Posted on Sep 23, 2008

Armand V. Feigenbaum ’42 has been awarded the 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor for technological achievement bestowed on America's leading innovators.

Feigenbaum and the other seven recipients will be honored at a black tie dinner Sunday, Sept. 28, and receive their awards from President Bush the following day at a White House ceremony.

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 is the originator of Total Quality Control. His book on the subject 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.”

Since 1996 the College has hosted the annual Feigenbaum Forum, which brings leaders from the academic and business worlds together at Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. This year’s forum is Oct. 21.

In 1997, the College's administration building was dedicated in honor of the Feigenbaums, who supported the extensive renovation of the building, which dates to 1871.

Posted on Sep 23, 2008

[bjm_danse], a modern dance company from Montreal hailed for its passion, verve and ingenuity, comes to campus next week for a dance residency that includes a master class and lecture-demonstration and culminates in a performance at The Egg in Albany.

The master class for advanced students will be held Wednesday, Oct. 1, 7-8:30 p.m., and the free lecture-demo is Thursday, Oct. 2, 6-8 p.m. Both will take place in the dance studio in the Visual Arts Building.

Sponsored by the Theater and Dance Department, the residency was made possible by a gift from Sue Davis and Dr. Gus Davis ’59 in memory of their daughter, Stephanie C. Davis, a dance lover.

[bjm_danse] began as Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal in 1972. Founded by Eva Von Gencsy and Genevieve Salbaing, it included work by many celebrated Canadian and foreign choreographers. Since 1998, Director Louis Robitaille has expanded the company’s artistic horizons by promoting contemporary choreography that mixes modern, jazz and balletic styles with the avant-garde.

[bjm_danse] will open the 2008-09 dance season at the Egg Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. At 7:15 p.m., the Egg will host a pre-show dance talk with Robitaille, moderated by Union Dance Program Director Program Miryam Moutillet.

The program includes the signature “Les Chambres des Jacques” by acclaimed choreographer Aszure Barton, set to a score that features classical music, Québécois folk tunes, and klezmer, gypsy and Yiddish melodies. Also on the bill is Barton's companion piece, "Jack in a Box."  Born in Canada and based in New York City, Barton has created works for Mikhail Baryshnikov and The Juilliard School, among others.

Union students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the Egg performance free of charge. A limited numbers of tickets are available on first-come, first-serve basis with a Union ID. They may be picked up at the Yulman Theatre Box Office weekdays 1:30-2:30 p.m. and at the Visual Arts Building Office, 3-4 p.m. Free round-trip transportation will be provided, with buses leaving for the Empire State Plaza from the Nott/Seward parking lot at 6 p.m.

For more information, contact Linda Goodman at goodmanl@union.edu

Posted on Sep 23, 2008

How do gender imbalances affect women who teach college sciences, technology engineering and math – the STEM disciplines? Why do the imbalances exist? And what can be done to recruit and retain female professors in these fields?

These are some of the issues Union and Skidmore college researchers will delve into during the next three years, thanks to a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

“We’re hoping to learn more about where gender imbalances exist and why,” Johnson said. “Although it is hard to separate the personal from the systemic, our hope is to learn more about the systemic issues and make improvements,” said Brenda Johnson, Union professor of mathematics.

Johnson and Alice Dean, Skidmore professor of mathematics, are co-principal investigators of “Skidmore Union Network (SUN): Supporting Women Faculty in STEM at Liberal Arts Colleges.” 

Work begins this fall on both campuses.

The two were the only liberal arts colleges to receive grants from the NSF through this round of its Advance Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination. awards program. The program seeks to increase representation of women in academic science and engineering careers by encouraging the use of existing innovative materials and practices.

Union and Skidmore scholars will consider how successful programs at some larger, research-oriented universities could be adapted for use and also make recommendations specific to the unique concerns of female faculty at smaller, liberal arts colleges.

Union and Skidmore mirror national trends, which show that women are underrepresented as STEM teachers and scholars, while men continue to dominate the higher faculty ranks. 

At both colleges, women constitute slightly more than one-third of tenure-track and tenured faculty in the STEM disciplines. One-third of STEM full professors at Union are women; Skidmore’s percentage of female full professors is  25 percent.

The SUN project will target women faculty in these disciplines at two specific career stages: tenure-track (early career) and tenured associate professors, who have been at the rank for seven years or more. A central goal is to give women resources and support to achieve tenure and promotion.

Other key goals are to learn more about the climates and biases that affect hiring, development and promotion of women in these fields, and to develop environments that will eventually result in a more balanced gender ratio for STEM faculty.

Gender issues, said Dean, “are more of a problem in some areas than others. However, there are certain responsibilities, including child care and family issues, which fall primarily on women.” 

The researchers plan to develop a structure that includes such tools as mentoring, collaboration, advanced training and other supports to enable new faculty to succeed in meeting the challenges of juggling family and work responsibilities.

“Building relationships with another college through mentoring will offer opportunities for everyone to gain professionally,” said SUN committee member and Union Dean of Engineering Cherrice Traver.

Posted on Sep 23, 2008

Martin Jay '65, the Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote an essay about Joseph Finkelstein, a history professor who influenced him greatly at Union.

Jay's piece was published Sept. 21 in a special issue of the New York Times Magazine devoted to teaching.

Of Finkelstein, Jay wrote that "he had the gift of making connections between what he taught and who we were, conveying the sense that we, too, were part of the story and not merely spectators of someone else's history."

Finkelstein '47, whose teaching career at Union spanned nearly five decades, died in November 2006.

To read Jay's essay, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Sep 22, 2008

A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will support a three-year study by Union and Skidmore college researchers on recruiting and retaining female professors in the fields of science (including social science), technology, engineering and math – the STEM disciplines. 

Brenda Johnson, professor of mathematics at Union, and Alice Dean, professor of mathematics at Skidmore, are co-principal investigators for the project, titled “Skidmore Union Network (SUN): Supporting Women Faculty in STEM at Liberal Arts Colleges.” 

Work begins this fall on both campuses.

The two were the only liberal arts colleges to receive grants from the NSF through this round of its Advance Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination. (PAID) awards program. The program seeks to increase representation of women in academic science and engineering careers by encouraging the use of effective existing innovative materials and practices.

Union and Skidmore scholars will consider how successful programs at some larger, research-oriented universities could be adapted for use and also make recommendations specific to the unique concerns of female faculty at smaller, liberal arts colleges.

Local analysis of national trend

Union and Skidmore mirror national trends, which show that women are underrepresented as teachers and scholars in the STEM fields, while men continue to dominate the higher faculty ranks. 

At both colleges, women constitute slightly more than one-third of tenure-track and tenured faculty in the STEM disciplines. One-third of STEM full professors at Union are women; Skidmore’s percentage of female full professors is one-fourth.

The Skidmore-Union project will target women faculty in these disciplines at two specific career stages: tenure-track (early career) and tenured associate professors who have been at the rank for seven years or more. A central goal is to give women resources and support to achieve tenure and promotion.

“We’re hoping to learn more about where gender imbalances exist and why,” Johnson said. “Although it is hard to separate the personal from the systemic, our hope is to learn more about the systemic issues and make improvements.”

Key goals of the study are to learn more about the climates and biases on both campuses that affect hiring, development and promotion of women in these fields, and to develop environments that will eventually result in a more balanced gender ratio for faculty in the STEM disciplines. The researchers will share findings and recommendations with the larger community of liberal arts colleges.

Gender issues, said Dean, “are more of a problem in some areas than others. However, there are certain responsibilities, including child care and family issues, which fall primarily on women.” 

The researchers plan to develop a structure that includes such tools as mentoring and other support to enable new faculty to succeed in meeting the challenges of juggling family and work responsibilities.

Those tasks include activities that will provide information and training on recognizing and combating bias, as well as initiatives that will foster relationships among STEM women faculty to increase opportunities for mentoring, collaboration and advanced training. 

Project activities outlined

This year, focus group interviews will be taken on both campuses, followed by climate surveys, training workshops for hiring and promotion, public events to raise awareness on each campus and educational activities for undergraduates. Since many female faculty members in the STEM professions begin their careers with their choice of undergraduate major, scholars agree that students need to be aware of these issues.

In addition, mentoring networks and research collaborations, which have succeeded at large universities, will be developed to enhance promotion opportunities for mid-career female faculty.

“This may be the best part of the project,” said committee member Cherrice Traver, Union dean of engineering and professor of computer engineering. “Building relationships with another college through mentoring will offer opportunities for everyone to gain professionally.”