Professor leads report on discrimination by the American Medical Association
When the American Medical Association apologized in July for its long practice of discrimination against black physicians, Professor Robert B. Baker found himself in the thick of a controversy involving the country’s oldest and largest physicians’ group.
Baker, chair of the Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative and the William D. Williams Professor of Philosophy, was the lead author of a study of the AMA’s racial policies, which prompted the historic apology.
Baker and a team of independent experts convened by the AMA in 2005 dug deep into past practices of the medical association, specifically examining the period between 1846 and 1968. The research uncovered by the panel painted an ugly picture of racial bias and discrimination that is “linked to the current paucity of African-American physicians, distrust Professor leads report on discrimination by the American Medical Associationof professional associations by some physicians, and contemporary racial health disparities,” according to the group’s report in the July 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In commentary in the same issue of JAMA, Ronald M. Davis, immediate past presi- dent of the AMA, cited the panel’s work and said: “The medical profession, which is based on a boundless respect for human life, had an obligation to lead society away from disrespect of so many lives. The AMA failed to do so and has apologized for that failure.”
The AMA hopes its apology and other initiatives will help close the racial divide in medicine. According to the AMA’s Web site, as of 2006, less than 2 percent of its members were black and fewer than 3 percent of the country’s 1 million medical students and physicians were black, despite blacks representing roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population.
As Baker, who also directs the Union Graduate College-Mount Sinai School of Medi- cine Bioethics Program, told the Washington Post: “The apology is important because a heritage of discrimination is evident in the under-representation of African-Americans in medicine generally and in the AMA in particular. Patterns of segregated medicine still haunt American health care. The legacy of these decisions affects minority patients on a daily basis.”
Eight graduates making their mark in the world as Minerva Fellows
Shortly after Commencement, eight graduates headed off on separate trips to Cambodia, Southern Uganda and other foreign destinations where, for 11 months, they will get a first- hand look at the human side of poverty. The eight students comprise the College’s first Minerva Fellows, a scholarship program designed to instill in new graduates an entrepreneurial approach to social problems and a lasting commitment to the poor.
The selected students come from Union’s seven Minerva Houses, which serve students’ social and academic interests. All students, faculty and staff are assigned to a Minerva House.
The Minerva Fellows will team up with a social organization and report to their assigned country in July. They return to Union in May, where they will live on campus for a month. During that time, they will participate in an ongoing course on social entrepreneurship, recount their experiences for other students and give presentations at Minerva Houses and classes. The goal is to make the Minerva Fellows an integral part of the Union experience.
“We have incredibly talented students ready to assist extremely worthwhile organizations. Not only will they be helping others, they themselves will be transformed in the process. The thought of them returning to Union to share their experiences makes this a very special program,” said Tom McEvoy, associate dean of students and director of Minerva Programs.
Fulbright adventures
For three recent Union grads, a Fulbright adventure is underway.
Michelle E. Koo ’08 earned a Fulbright teaching assistantship in Madrid, where she will through June assist a secondary school classroom and build a model U.N. project. Victoria Leonard ’07 is now working in a Fullbright teaching assistantship at a secondary school near Paris. And Lauren Youngman ’08 earned an English teaching assistantship in France that is sponsored by the French government and administered by the Fulbright Program.
“The increasing number of Union students winning these awards shows that institutions like the Fulbright Program and foreign governments recognize the quality of a Union education,” said Maggie Tongue, director of postgraduate fellowships. “When they recruit our students, they get young adults with a solid education as well as a global perspective.”
The Fulbright teaching assistantship program administers 38 Fulbright grants in Spain, five Fulbright grants in France and 50 assistantship grants given by the French Ministry of Education. The Fulbright Program is run by the U.S. Department of State and was established in 1946 with help from U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright. In 2007, the program gave roughly 6,000 grants totaling $262 million.
Koo, who was a psychology major and salutatorian for the Class of 2008, works 20 hours a week at the school in Madrid. She plans to seek out community service projects during her free time.
After returning from Spain, Koo will become an elementary school teacher for a Northern California chapter of Teach for America, which sends recent graduates to teach in low-income school districts for up to two years.
“I have found that volunteering is the most fulfilling way I can spend my time and I want to expose my students to the positive aspects of volunteering and instill in them the importance of giving back and helping others,” Koo said.
Leonard, who earned a master’s degree in education from Union Graduate College in June, is working at a secondary school in Sartrouville, near Paris. In addition to the assistantship, Leonard plans to start a ballroom dance club for French students.
Youngman, who completed a term abroad in Ireland and a Union term in Washington, D.C., is spending six months as a teaching assistant at a secondary school academy in Leon, France. Youngman, a history major with minors in political science and French, hopes to build a career in international relations.
Research paves way for a sustainable sidewalk
As a light rain fell on an early July morning, several members of the Union community labored on, unaffected. Their job: to pave a walkway behind Memorial Fieldhouse using a newly developed eco-friendly mixture of permeable concrete that could solve some storm water drainage problems.
The mixture, pervious rubberized concrete, or PRC, contains aggregate, sand, cement and rubber, and presents a new use for old tires. It grew out of a collaborative effort by Professor Ashraf Ghaly and mechanical engineering major Andrew Heiser ’09, who began research on their product last summer.
Developing the concrete was difficult, Ghaly said, because of the unique integration of rubber in its ingredients. The biggest challenge “was to come up with an optimum mixture.”
“Rubber decreases the overall strength, but makes the concrete more durable,” Heiser said. “It is therefore a balance of trying to find the correct amount of rubber to obtain for optimal permeability, while also keeping the concrete strong enough for its desired purpose.”
Working with members of Facilities Services, Ghaly and Heiser used three different ratios of the mixture to pave the Fieldhouse walkway. Although every mixture is strong enough to behave like typical concrete, they were seeking the combination that allows for the most permeability.
“The concrete we poured is pervious, which allows water to percolate through—thus charging underground aquifers, reducing heat island effect and eliminating the need for drainage accessories,” Ghaly said.
This fall, as part of his senior project, Heiser will examine how PRC responds to both hot and cold conditions. It is, he believes, a unique way for Union to differentiate itself in its sustainability efforts.
Ghaly, a proponent of sustainability as a way of life both on campus and off, said that after a year’s worth of trial and error in the lab, he hopes the PRC project “demonstrates that small and simple ideas are like little seeds that grow and become big trees. These ideas have the potential to make a significant difference in our environment.
Kara Lightman '09: 'Peace scholar' helps women in Cambodia
Kara Lightman took her first trip to Cambodia in 2005 after graduating from high school. The Concord, Mass. native traveled there with her family, who had started a foundation to help the villagers of Tramung Chrum.
“The first time I went, I didn’t quite grasp it. Everything was so different and frightening,” Lightman said. “The second time, I had an overwhelming sense I needed to do something. The country has been so heavily destroyed. You walk down the street and see people whose faces have been burned off.”
During the summer, Lightman, who was particularly taken by the plight of the women of Cambodia, traveled alone to the Southeast Asian village. Her mission: to help Cambodian girls escape lives of poverty, ignorance and domestic violence by introducing them to the importance of education.
Lightman’s efforts were supported by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Projects for Peace. She is one of 100 students from more than 85 American colleges and universities who will receive $10,000 to help promote world peace.
An interdepartmental major in anthropology and political science, Lightman is the daughter of Jean, an artist, and Alan Lightman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the 1999 international bestseller, Einstein’s Dreams.
In 2006, Alan Lightman created the Harpswell Foundation, a nongovernmental organization, after helping a friend build schools in Tramung Chrum, about 50 miles from the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
“We became very close with this village,” Kara said. “They have no plumbing, no running water, no electricity; they tell time by when the sun rises.”
Upon learning that many women can’t go to college because there is nowhere safe for them to live (men can stay in monasteries, but Buddhist rules bar women from taking shelter there), Alan Lightman raised money and bought land, and in 2006, Harpswell built the first women’s dormitory in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh. The more than 30 young women who live there also receive room and board and leadership training.
“I have been greatly inspired by this project, and now I want to do my own work to help the women of Cambodia,” Kara said.
She noted that thousands of women suffer from domestic violence and marital rape, and that by 13, many girls are often sent away to work in the rice fields or as prostitutes to support their families.
“I would like to encourage girls to stay in school and become educated, which will allow them to get reputable jobs and eventually give money back to their families and villages. I want to use education as a tool to give women a voice.”
One of the poorest countries in the world, Cambodia saw almost its entire educated class destroyed when the notoriously brutal government, the Khmer Rouge, took power in the 1970s.
Lightman will spend about six weeks traveling around the country with three women from the Harpswell dormitory who will share their struggles Kara Lightman ’09: ‘Peace scholar’ helps women in Cambodiaand their stories. Ultimately, she wants her efforts to embody what is inscribed in both Khmer and English on the brass plaque in the Harpswell dormitory: “Our mission is to empower a new generation of Cambodian women.”
Lightman left for Cambodia in July and is spending her fall term in Fiji. She plans to return to campus with a photojournalistic account of her work in Cambodia.
“I’ve been there four times, and I have far more culture shock now coming back to the States than I do when I go there,” she said. “It’s hard to go and not do anything. The people are so generous, and the thing that is so amazing is that even though they have so little, they have hope.”
At Union, Lightman is a member of Sigma Delta Tau, the Young Democrats Club and the Model U.N. Club. She credits her political science advisor, Darius Watson, and the Anthropology Department for sparking her passion to study other cultures.
Lightman is the second Union student to be named a “peace scholar.” Last year, when the awards were created, Karyn Amira ’08 received funding for her efforts to curb landmines in Cambodia.
For more information about 100 Projects for Peace, visit www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org
Former lax coach honored
Former men’s lacrosse coach Bruce Allison was featured in a magazine distributed at the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship held last May at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
The NCAA’s Lacrosse Magazine recounted the story of Allison and former Union Athletics Director Wilford “Bill” Ketz drafting a postseason tournament proposal that was enacted by the NCAA in 1971. The tournament has since become an annual Memorial Day event that draws thousands and enjoys national television exposure. The story, headlined “Growing the Game,” portrays Allison as a critical part of the sport’s foundation and surge in popularity.
The story also quotes Union men’s lacrosse coach Paul Wehrum:
“We hold our Bruce Allison Tournament at Union every fall in his honor,” Wehrum said. “He looks exactly the way he did nearly 40 years ago—very tall and strong. When he coached lacrosse at Union he was also the freshman football coach. He used to get his football players to come out for lacrosse. I’ve seen some of his former players—guys who might be 62 years old—call him Coach or Coach Allison. Never Bruce. I’ve never called him Bruce. That’s the kind of respect he gets. The first time I met him he was president of the USILA. He handed me my certificate at the dinner the first time I made all-America (1970). He shook my hand and said, ‘Congratulations, but you need to work on your left hand.’ ”
Allison served the College from 1957 through 1976. He started at Union as a coach of wrestling, men’s lacrosse and freshman football, becoming director of athletics and chairman of physical education in 1971. He coached men’s lacrosse for 19 seasons (1958-1976), and had many memorable victories including wins over Syracuse University in 1966 and 1974. As the director of athletics, he established six intercollegiate women’s programs. He lives in Golden, Colo. with his wife, Ann.
Grant funds national study on cybercycling for seniors
Union College has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore how interactive digital gaming can improve the health of people age 50 and older.
The College will be a part of one of 11 research teams that will receive up to $200,000 each from the foundation’s Health Games Research program to measure the effects that playing video games has on the young and the old.
At Union, researchers will spend two years examining the physiological and neuro-psychological impact of cybercycling on area seniors. Players on a stationary bike will be monitored for heart rate, body composition, cognitive function, social relationships and other measures while racing against a virtual cycling partner.
The idea is to make exercise for a group not prone to participate more competitive and fun. In the video games, players can compete against themselves or others.
“The benefits of aerobic exercise on brain health are well documented,” said Cay Anderson-Hanley, assistant professor of psychology and the project’s lead researcher. She is collaborating with Paul Arciero, an associate professor of exercise science at Skidmore College.
“Yet studies have shown that across the lifespan, exercise participation decreases dramatically, with fewer than 10 percent of seniors exercising at the recommended levels. We hope to clarify which factors about cybercycling may help increase exercise behaviors.”
She anticipates that for some seniors, competing against one’s self or others in 3-D will enhance motivation, while for others collaborating with a virtual league will increase participation.
Players will exercise at their resident or senior center, and be evaluated at the Healthy Aging & Neuropsychology Lab run by Anderson-Hanley or the Exercise Science Lab at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Researchers hope to recruit players and also set up work stations at area senior centers.
“This grant allows two small liberal arts colleges to combine efforts and push the envelope of our research in some new and exciting ways,” said Anderson-Hanley. “Ideally, it would be wonderful to see that some isolated, sedentary seniors might start looking forward to climbing on their cybercycle to ‘spin’ with an old friend who may live across the country, but with whom they can work toward a common goal of improving their physical and cognitive health, all while having fun.”
Other institutions to receive grants include Cornell University, University of Florida and the University of North Carolina.
Health Games Research, a national program that supports research to enhance the quality and impact of interactive games used to improve health, is headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
College volunteers wrap up Habitat house work
A family of seven from Schenectady has a new home, thanks to the College and the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Michael and Kelly Harris, and their five children—Sujea, 12, Sabrina, 9, Michael, Jr., 8, Isaiah, 8, and Samone, 3— were surrounded by dozens of well-wishers on a Sunday in mid-May as the house at 1124 Barrett St. was officially dedicated.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone,” an emotional Kelly Harris said, standing in the middle of her crowded new kitchen. “I love all the volunteers so much. They worked really hard. They’re just wonderful people.”
The College donated the house to the local Habitat chapter, and the campus community has worked since last fall to help refurbish it.
President Stephen C. Ainlay said the genesis for the project sprang from students inspired by their trip to New Orleans to help with rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Ainlay challenged the campus community to help restore the home as a way to recultivate its sense of social-connectedness and civic commitment. Hundreds of volunteers, including members of athletic teams, Greek organizations, student groups, faculty, staff and administrators pitched in to renovate the house, built in 1910.
The family also chipped in 400 hours of “sweat equity” in their new home, which is just blocks from campus
College names new V.P. for College Relations
Stephen A. Dare, formerly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named in early September vice president for College Relations by President Stephen C. Ainlay.
Dare succeeds Thomas C. Gutenberger, who left in July after nine years to become vice president for advancement at the University of Richmond, his alma mater.
At Union, Dare will be responsible for managing alumni relations, development, communications and community relations, along with foundation, corporate and government relations.
“I am thrilled and delighted to be a part of the Union community,” Dare said. “To be able to work with President Ainlay and the Board of Trustees, continuing to raise support for this historic institution, is an honor.”
Dare will also direct the College’s $250 million You are Union fund-raising campaign.
“Tom and his staff deserve much credit for the success of the campaign thus far, and their professionalism was a significant reason why Union was such a great opportunity,” he said.
Dare has more than 26 years of fundraising experience in higher education. He joined MIT in 1998 as director of resource development, overseeing the daily operations of the development organization and serving as campaign manager for MIT’s recently completed $2 billion campaign. He also served as interim vice president for resource development. Since March 2007, Dare has been senior managing director of development and campaign strategies and was overseeing a $500 million campaign for students.
Prior to joining MIT, Dare was director of development for endowment and capital programs at Boston College and director of development and alumni relations at Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering and its School of Continuing Studies.
“We had an excellent pool of candidates for this critical position, and we are very fortunate to have someone of Steve’s caliber join our Union family,” Ainlay said. “His leadership, vision and wealth of experience in college relations will be instrumental as we work to implement the key components of our Strategic Plan.”
A native of Washington Township, N.J., Dare has a bachelor’s in communications and a master’s in educational public relations, both from Rowan University.
He and his wife, Rosemary, have a son, Matthew, who will be a senior in high school this fall. The family resides in Franklin, Mass. Dare began his new job Sept. 2
Curricula Vitae
Judith Lewin, associate professor of English, women’s and gender studies, and religion, recently completed a scholar-in-residency program at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University for her book project on Jewish women’s writing. In addition, she has authored a book chapter about a historical fiction film, The Governess, which appeared in cinemas in 1998. The chapter discusses stereotypes associated with Jewish women’s sexuality in 1830s British culture and complements two other pieces on Jewish women by Lewin in print this spring. Lewin also was elected to a four-year term on the Women’s Caucus Board of the international Association for Jewish Studies.
“A 20th-Century Faust,” a book review by Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History, appears in American Scientist, the magazine of science and technology published by Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. Walker reviewed Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War by Michael J. Neufeld (Knopf, 2007). Wernher von Braun was a German physicist and astronautics engineer and leader in rocket technology.
Cheikh M. Ndiaye, assistant professor of French and Francophone studies, published an article, “Marronnage, Oralité et Écriture dans Solibo Magnifique de Patrick Chamoiseau,” in the Francophone studies journal, Nouvelles Etudes Francophones. The article is a revision of a conference paper Ndiaye had previously presented at the Rocky Mountain Modern Languages Association annual convention in Idaho.
Associate professor of chemistry Michael Hagerman recently received a grant of $75,400 from the Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing at the State University of New York at Binghamton and National Aeronautics and Space Administration to fund solar cell nanomaterials research titled, “Self-Assembled Laponite/CdSe/PANI/PEDOT Nanocomposite Thin Film Photovoltaics on Flex.” This work is in collaboration with Wayne Jones, chemistry professor at the University at Binghamton. The funding, from July 1 through June 30, 2009, will support undergraduate and graduate research in nanotechnology bridging Union College, the University at Binghamton and local industrial partner, Evident Technologies.
Janet Anderson, the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Science and Professor of Chemistry, and others, recently published an article in Biochemistry. They used electrostatic calculations to explain the observed hydrogen exchange rates for amide protons on the surface of the rubredoxin protein.
An article by Rebecca Surman, associate professor of physics, appears in the June issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. It is titled “r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Hot Accretion Disk Flows from Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers.” Co-authors are G.C. McLaughlin, M. Ruffert, H.-Th. Janka and W.R. Hix. Surman presented this work recently at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society in St. Louis and at seminars at Duke University and North Carolina State University.
Andrew Rapoff, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Ronald Bucinell, the Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Emma Watson Day Professor of Mechanical Engineering and department chair, along with Scott McGraw, of The Ohio State University, and David Daegling, of the University of Florida, recently presented research titled “Full Field Noncontacting Strain Measurements in the Colobine Mandibular Symphysis” at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthro- pologists in Columbus, Ohio.
Andrew Morris, assistant professor of history, attended the Policy History Conference in St. Louis recently. He organized a panel titled “Privatizing Public Policy and Public Services,” which considered various aspects of the history of privatization in the United States. He also presented a paper, “Privatizing Human Services: The Nonprofit Sector and the Contracting State,” which looked at the origins and evolution of government’s use of nonprofit agencies as service delivery mechanisms. The material in his paper is derived from his forthcoming book, The Limits of Voluntarism: Charity and Welfare from the New Deal Through the Great Society, to be published by Cambridge University Press in early 2009