Jaklitsch, the Sidewinders, Jammin’ Brothers, Johnny Willis, Hale House Band, the Dutch Pipers, the Garnet Minstrelles and Hannah Imbesi.
While there is no cover charge for the concert, a suggested donation of $5 will go to the Chris Ryan Scholarship Fund. A pub menu and pub beverages will be available.
“And cake, naturally, will be served to all who sing a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ to Bob,” Metzger noted.
For more information contact Metzger at 388-6124 (metzgerd@union.edu) or Tyson Fricker at 432.6634 (mandhand@aol.com).
Villella Fellowship
Bill Finlay, Rich Leahy, Amelia Patten Whitney '09, Nozomi Sakata ’09, Miryam Moutillet and Kira Moldow ’09
Kira Moldow ’09, Nozomi Sakata ’09 and Amelia Patten Whitney ’09 will train and dance around the globe in the coming months as recipients of this year’s Edward Villella Fellowship.
Moldow, a Biology major, will spend her summer at the internationally recognized Steps on Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In the fall, she will take classes at L’Ecole de Danse Elisabeth Allain in Rennes, France.
“I look forward to training abroad and in New York City so I can see if the same styles of dance, such as classical Russian ballet and hip hop, are taught differently in different locations,” Moldow said. She added, “I am grateful that while there is a dynamic dance program on campus, through the Edward Villella Fellowship I am afforded the opportunity to continue what I love to do.”
Sakata, a Psychology major, will return to her native Japan to study Nihon Buyo at the Kyoto Art Center.
“I’ve been dancing for 10 years, mostly jazz and hip hop, which are styles for the younger generation,” Sakata said. “I have never understood what my culture’s traditional dance has meant. When I came to America, I saw the importance of studying original Japanese dance and the culture of my country.”
Whitney, a Sociology major, will explore a wide range dance styles through daily classes and workshops at the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance School in Brooklyn.
“This is an amazing opportunity. I am excited to work with someone I admire,” she said.
This is the first year Union’s Theater and Dance Department has awarded the Villella fellowship to three students. A former New York City Ballet principal dancer, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Union. Three years later, the fellowship was created from the gifts of Charles D. Lothridge ’44.
The Villella scholarships were announced after the dance concert at the recent Steinmetz Symposium. Also announced at that time was the first Hedda Hainebach Memorial Prize in Music and Theater, named for the longtime coordinator of the College’s language lab and ardent supporter of the Union College Chamber Music Series, who died last year. The award went to Rich Leahy '08, a double major in theater and political science who starred in "Dracula" in the fall.
The fall 2007 term abroad in Vietnam included 19 students from Union College and Hobart William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.) and Visual Arts Professor Martin Benjamin in a photographic exploration of culture and ethics.
When 19 students spend 97 days armed with cameras and are immersed in the language and culture of Vietnam, the resulting photographic exploration of nearly 1,200 images becomes “Photographing Another Culture: Vietnam 2007.”
An exhibit featuring 20 of those shots, “New Eyes: Images of Daily Life in Vietnam,” will be unveiled Thursday, May 15, at 5 p.m. in the Global Visions Gallery, Grant Hall.
The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, includes the release of “The Aleph: A Journal of Global Perspectives” and the awarding of prizes for the Global Visions Photography Contest.
The event is sponsored by the Union College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges Partnership for Global Education.
“Hanoi and Cantho, Vietnam, 2007,” photograph, Martin Benjamin, professor of visual arts, is one of 20 photographs in the “Photographing Another Culture: Vietnam 2007” exhibit on display in the Global Visions Gallery, Grant Hall. The photos were made by
“Halong Bay, Vietnam, 2007,” photograph, Meggie Moriarty ’10, is one of 20 photographs in the “Photographing Another Culture: Vietnam 2007” exhibit on display in the Global Visions Gallery, Grant Hall. The photos were made by 19 students that participate
“New Eyes” was curated by Jen Libous ’08 and Martin Benjamin, professor of Visual Arts and director of the program to Vietnam. The exhibit features the creative efforts of students from the colleges during the fall 2007 color digital photography class in Vietnam.
In addition to field assignments and learning the Vietnamese dialects in both Saigon and Hanoi, students also examined ethical issues related to photography. Union’s “Ethics Across the Curriculum” initiative funded translators for speakers including acclaimed North Vietnamese photographers Mai Nam, Le Minh Trong and Doan Cong Tinh.
“The students on this term abroad weren’t photographers, and only one was a visual arts major,” said Benjamin, who returned for a fourth trip to Vietnam and his first teaching experience there. “The goal was to realize a life-changing experience; the product is the realization of those efforts.”
The Global Visions Gallery is updated each term. For more information, contact DougReilly, assistant director of the Partnership for Global Education at dreilly@hws.edu or (315) 781-3788.
