Posted on Sep 25, 2008

For the second straight year, local restaurants, shops and cultural attractions hope to attract hundreds of students downtown for “Welcome Back Students Day” Saturday, Sept. 27 from 1 to 6 p.m.

The event is a follow-up to “Show Me Schenectady,” the first major event organized by the Union-Schenectady Alliance (USA), created by recent Union graduates Steve Walker Walker and Josh DeBartolo to bolster relations between the College and the city. More than 400 students turned out last year to sample city life, and the event now includes Schenectady County Community College students.

“This is an innovative and enjoyable way to draw students from both downtown colleges into our district at the beginning of the academic year,” said Jim Salengo, executive director of the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp.“By familiarizing students early on with downtown’s many shopping, dining and entertainment options, we hope to encourage them to return regularly.”

The DSIC, the Chamber of Schenectady County and Proctors Theatre are key sponsors of the event.

“I'm amazed how much our businesses and organizations are willing to support efforts to bring students into downtown Schenectady,” said Ariel Sincoff-Yedid ’09, co-chair of USA. “I’ve become passionate about working with the city, and my motivation to organize these ‘downtown days’ comes from seeing how many students come to Schenectady and take advantage of the city's offerings after these big events.”

Students can pick up a program at Robb Alley at Proctors. Businesses will offer discounts or merchandise throughout the afternoon for those presenting special tickets, available for purchase at Proctors from noon to 5 p.m. Local musicians and college groups will perform throughout the day. An after-party will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. in Robb Alley.

“Bringing Union College, Schenectady County Community College and downtown Schenectady together is the best way to create the sort of lively downtown that will make us an enviable college town,” said Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors.

Two highlights of the day are “Scrabble-ectady” and the “Cultural Crawl.” In “Scrabble-ectady,” students pick up Scrabble tiles at participating businesses and return to Proctors to submit the highest-scoring word possible on a special game board. In the “Cultural Crawl,” students answer trivia questions celebrating Schenectady’s history.

“I'm looking forward to hearing about the expanded horizons students will gain after we show them just how alive and close their backyard is,” said Dave Brown ’10, co-chair of USA.

Posted on Sep 24, 2008

Armand V. Feigenbaum ’42, the originator of Total Quality Control, and seven other individuals from across the country will receive the 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Bush at a White House ceremony Monday, Sept. 29.

A day earlier, these leading innovators will attend a black-tie ceremony as recipients of America’s highest honor for technological achievement.

The award is “given to individuals, teams and/or companies/divisions for their outstanding contributions to the nation’s economic, environmental and social well-being through the development and commercialization of technology products, processes and concepts; technological innovation; and development of the nation’s technological manpower,” according to the medal’s Web site.

Armand and his brother, Donald S. Feigenbaum ’46, of Pittsfield, Mass., are longtime Union benefactors. Armand was worldwide manager of manufacturing operations and quality control for General Electric, and Donald had major management responsibilities in GE’s jet engine business when they founded General Systems Company in 1968.

The Pittsfield-based international systems engineering firm designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations throughout the world.

Armand Feigenbaum’s book on Total Quality Control has been published in many languages and is the basic text on quality systems and improvement. It was first published in 1951, and a 50th anniversary edition was released in 2002.

Union President Stephen C. Ainlay and his wife, Judith, along with Donald, have been invited to Washington for the dinner and awards ceremony.

“We are proud and thrilled to join the Feigenbaums for this special occasion,” Ainlay said. “Union has a history of producing and nurturing creative minds, and Armand embodies this innovative Union spirit.”

Posted on Sep 24, 2008

Posted on Sep 24, 2008

Alan Wolfe, political science professor and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, will discuss “Who’s Afraid of American Religion? Politics and Religion in the 2008 Elections” Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

His talk, co-sponsored by the Office of Minerva Programs’ Dinner & Discussion Series,Office of the President, Department of Political Science, Religious Studies Program and Catholic Chaplaincy, is free and open to the public. Dessert will follow the lecture.

Before his talk, Wolfe will have dinner with members of the campus community at Beuth House.

“Wolfe’s talk will offer yet another perspective from which to understand this election season – the heightened role religion has been playing in the campaigns,” said Catholic Chaplain Tom Boland, noting the College’s emphasis on the elections this term (including the summer reading for incoming first years of the two presidential autobiographies, political blogger Joshua Micah Marshall’s recent campus talk and this term’s interdisciplinary course on the elections).

A contributing editor of The New Republic and Wilson Quarterly, Commonwealth Magazine and In Character, Wolfe also writes for Commonweal, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Atlantic, the Washington Post and other publications. He was an advisor to President Clinton in preparation for his 1995 State of the Union address and has lectured widely at American and European universities.

Wolfe’s recent books include "Does American Democracy Still Work?" (Yale University Press, 2006), "Return to Greatness: How America Lost Its Sense of Purpose and What It Needs to Do to Recover It" (Princeton University Press, 2005), "The Transformation of American Religion: How We actaully Practice Our Faith" (Free Press, 2003) and "An Intellectual in Public" (University of Michigan Press, 2003).

His upcoming book, to be published in February, is  titled "The Future of Liberalism" (Knopf). 

Posted on Sep 23, 2008

Through Sept. 28

Mandeville Gallery

Nott Memorial

“SNAP! Contemporary Photography”

Features the unconventional photographic treatments and approaches of five contemporary female photographers: Sally Apfelbaum, Nora Herting, Katharine Kreisher, Melinda McDaniel and Lynn Saville.

Through Oct. 21

Wikoff Student Gallery

Nott Memorial

Optical Union

Photographs by Meghan Haley-Quigley ’08, Rui Fen Huang ’08, Tobias Leeger ’09, Steven Leung’08, Lauren Muske ’07, Jonathan Scheff ’11 and Juneui Soh ’08, taken from final portfolios from spring 2008’s Photography 3 class taught by Professor Martin Benjamin. The focus of each student’s portfolio ranges in subject and style, from documentary images to portraits to abstractions.

Through Dec. 1

Visual Arts Building

Burns Atrium Art Gallery

Knackers Yard

Visiting Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Anthony Cafritz’s recent installation of seemingly disparate materials that “attempts to describe the current state of things.”